A quarter of a century ago, when racing lived in more innocent times, three leading jump jockeys were summoned to the Jockey Club and charged with “receiving presents in connection with a race”. The famous trio had agreed to share any winnings from the notoriously competitive Schweppes Gold Trophy and, one having picked up the princely first-place percentage of £600, his two friends were each given a cheque for £200.

In Devon this week, that incident was recalled as the three met up for their annual three-day golf trip. Peter Scudamore won on the last hole, much to the vocal disgust of Steve Smith Eccles and John Francome. “Bad sportsmanship, I call it,” Scudamore said with a chortle.

It was Francome, giving an inspired ride to Donegal Prince, who won the 1982 Schweppes at Newbury. And it had been his idea, aired in the sauna before racing, to divide any spoils. So harmless did he consider it that Francome related the story in his newspaper column, yet it was three months before racing’s security services called the trio to task.

All three were suspended for a week. Scudamore, then the joint champion with Francome, described it at the time as “ludicrous” and said yesterday: “We all thought it was completely innocent but thank God we’re not riding now.”

Except that they are – for one day only. Francome, Scudamore and Smith Eccles will join nine other former jockeys in a charity race at Kempton on Sunday week, aimed at raising money for their erstwhile colleague Richard Dunwoody’s latest charity expedition. If there are a few side bets on the outcome, this will surely be an occasion when nobody minds.

Outrage over the BBC’s decision to leave Longchamp before the stewards had confirmed Dylan Thomas’s Arc win is understandable but empty. Viewing figures do not lie and, once again, they show that racing is short on mass appeal.

Flat racing does not get much bigger than Arc day, yet the peak audience was fewer than a million, significantly below that for the BBC’s recent recorded coverage of the European Three-day Event Championships.

It may be true that terrestrial television remains essential to the profile and betting turnover of the sport. But that does not give anyone in racing the right to indignation when such coverage is cut short – even in the peculiarly dramatic circumstances of Paris on Sunday. Longchamp, incidentally, ran the event with impeccable style, once more allowing every hat-wearing woman in free – last year, 4,000 took advantage. The quality of food and drink is an object lesson to many British courses, even if they cannot compete with an admission price of scarcely more than a fiver.

Cheltenham won a prestigious tourism award last week and is now looking to extend its reach in uncharted areas. Edward Gillespie, the managing director, recently visited racing centres in Japan and returned “very optimistic” that this racing-mad nation could soon have its first runners at the Festival.

Japan stages the richest steeplechase in the world – the Nakayama Grand Jump – but its jumps horses have so far not followed the globetrotting example of its Flat icons. Gillespie hopes this is about to change, explaining: “A trainer called Tatsuo Fujiwara came over in March and is now passionate about Cheltenham. He is determined to bring horses over for the Festival and that can only be good for the meeting.”

Ascot is taking steps to change its registered address. As usual with businesses of any sort, it reflects practicalities – in this case the company solicitors. But, given current events in the sport, 16 Old Bailey is not an enviable address for the notepaper. “We’ve spoken about this,” Charles Barnett, the chief executive, confirmed. “It will soon revert to the Ascot address.”