OFF THE LEASH

Muttley

THERE was a real buzz this week when Kevin Boothby announced he had agreements in place to reopen Oxford and Mildenhall with a sport sadly much more used to track closures having something to look forward to. And anyone puzzled about the proposed renaming of Mildenhall as Suffolk Downs might take a look across the Atlantic as that was the name of the now-closed horseracing track in Boston, Massachusetts, which may be coincidental of course with Boothby being from Boston, Lincolnshire but it’s a good story anyway.

ONE dose of realism required regarding the proposed re-openings is just where their fixtures are going to come from in this era where media rights are king. Obviously there is considerable doubt over even the medium-term future of Henlow so that track’s meetings could be up for grabs but there will also be Towcester in the mix and the current viability of standalone non-funded fixtures is questionable to say the least. On this weekend pre-pandemic in 2019, 11 greyhound stadia raced without the comfort blanket of it being a media rights meeting, whereas tonight just Yarmouth is in that boat. WHENEVER a greyhound displays questionable temperament in a race, the instinct is to rush to a results website to see what the local stewards made of it. But the new system of putting such incidents under review pending discussions with trainers and any mitigation means that patience will need to be a virtue. The four Entain tracks, for instance, will initially leave the relevant comment line blank pending a final decision which could mean a wait until the end of a meeting before it is in the public domain.