ONE of the saddest stories of the year was that of the death, at a ripe old age admittedly, of legendary scribe and broadcaster Sir Peter O’Sullevan.

The Voice of Racing had an enormous effect on the way the sport has been presented to the masses, and he was omnipresent for the first four decades of the sport as a television medium.

Memories of all the great races are suffused with his honeyed tones, with his call of the 1986 Gold Cup won by Dawn Run still capable of sending chills down my spine despite repeated viewings of the race.

It wasn’t just his voice we should be grateful for, of course, and his charitable trust has long been a force for good for the charities it supports, and will continue his legacy for many years to come.

One legacy he hasn’t achieved, sadly, is for a selling hurdle named in his honour to be run at the Cheltenham Festival. The course executive feel that such a race lacks the cachet they are aiming for, but I for one believe, as Sir Peter clearly did, that a race of such colour and intrigue would be very much in keeping with the history of the meeting. Please reconsider, Mr Renton.