'He was a huge part of Doncaster' - St Leger meeting to honour Racing Post legend Howard Wright

Doncaster will honour one of its own when it renames the press room in honour of Howard Wright on St Leger day, a week on Saturday.

The feature race on the second afternoon of the meeting will also be run as the Betfred Howard Wright Doncaster Cup, with the sponsor's founder Fred Done paying homage to a personal friend.

Wright, the founding news editor of the Racing Post, was hailed as "the best of the best" after he died last month at the age of 79.

Tributes flowed from around the world for a man whose main role as industry editor frequently took him to North America, Australia, the UAE and Hong Kong.

However, he always remembered his roots in Doncaster, where he attended his first Leger at the age of three in 1948 and never missed the race again. He was on Town Moor for a remarkable 76th running in a row when Continuous came home in front last season.

Wright will have a private funeral on September 20 but six days earlier broadcaster Brough Scott, who recruited him for the Racing Post back in 1985, will dedicate the press room to his former colleague.

Mark Spincer, managing director of Arena Racing Company’s racing division, said: "Howard was a huge part of Doncaster and he was president of the Annual Members committee.

"Speaking personally, he was always a good sounding board and someone I'd regularly take advice from and bounce ideas off.

"Making sure he was able to attend the behind-closed-doors Leger in 2020 and keep his remarkable run going was something he never forgot. Howard was a true gentleman who will be missed at Doncaster and across the whole racing world."

Betfred became title sponsors of the Leger meeting last year and Done said: “As a journalist Howard was the best — obviously an excellent writer but also one with total integrity.

"We met many, many times through our racing sponsorships and became friends. The best way to sum up Howard is that he was top class on every level.”

Wright's widow Anne and family will present the trophy for the Doncaster Cup, a £140,000 contest in which Trueshan is set to bid to repeat last year's victory.

Trueshan won the Doncaster Cup last yearCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

The eight-year-old, who went on from success in this Group 2 event last September to land the Prix du Cadran at Longchamp a fortnight later, has been given a break since finishing fourth in the Goodwood Cup in July.

His trainer Alan King said: "We're training him for Doncaster but it's ground dependent – if they get a bit of rain we'll go, if not he'll go straight to the Cadran. 

"He ran a solid race at Goodwood but lost a shoe and was pretty sore after the race. He's in lovely form now and worked on Saturday."

King welcomed the decision to honour Wright and said: "I met Howard a few times and he was the ultimate professional. His knowledge of and love for the sport were unforgettable."

Howard Wright:

'He was beyond compare' - racing comes together to pay tribute to Howard Wright 

'Howard was the best of the best - he was very much old school and one of the great journalists of our time' 

Brough Scott: my final memory of Howard was at last year's St Leger - he was keen to remind us he'd been to every one since 1948