A new record price for a racecourse bookmaking pitch was set at auction at Beverley racecourse last night when West Country layer Andy Smith paid £190,000Stg for `pick' number nine at York.
The previous record of £105,000 which was paid for the number one pick at Cheltenham was quickly passed with the bidding starting at £100,000 and increasing rapidly due to a strong Irish interest, but Smith eventually got the nod to polite applause.
Smith who bets under the name of Dick Reynolds and said: "I am pleased to get it, but that price was as far as I was going to go - we will have to see how good a buy it is!"
The pick was offered up by Maurice Lindsay, retiring this year as the Rugby Super League's managing director, who had bought the position for £70,000 from Graham Green at Sandown in December.
Lindsay said: "It is quite a lot of money, but it shows there is still life in the market, and good luck to them - I hope they prosper with it."
