I read with interest that a delegation from Saratoga Springs has visited York Racecourse to get some idea of how the improvements have been achieved (New to old York, The Press, May 23).

I am quite sure they would be treated to a few glasses of County Stand champagne, but I would lay odds that they were not shown around the Family Enclosure. It is a disgrace, little more than a muddy ploughed field.

A section of the grassy bank on that side of the course has been cut out and the soil used to level the top area, thereby creating the mud and the appearance of a building site. Presumably, this has been done to accommodate the corporate hospitality tents that can now be pitched on level ground.

In my opinion, this begs three questions of William Derby, the clerk of the course:

1 Why wait until this April to start a project like this?

2 How are the many best-dressed ladies in the hospitality tents going to manage to negotiate the now steep muddy bank in their high heels?

3 How are the 5,000 or so people that have supported York Racecourse on Family Day for a number of years now going to squeeze into an area that has been greatly reduced in size?

Finally, I should like to advise anyone who is intending to pay £5 to visit the Family Enclosure on Saturday to take their wellies.

Ian Bradshaw Jamieson Terrace, Albemarle Road, York.