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Taunton’s next race meeting on Thursday 1st March at
2.20 renews an association which reaches back over many years.
This is the annual Royal Bath & West Race Day, offering
up the prospect of a very competitive 7 race card to which
almost £41,000 in prize money has been allocated. Recent
adverse weather around the country which has seen a number
of abandonments has meant that some Cheltenham hopefuls have
been added to cards which might never have aspired to host
them as owners and trainers looked for pre-festival action.
While most of them will now be more protected as the racing
season moves ever closer to its pinnacle, there is still plenty
on this next Taunton card to attract other quality runners.
Undoubtedly the class race of the day is the fifth, so there
will much to look forward to deep into the afternoon. The
Horserace Betting Levy Board Novices’ Hurdle benefits
from the addition of some £3,600 under the Board’s
Seventh Race Scheme to bring the total added to stakes to
£9,000. This Class 3 two and a half mile outing should
bring some useful horses to Taunton. Immediately following
this one is the first of this season’s Hunter Chases,
always so popular with country race crowds. This is the annual
running for The Mitford-Slade Challenge Trophy over almost
3 miles, the race named for a former Chairman of Taunton Racecourse.
Earlier in the afternoon there will be three excellent appetisers
to follow the opening Seller, The Royal Bath & West Novices’
Handicap Steeple Chase, The Royal Bath & West Novices’
Hurdle and The Deane Veterinary Beginners’ Chase, in
which there’s always a chance of a sighting of a horse
with real promise. And there’s quality to the end, with
the day’s second highest prize fund allocated to the
last on the card, The GG Media Conditional Jockeys’
Handicap Hurdle, which goes over 2 miles with £7,000
added.
At this time of the year thoughts will inevitably begin to
turn towards the Cheltenham Festival, the highlight of the
National Hunt season. Yet there are those who see the grass
roots of the sport as being firmly bedded in venues like Taunton,
which could just provide the perfect appetiser for the main
event on Thursday 1st March at 2.20.
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The
Royal Bath & West Race Day
