According to the Epsom Guardian of 30 April, the racecourse cancelled its concert proposal for 2010 on 22 April because of lack of sponsorship: Nick Blofeld, MD, is quoted as saying he didn’t “want to waste everyone’s time”. Which is odd, because the application for approval from the conservators was submitted only on 9 April! And it was withdrawn just a fortnight later, one day before a special meeting of the conservators was due to take place: hardly conducive to not wasting time. Mr Blofeld reportedly added: “To get the festival sorted out we needed to get approval this month but we haven’t got the contracts signed so I cancelled.” Makes one wonder why the racecourse didn’t wait a fortnight longer before submitting the application? Fourteen months sounds an unlikely lead time, especially when just eleven months was considered sufficient for the (abortive) 2009 concert.
The alternative possibility is that the racecourse learnt that its application was heading for rejection as being inadequate, and jumped before it was pushed.
