General / Jeremy Grayson / 01 March 2009 / Leave a comment

Jeremy Grayson eagerly awaits the imminent arrival of racing at Ffos Las, fears for the future of Worcester, and has an idea for Ayr that will irk the purists.

Recessions are good for one thing only, and that's my usual tightness with money gets mistaken for providence. Since the economy slumped, I've strictly forked out for the bare essentials only - specifically rent, Timeform racecards and Sugar Puffs.

That will have changed temporarily by the time you read this, though, as day tickets finally went on sale this last weekend for the inaugural meeting at Ffos Las racecourse on June 18th.

I'll have grabbed a few tickets for that evening jumps fixture and, whisper it, I might actually get chance to use them! Compared to Great Leighs' messy, delayed opening, Ffos Las is bang on track to open on time. Not bad for a project that had a rockier start than its Essex contemporary - they had to find a new site from scratch when the original in Pembrey fell foul of planning restrictions.

It looks very exciting from what "in-progress" photographs have emerged. The proof won't really come until horses race on it (Timeform's Chasers and Hurdlers annual once suggested Ascot's unpredictable going post-redevelopment was caused by not giving the new course years to settle down), but the racing surface already looks super, and the big left-handed oval an excellent, fair galloping test.

It actually looks plenty like Worcester, but is well enough sited and drained to stand little prospect of ending up underwater like that troubled course - something that has led me to wonder the following...

Arena Leisure won't be prepared to throw good money at Worcester forever. They'd issued a profits warning even before the summer 2007 floods inundated both that venue and Southwell, costing eight figures' worth of repairs across the two venues. And of course, the economy has gone in just one direction since then.

Only Southwell of Arena's other jumps tracks is active during summer, and it may struggle to absorb all of Worcester's 20 racedays into its own 11-meeting programme alone.

Doesn't offering some or all of them to Ffos Las instead at the right price seem a very plausible alternative, then, especially the meeting on Derby weekend? A two-day June fixture with the next nearest Rules meeting all weekend nearly three hours away in Brighton? Ka-ching!

I actually love Worcester to bits, and its status as the only jumps course (usually) operative all summer that can't be described as sharp is a genuine asset. I do fear, however, that it's just one more natural disaster away from being regarded as economically non-viable; and if Ffos Las can quickly prove itself a dependable alternative summer jumping venue, so be it.

***

Four hundred miles and eight hours' drive north of Ffos Las, another left-handed oval in a state of flux is Ayr Racecourse, put up for sale last September, but currently still unsold.

Recession notwithstanding, it remains an attractive proposition. The paint is still barely dry on some of the £14m worth of (re)development of the site, and crowds were last as big in the 1950s.

Whoever does eventually take on Scotland's premier racecourse, I've got a wee proposition for them.

The North and Scotland are still totally unserved by one, and plans to introduce one at either Musselburgh or Sedgefield seem to have come to nought. So, does the change of ownership - when it comes - offer the perfect point in history to convert Ayr's Flat course to an artificial surface?

I'm sure I've just heard the sound of some of you spitting coffee across your PC screen at the very suggestion, and yes, maybe moving Europe's richest sprint handicap in the Ayr Gold Cup from turf might take some digesting. However, Kempton's Group and Listed contests have successfully made the transition in the last couple of years without the world spinning off its axis.

Furthermore, as well as redressing Britain's poor geographic spread of all-weather courses, Ayr's situation on the west coast would hopefully attract more Irish all-weather performers to Britain in the same way Ffos Las will turf Flat and National Hunt raiders. It's as much the distance as the often modest prizemoney that prevents more Irish runners making the trip over to Wolverhampton, Kempton et al.

Certainly plenty to think about, I reckon - I'll continue monitoring each course mentioned here with interest. Now if you'll excuse me, I have engagements this morning with the Stratford in-play racecard and the Honey Monster...