this is what wednesday racing use to be like

- and jumping over [b]proper fences[/b, too - Not Portables ... along with horrible Brush Hurdles.

amazing that 28 years later ALL them names are still recognisable, even the placers

whats also amazing foxy, is that you typed all that out  ....

A number of reasons imo
1) The over-emphasis on Cheltenham and its expansion
2) Trainers treating their horses with kid gloves
3) Mainly for hurdlers the proliferation of a/w racing.
That's a start.

after 17 years on here delta i can now type still cant read those www things

could not disagree with any of those salmon in particular point one.

and then foxy boy runs at newcastle...

foxy -

You 'highlight', "those www things" ... by holding down your cursor - and then swiping/sliding over the - 'www,thingy.com/whatever this story,link etc  etc' - which will turn the SELECTED portion BLUE (make sure it is ONLY the PRECISE wanted portion SELECTED/highlighted.

When you have highlighted such -  RIGHT-Click on the BLUE highlighted part -
A 'Drop-Down Box' will appear, and offer you such as >
> 'OPEN this link in New Window/Tab' - or it will say 'Paste AND GO' (NOT just Paste) ... Click on either of those above offers - and the, "www things" link will OPEN in a new Window or Tab.

And no doubt the powers that be will continue to plough money into the Mares/novice chase programme.

What is a cursor onlooker?

www,thingy.com/whatever this story,link etc

That link is  broken, onlooker.

I only came across this haydock fixture as I was doing some research on mole board looking further when he was backed into 7/4 fav for the 1988 sun alliance hurdle the race was won by rebel song who had won at Warwick on a quiet Thursday in February on that same Warwick card the 88 sun alliance chase winner also won.

The west awake ?

My favourite midweek surprise from that era - Miinnehoma beating Mutare and Danny Harold in a three grand novice chase at Chepstow on a Tuesday in January 1992. Mutare had won the Grade 1 Feltham on Boxing, Danny Harrold beat Jodami by 15 lengths in the Reynoldstown two weeks later (also run midweek) and Miinnehoma won the Sun Alliance beating Bradbury Star on his next start.

Correct ribero

It wasn’t that long ago ribero the Towton novice chase was ran at a midweek wetherby fixture a good crowd on a cold day watching mr mulligan beat call it a day

Some great names and memories. Having worked for Pitman & O'Neill in the early 90's I would of worked around Danny Harald & Garrison Savannah. Also worked with Danny Connors who unfortunately was killed as a chaser, Tony Dobbin was claiming & devastated after riding him that day.
Another link to a horse I rode with kid gloves was Vicario Di Bray who beat Celtic Shot the year he won the champion if memory serves. I recall after lots of leg trouble we had him ready to go novice chasing after lots of swimming. On the day of his intended chase debut he stepped out of his box lame, the ramp was down in lorry & he was last to load. Don't think he ever saw a track again.

Haydock used to have 3 midweek Wednesday meetings in Nov and Dec then and no Saturday meetings. Virtually every meeting was full of future festival winners. Just one midweek Wednesday meeting remains now and its a very average card. Like everything else the other 2 have been moved to a Saturday.

Very good memories of vicario de bray winning at haydock his next race he was sent of odds on in the tote gold trophy probably the scweepes back then and was beaten by grey something

Wincanton Thursdays regularly saw Desert Orchid and his pals turn out,consider that when looking at the quality of tomorrows card there

Grey Salute foxy??

Ykick

It was the fence in front of the stands at kelso where sadly Danny connors was killed.

That’s the one tonic thanks

As someone pointed out on an thread a while ago, the irony is that the midweek dross is served up in front of aficionados whilst the better class racing is put on in front of crowds where a significant proportion couldn't care a flying fig what's running.

Shomething wrong  shurely?!

It was a midweek wincanton where Dessie suffered his only defeat over fences receiving weight

Who by ?

Kildimo?

It was a Thursday at wincanton when an unknown hurdler called alderbrook won 4 weeks later he was the champion hurdler

Correct again tonic

Kildimo beat Desert Orchid in the Jim Ford in 1988, but that was at level weights - both carried 11-11.

Sabin Du Loir beat him there in the race named after him in 1991, but that was also at level weights.

I remember going to aintree on the Friday to see kildimo and Dessie run there was only a small crowd back then but everyone there was interested in the horses now the Friday of aintree is mobbed with people having little or no interest in the horses.

Another great occasion was the day Baracouda turned up one Monday at Fontwell. Place was absolutely buzzing that day

I thought he gave him weight anorak on one occasion,on another subject did both Celtic bob and mole board both win on the same day at a Cheltenham fixture

Both at the time with Owen oneil

Beech road won the same fontwell race in 1989 his next race saw him win the champion hurdle at 50/1

Of course that race is now run at the weekend

wow

Just looked back at that Jim ford anorak the 3rd wasn’t bad

now the Friday of aintree is mobbed with people having little or no interest in the horses.
I think that goes for most weekends at a lot of racecourses sadly foxy

Second Wednesday in March is usually quite competitive

Sadly your right wondersobright it will be interesting to see what type of crowd turn up at Leopardstown this weekend.

One for you boys!   Came up in discussion on Monday.  Name a (the only?) jockey who rode Desert Orchid at Plumpton?

Got a feeling this was a charity race possibly John francome or lester

On the right lines Foxy - It was a Charity appearance!!   Not Lester or Francome though.

Another top-class chaser, Beau Ranger, was unplaced in Celtic Shot's race on that card. I know this, because I had £27 each way, tax paid, at 8/1.

Run For Free's race was better for me: £27 each way, tax paid, at 12/1 (SP 11/1) the winner. (As you can tell, I was a huge MC Pipe fan; and Pipe was a huge fan of Haydock - one of the very earliest coups from that yard was on Carrie Ann at 33/1, when she beat 22 others at Haydock in 1980.)

Mind you, I also had the same bets on Bradbury Star at 7/1 and Young Ty at 20/1 in Run For Free's race, which shows what a waste of money betting against any Pipe horse was in those days.

Overall profit £205.20 on the two races. Imagine trying to get those sorts of stakes on each way at morning prices these days!

the  reason  all big races  are run on a Saturday unlike  yester year   the   prize money is based on what the punter  loses  that funds racing  .... punters on a Saturday..a lot more

Danny Connors, now there is a horse that would have started a few threads on here had it been around back then. laid out to perfection for his Cheltenham win.

Foxy,

Yes, that Jim Ford third place finish was the last ever appearance of Burrough Hill Lad, and in the Kingwell Hurdle the same afternoon, See You Then was pulled up lame, having started at 1/2 in his prep for a 4th Champion Hurdle. That Kingwell was won by Floyd.

I remember it well anorak it was the time sis was just coming into betting shops it’s was been eased in in different areas around the country I had to travel to Chorley to watch the racing that day in particular to watch see you then,fortunately it was on route to kelso where donnas darling won the first the following day.

Kildimo was conceding 1lb to Desert Orchid when the latter won his Whitbread. Maybe you're getting mixed up with that, foxy.

prize money was probably better in 1990 than it was today

thanks mikael i do seem to get confused a lot nowadays.

blackbarn

are you going to tell us who rode dessie at plumpers ?

would it have been moorcroft charity day ?

Foxy - it was Easter Monday 1999 and Dessie was ridden by a jockey turned trainer.

jamie osbourne ?

Nope!  - Jump Jockey turned Jumps (primarily) Trainer.   He had already been training for some time at the time of the ride.

Simon Sherwood ?

just had a look at the results book from that day to try and get some help,as i have no idea who the jockey was,what i did notice was it was a busy day for horse racing below are the uk fixtures that day.

carlisle
chepstow
fakenham
hereford
huntingdon
kempton
market rasen
newcastle
nottingham
plumpton
towcester
uttoxeter
wetherby
warwick
wincanton

Foxy - there is a tiny clue in the question - "came up in discussion on Monday". so here's a bit more, the discussion was in the Owners/Trainers bar at Plumpton on Monday.

Salmon - not Sherwood!

honeyball ?

i was at plumpton sussex national day they have done a nice job of the bottom entrance and smartend up the bars by the tunnel.

Richard Rowe? There's at least a tenuous connection as he would have ridden Vodkatini in races against Desert Orchid.

anorak

could you find out if celtic bob and mole board ever won on the same day please i am struggling with it.

Well done Anorak.  Richard Rowe it is!    Apparently David Elsworth said to treat him quietly as he was fresh and could still be very headstrong.  Richard jogged him reverse ways down the straight, then trotted him back then made a serious error of judgement. The crowd cheered as he crossed the finish line and Richard decided to wave the crowd.  Dessie pricked his ears and was off!!  He managed to get him under control just before the downhill fence down the back.

Re Vodkatini, you are correct. Can't remember the race but it was the one of the ones where Vodka planted at the start. He was really fancied to beat Dessie that day, in receipt of nearly two stone.

was the clue about monday at plumpton red herring

Foxy,

Can't find any evidence that they did. In the first season that Mole Board ran, the one that ended in his defeat at the 1988 festival, he won bumpers at M Rasen and Warwick, novice hurdles at Nottingham, Cheltenham and a Champion Hurdle trial at Haydock. In that same season, Celtic Bob won at Windsor and Ludlow and in the next two seasons, he only ever won at Southwell. Mole Board didn't win any race after his novice season until Ascot as a 9-y-old, just over three years after that festival defeat.

thanks anorak i seem to recall an ew double on two owen oniel horses on the same day,mole board was one and it would be in his early days pretty sure the cheltenham win the other horse may not have been celtic bob.

No not at all Foxy!   Richard Rowe had runners at Plumpton on Monday and he told the story!!

Foxy,

They did win same day, but different tracks, Mole Board (2/1) at Cheltenham and Celtic Bob (9/2) at Windsor - New Years Day 1988.

Ykick

It was the fence in front of the stands at kelso where sadly Danny connors was killed.

I was back home, saw it on TV, recall Tony coming across inside of track with saddle in tears..I was at bangor the day we lost Voyage San Retour as well, held him while he was put down in yard after racing, he was clear at last with Mark Dwyer and fell and fractured his shoudler, Real Class won from memory i think, I remember in the lorry on the way to races & Gordon Richards's lorry passed us with Real Class in it, Martin Todhunter was driving, old Stan our driver passed a comment to me & Dobbin, 'That's the only way Real Class will be able to pass us today' he was right but probably my worst day in racing. He was 3rd in Champion Hurdle & won his first few chases..We had some nice potential novice chasers that year, Maelkar, Danny Connors, Voyage San Retour, Vicario Di Bray, turned into disaster really..

Understand now blackbarn,

Thanks for your help anorak I should think Windsor held the New Year’s Day hurdle back then.

It can be a cruel and hard game ykick was you with Jonjo at jackdaws castle ?

no foxy at Skelton Wood End outside Penrith/Carlisle..well before that move..in those days u worked through autumn, winter & spring & then were out of a job come summer..summer jump racing was a figment of my imagination..there was all weather jump racing in those days, one the lads working for Jonjo, P J Mclouglin actually had the final crushing fall over jumps on the all weather, basically ending it as spectacle...
we lost some good horses that year, Tactico Bobbie Stack, Tactico got injured at water jump at Newbury, put down few days later.think the same guy owned them both, Dagleish from memory.one disaster after another..Gipsy Fiddler was still there..Stay Awake who gave Dobbin his first winner was another, Bolaney Boy who ran well in a Coral, beat Dawson City at Haydock one day, I looked after him, looked after another who beat Carrick Hill Lad in Novice Hurdle at Carlisle, Loran Weir rode him. The owners still have horses with Jonjo which says a lot..Ambleside Harvest was horse..could go on and on..tough game at the bare face

some familiar names there ykick ,aw jumps was awful lets hope nobody ever suggests about bringing it back,when jonjo was at penrith we had a horse with george moore at middleham although she did win a couple of races things were not going right so we asked jonjo to take her,after about a week he told us she wont stand training anymore and we should cut are losses and take her out of training which we did,i always felt that was very honest of him rather than stringing us along for 12 months or so,i still consider jonjo a relatively new trainer but of course he is not and when you look back at the horses you mention you realise how long he has been training.

good luck

Vicario De Bray 1 of the easiest winners you are ever likley to see @ Haydock think hjs next run was the schweppes hcap @ Newbury where he started  very short price fav bot got beat

grey salute beat him at newbury its on the thread earlier geoff the day he won at haydock {friday afternoon}he was very strong in the market.did win the haydock champion hurdle trial a year or so later.

Morning foxy,excellent prize money at Catterick today but not an ew first 3 race in sight.

morning ribero its been the same all winter some small fields where i am going but quality ones with some very tricky handicaps.

I take it you're heading over to Ireland?The mares handicap today is a virtual re run of a Wetherby race on Dec 27 surely showing there's not enough horses for these types of races yet we are bombarded with them.

yes midday flight from ringway at last some good racing i thought cheltenham last week was just ok by its normal standards for that fixture.