TRADITION is being increasingly discarded in racing. It was a surprise to see Thurles race on a Monday last month – it was on January 5th and this meeting would traditionally have been staged on January 7th, the day after Little Christmas.

Tinkering with race dates is very common these days in Britain. Now they are talking about returning the July Cup to a Thursday and there is even talk of moving the Epsom Derby back to its old Wednesday slot.