Good Friday racing had its critics - but Sunday evenings look set to be an even harder sell

Cast your minds back a little more than ten years ago. Proposals to run all-weather racing in a previously empty sacrosanct slot in the calendar were met with fury in various parts of the British racing industry.

The idea of having racing on Good Friday was regarded by many as the thin end of the wedge. Jockeys and stable staff were set to lose out on a rare and valuable day off, the action itself would be low-class and the Lambourn and Middleham open days would be holed beneath the waterline.

The reality was, of course, somewhat different when it came to the first Good Friday cards in 2014. All-Weather Championships finals day at Lingfield was pretty much an immediate success and, while it may have changed venue to Newcastle, it has become an established part of the calendar to which very few would now raise an objection.