Open day fears over BHA Good Friday proposals

Their concerns come after the BHA accelerated the process and asked courses to submit bids to stage racing on Good Friday next year – one of just four racing-free days in the calendar.

It will see any fixtures clash with the long-established open days at both Middleham and Lambourn where trainers open their stables to the public and provide special equine demonstrations.

Already, Lingfield has said it wants to stage a £1m race-day that will be the culmination of the 2013-14 all-weather programme while Musselburgh wants to stage a Flat meeting on Good Friday.

Both fixtures would appeal to North Yorkshire trainers and James Bethell, chairman of Middleham Trainers’ Association, hopes the BHA will back down.

He says the annual event, started 20 years ago, distributes at least £15,000 a year to racing and local charities, and that the wider good should be taken into account by the sport’s governing body.

“It’s not just about racing, but the local church, the local school and the luncheon club for the over 60s,” Bethell told the Yorkshire Post.

“The people that come round the stables are absolutely fascinated. Even when Lambourn cancelled this year because of the big freeze, the diehards still came to Middleham.

“We had this many years ago when we agreed to Sunday racing because it would benefit the sport. What did we end up with? A load of rubbish apart from the 1000 Guineas and one big Cheltenham race-day in a November.

“Arc, who own Lingfield, Doncaster and the likes of Southwell and Wolverhampton, say they have £1m for a race-day when they have been pleading poverty for years.

“I just hope this is not a gimmick to get racing on Good Friday in 2014, and then race for £3,000 in following years.”

However, the BHA has suggested that commercial pressures, and the fact the majority of people have the day off and would be able to attend fixtures, are pertinent factors.

A spokesman said applications will be invited from racecourses and assessed against a number of key criteria, including prize-money commitment on the day, forecast attendances and overall net contribution to the sport.

Leading German-trained filly Gracia Directa will look to rekindle her love affair with York in Sunday’s Betfred Garrowby Stakes over six furlongs on Knavesmire.

Dominik Moser’s horse won the 32Red Summer Stakes, a Group Three race over course and distance, last year and only found Ladies Are Forever too good when she sought a repeat success in this summer’s renewal.

Moser confirmed: “She loves York and we love York, so we are coming. We must be happy if we are in the first three but we are coming to win. She seems good.”

Middle-distance rivals Al Kazeem and Declaration Of War are provisionally in line for a rematch at Leopardstown tomorrow after both horses were declared for the Red Mills Irish Champion Stakes.

The former had been due to bypass the Group One over a mile-and-a-quarter in favour of a trip to France on Sunday week, but the prospect of rain in Ireland prompted a rethink.

Al Kazeem, who beat Declaration Of War in Sandown’s Coral Eclipse, suffered his first defeat of the season when beaten into third by Aidan O’Brien’s champion in the Juddmonte International at York.

Meanwhile, John Gosden’s four-time Group One winner Elusive Kate misses the Coolmore Fusaichi Pegasus Matron Stakes at Leopardstown following an unsatisfactory blood test.

Derby-winning trainer Peter Chapple-Hyam has been fined £5,000 for misleading or attempting to mislead an investigating officer of the British Horseracing Authority.

Chapple-Hyam, responsible for Frankie Dettori’s 2007 Epsom win on Authorized, admitted to having breached BHA rules at a disciplinary hearing yesterday.

The Newmarket handler was found to have given the BHA doctored telephone records which concealed the number of an individual who was an associate of a person banned from the sport.

Robin Bastiman’s Borderlescott and Bryan Smart’s Tangerine Trees, a former winner of the Prix de l’Abbaye, head the Yorkshire sprint entries for Wednesday’s Crown Hotel Bawtry Scarbrough Stakes, the £40,000 day one highlight of the Ladbrokes St Leger Festival.

Leading jumps jockey Bryan Cooper returns to action at Kilbeggan tonight after a four month injury lay-off. The 21-year-old, who came to prominence with a string of big race wins at Cheltenham and Aintree, has been sidelined since breaking his leg on May 6.