“I am just so excited already. When you think of what we achieved with the Derby this year, with new staff and only six weeks notice, imagine what we can do for the next five years.”
Towcester promoter Kevin Boothby was absolutely buzzing as he confirmed the long term agreement with GBGB to stage the Star Sports English Derby. His guarantee – 2022 will be so much bigger and better than 2021.
Kevin said: “We are already planning for 2022. We made a mistake for this year by not consulting Silverstone, but we know they plan to stage the British Grand Prix on July 17th. So we are working to a Derby Final date of July 2nd, obviously subject to agreement from the GBGB open race planning committee.
“I have guaranteed a minimum first prize of £175,000 but am hoping that we might increase that depending on a few other factors. It is certainly something I want to do, and bear in mind the Irish equivalent is €125,000.
“We have built up a very good relationship with Silverstone, we rented the carpark out to them at the weekend and had 1,250 cars here. But they have a new hotel being built on the circuit as Silverstone, the Hilton Garden, which is due to be finished by April. It looks certain to be popular with the greyhound people at the Derby. Surely by then the Irish will be able to travel. We still had 4,000 spectators here this year without them.
“Also, literally today, the first of the pods arrived in the country. They were ordered back in March, and there will be more to come. We also have the big safari tents which will be permanently erected.”
Work is continuing at Suffolk Downs and Oxford though, like all building projects, they have been delayed by a shortage of materials.
Kevin said: “I finally managed to get the timber last week. It cost £70K, and the price has since gone up by a further 30% in a week. We will need it for the kennels at both tracks. I’ve also struggled to get new starting traps. I was quoted three months delivery time so I have sourced a company in Wisbech to make them.
“They generally produce much higher tech machinery than we need and are going to produce something identical to what we have already. There will be two sets each for Suffolk Downs and Oxford plus a new set for Towcester. Again it all takes time. They needed to see them, design them and make them from scratch. But it is all now in hand.
“As far as Suffolk Downs is concerned, I think there is four weeks work to get it ready for trials, most of which is to do with the kennels. But I would be confident that we will be trialing at some stage during October.
“The work taking place at Oxford has been amazing. I’ve never known anything like the speedway people. They have raised sponsorship, donated various things and we’ve even got people working there voluntarily. There is a guy doing some welding stuff there at the moment free of charge.
“We have taken on five full time people including two new promotional ladies who will be starting shortly and there are several projects already quite advanced which we will announce in due course. They should really engage us with the local community, which I think is important.
“As far as the dogs are concerned, we are looking to order 350 tons of sand and Bob Baker has a lot of the original racing equipment in storage. I have told SIS that I hope to start trialing in November and racing in December. There is still a lot to do but I think it is achievable.”
When Boothby took over Towcester he stated that greyhound racing would form just one part of the overall business plan and followers on social media will have seen a variety of events taking place over the last month.
Boothby said: “We’ve had three music nights so far. One cost us a bit, the other washed its face, and the third turned a small profit. That surprised me because I was expecting to make a loss the first year. What has impressed me is the ‘spend per head’ with the music, over £40 per head. People are going a bit mad after the Covid shut-down.
“We had 10,000 people here for the balloon festival last weekend which showed what could be achieved. But it didn’t all go to plan, there were some noise and traffic issues which would have irritated some of the local residents. I take full responsibility.
“We made some mistakes due to the sheer volume of people; which we have learned from – specifically, who we can trust to do certain things and what to do differently. I really want to keep the local people on-side.
“But if any of your readers fancy a special experience, tell them to come on Sunday. There will be a classic car festival with 650 cards and lots of stalls and things to see. The organisers have sold 4,000 tickets. We will also be staging some good open racing which are sponsored by the car people who will presenting the trophies.
“Unfortunately we over-booked too many acts for the music on Saturday night and had to cancel the greyhound meeting. But the combination of racing with an early finish followed by the dogs really works.
“The next big music night is on September 26 when the headliners will be Scouting For Girls.”
