Changing times at Henlow
History was created on New Years Day morning when Henlow finally made an appearance as part of the SIS betting shop service.
“There were times I doubted it would ever happen, but here we are. They are watching this racing in Australia” said promoter Kevin Boothby proudly.
The first race went to Johnny Gray’s 5-4f Hadley Gate, who beat Diane Henry’s Savana Kai, the other joint favourite, by just over a length in 28.48.The second race also went to the two market leaders (6-4, 11-10f) though the next half dozen races included 3-1, 4-1 and 5-1 winners.
The winner of that inaugural A9 event collected £109 with the also-rans collecting £40 each. A year ago, the RPGTV equivalent would had paid £45 to the winner and £30 to the others. Five years ago, before RPGTV, the corresponding figures were Win £36 (2nd £17) and £10 others.
There are signs of activity all around the stadium with potholes being filled and new equipment arriving. Changes don’t come without teething problems. The new microphone had stage fright and racing manager Paul Mellor noted “there are so many new dogs qualifying, I am still coming to terms with all of them.”
But the overall feeling is one of great optimism.
Boothby said: “There has been huge interest in the Sunday opens. We’ve already had about 50 trial for next Sunday’s Maiden Derby and a lot of people have said they will support the opens going forward. The locals are loving it.”
