'It's strange' - Charlie Longsdon calls for clarity in fixing racing calendar

The decision to stage two of Britain's key trial races for the staying chase division on the same Saturday has been criticised by trainer Charlie Longsdon.

Doncaster hosts the £50,000 Grimthorpe Chase on Saturday (3.30), a key staying handicap chase over 3m2f, but on the same afternoon at Kelso the 2m7½f, £55,000 Listed Premier Chase (2.40) will also feature on ITV. Both races have been used as trials for the Grand National in recent years.

The Oxfordshire-based Longsdon, who has a leading chance in the Grimthorpe Chase with Almazhar Garde, laments the missed opportunities in the racing calendar to avoid the clash.

He said: "I think it's strange in many ways, the last few years the Grimthorpe only had seven or eight runners, hence the reason why we’ve entered Almazhar Garde.

"I always think there are plenty of missed opportunities in the racing calendar, hopefully one day it'll get properly looked at and they’ll realise there are too many gaps and clashes – surely there’s scope to put one of the races on a different date."

Longsdon added: "Most of it is done extremely well and it's not as simple as we think, a lot of racecourses don't want to move fixtures, but it'd be great to find out why some things aren't moved, just for transparency.

"We moan a lot us trainers, but if they tell us why they can't move fixtures, or why they haven't, we would at least have an understanding."

Itchy Feet: leading contender for Kelso's Listed chase on SaturdayCredit: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

Windsor Avenue and Cloth Cap – the two highest-rated horses in the Grimthorpe – are the only horses also entered in Kelso's Listed contest, in which the Olly Murphy-trained Itchy Feet is a leading fancy.

The eight-year-old has gone close in a number of competitive races, including a second to Bravemansgame at Haydock this season, but has failed to win since landing a pair of novice chases in the 2019-20 season.

Murphy said: "He's a very good horse who hasn't won a race for a while, he's knocked on the door in a lot of good races. He'll be schooled in blinkers under Gavin Sheehan and we hope they can eke out just a little more improvement."

The trainer believes there is a lack of opportunities for horses such as Itchy Feet, who are having to run in handicaps off big weights or Graded races.

He said: "He hasn't won since his novice chase. I can run him in a handicap off 11st 12lb or run him in a Graded race but he hasn't been able to win one. He's one of a good number of horses with the same problem.

"We all want to win races and want horses to be competitive, but in our race programme there are certain horses you'll search high and low for a race for.

"Ireland has a miles better race programme. They have rated chases, races for horses who haven't won since a certain time, we have nothing."

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