Towcester are to stage an additional four Friday evening meetings commencing on November 27 and running into the first three Fridays in December.

Director of Racing James Chalkley said: “The bottom line is, there are so many enquiries for Christmas bookings that we had to come up with some more meetings. I gather the boxes are all gone and most of the restaurant capacity is sold out.

“The meetings will all be ten to twelve races and are not on the SIS fixture list. We have more than enough dogs available.”

Despite being advertised for a Monday closure in the GBGB Calendar, the Stadium Bookmakers Hunt Cup does not close until Wednesday lunchtime.

Chalkley added: “Our opens generally close on Wednesdays and most of the trainers were expecting that this would too. We have twelve in the book at the moment, but trainers like Mark Wallis, who will probably have at least six entries, still haven’t entered any.”