The first round of the 74th British Bred Two Year Old Produce Stakes from Swindon will be unique – writes Floyd Amphlett.
For a start, the races will NOT be broadcast live into the betting shops or shown on RPGTV when they will get underway at 11.13am on Saturday September 5. Furthermore – at this stage – there is no guarantee or SPs being returned. However connections will be able to watch the races live and bet on them as part of the 24Dogs internet service.
The anomaly over the betting is because all ‘betting shop meetings’ are now covered by the new ‘industry SP’ system. Yarmouth’s Saturday meetings are not part of the service but since they are racing with a paid attendance, they have been able to welcome back two bookies to stand trackside to provide ‘old school’ starting prices. Swindon will not have that option.
General manager Peter Geeves said: “At this stage, no bookie has stepped forward wishing to form a market, though that could still happen. We will be limited to 75 people on site, under the GBGB directive, but at least owners will be able to see their dogs run. The final will be broadcast live on RPGTV.”
Trials for the competition are already underway; Kevin Hutton has a small team due at the track tomorrow. In terms of entries, Liz and Rab McNair have entered nine runners from three different litters.
Geeves added: “We don’t know what the entry level will be like as most trainers leave it until the last minute to enter. But we do have trial places available on Tuesdays for anybody who needs them.
“We will be showing all the trials on our new Youtube channel later in the day. Unfortunately, the standard of wi-fi locally doesnt allow us to screen the trials live so the two and a half hour session will be edited down, with captions added, for a programme of around 21 minutes.”
The closing date for entries is next Tuesday – August 25.
