First virtual Henry Cecil Open Weekend in Newmarket proves an online hit

This year's Henry Cecil Open Weekend, which went virtual for the first time last weekend due to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions, is expected to have raised more than £20,000.

The online offerings, which can still be viewed at , included 12 virtual stable tours with the likes of Charlie Appleby, Saeed bin Suroor and William Haggas whilst racing fans could also witness action shots of John Gosden's stars cantering on Warren Hill.

Other popular footage came from some of Newmarket's premier equine sites such as Dalham Hall Stud, Rossdales Vets, British Racing School and the National Horseracing Museum.

The open weekend, which was revived in 2012, usually raises around £50,000 for its charities, which this year were Racing Welfare, British Racing School and the Racing Centre.

Organiser Stephen Wallis said: "We expect the total of monies raised from the Henry Cecil Newmarket Open Weekend to be some way north of £20,000, which isn't bad considering no-one turned up!

"The whole idea of moving the event online was to keep the date in people's diaries and keep Henry's name in people's minds. We've had some great feedback from the videos already, many of which were fascinating, especially those of Rossdales Vets."

Wallis added: "Obviously we lost our gate receipts, our programme advertisers and some of our sponsors, so to make over £20,000 is a good effort. On the plus side, we reduced our costs, such as £4,500 for coaches and £2,000 for signage, which all helped boost the final tally."

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