OpinionLee Mottershead
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Racing's failure to promote Premier racedays is embarrassing - and underlines why help from bookmakers is needed

The sport's leaders should actively support betting's long-held wish to direct new money towards promotion

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Newbury racegoers had plenty to enjoy on Saturday - but whether it felt different as a Premier raceday is debatable
Newbury racegoers had plenty to enjoy on Saturday - but whether it felt different as a Premier raceday is debatableCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Newbury's customers on Saturday may have noticed a little logo in the top right-hand corner of the racecard's front cover. The logo was a reminder that Coral Gold Cup day was also a Premier raceday. It was a rare reminder, for not much appears to have changed on the Premier front. We will find out in the coming weeks if progress has been made in relation to levy reform.

Lest there be any doubt, Newbury served up a super afternoon of entertainment, yet there was nothing that really made the first Coral Gold Cup card of the Premier era feel different to the one staged 12 months ago. 

Perhaps the large Ferris wheel was a Premier Ferris wheel? The likelihood is it was probably just a wheel, albeit it was free to ride, which was a nice touch. There was, to be fair, one tangible manifestation of the Premier project, with the jockeys' surnames appearing on the back of their breeches, as they had at York on day three of the Ebor festival. That said, if all we have so far are a few posterior surname stickers it would be stretching things to say there has been much in the way of evolution, let alone revolution.

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Published on inLee Mottershead

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