Nottingham own Monday nights, Sheffield own Tuesday nights, Henlow have made a big play for Sunday afternoons. Now Doncaster are making their push to dominate open racing on a Saturday afternoon.
Richard Munton, the most recent arrival in the Doncaster racing office, explains the strategy.
He said: “The Monday night opens haven’t been going as well as we’d liked, but we suggested the idea of Saturday afternoon opens and most of the trainers jumped at it.
“They will run from Saturday February 17th until further notice. Every week, we plan to stage two 18-runner events over a variety of distances, supported by two trialstakes for the competitions that are due to start the following weekend.
“If they all fill, it would give us ten open races each Saturday. All races carry regular prize money – £200 to the winners, £40 others – with the finals worth £1,000 to the winner. Each completion is budgeted at £2,700.
“The first week will be a sprint and a puppy event with trialstakes for the following week’s competitions which will be for bitches and stayers. The week after that will be an unconfined 483 plus a British bred completion. All competitions will close on the Wednesday.”
Like their counterparts at Henlow, Doncaster are trying to qualify as many dogs as quickly as possible.
Munton said: “We are still a few short but had 15 trials last night, an there are another 20 booked for Friday. Adrian McPherson is building a new kennel up the road and we will soon be where we want to be. Obviously though, there is always room for another decent sized kennel.”
One leading contender for the puppy competition will surely by Zlatans Way (Laughill Blake-Folleys Delight, Mar 16). Sue Watson’s youngster completed a 157-1 four-timer over the 450m course on Wednesday and has a calculated personal best of 27.77.
