There has been a successful start to racing recommencing at Wolverhampton after the installation of a new Tapeta surface, Arena Racing Company (ARC) has announced.
The first ever race on Tapeta in Great Britain got underway at 2.15pm on 11th August 2014 in front of a crowd of 2,000 racegoers.
The field of eight travelled well in the 32Red Casino Median Auction Maiden Stakes with the race being won by Ed Vaughan-trained Primrose Valley.
The presentation to the winning connections were made by local MP Paul Uppal (pictured above, left), Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton South West. Wolverhampton Racecourse is within Mr Uppal’s constituency and he was attending to show support for British Racing as part of Back Your Local Racecourse Week. This is a joint venture between the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) and the Racecourse Association (RCA) and is taking place between 11th and 17th August.
Alan Pickering (pictured above, centre), owner of Primrose Valley (pictured right), said: “I’m a big supporter of All-Weather racing and look forward to having more runners during the All-Weather Champions, particularly here, and at Lingfield Park and Kempton Park.”
Ed Vaughan, trainer of Primrose Valley, said: “She broke and travelled on it really well. There appeared to be virtually no kick back – not that it would have affected us! I am looking forward to having a lot more runners at Wolverhampton in the months ahead.”
Frederik Tylicki, jockey of Primrose Valley said: “It rode really well. I could find no fault with it.”
David Roberts, Managing Director for Wolverhampton, Worcester and Southwell expressed his delight and said, “We would like to thank everyone who is here this afternoon to be involved with and support this exciting day for Wolverhampton racecourse, and All-Weather racing in Great Britain. I would very much like to thank everyone who has been involved in re-laying the track, as well as the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), National Trainers Federation (NTF) and Professional Jockeys Association (PJA) for their continued positive engagement.”
Fergus Cameron, Clerk of the Course at Wolverhampton, said: “Initial feedback on the new Tapeta surface has been positive. We are really pleased the track is riding well and will continue to work closely with the Tapeta Footings team to ensure the surface is maintained to the highest standard.”
Michael Dickinson, Founder and Owner of Tapeta Footings, said: “We are delighted to have helped bring Tapeta to British Racing. The track has proved fair and formful and every jockey has reported it as a safe surface to ride on. We hope it will provide years of excellent racing at Wolverhampton. We will continue to work closely with the team at Wolverhampton to ensure the track meets the needs of horses and jockeys.”
Jim Allen, ARC’s Racing Director, said: “Today underlines ARC’s commitment to All-Weather racing in Great Britain. We have made major investments in all our All-Weather surfaces at Lingfield Park, Southwell and now here at Wolverhampton. In addition we have exciting plans for a new All-Weather track at Newcastle which will make a major contribution to the future of All-Weather racing in Great Britain. We will also be sharing plans for the forthcoming 2015 All-Weather Championships in the coming weeks.”
Allison is the Publisher of Eclipse Magazine. She loves going to the Races and is learning to bet (despite being officially the worst bettor in the History of the Universe), there’s a lot more to learn…
