Sandown organisers trying to attract more entries
The organisers at Sandown are trying to attract entries for the Betfred Contenders Hurdle and Challengers Novices' Chase, which are scheduled to take place on Saturday, February 4, 2012.
Only eight entries have been confirmed for the Contenders Hurdle whereas six runners showed interest in the Challengers Novices' Chase. The organisers feel that these numbers are very low, thus they reopened the entries for the events.
There is a chance that a few more runners will get attracted to the Contenders Hurdle, in which, Binocular, has been tipped to take victory. He likes racing in this event, and has been successful at the venue for the past couple of years.
The Nicky Henderson trained horse has got a pretty much impressive record in hurdle races. He has entered 18 of them until now, and emerged victorious 10 times. Other than that, he finished runner up on a couple of occasions and took the third place
in four events.
There were only two occasions, where the eight-year-old horse was unable to end up in the top three. However, he will definitely get the best price by the bookmakers for his impressive history.
The lesser number of entries in Sandown is not the only concern for the organisers, as the freezing weather has also become a big problem. The racecourse might get affected by the frost, which will eventually disrupt all the races at the venue.
According to a clerk at Sandown, Andrew Cooper, “It's forecast to get very cold overnight from Wednesday onwards and we have covered the whole course this afternoon. The daytime temperatures are expected to be pretty woeful as well so we will have
to take a view later in the week.”
The British Horse Racing Authority (BHA) is also coming up with some solutions for the extreme temperatures at Sandown. They might even change the fixtures, but have not come up with any final decisions yet.
According to a BHA spokesman, John Maxse, “We are hopeful for Wednesday's meetings but for Thursday and Friday we are considering moving our twilight all-weather meetings to the afternoon. Beyond that it will be 24 or 48 hours until we make a decision
on any replacement fixtures.”
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