The joy was unconfined. Indeed the whoops could clearly be heard on the Racing UK channel from the winner's enclosure at Ludlow on Thursday after Charlie Brooks, who will face trial in September along with wife Rebekah, on charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice – both deny any wrongdoing – celebrated his first winner as a trainer for over 14 years when Sergeant Thunder won at the Shropshire track. That's a gap of 5,430 days and gets Brooks, who quit training in 1998 and only renewed his licence in November 2011, off the Racing Post's famous trainers' "cold list". Brooks is clearly hot as second-placed Cestus would likely have won the very next race for him but for his jockey and the other riders allowing the winner to get a 15-length head start following as farcical a start to a race seen all year.
