CHRISTMAS light dazzled across Towcester on Saturday evening. In the town, festive cheer bore all the hallmarks of a Dickensian evening with carol singers, some in Victorian garb, braving cold outside the museum.
Yet sweeping along the A43 from Northampton towards the town, a brief glance to the left brings the image of a lurid, yet piercing beam into the night sky. This is no seasonal rendition of A Christmas Carol choked in murky fog shrouded streets from dark days long gone by.
Welcome to the brave new world of greyhound racing at Towcester Racecourse...
And what a world it promises to be, both stunning in its surreal and visual capacity and one which made an instant impression on the 3,000 or so paying customers on opening night, a figure which when added to those sampling the excellent restaurant and hospitality box fare on offer along with an atmospheric buzz in both Empress and Grace Stands, brought over 4,000 flocking to Towcester.
Imposing buildings in daylight, the Towcester grandstands are expected to become a symbol of the new revolution, basking in mystical green light while a white light-lined approach to the course from the historic entrance archway is equally stunning. LED floodlighting of the track itself is equalled only by Chelsea among football’s Premiership elite.
Many of the muttered grumbles in the build-up to Towcester’s grand night questioned just how clear the whole greyhound spectacle would be. Yet seeing is believing as they say.
This is the first new greyhound track to be built in this country since Sittingbourne opened doors some 20 years ago and the racecourse’s existing infrastructure was key to the whole project master minded four years ago by owner Lord Hesketh and chief executive Kevin Ackerman.
Surely the lesson to be learned here is to never be afraid to play your advantage cards to the full. In an economic climate as sharp as December nights this becomes doubly the case.
Twelve races were served up on opening night and the sense of anticipation was acute in the build up to the 7.34, The Towcester Inaugural Greyhound Stakes. Diners flocked onto the balcony viewing while those on the steppings at least had the benefit of a snug, safety in numbers togetherness.
Champion trainer Mark Wallis, originally from Northampton, was expected to win the first heat with the ‘5’ dog Benkaat Boomer but betting at Towcester is never predictable in the land of horses or hounds, and it was Wallis’s supposed second string, Fairest Royal which bounded to victory.
For those of us looking for significant clues among the race names this was of course easy with hindsight. Wasn’t the original Towcester Racecourse inspired, if not completely founded by Empress Elizabeth of Austria in 1876 after a visit to the estate?
Fairest Royal it had to be then, just as King Dec somehow seemed a fitting winner of the fourth with Christmas just around the corner.
Throughout the evening, dogs which burst well from the traps and led into the first bend, appeared to have a definitive edge.
This sounds fitting as a Towcester maxim. The Northants racecourse appears to have adopted a front runner stance in the greyhound world, a cycle which now rolls on to Friday and Saturday evening.
