I had long been intrigued to find out about all weather racing at Wolverhampton and on Monday I had the ideal opportunity to make the 100 mile journey up the M5 to witness the action. Wolverhampton is Britain's first floodlit racecourse. The inaugural all weather meeting was Boxing Day 1993, although the newly built facilities and all weather track were opened officially by Her Majesty the Queen on 24th June 1994. So all weather racing on this polytrack surface (sand, rubber chips and wax resin to bind it all) has been around for a while now. Whilst all weather racing has its critics, I am certainly not one of them, particularly when you find out (by paying a visit, which I urge all race goers to do at least once) how hard a racecourse like Wolverhampton is working to open its doors to as many would be race goers as possible and to give them great value for money. I got a really good positive vibe about the place from the moment I pitched up in the car park. Easy to find and well sign posted from the motorway you are quickly into the heart of the racecourse if entering via the Holiday Inn club entrance. Here I was met by Lindsey and Lesley both part of the dynamic sales team at Wolves. Lesley took me on a tour of the facilities before racing started just so I could get my bearings and get some of the hard investigative work done before our lunch appointment in Horizons, the panoramic restaurant with fantastic sightlines over the entire course and right up the finishing straight. My business partner wasn’t able to make it so Lesley had to put up with me over lunch instead! There really is something for everyone at the racecourse including a large sized conference space Ringside which becomes a nightclub on Saturdays, bars and betting facilities on every floor of the Dunstall Park grandstand each catering for either the regular punter who wants a cosy pub type atmosphere on the ground floor (Weighed In) with close proximity to indoor (on Mondays or in bad weather) independent bookies, to the very comfortable leather armchairs in the family/owners & trainers Dunstall Suite on the 1st floor , well appointed private hospitality boxes (can seat 8-64 people at a time) to Horizons on the 3rd floor. If you haven’t booked a table in Horizons, which is advisable as it’s so popular, then you can also try the hotel which again was pretty busy for a Monday afternoon I thought. There is plenty of crossover between the hotel and the racing which all makes sense because it’s actually part of the race course and this makes for quite a buzz about the place at any stage of the week I reckon. It also makes for a perfect conference destination where you can mix business with the pleasures of a fun afternoon or night at the races. Having explored the course we headed for Horizons. Immediately it made me think of the panoramic at Kempton and as Lesley was quick to point out it was Kempton who copied their idea (table side TV screens to boot)...imitation being the highest form of flattery of course! The food and service was slick and of a very high quality. I had a delicious creamy mushroom soup, pork loin with extra loud pork crackling and an almond and pear tart for pudding. To those who know me well I am a closet food snob who loves watching TV master chefs at work (loving Lorraine Pascale right now) and, whenever possible, sampling good food and wine. The chef at Wolverhampton deserves extremely high praise. My loin was tender and the vegetables deliciously fresh. The really classy touch was the orange zest mascarpone cream served with the tart...so original and refreshing too. Chatting to Lesley over lunch made me realise how important racing is to their local community. Wolves will stage around 100 fixtures this year so it’s a busy place and it gives local trainers like Reg Hollinshead, Tony Carroll and Mark Brisbourne to name just a few the ideal place to send their runners. If only I’d followed her advice and actually backed them I would have shown a handsome profit on the day. I did however back Richard Hannon’s runner Captain Cool in the second race which gave me a cushion which I needed to lean on for the rest of the afternoon. The main reason for this was the distinctly poor run by Harry Lime in the 4.30pm Maiden Stakes, trained by Mark Johnstone and ridden by Joe Fanning the horse was sent off as 9-2 2nd favourite and with a Derby entry to boot thought it might at least make the frame.....ended up coming last beaten several lengths by Crystal Sky ridden by Jimmy Quinn. But the lack of betting success certainly wasn’t going to put me off my day. I think it’s a sign of the economic times that a horse like Erinjay who won the seller at 4pm and who has now won 5 of his last 10 starts wasn’t bought in the auction conducted immediately after the race. I really think this horse would repay the outlay quite quickly and yet there were no bids (see video clip); sadly I didn’t have a spare £3K. On leaving the racecourse I spotted a very smart black Mercedes endorsed with the JSC Sport logo; I was straight on to my mate Johnno Spence to see if he was at the races but, as it turned out, he was on holiday in Mustique and the car, as it happens, is owned by a certain Hayley Turner! So, a big thumbs up to the team at Wolverhampton from one of your growing army of happy race goers. If new visitors keep receiving the same warmth of welcome attracted by the varied programme of entertainment (see below for upcoming examples of this) laid on by the racecourse then you will thrive even in these harsh economic times. Well done again and thanks to Lesley and Lindsey for looking after me so well.
Saturday 12th March – Lincoln Trial Day with Pro/Am Darts Challenge
This is the only Saturday afternoon race meeting at Wolverhampton and features 2 prestigious races, The William Hill Lincoln Trial and the Lady Wulfruna Stakes.
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