O’Sullevan calls for change to owners’ betting rule

SIR Peter O’Sullevan believes owners should be able to lay their horses as long as they do not profit by it.

The ‘Voice of Racing’ hit on the topical subject in his acceptance speech on receiving the Racehorse Owners Association’s Chris Deuters Award at a special ceremony in London.

“I cannot resist before such a distinguished audience saying that the rule that prevents an owner from hedging a bet needs looking at,” said O’Sullevan. “It wants to be rewritten in such a way that an owner can lay his horse if the result is that he does not profit should the horse fail.”