Sittingbourne have increased their racing strength to around 230 runners despite the loss of their Saturday night BAGS fixtures which ended in May writes Floyd Amphlett.
Racing manager Jess Packer said: “In terms of numbers, things have certainly improved in recent months. When Jim Daly left, we were down to 175 dogs which was very tough. But the return of Tony Collett and George Andreas and the arrival of Darren Whitton has added another 50 runners. In addition, Roger (Cearns, promoter) has dug deep to increase the cash to trainers.
“As things stand, margins are very tight and we may run a few less opens on a Sunday because they are so expensive. We are hoping that we can get our Saturday nights BAGS back in the new year and I am trying to maintain the standard in the meantime.
“Most people are aware, because they have admitted it in the press, that BAGS monitor the number of winning favourites. But they are finer margins than most people would imagine. The difference between ‘acceptable’ and ‘unacceptable’ might only be one extra winning favourite during a meeting. Typically, we had one recently, where the fourth winning favourite got home by a short head.”
