Catterick hoping for attendance boost after Newton Abbot abandonment enables later start time

Bad news in Devon was good news in North Yorkshire as Newton Abbot's abandonment of racing means Catterick will switch to the afternoon this Saturday.

The track's flagship Flat meeting, featuring the William Hill Catterick Dash Handicap, had been due to start at 11am and finish at 1.58pm.

It had been shunted to the morning this year as part of the two-year trial of premierisation, maximising focus on the main Saturday meetings by moving some others out of the protected 2pm to 4pm window.

But when Newton Abbot, which was due to race from 2.05 to 5.50, was called off Catterick got the call to switch its times.

Chief executive James Sanderson said: "We've been asked if we'd like to move to a more traditional slot and we've accepted the opportunity. Our first race time will be 1pm."

Sanderson does not expect the alteration in times to cause any problems and said: "I don't think there will be any issue with the change because it's Wednesday and people don't declare until tomorrow.

"As for our staff, we were going to open at 10am and instead we're opening at 11am so we're just shunting the carrier down the runway another hour, which is nothing in the scheme of things."

Sanderson, who was among the critics of premierisation when the policy was announced, believes the change will benefit crowd numbers.

"The casual racegoer will make a decision close to the off and if it's a normal afternoon race meeting that is always going to be more attractive than trying to get here at 10am and having it all over before 2pm," he said.

The £30,000 Dash is the richest Flat race of the year at Catterick and the highlight of a meeting at which the long-running fight for the apprentice championship between Sean D Bowen and Joe Leavy is likely to be settled.   

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