Bars open especially as thousands to flock to Southwell for one-off sporting event
BARS will open especially for a one-off sporting event expected to be attended by thousands at Southwell racecourse.
The Nottinghamshire venue and Del Mar in California don’t have much in common – apart from a track.
But Southwell, which it’s fair to say is famed mostly for lower-level all-weather racing, could prove crucial in City Of Troy’s quest for history.
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The Derby, Coral-Eclipse and Juddmonte-winning colt is aiming to become the first horse ever to win the Epsom feature and the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Bookies make him 5-2 favourite although they expect those odds to shorten if he shines at Southwell.
The Classic, the feature of the two-day Breeders’ Cup meeting in Del Mar, is run on the dirt.
City Of Troy’s trainer Aidan O’Brien believes a run at Southwell is the best prep for his American adventure.
The Ballydoyle boss’ former Classic chances Giant’s Causeway and Galileo did the same, with the former going on to lose the Classic by a neck in all-time thriller in 2000.
Southwell are expecting a huge crowd considering no actual racing will take place.
Bars will be opened as well as Tote betting stalls, with action from elsewhere on Friday being shown on the big screen.
Some 1,200 people have pre-booked tickets but it’s expected a whole load more will rock up on the day to see a slice of history.
Clerk of the course John Holliday said: “Because of the interest he’s generated we’ll open some bars, the Tote will be open, we’ll put up the big screen and broadcast the racing off course before the gallops because we’re expecting them to be a little bit later in the afternoon. We’ll be open from 1pm.
“They’re bringing their own American stalls, their own stalls team, ambulance, vets.
“All the hardware’s arriving Thursday, and then the horses are arriving Friday morning. It’s a fairly big operation.
“It’s getting towards being a full-blown raceday from an organisational point of view.
“We have them in the stables, we’ve had 30-odd press requests, we’ve been asked for permission to film in the stables, I think it’ll be a busy old afternoon.”
Unfortunately ITV have been forced to drop their coverage of this year’s Breeders’ Cup.
But the Classic, which will be run on Saturday, November 2, will be shown live on Sky Sports Racing and Racing TV.
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