Could it be that Europe doesn’t need so many races for staying juveniles, now that so few trainers seem to have those horses?
Like me, you were probably taken aback at the news that the Vertem Futurity, lost to the weather along with the rest of Doncaster’s card on Saturday, is to be restaged on the all-weather at Newcastle on Friday evening. Newmarket, which is still referred to by some as the headquarters of
British Flat racing, is staging action on Friday and Saturday – why not just send the race there?
The answer, of course, is that Newmarket is owned by the Jockey Club, whereas the Vertem Futurity belongs to the ARC group of racecourses, which quite naturally wants to keep the valuable and prestigious contest at one of its tracks. And here we are once again, deep in racing realpolitik.