Sunday evening racing: 'Every single member of staff I spoke to yesterday was working this morning'

Stable staff union boss George McGrath says he encountered a whole gamut of reactions from his members at Wolverhampton on Sunday evening, the first of six trial fixtures in what has previously been an empty slot in the racing week.

McGrath was on site to survey members of the National Association of Racing Staff (Nars) from shortly after midday on Sunday, and while plenty felt the trial-specific additional payment of £150 made giving up their Sunday either worthwhile, or at least acceptable, a minority view echoed the sentiments of jockeys Robert Havlin and Callum Shepherd, both of whom were on duty on Sunday evening but were critical of the whole concept. 

"I had a fairly basic ten-point questionnaire which still covered all the issues, and I got 66 staff to fill those out," said McGrath. "In terms of a survey, I think that's quite a significant response.