Cheltenham Festival
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Been on both courses in the past ten years
And have never agreed totally with the going description
The readings are inconsistent and my feeling is
Its the flagship of the BHA
I think Firm and Heavy are words they reluctantly use
As a last resort.
I have good experience walking galway and your heavy would be soft there!
And have never agreed totally with the going description
The readings are inconsistent and my feeling is
Its the flagship of the BHA
I think Firm and Heavy are words they reluctantly use
As a last resort.
I have good experience walking galway and your heavy would be soft there!
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Back in the eighties I use to walk the course on the Sunday as did many others it was more of a social thing to be honest and good fun as time went on it was made difficult for the general public to do this ,in the end I gave up,however until recently I would go around a week before now I don’t bother anymore.
Regarding your point about the going been accurate then I definitely feel they bend it a bit in 2014 I backed the official going for the supreme novice hurdle as been good around 2 weeks before the meeting at the time they were saying it was currently soft and I have no reason to doubt that however I had seen what I consider a realiable weather forecast and backed good ground at around 10/1 as did a few friends. The official going was given as good to soft by the racecourse however timeform considered it good to firm . |
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Yes thats my experience foxy.
I have been out for the cross country a few times and seen surface water and slipped in mud .....knew immediately it was no where near the good to soft, soft in places. It was a minimum soft all over. Another time could barely stomp a footprint and it was alledgedly good, good to soft in places. The turf covering varies as well as the grass length, 150 mm becomes 200 plus in places, there is a reason for that too i would wager. Was.joking with quinny about the number of jocks out on the course one morning and he said with a wink "ah sure its cheltenham so !" |
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When you think the bha are quite petty about pulling and fining the likes of jockeys and trainers (not the likes of Nicky) yet seem to turn a blind eye about going reports.
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One problem with going reports is they are still subjective. Often not even the jockeys agree about the ground they've just ridden on. The going stick was supposed to address this, and to be fair, we don't see the wide discrepancies we used to when it was first introduced.
I'm sceptical about the speed figure boys who imo get misled by the breakneck pace of many Festival races into thinking the ground is faster than it is. But yes, there's probably still a lot in the old adage that the official going will be good to soft, the actual going will be posted after the second race. |
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Pretty sure that’s what happened the day I mentioned ramruma.
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there is defo politics involved with the going descriptions and that will only intensify after the latest welfare review
1 point to note though about the x-country course is that the ground will often be different to the main tracks because the drainage is worse and there is significantly less watering that takes place so in a prolonged dry spell (like now) the x-country will typically be quicker than the main tracks & in a prolonged wet spell the x-country will typically be softer than the main tracks |
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I was told this by a member of ground staff at fontwell park. He knew where to get the right readings from the stick.i can't remember but he told me how many readings he had to take to get an assessment. If he got heavy readings in certain places he would know it was heavy all over, but he would also know that they had an average of 8 entries per race and if they put the official going as HEAVY the races would fall apart. So given that scenario what do you think he did ?
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took the reading under the trees and called it good to soft?
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Walked the entire New Course today. Absolutely glorious weather. A good consistent covering of grass. It walked “flat good to soft” NH faster than good. Claisse will have to water gradually. All the best!
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Torrential rain forecast for most of the weekend and showers on a few days next week. Premature to water yet.
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Dont think there is a trainer here
That doesnt walk out or around the course As soon as they gets there Nearly every jockey does Because they all know its The most important factor |