I would advise against changing the big race to an open class on such short notice. Thursday night is too late. What if I've been on the road a couple of days to get to Ashton and didn't bring any extra dogs and now you let my competitor run as many as he wants? Please don't let John Stewart hijack your race for his own benefit, no matter how many good reasons he can come up with to justify an open class, such a last minute change would be unfair to the rest of the mushers.
I would however encourage you to have an open class next year. It is now very rare to have enough snow for the longer races, and it's not going to get any better anytime soon. In the future have an open class running 22 miles per day, a 6 dog class running 12 miles per day, and add an adult 4 dog class that runs on the Junior 4 dog trail, but not at the same time as the juniors. The sport needs smaller classes for beginners and rookies.
Is the Derby still happening? We were going to come up from Rigby with our family Saturday.