£100m gambling frenzy on horses

BRITS will bet up to £100million on the horses this week as racing gallops out of lockdown.

Major UK sport returns at 1pm today with the first of 10 races at Newcastle.

Rupert Adams of bookies William Hill said: “It is fair to say Newcastle racecourse will never have seen anything like it before – and possibly never again.

“It’s a city perhaps more associated with football or rugby than horse racing. But today it will become the epicentre of the racing – and indeed the sporting – world.

“This will be a historic moment.’’

Bookies predict punters will be itching to wager cash saved under lockdown on an epic week of action culminating in the first two classics of the flat racing season.

The 2,000 Guineas on Saturday and 1,000 Guineas on Sunday will be screened live from Newmarket by ITV as part of a three-day racing bonanza.

Their coverage will start at Newmarket on Friday when legendary jockey

Frankie Dettori will ride super-horse Stradivarius in the Coronation Cup.

According to a survey over 50% of all sports fans plan to tune into racing action.

Ladbrokes’ Sports revealed 56% of fans said the lack of TV action had made them appreciate just what they had been missing.

Veteran jockey Frankie, who will return to action at Kempton tomorrow, has been practising riding with a mask. He said French colleagues had told him “it’s a little bit of a hindrance”. But he added: “I have no problem at all.”

See our

8-page

Racing pullout