BIRTHDAY boy Ian Cushlow is celebrating a day to remember at Redcar Races.

The building surveyor, from Hartlepool, didn’t even know he was coming racing until he woke up this morning and his family surprised him for his 50th birthday.

And it got even better when he backed the winner of the day’s big race – the aptly named Good Birthday!

Good Birthday, trained in Berkshire by Andrew Balding and ridden by Silvestre de Sousa, won the Racing TV Zetland Gold Cup at the rewarding odds of 13-2.

“I couldn’t not back it, could I?” said Ian. “It’s really made my day.”