ascot ON or OFF

insp 11.30am

Ive said my prayers ,,,

I hope its off,,,

If it is I hope they move the Long Walk Hurdle elsewhere.

Nothing on the bha website what exactly is there purpose ?

rained heavily in the night;amazed it wasn't called off at 8am.

they should open a book on how many races get run before its called off

inspection at 11.30

Gazo all the smart areses said that about Uttoxeter and ascot yesterday

and then southwell came in and saved us all

Ascot Racecourse
@Ascot
·
30m
FURTHER INSPECTION PLANNED 11.30AM

Racing this afternoon will be a marginal decision. However, we are doing everything we can to navigate the areas of concern, principally on the back straight, down the hill on the hurdles track. 1/2

Nobody commented on Southwell that would have been to tricky to predict

true but if it happened today you would get no money back and miss the best races which are usually towards the end of the meeting

Gazo it’s not ideal I accept that but I think you should give it every chance yesterday Uttoxeter looked sure to be off after 5 races but they sorted a few things out and to there credit got through the card ,if ascot starts I would be pretty sure it will finish they are hardly short off a few quid so don’t need to extract the urine.

why would any racing fan want it called off especially as this is it till thursday

Islesham you have been on here since 2002 I am surprised you ask that question.

Yes, no racing until Thursday and not really much on offer today should it be called off.

I get the impression that they more and more cautious every year. Let's hope it goes ahead.

weather much brighter now...i think they'll race

5 days without racing is a long time

Clerk of the course didn't sound too optimistic IMO.

'Poached ground' on the bends not good?

Moving rails and hurdles.

50/50

Chapman saying Ascot maybe too precious re the ground? Much worse at Uttoxeter yesterday.

Only we British are daft enough to have racing on turf in our winter climate!

And we will be getting more rain with these mild temperatures for this time of year.

raining again...have revised my opinion.

stand outside with an empty jam jar for half an hour posy and measure how full it gets mate

roggrain 21 Dec 19 09:52 
Only we British are daft enough to have racing on turf in our winter climate!

The only other alternative would be AW racing in the winter then....what a frightening prospect!!!

would you risk your good horse on false ground?

Two responses, kevo. Firstly, if AW racing were the only winter racing the quality would improve considerably and two, why is there no flat

racing on turf in the winter?

starting stalls

Gazo, tractors.

I seem to remember there were some national hunt all weather meetings about 20 years ago. Can recall hurdle races but not over fences.

Looks like alot of standing water on track, plus more rain to some. Cant see them going ahead unfortunately.

You would think for the trainers and racegoers sake they would have said either on or off after the first inspection.This would save all the people and horses any travelling problems.They are useless in this country,you cant keep everyone dangling until 11.30,the first race elsewhere is at 11.45.Bloody disgrace for all,punters.racegoers and trainers.Totally unprofessional,such as our horse racing rules and stewards.We are still horse racing in the Dark Ages when others are up to date with todays world.Never forget the time at the Olympics when they brought in technology to measure long jump distances,we still used a Tape Measure a few years after.

did try AW racing over hurdles, found it to be not beneficial to the horses

If conditions were unsafe wouldn't there already be a mass of non runners?

they are trying to move rails to make it safe,then trainers and jockeys will see what its like

I thought Stickels was very arrogant on TV this morning

roggrain,

I'm sure you are aware that top class NH racing kicks into gear in the autumn and winter when ground conditions are more suitable for the majority of the horses. It is no surprise that the top 10 betting races in this country are dominated by the big NH meetings and thefore more popular with the public than flat turf. AW meetings are not even on the radar.

Look at the attendance on the 2 day Boxing Day meeting at Kempton and compare it to the sparse AW racing attendance there for the whole year with only a few bookmakers on course.

AW racing was introduced in this country to keep the betting shops open when harsh winter conditions caused abandonments of turf racing, and obviously the advantage for these tracks are they can have far more racing as the surface is easier to maintain compared to turf.

I lost interest watching the AW racing some years ago mainly because of the low grade banded racing.

When the jumps season ends I will again take an interest in the decent class turf racing usually the first Newmarket meeting.

Jockeys, reps and trainers will walk the course beforehand.

Yes, Stickels was arrogant when posed the question,'what might change between now and race-time.

Stickels "The rails"

Let's bear in mind that they were not going to inspect for Friday's card but called a late one and then said that a "precautionary" inspection would take place today at 8.00. Surely a cut-off period should be used, for example no more dithering less than 3 hours before the first race in order to save folk travelling.

I'm also narked by the number of positive vibes given about inspections that have lead to abandonments. Carlisle were "very hopeful" last weekend but it was abandoned. They must use different weather forecasters than the rest of us.

A second inspection at 11.30 at Ascot is just a joke, folk will either already be there or well on the way.

Ascot Racecourse Twitter feed has given an update on ground conditions (10.28am). Surely they must be very confident of going ahead if bothering to do that.

If you take the winter as October to March inclusive, the number of meetings lost is relatively small. There used to be far more lost to frost (up to 6 weeks with no racing in 1963) than waterlogging but that has changed. This last month is one of the wettest I can remember in 50 years but there have only been a few abandonments. What needs to change is the ability to move meetings at relatively short notice.

Hurdle distances bound to be affected, longer or shorter than advertised distance?

Why the fook does the word "precautionary" ever appear when referring to an inspection? It's either an inspection or it isn't, Is it supposed to communicate that they think they don't really need one but they are looking anyway, well that hasn't worked today has it. An inspection is an inspection ffs, if they are looking be it precautionary or otherwise then there is a concern.

Anyway, it's looking promising.

sageform,

Also a huge increase in the number of race fixtures since 1963.

sageform,

Also a huge increase in the number of race fixtures since 1963.

Just talked to someone that is there - looks like no hurdles in the home straight. Which would mean only four hurdles jumped in the last race.

Funnily enough, someone was asking earlier for Flat racing on turf

Barry Geraghty seemed happy but he is Irish. The stewards still look undecided so nothing new there.

Got a sneaky feeling that PP will be taken out.

heads bowed  ,,think its off,,

Now told hurdles are being put in place up the straight, so it will be proper racing after all.

11-50 and still no decision

Make a decision , that is all management exist for.

Got to feel for the people who are attending.

As usual it's all descending into farce.

Got to feel for the people who are attending.

Shame the racecourse do not.
If it is off , it will take them all afternoon to get away.

sixtwosix:

11-50 and still no decision

Make a decision , that is all management exist for.

UPDATE: The inspection has taken place and the formal stewards enquiry will now take place. Further information will be provided as soon as possible.

That'll be to sell more over-priced drinks.

from twitter

call it off,,ffs,,, wont be missed,,,

Formal stewards enquiry

Surely someone could tip us the wink ffs

sure its not chris grayling in charge and not chris stickels ?

steering group formed to deliberate , pr team hailing it as a success .

Will they be able to race on time if it goes ahead?

Surely the BHA can find a position on the board for Chris Graylin, he'd fit in well there.

GOES AHEAD.

reviewing race by race

On a race-by-race basis. How many races before no refund on tickets?

Monitoring on a race by race basis.

That's code for abandoning after 3 races so as to avoid refunds.

Kevin -pmsl-, post of the month

“Kevo”

race by race ....pathetic.
Clearly there are serious doubts on completion , should be off.

This sport stumbles for crass stupidity to buffoonery on a regular basis.

duffy 21 Dec 19 11:43 
Got a sneaky feeling that PP will be taken out.

Knew it

Amazed if low sun doesn't make a further mockery of it all assuming meeting finishes

Dec 21, 2019 -- 12:18PM, kansas wrote:

Amazed if low sun doesn't make a further mockery of it all assuming meeting finishes

ascot have decided to race anti-clockwise to counter this.

I've been reading their refund T&Cs. If one race goes ahead you get a 50% refund. If it is abandoned after the 'third or feature race, whichever is later' then you get sod all. In today's case I would assume that the Long Walk is the feature race, so you might get 4 races for your money.

Im guessing their is music or fireworks at the end of racing.

another steward's incoming.

false ground?

That stumble will put pay to the rest of the card

stumble by easyrun de vassy won't help matters.

Shame it will be called off as the placepot would had been interesting.

It's where Stickles expressed concern this morning.

'Poached' ground

Who'd have thought that it is Haydock that is the track with no problems.

They'll have to abandon now, if they carried on and something bad happened after they'd been warned in the first race there would be hell to pay.

Odds on to be called off after two chases up next.

BHA Stewards
@BHAStewards
R1
@Ascot
: *An enquiry will be held into interference on the bend entering the home straight.*

Racing fine and 100% will go a head as planned.

If you backed otherwise, you've done your dosh...

Where's this dodgy ground many are talking about?

poss around where the two fences are omitted?

Well done to Ascot for getting the meeting on.

Indeed well done ascot

Unbelievable how many sad negative people there are on this forum who seem only capable off thinking the worst about everything.perhaps they should leave the game alone it’s clearly getting to you.

Yes. Well done Ascot.

It was heaving there today.....By the time I arrived 12.30 carpark1 was full and closed so had to park in 2 which was to all intent and purposes full as well and ended up on dodgy ground which necessitated 3 burly blokes pushing the car after the races. So foxy Bangor and Ascot not that much different ! Strangely there was a tractor around at the time I drove into the carpark, but it wasn't to be seen at leaving time.
Still a terrific day's racing.

Good morning posy

Great to hear there was such a big crowd out in the fresh air watching some terrific live sport with friends and family just before Christmas,the owners of all the winners would have had a day they are unlikely ever to forget which is great as they all put plenty into the sport ,and 3 burly blokes get to do a good deed,clearly many many people would have been very disappointed if the fixture was called off at 8am.

All the best for the holiday period.

Very good effort to race. Just a shame Paisley Park didn't run.

Festive greetings to you too foxy ; it's a long few days to what is probably my favourite day's racing of the year !

Yes posy love king George day and to make the days racing ever better there is a top class card at leopardstown,however my wait till my favourite days racing is a lot longer the Tuesday in mid June that kicks of 5 days of an all round magical occasion,despite much preferring national hunt over flat royal ascot tops the lot.