MID-WEEK AND THE FUTURE OF RACING.

​The Irish, to their credit, plough their own furrows, as opposed to us dyed-in-the-wool Brits who rarely think outside of the box and when someone does have a thought it is usually completely out-of-keeping with the traditions of the sport. City Street racing for example and ‘I know, lets copy Formula 1 and show those dimwits how racing should really be organised’.
The Irish rarely fall victim to stupidity and have not allowed themselves to become slaves to the idea that for the sake of betting turnover all the top races must be run at the weekend. In Great Britain, to ensure television coverage and maximum publicity for sponsors, Saturday has become the prime day for racecourses to stage their main races but in Ireland it takes a huge amount of persuasion to get them to turn their back on tradition.
For ever and a day, for instance, the Thyestes Chase at Gowran Park has been run on a Thursday. It is the highlight of Gowran’s season, a local sporting event of great significance in County Kilkenny. And because tradition is worth holding on to in Ireland, the Thyestes brightens an otherwise dull, and this year barren of turf fixtures, Thursday for the British bookmaker. And Gowran is not alone in sticking with tradition. Thurles hold the Kinloch Brae Chase on a Thursday, Galway stage both the Galway Plate and Hurdle midweek. In fact, away from the big Dublin courses it is traditional in Ireland for the country courses to stage their main events mid-week. So why can’t a little bit of this tradition come to Great Britain?
I have long argued that when a racecourse stages a 3-day meeting it should not be held Thursday, Friday, Saturday or even Friday, Saturday, Sunday but Saturday, with the big race held on the freshest ground, and Sunday, Monday, brightening the weakest day in the British racing week. Two-day fixtures, to my mind, and perhaps running a horse and carriage through my argument here, should be, as in Ireland on occasion, should be Saturday and Sunday, improving the class of racing on offer on a day when most people are free to go racing.
Away from this diversion from my point, I have also argued that every racecourse should have a signature race, with financial aid provided to ensure a well-above average purse. In my youth, to give an example, on Boxing Day, Sedgefield staged a 2-mile handicap chase named in honour of a Sedgefield specialist, Rent Roll. I always considered the Rent Roll Cup to be Sedgefield’s premier race, so why has it disappeared from the calendar? This would be a great example of a race of note that could be staged mid-week. It is not as if notable 2-mile handicap chases are two-a-penny in this country, especially in the disadvantaged North of England.
The powers-that-be should go through the racing calendar and course-by-course help to instigate a signature race for every British racecourse flat and jumps, with each new race held mid-week or at a pinch on a Sunday. What we lack in the British racing calendar is a Thyestes Chase type of race staged mid-week. A race, it need not be a handicap, to boost betting turnover on a dull day and to boost attendance at our smaller racecourses and to give horse racing a place of prominence in the local sporting calendar.
This is how to get ‘bums on seats’, to click the turnstiles over more quickly. Give the sporting folk of county Herefordshire, Northumberland, Norfolk etc, a reason to go support their local racecourse. Give Hereford a valuable handicap hurdle, Hexham a good quality novice chase, Fakenham a handicap chase. Spread the love around. Spread the finances around. Bring county fayre and country commerce to the local racecourse. There is too much emphasis these days on weekend racing, the top racecourses, and the high-end of the sport in general. We must grow the base of the horse-racing pyramid to give the sport solid, long-lasting foundations and a policy of ensuring every racecourse has a signature race, staged midweek is, I believe, the way forward. Perhaps I am advocating a look to the past to build a brighter future but to know where you are going you need to know where you have come from.