OWNERS and trainers have been urged to back one of York Racecourse's top Listed races or risk losing it.

As Knavesmire chiefs prepare to open the current racecourse of the year's 2004 season with the traditional three-day May Festival, including the prestigious Dante Stakes, next week, the future of one its races is in jeopardy.

The Glasgow Stakes, whose previous winners include English and Irish Derby victor Commander In Chief, has failed to attract significant fields. In 2002 there were only three entries and last year just four.

That, agreed both William Derby, York Racecourse Chief Executive and Clerk of the Course, and James Brennan, the marketing and sponsorship manager, was proving far from attractive to the punters.

Brennan said an appeal had been made to all horse-racing connections to support the ten-and-a-half furlong Listed race, which next Thursday runs under the Michael Seeley Memorial Glasgow Stakes banner with prize money of £30,000. "It is a case of use it or lose it," added Brennan.

In a bid to broaden the entry list, Derby said that the condition of would-be entrants having to have run just three times or less had been widened to four runs or less.

"I have acted a bit like Claudio Ranieri (the Chelsea Football Club manager dubbed 'the Tinkerman') by tinkering with the conditions," said Derby.

"The race is a valuable outlet for the unexposed horse, so we would ask racing connections to please support the race to get a good field for the contest."

Meanwhile, officials at York are currently in talks to find a suitable date for its popular Timeform Charity Day should it be forced from its mid-June date next year because of the proposed staging of Royal Ascot at York in 2005.

The agreement to host Royal Ascot's five days as well, as staging its own 15 days of racing on Knavesmire in 2005, means that the Saturday and Sunday days of its meeting before the arrival of Royal Ascot, including the Timeform Day, will have to be accommodated at another time during the year.

York's newest meeting - to be billed as Music Showcase Day - should provide a soul-busting hit with music fans on Saturday, July 24.

The Commitments, Ireland's fun-time soul-funksters, whose repertoire is driven by cover versions of host of soul classics, will play to the assembled race-going crowd after the end of the day's sport.

Formed from the 1991 Alan Parker film of the same name, The Commitments have since played more than 3,000 concerts to more than a one million people and have a rousing set featuring such hits as Mustang Sally, Take Me to the River and In the Midnight Hour.

Enthused York marketing manager Brennan: "We wanted to give the new day a distinctive identity and were aware of the success other courses had enjoyed through providing live music after racing.

"We chose The Commitments because their music appeals to people of all ages and is essentially about having a good time."

The band will play from 5.30pm to 8pm on a day when the seven-race York programme will also be supplemented by a big-screen broadcast on giant screens of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes.

Updated: 10:59 Wednesday, May 05, 2004