Prize money will top £1 million this summer at award-winning track

AS SOON as the curtains closed on its highly successful 2002 season, work commenced behind the scenes at Salisbury Race-course to ensure racegoers visiting during 2003 enjoyed the experience even more.

The gates open on Sunday for the first of this summer's 15 meetings at the popular Netherhamp-ton venue and a bumper crowd is expected for the annual family day gathering.

The racecourse has spent £300,000 this winter improving some existing facilities and building new ones. The main improvement being the new Members' bar and a new balcony attached to the Bibury bar.

The new bar has been named after 'Persian Punch', the immensely popular ten-year-old chestnut gelding who won a Conditions race at Salisbury in September last year.

Earlier this week the horse, trained just down the road at Whitsbury by David Elsworth, stopped by to officially open the new watering hole.

Other improvements include a new PA system for improved race commentaries; alterations to the parade ring and winners' enclosure; improvements to surfaces outside the Wessex bar and Paddock bar; and extensions to the bar counters in three of the racecourse's bars.

Clerk of the course, Jeremy Martin who is also Racecourse manager, is about to start his third season at the helm at Salisbury.

Looking forward to what he hopes will be another successful season, he said: "Each year we like to make some improvements and we are certain that this year our racegoers will notice an even greater difference.

"At one or two of our busier race meetings last year people were waiting far too long to buy a drink and we wanted to do something about that.

"The new Persian Punch bar in Members' is a facility we are really pleased with and it makes great use of what was wasted precious space.

"The Tote has been retained both within the new bar and just outside it - so we have not compromised anything in order to achieve this new bar."

The racecourse maintenance team have extended the bar counters of three others at the venue and there are now more serving stations in the Paddock bar, as well as the Tattersalls bar and Sarum bar which is in the course centre - and Martin insists they will all be staffed appropriately.

Of the other improvements, Martin added: "We have attached a smart balcony onto the Bibury bar which will really add to the atmosphere in that area. It is also a great feature for the increasing number of private functions we are having when we are not racing.

"A number of people had told me in the two years that I have been here that the quality of the sound of commentaries was poor and almost non-existent in some areas.

"The new public address system has new speakers and more of them will do away with those problems.

"Our race sponsors also needed something and we will have more sponsors this year than ever before. It was felt that presentations needed to be more central, so we have put up a smart presentation stand in the winners' enclosure."

Another feature of the forthcoming season will be a significant increase in prize money which should ensure even more top quality horses, trainers and jockeys visit the award-winning venue.

For the first time in the course's history, the prize money will break the £1 million barrier.

The course will stage five Listed races, increased from three in 2002, as well as the usual mix of competitive handicaps, maidens and other conditions races.

Reflecting on 2002, Martin said he was particularly pleased with the quality of the horses that contested many of the races: "We had some great racing and our usual good share of very nice two-year-olds.

"But Persian Punch's win and the equally exciting Sovereign Stakes were the highlights.

"He was given a warm up race at the course in September before he continued his usual participation in the big cup races at the bigger courses.

"His short-head victory over two very useful horses was a thriller and the cheer that greeted him was the loudest that many long-standing supporters can remember at Salisbury."

The Sovereign Stakes, now a £50,000 race and one that the Salisbury Executive want to see elevated even higher in 2004, will be Salisbury's most valuable contest in 2003, closely followed by the EBF Upavon Fillies Stakes and Axminster Carpets Cathedral Stakes.

"Salisbury is proud to have five Listed races but we want to see the Sovereign Stakes upgraded to Group 3," explained Martin. "We deserve a Group race bearing in mind the quality of horse we get here and our good attitude towards prize money."

The clerk of the course says he is proud of his small, but dedicated team who have been working hard over the winter to ensure that the new season will be Salisbury's best.

The track's position as one of the leading countryside racecourses in the UK was acknowledged when it picked up the prestigious South West of England's Best Small racecourse of 2002 - voted for by the 6,000-member strong Racegoers Club.

"We were all really pleased with that award as you can imagine," added Martin, who also accepted a trophy at February's Journal Sports awards ceremony after the track was voted Top Local Sporting Venue by Journal readers.