Towcester Racecourse is delighted to announce nine Category 1 competitions for 2021 in addition to the Category 1 Blue Riband already staged in January, the RPGTV Juvenile in April and the main Classic,The English Greyhound Derby in June/July.
An upbeat promoter Kevin Boothby said “I am over the moon to be able to stage ten Category 1 competitions, a high class Invitation race and the English Greyhound Derby at Towcester in 2021. I wanted to make Towcester the home of top class racing and I believe we are heading down that road with the very exciting schedule we have produced.”
The Category 1 schedule for 2021 is:-
TRC Northamptonshire Sprint 270m 30 March/6 April/13 April
KAB Maiden Derby 500m 4 May/11 May/18 May
5% Tote Juvenile Classic (Puppy) 500m 9 July/17 July/24 July
5% Tote Marathon 942m 14 August/21 August/28 August
5% Tote Empress Stakes (Bitches) 500m 4 September/11 September/18 September
BGBF Puppy Cup (British Bred Puppy) 500m 2 October/9 October/16 October
1st Containers Marathon Trophy 942m 9 October/16 October/23 October
5% Tote Hunt Cup 712m 30 October/6 November/13 November
English Puppy Derby (Puppy) 500m 4 December/11 December/18 December
Nathan Corden said “It has been a long drawn out process to get all these races into the calendar as the process dictates that new competitions (8 of our 9) have to wait until existing Category 1 races have been placed in their preferred slot and then we have to try to find positions around this. I can honestly say this has not been easy but we have got there in the end after a few requests from the GBGB/ORPC about moving dates, changing the type of competition and race titles. We are proud to have re-introduced the Hunt Cup competition under the support of the Tote and it seems to have been overlooked that we have revitalised a former Category 2 competition into a £12,500 to the winner Category 1 competition.”
“I think it is a great schedule for Towcester and I am delighted to be part of it. Kevin (Boothby) loves his open racing and so do I. We still have numerous Category 2 races to submit, including ones supporting the English Greyhound Derby, so now we can see a framework of races/competitions we can look at how best placed to position those. Hopefully we can get them out there over the next week or two.”
“We are extremely grateful to our sponsors including the Tote, Mitch Brenner of 1st Containers Ltd and Liz Mort and her team at the BGBF. Their support has been overwhelming and first class.”
“I love the idea of Towcester becoming the home of open racing in the UK and we will continue to look for more sponsors both for this year and beyond, so if anybody wants to join us on this journey and sponsor a competition(s) then they can drop me an email at [email protected] and we will hopefully be able to work something out.”
Mitch Brenner of 1st Containers Ltd said “1st Containers Ltd are delighted to be sponsoring a new Category 1 marathon competition and looking forward to the new format of 3 qualifying each round and seeing all the best stayers competing at Towcester.”
Liz Mort of the BGBF said “Delighted that we will be running a Category 1 BGBF Puppy Cup this autumn. Last year the Covid chaos meant we were not able to plan in a puppy competition at all, so it was of key importance that it did happen this year. It is so exciting to be back at Towcester, Kevin Boothby and his team are very supportive of British Breeding and we wish them every success – and it is just great that we are able to be part of their journey!”
