Sedgefield acts; Six emergency measures to prevent another tragedy will be considered today.

SEDGEFIELD racecourse today hopes to receive backing from the Jockey Club, trainers and riders for a raft of proposed emergency measures in the wake of the horrific pile-up that killed three horses at the course on Tuesday.

A private meeting this morning at the County Durham track-which is due to race again next Tuesday-will consider six key changes aimed at avoiding a repeat of the incident, which saw three loose horses collide head-on with the remainder of the field during a novices' chase.

Sedgefield will present its proposed changes to an audience including Ron Barry, the Jockey Club's northern inspector of courses, and senior jockey Lorcan Wyer, who escaped serious injury when his horse was killed in the accident.

The professionals will give their opinion of the measures, which involve three new escape routes, comprising:

nA run-off chute sited past the winning post by an old exit gate on the stands' side, with a lip of plastic rail forming a 'catching pen' for horses running in the reverse direction.

nA similar chute on the opposite side of the running track.

nThe current exit on to the course from

THE owners of William Hill were yesterday forced to slash the price of shares in the company-just 24 hours before the book closes on the public flotation of Britain's second-largest bookmakers at 5pm today.

The shock move left parent company Nomura facing a hefty loss on its investment-and left the flotation teetering on the brink of failure.

Stockbrokers Warburg Dillon and Read, handling the float on behalf of giant Japanese investment bank Nomura, originally priced the new issue between 155p and 175p.

But yesterday it revealed that it was cutting the offer price to 135p-which means Nomura faces a loss of pounds 60million on its initial investment of pounds 700m in July 1997.

Even if taking the lower end of the indicative price range of 155p, the drop represents a dramatic fall of 17 per cent in Hills' market capitalisation.

At the new price, the market capitalisation will be only pounds 405m compared to the forecast pounds 465m. Adding in debt of pounds 375m, Hills would then be valued at around pounds 775m, a sharp reduction on Nomura hopes of selling the betting- shop chain for up to pounds 900m.

And, looking at the wider spectrum, it must raise questions about the future health of the bookmaking sector despite the recent profits boom.

It may also weaken racing's case for an increased slice of layers' profits in the latest round of Levy negotiations.

In the contest of recently increased profits reported by the major bookmaking firms, the euphoria of William Hill's initial announcement had been cited by the BHB as evidence that bookmaking was thriving and thus able to pay more to racing. This news may temper such claims to a degree.

It could also affect the much-publicised post-flotation payouts of more than pounds 21m to top executives such as John Brown, who was set for pounds 3.25m.

It is understood that lack of interest form the major City financial institutions lays at the heart of the fall. Demand from the retail sector-small punters in relative terms-had been high, ever since Nomura announced the flotation early this year. But City institutions have increasingly turned their back on the offer and insiders suggest that fund managers are uncertain what William Hill will do with their money from the flotation other than repay debt.

Last week's move to double the share allocation to smaller private investors to 20 per cent can now be seen in a new light.

Although there have previously been several reports of immense interest in the flotation, it is possible that yesterday's news could bring about its abandonment if this latest news fails to flush out further investors.

"You can always stop something", said Phil Raper of Warburg Dillon Read. "But that's not to say we've got anywhere near that stage".

He added: "The market is very slow on new issues and another company had to drop its offer price this week. The drop in offer price doesn't point to particular difficulties either in the betting industry or in Hills."