From Mr David Heyman Sir, You may be interested to learn the reason why the Henry II Stakes at Sandown was so named ("Life at the Races", June 1). I was Sandown Clerk of the Course in the 1960s and framed and named the programme for the newly acquired Whit meeting. I wanted to have as many lead-in races to Ascot as possible, a Gold Cup trial was desirable. I discovered that Henry II had founded a hospice on the site which is now Sandown Park racecourse. So Henry II it was. Your conjectures about race naming were not entirely inaccurate, as in the same card I initiated the Westbury stakes (later renamed the Brigadier Gerard, I think), called after my son's prep school, and also the Temple Stakes, a trial for the Kings Stand at Ascot, named after his house at Stowe. Yours faithfully, DAVID HEYMAN, Buzon 782, Plaza Virgen Del Carmen 14B, Moraira/Teulada 03724, Spain. (c) Times Newspapers Ltd, 2001.