Towcester's new traps are in place ahead of adding 460m races
The new 460m traps have been installed at Towcester, with Josh Sealey in charge of the work at the track once more. The track are jsut waiting on paperwork before they can be raced from.
Towcester's new 460m traps are in place
Towcester has installed new traps ahead of the start of the Star Sports & Orchestrate English Greyhound Derby.
The curved traps used in recent years have been replaced in favour of Swindon’s flat-fronted traps - used for the first time for Tuesday’s meeting - which were purchased by Towcester’s management after the closure of the Blunsdon venue in December.
Josh Sealey has overseen the work which has run alongside plans to also introduce a new 460m trip which will be used in addition to the 500m, giving the racing management options - especially for younger dogs.
Towcester racing manager Danny Rayment said: “Everything is now in place. The GBGB have been here and passed the new 500m traps and it’s just the paperwork which needs sorting before the 460m trip can be introduced.
“We really feel this is a step forward for us. It’s more in line with the Irish tracks and has been something I understand Irish trainers especially have pointed out, although to be fair they’ve been successful with the smaller curved traps!
“The traps are in place now and being used for our meetings this week - since Tuesday - and in plenty of time for our Derby trial stakes starting on March 15 and, of course, the event itself.
“What I would say is that there is around a 25 to 30 spot difference in times from the old traps due to the timing mechanism being triggered slightly later.
“This has happened before with other trap changes including when I was at Crayford some years ago and is something for everyone to bear in mind over the coming weeks when comparing form before and after March 10.”
For his part, Sealey added: “The traps are in very good working order. They’ve been serviced and certainly look the part, as well as being very efficient.
“There’s a mechanism within them to detect low pressure and an alarm sounds if the air pressure in the hydraulics drops.
“And having the light pole is useful. The white light is main power, orange is loading, green is dogs loaded, and blue is traps opened.
“The traps are wider and taller with the overall trap width wider for easier loading.”
Towcester’s new traps specifications (old spec in brackets):
Total width 360cm (287cm)
Trap internal height 91cm (81cm)
Width of individual trap 30cm (27cm)
Gap between boxes 34cm (22cm)
Trap length 122cm
The new traps over the Derby trip of 500m
Towcester's new 460m traps
