Equestrian story by Brian Watters, Tue, 27 Dec 2005 06:04:00 GMT


The Scottish Derby has been removed from the fixtures list just three years after it was instituted as it was considered financially unviable by the managers at the Ayr racecourse. This decision was arrived at after the British Horseracing Board decided to postpone the race from July 17 to July 24 next year. July 17 happens to be the Glasgow Holiday Monday and was considered to draw in crowds.

The race sponsored by Daily Record over the last three years was won by Princely Venture, Kalaman and Imperial Stride respectively. All these racehorses were trained by Sir Michael Stoute. Announcing the decision to axe the Derby, William Gorol, general manager at the Ayr racecourse said, "Losing the Daily Record sponsorship was bad enough and we were struggling to find a replacement sponsor. But on top of that the news that the race planning committee of the BHB had moved the date of the race to what would be a very quiet Monday was the final nail in the coffin."

Daily record had indicated their unwillingness to sponsor the £100,000 event this season and the decision to put the race forward was not what Ayr wanted. "It's particularly sad because it was Scotland's only Group Two race but we felt we had no option," explained Gorol. "While we were delighted with the quality of runners the quantity was always disappointing and four this year was particularly poor."

The Derby is to be replaced by a six-furlong Heritage Handicap, which carries £50,000 prize money. Gorol felt that race lovers would welcome this new event scheduled to take place on 19 July, 2006."Glasgow Fair Holiday Monday is always a very busy meeting at Ayr and by staging our new heritage handicap that day, will add to the enjoyment of the racegoers," he said adding that Ayr was "bitterly disappointed" to lose the Scottish Derby.

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