It has been a lucrative year for Newcastle raiders on the open race scene, but their home track are planning to give their open race stars less reason to spend time on the road.
On Wednesday September 1, the track stage a series of £300 (£50 others) to the winner, one-off opens with GM Ian Walton conceding that it is something of an experiment.
He said: “I think it is widely accepted that Angela (Harrison) and Jimmy (Fenwick) in particular have always had strong kennel strengths but this year we’ve had plenty join them on the open race scene: Tom Heilbron, Stuart Tighe, Ted Soppitt, and Raymond Hayles to name just four, have done brilliantly. Just look at the qualifiers for Monmore (Gold Cup 6, Stayers Classic 3).
“Whether increasing the open race prize money has any effect I don’t know. Will the likes of Patrick Janssens or Rab McNair travel this far for £300, knowing the ability of the local dogs, I doubt it. If it was a Cat 1 event, maybe. But we’ll see what the response is like and take it from there. It will certainly be welcomed by the locals.
“There has been a great response from the local trainer to the announcement of the increase in money announced this week. We have 30 new dogs due to be marked up next week and there is definitely a feeling of optimism in the air.”
As for the best of the locals?
“Droopys Conrad. Keep an eye on him. We have a lot of good young dogs here but I think he could be exceptional.”
