Southwell racecourse officials say they are looking forward to their busiest summer of action “for a number of years”.
The Nottinghamshire venue, which has all-weather and turf tracks, has been selected to host the first behind-closed-doors National Hunt meeting when racing returns following the coronavirus pandemic.
The latest British Horseracing Association revised summer calendar has the first jumps card of the 2020-21 season pencilled in for July 1 at Southwell, while a full race programme for June is expected to be announced on Monday.
Southwell’s executive director Mark Clayton is delighted with the BHA decision and feels it “shows faith” in their ability to produce summer jumping ground.
Clayton told the Racing Post: “For a long while we have been known for providing good, safe ground and a big part of that is down to the team we have in place and to the estates manager Simon Davis.
“It will be more of a show for those watching on television than those here, but we’re looking forward to having a good race programme and a decent number of horses.”
Clayton added: “It was our busiest ever winter and this will be our busiest summer for a number of years. But we’re looking forward to playing our part, when the time is right, in returning jumps racing to Britain.”
