Early return too expensive for Ffos Las
Ffos Las executive director Phil Bell has revealed it was too expensive to stage races at the course this summer.
Racing of course returned in England on Monday two weeks ahead of the scheduled restart at Chepstow on June 15, while Bangor-on-Dee will be racing once again next month.
However, Ffos Las – which had been pencilled in for four meetings across June, July and August – will not be seeing any action until October, and that has been put down to the cost of adhering to strict protocols.
“It just wasn’t viable to mobilise the course with the current regulations and protocols that we have to adhere to,” Bell told the BBC.
“It’s quite expensive to mobilise a racecourse to race behind closed doors with all the signage and the extra staff that need to come in on a race day.
“The weighing room that we have at the moment isn’t big enough because of the social distancing required, so we’d have to create a new weighing room for the jockeys, which is expensive.
“But it’s only a short-term issue with Ffos Las. It’s in the fixtures process for 2021.
“It will have around 20, 22 fixtures next year, it’s just a short-term economic decision, nothing sinister at all for the long term.”


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