Racing: Take takes heart

JAPAN'S champion jockey, Yutaka Take, was yesterday introduced to White Muzzle, his mount in Saturday's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Take rode two lots on the Manton gallops of Peter Chapple-Hyam and partnered White Muzzle in a seven-furlong workout.

'I was really pleased,' Chapple-Hyam reported. 'He rides very well and it is clear he was pleased with the way White Muzzle worked and is excited about the weekend.'

Take, 25, has ridden successfully in France and the United Stakes, but this is his first experience of British racing.

Ante-post backers of Lure for next Wednesday's Sussex Stakes will have their stakes refunded now that the crack American miler must miss the race due to a Ministry of Agriculture ban on horses that have been vaccinated against equine viral arteritis.

'Lure's absence from the race is on a technicality,' David Hood, of William Hill, said. 'In these unusual circumstances we have decided to make an ex gratia payment to punters.' Those who backed the horse with Ladbrokes or Coral will also get their money back.

Yesterday's results, page 31