Gillespie to take on board ‘new ideas’
With Wednesday’s card abandoned due to high winds, the Prestbury Park supremo made the crucial decision to add the races to those on Thursday and Friday.
Extra capacity was opened up on Thursday for some of those paying customers who lost out and as usual, the course was packed to the rafters.
“The meeting has been a phenomenal success and from what people have said to me over the last couple of days the measures we took to save the races from Wednesday have been well-received,” said Gillespie.
“It is testament to everyone involved that we still had a full programme, but I still do feel very sorry to those who lost out on Wednesday.
“The last two days have given the meeting a fresh feel and have shown us a lot of new ideas as to how we can possibly do things differently in the future.
“We will learn from this week and will not be afraid to try new ideas in the future to benefit all of our customers.
“When people are expecting a result, you often don’t get it, but we certainly did in the Gold Cup this afternoon with Denman leading home a fantastic Paul Nicholls one-two-three.”
The Friday attendance was a sell-out 66,437.
In contrast to some other years, just one equine fatality was reported, that coming on the final day after Whispered Promises fell in the Coral Cup.
