2.15 ON THE MALL?
THE Queen’s grandson Peter Phillips, a prime mover behind the plan to bring horse racing to city centres, expressed himself delighted at a trial held at Aintree yesterday.
A trio of three-furlong races, each with eight horses breaking from starting stalls, were held on a new all-weather strip alongside five fences of the Grand National course.
The Jockey Club initiative is seen as having the potential to be racing’s answer to T20 in cricket.
City Racing, a company part-owned by Jockey Club Racecourses (JCR), plan to hold more trials in the new year with some city centre races taking ®Êby DANNY HALL place towards the end of 2019, at a venue to be announced in January.
What price The Mall in London, under the Queen’s balcony at Buckingham Palace?
Formula One cars already tear round the streets of Monaco and city centre cycling criteriums are growing in popularity.
“It was a success and a hugely positive day,” said Phillips, City Racing’s chief executive.
“Technology allows us to move in and out of cities much quicker now and be able to put a track down, race and pick it back up.
“Ultimately this has the potential to be a fantastc platform for the sport.”
JCR boss Paul Fisher added: “It could take racing to a new audience around the world.
“I think it will really appeal to millennials – a younger, urban audience for whom racing doesn’t normally figure in their leisure time.
“I’m a keen cricket fan and this could be racing’s T20.”
Classic-winning jockey Sean Leavy rode in the trials and described the Equaflow synthetic racing surface, which was used for equine events in Greenwich at the 2012 Olympics, as riding ‘surprisingly well’.