Most of racing's biggest moments occurred off the course in 1998.

Most dramatic was the arrest in January of three jump jockeys by police investing allegations of doping and race-fixing.

Claimer Leighton Aspell and, eventually, the vastly experienced Jamie Osborne were released without charge. But their weighing-room colleague Dean Gallagher has been re-bailed to appear again in March along with several other men arrested subsequently.

Osborne will have happier memories of the latter part of the year. He returned from 11 months on the sidelines with a badly-broken wrist to gain an emotional win at Ascot on Coome Hill in a race honouring his friend John Durkan, who died of leukemia.

Racing's most sensational three and a half weeks came courtesy of the High Court, where training partners Jack and Lynda Ramsden and champion jockey Kieren Fallon sued The Sporting Life newspaper for libel.

After a 19-day trial the trio were awarded damages over an article which had suggested they were "cheats" for the way they ran Chester Cup winner Top Cees in 1995.

The Ramsdens then shocked racing in the summer by announcing that they were quitting training.

The Sporting Life itself ceased publication in May, after more than 100 years.

Throughout the year there was the saga of Ladbrokes' attempt to take over bookmaking rivals Coral, which was eventually blocked with the firm sold instead to a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank.

A bizarre visitor to Portman Square was bogus amateur jockey "Angel Jacobs" who rode in 21 races, winning five, before being unmasked as Angel Monserrate - a Puerto Rican-born professional warned off in the USA. He was banned for ten years by the Jockey Club disciplinary committee in November.

The Portman Square panel were also the centre of attention earlier that month when they handed a 14-day suspension to Tony McCoy under the "totting-up" procedure after a series of whip offences.

The champion jump jockey was also involved in many of the sport's best moments and broke Peter Scudamore's record with 253 wins in the 1997/8 season.

Whip controversy soured two of the Flat season's biggest races too.

Pat Eddery, Frankie Dettori and Kieren Fallon were all penalised after their respective mounts fought out a tight finish to the Juddmonte International Stakes at York in August.

Dettori was heavily criticised for his strong use of the whip on Swain, who looked like winning the Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs until hanging dramatically across the course in the straight.

Godolphin indulged in a big spending spree in the autumn, when Xaar and Saratoga Springs were among those to join the team. Controversially, Derby winner High-Rise was whisked off to Dubai just as Luca Cumani was putting the finishing touches to his Breeders' Cup preparation.

Saddest moment of the year was the death of leading jumps trainer Gordon Richards in September, after a long battle with cancer. The dual Grand National winner had suffered a sad blow in April when his star chaser One Man was killed in a fall at Aintree - just a month after breaking his Cheltenham Festival hoodoo in the Queen Mother Champion Chase.

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