Sandown on red alert after protest

Security was being stepped up today for the big meeting at Sandown Park following protests by Manchester United supporters which delayed a race at Hereford yesterday.

The low-profile card was interrupted before the sixth race when a group of about two dozen protesters, some carrying banners and flags, burst on to the course and stood in front of a fence – preventing the contest from getting under way.

Security staff managed to persuade the group to leave the track, but the race was delayed for some 12 minutes.

The group, calling themselves the "Manchester Education Committee", issued a press release in which they threatened further action at race meetings where United’s main shareholders JP McManus and John Magnier are due to have runners.

United fans have been angered by the battle between McManus and Magnier and the club’s board following a dispute between manager Alex Ferguson and Magnier over the stud rights to racehorse Rock of Gibraltar.

The two racehorse owners recently sent a letter to the board, requesting a detailed response to 99 questions about the propriety of transfer dealings in recent years.

Sandown clerk of the course Andrew Cooper last night moved to ensure that security at a meeting where both owners are set to be strongly represented is stepped up, in order to avoid a repeat of the Hereford shenanigans.

“We will be reviewing our plans and arrangements,” Cooper confirmed.

“We will keep the situation under review. But as we saw at Hereford, the threat of disruption is a real one.”

The McManus-owned champion staying hurdler Baracouda is due to be in action at Sandown, as is Magnier’s crack Smurfit Champion Hurdle hope Rhinestone Cowboy who will be ridden by his amateur-jockey son JP.

For Hereford’s new general manager, Katie Langdell, yesterday’s events proved to be a baptism of fire she will never forget.

“There was a police presence at the course, although where it is now I do not know,” she said.

“We did try to increase security. But even if we had six or seven security guards on the gates, there is only a limited amount we can do to stop this sort of thing.

“We wouldn’t be able to use any kind of force to keep them off the course.

“It seems to me that this was quite well organised. They seemed to know who would come off which gate and when. It’s disappointing.”

John Maxse, the UK Jockey Club’s public relations director, insisted that specific issues of racecourse security are the responsibility of the individual tracks.

No instructions were sent to racecourses in the light of recent threats from some United supporters to disrupt the racing interests of Coolmore supremo Magnier and legendary gambler McManus.

“It is the racecourse’s responsibility to ensure that suitable measures and personnel are in place with regard to crowd control,” said Maxse.

“Clearly there are potentially serious safety and welfare implications if protesters take to the course immediately before or during a race. We would be concerned about the safety of horses and riders as well as members of the public making the protest.”

Yesterday’s protest was aimed at the participation of the McManus-owned outsider, Majestic Moonbeam, in the Jenkinsons Caterers Beginners’ Chase. The horse failed to complete the course, unseating Liam Cooper at the fifth fence.

Carrying a flag embroidered with the name of the Manchester suburb "Beswick", the fans unfurled banners which read "United not for sale" and "Quit the horseplay Coolmore" and placed them across the open ditch after the winning post.

One member – who gave his name as "JP" – later said: “We will carry on doing this for as long as it takes.

“This is the anniversary of the weekend of the Munich air crash which nearly killed our club – and we will not allow Manchester United to be killed again.

“We will go wherever Coolmore are represented on the racetrack, not just in England, but in Ireland, France or anywhere.

“It will be a peaceful protest. There will be no violence. This stuff about kicking footballs at horses is rubbish.

“We will continue until they [Magnier and McManus] have sold their shares - and when they do sell their shares it must be to a buyer we are happy with.

“We represent all the different groups who want to protest about it. We have all come down from Manchester but we can and we will go anywhere we have to - it’s no bother for us to go over to France for the day if that’s what we have to do.”