Chepstow Welsh National - Inspection

good to call an early inspection as there is another racecourse in wales who may well be able to stage it just 1 day later.

chepstow might be able to stage it themselves a day later jimnast. maybe even on the 27th, 3 degrees is forcast for boxing day. don't like the sound of an early inspection, will still have 8-10cm of snow on it tomorrow lunchtime won't it?

jimnast - can't see Ffos Las being in any better position to stage the race which is a shame

Jimnast
the clerk states the w national will be at Chepstow on rp website
possibly Sunday in jan ?

Probably 8th jan with a fixture juggle? BBC & sponsor dependant?

clerk must realise once ffos las got the race with its excellent surface the trainers would not be to keen on a return to chepstow.

WN on "Good" ground just wouldn't be right!

intheknow

coc at ffos las seems optimistic about racing on tuesday and to be fair to him on the occasions i have rang him he does speak more sense than most of them.

I din't sense much optimism- just a chance with some of the forecasts saying a tad warmer from Boxing Day, maybe too little too late. Who knows anyway- forecasts beyond 3/4  days can be so wayward.

jimnast

I have yet to visit FL but have been to Chepstow many times. Chepstow used to be a fantastic place but sadly I find it very disappointing these days. It would be great to see FL get a big feature day, but I can't agree with you on the "going" issue.

And neither it seems can connections.

This years jumps season (since October) there have been 27 races at Chepstow, 16 of which have had 10 or more runners (13 non-runners throughout the 4 meetings. FL has had 3 days racing and 21 races of which one has had 12 runners (NHF) and one with 10: their first Sunday meeting in October (the day after Chepstow) had 17 non-runners alone.

I appreciate that the disparity may not just be down to the ground, but I have noticed small fields there throughout the summer too.

very fair point indeed the sawyer in fact my reason for not reapplying to bet there was mainly due to the field sizes,however i do think the main reason is distance rather than the going,its 80 mins furthur west than chepstow,my post was partly tongue in cheek as tuesday will be the last time i bet at ffos las{if its on }it would have been nice to go out on welsh national day.your point about chepstow going down hill rapidly is the opinion of many people who go racing both as a job and for pleasure,chepstow badly need to know how its thought of before its to late.

Yes I am aware you are an on-course book and would have thought that the small fields they attract to be poor business.

My memories of Welsh National Day go back many years, my two favourites (probably because I backed the winners!!) were Righthand Man and Run and Skip! Both went on to finish 2nd and 3rd (I think) in Gold Cups.

run and skip was 4th in dawn runs gold cup.

only been an on course book for 3 years but been going racing for 30 plus and always put the sport in front of buissness regarding my thoughts about the sport,regarding buissness at ffos las i cant complain its been very good on the whole dispite the poor support from many yards who promised to have runners,the opening night in june 2009 was something anybody who bet there that night will never see again.

Yes, I remember it well. It must be the day that the RP took the photo that is always printed when they are referring to bookmakers at Ffos Las. Punters fighting to get on.

what was that mary hopkin no 1?

It is a shame they can't attract runners. I can understand the Newmarket boys not being interested in the summer, but you would have thought the major west country jumps trainers would have used it more.

Yes R&S 4th, thank you. Good luck on Tuesday if it's on.

Can't remember the words Rib but the tune was something like la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la.

Bombing would be too good for crapstow, a completely horrid racing experience nowadays.

once upon a time there was a tavern
where we use to raise a glass or two
remember how we laughed away the hours
think of all the great things we would do

Those Were The Days   re Hopkins

thank you the sawyer good luck to you also,

i fully understand the newmarket yards but mark johnson sends many.

intheknow

it was ladies day at royal ascot we had two pitching up times that day as the gates opened at 100 pm,i was busier on the last 3 races at royal ascot that afternoon than i was at royal ascot itself in 2010 on the same day.the evening fixture at ffos las i dont think anybody could cope really.

yes those were the days jimnast.

thats the one ribero on occasions i have been known to sing it very badly at the karoke.

i hope thats at home jimnast,not in public!

no no ribero in public thankfully not often.

i will put it down to sam smiths.

that would be a factor.

I thought she was a tennis player!

pardon

jimnast - yes two pitching up times. I got there at 11.30 to get set up for the gates opening at 12. Took 340 bets on the RA races, then got stuck into the FL races. Results were poor and I remember AP riding a well backed winner (or two.

Thought it would be the same this year and pitched up in time for RA. Sadly, only took about 30 bets as hardly anybody turned up until about 5pm. Next year, we will turn up at the 2nd pitching up time, which will annoy a few as the joints will then have to move along.

intheknow the results were not that good but the figures were,i remember getting down there wed afternoon in fact i watched the royal hunt cup in the sp office at ffos las,i had a good look around and felt the best pitch on the track would be number 1 by the paddock,on thursday i said to alan bennet if i could get that for the night fixture i would take it,in the afternoon i bet in tatts 5 as you know by 530 pitching up time for the ffos las meeting the place was bouncing,ide forgotten about paddock 1 until alan came up and said you will get that pitch,the wife could not believe it when i said take everything down were moving i must admit as i was carrying the equipment threw the crowds i was wondering myself if i had done the right thing.i soon realised i had when even before we got the led board up people were just stood in front of the joint trying to have bets with us in fact it was like the scene from fawlty towers when they were having the practice run for the fire alarm basil had pre warned them and they all just stood in reception waiting for the alarm to go of,i had no prices but that didnt matter they just wanted to bet,i got the same pitch for the tuesday in july a wet day for the 1st flat fixture i completely underestimated what the crowd would be like just the 2 of us went it was fantastic again,i have never had that pitch since.

I remember going to FFos Las and bookies offering 1/7th odds a place. I urge anyone on course to take their phone.

another faceless shi.house on the betfair forum ,only one book has ever gone a 1/7th at ffos las yet you claim to have found him rather than any of those going full odds all the time,percentage wise i would say there were more gold flag books there than any other racecourse.


and by the way most mobiles dont work there.

Not faceless, go along to many racecourses and would never bet with a bookmaker knowing that he just has his machine sat behind him linked to the exchanges to make sure they are giving the punter the lowest price possible.

I do think a BHA exchange is needed with all the profits going towards prize money.

boring

Indeed you are jimnast. Thanks for confirming

quantize

That's what the Totepool is - effectively a BHA exchange, with all profits going to racing

You couldnt trust the BHA to run a bath let alone an exchange. People complain about liquidity on here so it would be even worse with another exchange taking some away.

CoC is hopeful