National start time to remain unaltered in face of ‘premierisation’
Derby in 2024 will also start out of allotted 2-4pm ‘shop window’.
The Randox Grand National is to remain at its current start time of 5.15pm, despite the British Horseracing Authority launching a new ‘premier tier’ of racing between 2-4pm on Saturday afternoons. The period between 2pm and 4pm will be restricted to three meetings, including up to two ‘premier’ cards, with other Saturday fixtures scheduled to start after the window ends or, on occasions, before it opens. But racing’s “crown jewels” will take place outside the allotted ‘shop window’, with the Betfred Derby another due to be later than 4pm in 2024. BHA chief executive Julie Harrington and Richard Wayman, chief operating officer, took questions from the press via Zoom following the announcement of the new strategy. Wayman said of the National: “There will be certain Saturdays of the year, exceptional Saturdays, when the key race is not in the 2-4pm slot. “In 48 or 49 Saturdays of the year that will be how it works, but there will be two or three others when we’ll have to be flexible and do something different, like for the Grand National and the Derby. We won’t stick rigidly to 2-4pm if the big race of the day is off at 5.15pm, so there will be some flexibility.”Harington added: “Around the crown jewel fixtures we need to make sure we use our core fixtures to best advantage. So if we know there are people in betting shops on the morning of the Grand National there could be a live fixture for people to be betting on, so they are some of the innovations we are looking to do with the core fixtures.” One afternoon in July that has caused much wringing of hands in the past is the so-called ‘Super Saturday’ which sees the July Cup at Newmarket, John Smith’s Cup at York, the Summer Mile at Ascot and a fixture at Chester, the latter now looking a prime candidate to be moved to either an earlier or later slot.
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