Everyone's Bidding To Be A Champion

Ian Heitman looks at the line-up for Finals Day

- Ian Heitman

The cold spell of weather which hit the country earlier in February led to the cancellation of many National Hunt fixtures and even a few all weather Flat meetings had to be cancelled due to snow at Newcastle and a frozen track at Chelmsford.

With it looking increasingly likely there won’t be any crowds allowed on racecourses for some time, the big National Hunt festivals at Cheltenham and Aintree look set to be staged behind closed doors and that could even be the case heading into the Flat season with the Derby meeting at Epsom and Royal Ascot unlikely to be open for paying spectators.

The lack of crowds means a lack of income for racecourses which will continue to have a knock on effect on prize money which when compared to other major racing nations is already low.

There will, however, be plenty of prize money on offer at Lingfield Park on April 2 when All-Weather Finals Day takes place, the richest days racing on the all-weather in Europe. Horses who have a high enough rating having raced three times during the all-weather season, which began on October 20, or who have won a Fast Track Qualifier during the season are eligible to take part. There are four Fast Track Qualifiers with each of the six categories. Three-Year-Olds, Sprint, Fillies & Mares, Mile, Middle Distance and Marathon, and the winners of these qualifiers are guaranteed a run in their respective final.

Three-Year-Olds

Three of the four qualifiers have been run, Significantly won the first on the opening day of the season at Newcastle, Victory Heights took the second at Wolverhampton in early December and Mighty Gurkha was successful in the most recent one at Kempton on January 25.