The abandoned West Mercian Races meeting has been given a lifeline by fellow Chaddesley Corbett meeting, the Harkaway Club.
The late abandonment of the fixture on Sunday 8th December due to storm Darragh had left the fledgling meeting facing severe losses, as all of the infrastructure was on site and had been paid for.
The joint initiative will now make use of the facilities left in situ and the majority of the sponsorship that was in place for the West Mercian Races meeting will now transferred to the shared fixture on 29th December. The West Mercian Races team will be rolling their sleeves up to assist their Harkaway Club counterparts get everything ready for racing.
Nimrod Veterinary Products, Grape Tree Foods, Hills of Ledbury and Spillers have all generously offered to move their race sponsorship to the joint fixture.
The £900 prize pot for the Open at the abandoned West Mercian fixture at Chaddesley Corbett will now be carried over to the Harkaway (in association with West Mercian races) meeting at the same venue, with sponsors Spillers generously rolling over their support to the popular holiday fixture. The Spillers Mens Open race will be the most valuable contest staged so far this season, with £500 going to the winner, £250 to the second and £150 to the third placed horse.
Thanks to the help from the Harkaway Club, the West Mercian Races committee hopes to be able to organise their own fixture again next season.
Anyone who bought e-tickets for the abandoned meeting will be offered the chance to exchange these for tickets for the fixture on 29th December. Likewise, those who made donations to support West Mercian Races will still be eligible for hospitality and the free draw for race day tickets at Cheltenham and Ludlow.