only 8 out of 34 races this weekend have double figure fields

Today  was cack as well
2 many meetings but the powers that be are too fookin blind or stupid to realise.
Im 1.01 its the latter

hello geoff

i dont have a problem with some 4 or 5 runners races you expect them in novice chases around ascot and sandown and generally speaking they are of interest,however we seem to be getting them in all sorts of races now,the worcester novice chase at newbury on thursday has a good entry 17 at the 5 day stage i hope i am wrong but i would put the spread in at 5.5 6.5

NH racing dying a slow death.Hereford and Folkestone gone,Catterick + Newcastle being turned into AW tracks plus the best of the 'Horses in Training' being bought to race in Dubai/Australia.But the biggest killer is the Cheltenham Festival which has become an obsession for almost every trainer/owner to the point where they will bypass much of the season just to get there with a fresh horse on the back of 1 or 2 runs

hello warhan

whilst i agree with you regarding  the over the top obsession with cheltenham,the hereford and folkestone situation has nothing to do with national hunt racing its more the fact they are owned by property developers who the bha are for some reason happy to allow to do what they want regarding fixtures,i do think the increased aw racing and dubai are affecting the juvenile scene which in time does effect the whole numerical side of national hunt racing.

surely a big disappointment must be the lack of any Irish runners in tomorrows big chase.
With a £1 million bonus up for grabs its plain to see prize money means nothing to the likes of ricci, gigginstown etc

i do think the news of the bonus was announced a bit close to this weekend shadder nonetheless for that kind of money you would think a change of route was possible as it happens i thought the only horse capable of doing it would be conneygree which with this shoe problem would have ruled him out anyway.

At the behest of the bookmakers the BHA has maintained a fixture list that is simply too large for the current population of racehorses.
The situation will never get any btter until they admit that there are too many fixtures and radically reduce the number of meetings.
A cut of about 25-30 percent would make a big difference.
They can't/won't do it though so the small field sizes will continue.

As a small time owner my trainer (Michael Chapman) run them lots and placed them in high value races to get placed ... maybe too many very wealthy owners "want a campaign" ...

I would also say like the lottery the prize for second and certainly third is too low

In human sports where proffessionals play day in day out like golf or tennis a third prize is a bonus last 16 is good and last 32/64 or making the cut pays the way

we need to get the place money up .. by a lot ... in a 10 runner chase min for second should be 4 grand 3rd should be £2 grand and 4th £1000

We appear to have a very good crop of 3 mile chasers but only 2 at max can win the Gold Cup & King George.

This is a hundred grand to the winnerrace on proper jumping ground  but no .......Djakkadam , Don Poli , Don Cossack .

Hard to understand the race containing only the same old faces.

I don't think it is just about place money, it is overall prize money that is the issue if the sport wants to attract more owners/horses.
It's not just the wealthy owners with the top horses not running them that is the problem - though I take the point about the Betfair Chase field.
When you have bumpers and novice hurdles attracting very small fields it should be obvious to the powers that be that there are not enough horses in traing to fill the cards.

Being obvious and having the wherewithal and balls to do something about it are two entirely different thing alas

Just looked at the corresponding weekend 20 years ago for a comparison.

Ascot and Aintree were the 2 main meetings comprising of 6 race cards each.

Only 3 races had double figure fields and half of the 12 races had 4 runners or less.

Couldn't knock the quality among the winners though.

Paddy's Return , Sound Man , Strong Promise , Bimsey , Young Hustler and Simply Dashing.

As soon as you pack loads of races in, you also get delays, races running into each other and no time to even breathe between races. Quantity over quality is just a shocking way to manage the sport.

Do punters actually wants double figure fields?

Nov 21, 2015 -- 1:24PM, Swardean wrote:

Do punters actually wants double figure fields?

20 runner race about to go off at Gowran yet only three in it according to the betting.