For the second consecutive Saturday, fighting broke out at one of Britain’s premier racetracks. An Ascot official confirmed that two groups of men had engaged in a fight inside the main grandstand after the final race. The incident, which was also flagged up on social media by onlookers, followed a week after a 50-person fight at Goodwood that resulted in three people being taken to hospital.
Britain’s racecourses are likely to come under unprecedented pressure to show they are taking the subject of antisocial behaviour seriously, with some concerned a reckless pursuit of profit through sales of alcohol is causing a serious problem for the sport.
“Unfortunately, there was an incident,” said Ashley Morton-Hunte, the communications manager at Ascot. “Our security staff were on the scene almost immediately. There were two very small head injuries that were treated on the site.
“Our aim, always, is to have a safe, secure and enjoyable race day. Following the recent incident at Goodwood, we increased the number of response teams on site and the incident was dealt with quickly. Sadly, an irresponsible minority can impact on the majority. We take all antisocial behaviour seriously. We can and did eject people.”
She said only those involved in the fighting had been hurt. Ascot’s estimate, based on CCTV images, is six to eight men were at the core of the fighting but witnesses on social media mentioned larger numbers.
It is believed the fight may have been between rival groups of football fans, as those involved were heard singing football-related chants at each other before the outbreak of violence. Fighting was later reported on Ascot high street. Thames Valley police, which had officers outside the track, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A short video posted on Twitter showed a confrontation between two large groups of men inside the grandstand, with blows being exchanged while bar staff looked on from behind a protective screen. Another user posted a picture of a shattered window at the front of the stand with the caption: “im never going to @Ascot again terrified me”.
The previous weekend’s fight at Goodwood has yet to result in arrests, despite online footage of an unconscious man being kicked in the head. The Sussex track’s manager said “very clear face shots” of those involved had been handed to the police.
The British Horseracing Authority has been content to leave the issue of racegoer behaviour to the tracks but indicated this week it may choose to involve itself, following a series of dismaying incidents at several tracks over the past year.
“The BHA has a duty to take into account all relevant facts and matters when issuing [racecourse] licences,” a statement said. “We have already stated we will be carrying out a review of all our licensing procedures later this year, which includes participant and racecourse licences. It is our intention to ensure crowd control and behaviour are considered as part of this review.”
The main action on the track concerned Hayley Turner, who won the Victoria Cup with a perfectly timed challenge on the 20-1 shot Ripp Orf. Turner retired in 2015 but returned to the saddle last year, lured by the weight allowance offered to female jockeys in France. She is now trying to resurrect her career in Britain and will surely get plenty of interest after this display.
“We’re going to concentrate on trying to get some nicer rides if we can,” said her agent, Shashi Righton. “It’s not easy to get rides when you’re coming out of retirement but she’s got a lot of self-belief and she knows she’s good enough to establish herself again.”
“Oh my God, that was amazing,” Turner said on ITV while returning in triumph. “What a legend of a horse. They gave me some good orders, to ride with lots of confidence. The big field suited him, strong gallop. I was just weaving through them.”
At Lingfield, Knight To Behold ran away with the Derby Trial and is now a 20-1 shot for the Epsom Classic next month, in which he would be a first runner for the trainer Harry Dunlop. “We’ve loved him from day one, he’s a wonderful mover,” Dunlop said.