Why not two flat meetings today rather than jumps? Give 'em a day off after yesterday.

Because it is the flat season, might be reason enough.

That's the flat season that doesn't count until whenever it was they decided it counted from, of course.

You will find that jump racing will be sidelined from now on. Today's program is typical of what will occur on Sundays through until November. Saturdays are sacrosanct to the high street bookmakers and Sundays of little relevance in terms of turnover. Apart from the Sandown jumps finale, Saturdays from now on will be crammed with handicap sprints, meaning that 6 meetings can be crammed into an afternoon's program at a time when off course punters are at their most active.

3m chases (taking upwards of 6 mins to run) have no place in such a program. All weekend jumps cards will be sidelined to Sundays. A day when families are more likely to take their Saturday punting members with them. The shops are generally empty on Sundays. So bookmakers really dont care what fare is served up on the Sabbath.

HTH.

Correct me if I'm wrong as my grasp of things may be out of date, I was under the impression it was up to the individual courses to bid/dictate what fixtures they wanted...?

Incorrect, I'm afraid.

They need levy support and raceday infrastructure assistance which may not be forthcoming.

The off course bookies basically decide who can race on Saturdays.

There's very little Sunday racing on the flat,even in summer.

One of the excuses given is that trainers like to allow their staff to spend the day with family.

How come there are plenty of jumps races on summer Sundays?

the jumps staff don't have families (nap)

All geldings?