Henlow racing manager Paul Mellor was reasonably satisfied following one of his toughest grading performances on Saturday.
Left with only 31 dogs for grading, Mellor pieced together four four-runner races and three five-runner fields.
He said: “I do feel the pressure to keep the races competitive, though it wasn’t our smallest number of runners ever. I think I once graded a card with just 29 dogs.
“We had two winning favourites and one co-favourite in the seven races.
“One of the winners was odds-on but there were a couple of odds-on shots beaten too.
“It is a nightmare every week at the moment, but we aren’t the only ones facing it.
“A lot of the owners are just keeping the dogs off during the winter. Hopefully they will start trialling back shortly and we have a few litters coming onto the card.”
The situation isn’t greatly different at neighbouring Harlow, who unlike Henlow, only race twice a week.
The Essex track held eight races on Friday, split equally between four and five runner fields and ten races on Saturday, again littered with four and five runner fields.
In Suffolk, Mildenhall are currently racing just once a week but are managing 11-race cards.
