Henlow racing manager Martin Race is confident that the track can cope after taking on an eighth meeting every week – plus the additional races as part of the SIS extended service revealed earlier today.
He said: “Our current kennel strength is around 560-570 runners and we have four trainers currently at Peterborough who have asked to join us. It is not appropriate to identify them, but between them, they have approximately 60 greyhounds.
“I would like to emphasise here that they approached us. At no point have we been looking to appoint additional trainers. In fact there are several other trainers who have also been in touch and we are monitoring the situation.
“Whatever happens, I will guarantee that no greyhounds will be overraced at Henlow. We carefully monitor the number of outings for each greyhound.
“The new schedule is obviously dependent on greyhound racing continuing during the Coronavirus situation and I cannot guarantee that there will be places for all those dogs in the long term. However, we are also aware that a number of our Henlow dogs will ultimately be switching to Towcester and we will review the situation again.”
The first additional meeting is this Friday, as a one-0ff stand-in for Central Park, though the slot will become a regular feature going forward.
The new Henlow schedule is: Monday (am) 14 races. Tuesday (am) 14 races (pm) 14 races. Wednesday – no racing. Thursday (am) 14 races Friday (am) 14 races (pm) 14 races. Saturday (pm) 14 races. Sunday (pm) 14 races.
Under existing rules, the majority of the runners looking to switch venues would be able to avoid qualifying trials by contesting inter-track events.
