Stratford to start new era with Racing UK on Independence Day

Exit stage left At The Races. Enter stage right Racing UK. They are the directions for Stratford's evening meeting on Tuesday.

The home of England's most famous playwright William Shakespeare sees a wholesale change of cast as gone are ATR's Luke Harvey, Matt Chapman and Robert Cooper, as well as the rest of that troupe.

Their lead roles are taken by Stewart Machin and Jonathan Neesom, with special guest Willy Twiston-Davies also involved in giving the course a big opening show.

Stratford has already seen the benefit of the switch that came into force on July 1, when they along with Taunton joined RUK.

Stratford's general manager Ilona Barnett said on Monday: "It's an RUK raceclub day and we have had 537 applications for tickets to their VIP room and a behind-the-scenes tour.

"There won't be any immediate noticeable difference to the pictures as the RUK cameras will be in the same place along with the presenters, but they will be looking to see if there are any improvements to be made."

As to the change in media rights, Barnett added: "We've been with ATR since 2004 but the contract came up for renewal and we looked at all the options available and plumped for a change."

Special guest: dual-purpose jockey Willy Twiston-Davies will join the RUK presenters at StratfordCredit: Edward Whitaker

RUK will be visiting the track twice more this month as Stratford has a family funday on July 16 and its ladies' day a week later.

With the latest additions, RUK now has the rights for 37 of the 60 courses in Britain, which sees them cover 766 fixtures, equating to 51 per cent of the fixture list.

Stratford Tuesday card