Commentator in a race against time.

THE fourth race at Fontwell yesterday was almost commentary-less as caller Tony Ennis found himself locked out of his office with only minutes to post time, writes Jessica Lamb.

Around the foot of the tower in the centre of the course which houses the commentary box is a high wooden fence secured by a door and a coded lock.

Ennis was given the code last time he worked at the track but had the door opened for him when he arrived in the morning and all was well until, having crossed the track before the 2m4f novice hurdle, he returned to find the door closed and the code changed.

Ennis said: "I tried to get hold of everybody I knew that had the code but nobody was answering. I thought I would just have to leg it to the weighing room but that is a fair hike and the time was 3.35pm, five minutes to post."

Suffering from a fractured rib, Ennis ran across the track to raise clerk of the course Ed Arkell, but Arkell was not responding to incessant calls on his walkie-talkie and Ennis began to panic.

With time ticking he decided to race back to the commentary box.

"I was stuck behind a wall of people trying to cross the course and then they wouldn't let me across because the horses were going down.

"By now it was 3.38pm but luckily the clerk was there to open the gate when I finally got across."

With 30 seconds to the off, Ennis raced up six flights of stairs and was forced to give a staggered commentary as he tried to regain his breath.

Luckily it was the most uneventful race of the day as Lady Hillingdon made all.