Newton Abbot 7th. Oct.

[Mr. Pilsen]

Driving past today and noticed they are racing next Friday. Nothing in my 2011 racing diary for them on this late date.

Are they cashing in on this Indian Summer we are enjoying? Or maybe it’s for all the builders on site at the moment.

I expect the real reason will be much more sensible.

[graysonscolumn]

Hiya,

I suspect this is a case of Newton Abbot stepping in to fill a slot left open when Newmarket vacated the raceday, as earlier incarnations of the October 2011 calendar (e.g. the one first uploaded onto the BHA site this time last year) advised that this was day one of a two-day fixture at Flat HQ. (Carlisle, York and Wolvo were always going to race on this day).

It’s definitely the Devon course’s final act of 2011, though, as campaigning this far into the year was precisely what it had become a summer jumping course to try to avoid doing! I’d still give the prospects of them trying to win back their old Boxing Day fixture as nil.

gc

Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.

[% MAN]

You are indeed correct Mr Grayson and it is nice to see a flat fixture being replaced with a jump fixture for a change – it is usually the other way around.

I believe the reasoning for moving the Newmarket meeting is partly they wanted to have four consecutive Saturdays with top class racing. More importantly the move to the Saturday gave terrestrial TV coverage to the big Sales Races.

[Author]

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