I know what you mean, yeats. Racing has arguably become too Saturday centric. Aside from the Ebor, a greater casualty in York’s season is the old Magnet Cup. Not so long ago, it was the feature race on its Saturday. Now it is completely lost in a “Super Saturday” where the main race is the July Cup. Which also hasn’t benefited from being moved to the weekend (it was on a Thursday when I first attended the July meeting in the mid 1980s).
I think there is a balance to be struck. Whether we like it or not, Saturday is the main leisure day of the week when many people are not in work. While not wanting the midweek to become neglected, it must be possible to offer weekend racegoers something better than last Saturday’s dross.
It is inevitable some Saturdays will be stronger than others but Cook is right to highlight the poor nature of last weekend’s offering.