The delayed edition of Volume 1 of the ‘The Programme Book’, covering all the races from January to 31st March, went to print today (Monday 9th January) and trainers and subscribers will start to receive their copies this week.
Publication of Volume 1 was postponed due to the late agreement of the 2012 Fixture List, although details of the races scheduled for January through to March have been available to view online since 29th December 2011.
Ruth Quinn, Director of Racing for the British Horseracing Authority, said today:
“While understanding the complex issues surrounding the delay in signing off the 2012 Fixture List, the impact on the compilation of Volume 1 of The Programme Book has been very frustrating for all concerned.
“The inconvenience caused to trainers and owners has been considerable and I would like to thank them for their patience and understanding.
“The BHA Racing Department has worked extremely hard under a very tight schedule. Usually the proofs for Volume 1 are assembled in August and the book is printed about 60 working days later in November. This time, the whole process has been completed within 36 working days.”
Copies of Volume 1 will be dispatched to trainers in batches of 100 per day from Thursday this week until all have been sent.
The Racing Department are now working on Volume 2 for which a similar turnaround will be required in order to make up for the time lost by the delay to Fixture List last year.
