Ostensibly in France they have a two-tier racing system. The top tracks are run by France Galop and feature all the major pattern races and other valuable events whilst the small provincial tracks feature largely lower quality meetings under the auspice of the Fédérations Regionales. When I look at the French racing fixture list, some of these smaller tracks hardly seem to have any fixtures at all; e.g. Saint-Galmier, Saint Malo 8 days each, Dieppe 6 days. It is very hard to see the practicality of this idea. At somewhere like Chester there is nowhere to put a synthetic track. Kempton replaced their turf course with a synthetic one as they would have no room for both because of their NH course, which would surely apply at the likes of Sandown, Newbury and Doncaster.
