ABSTRACT
The classic example of virtual racing was the small Cornish meeting held by the Trodmore Hunt on August Bank Holiday 1898. The card appeared in The Sportsman prior to the race and the results the next day with two 5-1 winners and the rest at shorter odds. But the meeting never actually took place. It was a phantom fixture organised by a betting syndicate to take advantage of a busy day in the racing schedule by pretending that Trodmore was, like several hunts, putting on an annual event. The perpetrators were certainly imaginative; not only did they invent a meeting but also the names of 41 runners, only two of which had previously appeared in the Racing Calendar. In contrast to the creation of a meeting, there have also been attempts to announce that racing has been abandoned as in late 1978 when false information was given to radio stations that meetings at Haydock Park, Southwell and Newton Abbot were not to take place. Fleet Street journalists were the prime suspects but no one was ever apprehended.
