low sun ruining racing again

What can they do? Would starting earlier help at all? Probably not, but it is happening more and more, and turning races into a farce. We have enough flat racing as it is.

Was there no sunshine 20 years ago.?
Never use to happen

COC said there is nowt they can do about it...

i'm sorry but that is NEVER an answer.

COC in other words,can't be bothered

The sun isn't directly head on to the hurdles and is from around 10 o clock.

Ridiculous

Coulld always try sunglasses.

I must have missed when the sun shining suddenly became a big issue must admit. I realise there could be extreme cases where a fence is made slightly shadowed or blind by very very low sun - but they seem to do it all the flaming time these days just because there's a bit of sun shining on a fence!

eVysor Equine Goggles for horses have been available for a number of years at around £200 a pop, used a lot in Equestrian events, can only assume that they have been deemed not suitable for horse racing or else surely they would have been used by now?

Its a farce and one reason I have stopped betting on NH racing. No point in spending any time looking at form.

this is the last......

The horses are probably ok with it. Not so the jockeys. Thinking more of a tinted visor or goggles for them with my comment.

If you have a good jumper why waste an entry at Aintree in the Autumn.

I was at the last Aintree meeting. I was stood next to the final hurdle. Harry Skelton instead of going to the start came to the hurdle to test how the sun may affect the riders. The sun by that stage was at 2 o’clock and a giant cloud was approaching. Skelton indicated to those close by that there was no problem and he made his way to the start. The stewards still decided that the hurdles in the home straight should be omitted

I was at the last Aintree meeting. I was stood next to the final hurdle. Harry Skelton instead of going to the start came to the hurdle to test how the sun may affect the riders. The sun by that stage was at 2 o’clock and a giant cloud was approaching. Skelton indicated to those close by that there was no problem and he made his way to the start. The stewards still decided that the hurdles in the home straight should be omitted

6 minutes late at Aintree on a busy day, split screen Kelso

Looked out of my window just as the last race at Aintree (14:45) was going to start and the sun wasn't that low at all.  Didn't see what the problem was. The longer they just stand there talking about it, the further down the sun goes.  Disgrace.
Just checked sunset in Liverpool today is: 16:22

Getting worse: missing 4 from this race.

memo to the clowns who run Aintree Racecourse...

might be a good idea to re-schedule the bumper next year ?

so there IS something you could do.

Do they ever miss out jumps for low sun in France ?

Might be a good idea if the starter just said those who want to race line up and have the others withdraw.

Sure some of the lads who dont get many rides would give it a go.

Yes, can at least order the racecard so the biggest races of the day will not be affected, even if that means running them at the start/end of the card and running the bumper/conditionals handicap in the middle.

Humans have been able to predict the position of the sun for thousands of years. Unless they work in race planning.

No fences missed out in France due to low sun.

And yet in France they just get on with it with no bother

Didn't see that

Never happy low sun too much sun too much rain not enough rain frozen tracks add in fog and early dark nights why bother

why they don't use drones to block the sun out is something i will never understand...

can't be too difficult to attach some sort of polythene sheet to a couple of drones...

to say there is NOWT we can do is just poppyc0ck piffle from Sulika Varma.

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Naas...

i'm sorry but no way should the last 2 fences in the home straight have been excluded there...

they showed a view down the home straight from the final bend and there was no issue at all...

no glaring sun (which looked to me like it was coming from the side)...

a dreadful decision imv.

Fences, no fences, fast soft or heavy, rain hail or shine - it doesn't matter. Every race boils down to one choice and one choice only. Lay or back the Mullins horse? And whatever you do it'll be wrong. Irish jumping is desperate.

Doesn't say a lot for English jumps then does it...

The Irish may have the best horses but when 3 yards have around 60% of the runners and all of the ones with any chance in many races, it is not a great watch. With so much racing on, I choose to ignore the Irish to give me time to study the English.

Wonder why they don't have to miss out fences for low sun in France then ?
Is it because they school their horses better and teach them to jump with minimal assistance from the saddle?

Nov 12, 2023 -- 3:20PM, HappyHibby wrote:

Naas...i'm sorry but no way should the last 2 fences in the home straight have been excluded there...they showed a view down the home straight from the final bend and there was no issue at all...no glaring sun (which looked to me like it was coming from the side)...a dreadful decision imv.

Absolutely spot on, look at the shadows during the beginners chase, they're literally at right angles to the fences that were dolled off, meaning the sun cannot be in the faces of horse or jockey

Jump Jockeys not wanting to jump fences, jesus wept.

The courses are happy as there is less fence repair to do, trainers get less fallers and bumps and bruises to deal with. Everyone is happy apart from spectators.

Sage - that's an argument for making every race a flat race.

wouldn't surprise me if Paul Townend blamed the low sun on his earlier faller and the stewards decided to whip out the last 2 fences at Naas...???

i might be wrong tho.

oh dear...

here we go again...

Fakenham Farce now.

strontium, together with the animal welfare folk, low sun etc could easily finish jumping in 10 years.

More rubbish with the sun, shadows look like it's side on again

With 4 sides of a square and a hurdle on each side, one of them is likely to be facing the sun.

Nov 13, 2023 -- 1:43PM, sageform wrote:

With 4 sides of a square and a hurdle on each side, one of them is likely to be facing the sun.

They got the wrong side of the square at Naas yesterday then. Did the low sun affect NH horses 30 or 40 years ago?

Its a total nonsense and the Jockeys and their representatives are as much to blame. When the plug is eventually pulled on the sport, and surely it's free falling in that direction, the current crop can hang their heads in shame at playing a big part in the overall demise of this code of the sport we all love.

They cant see the wood for the trees (rather than the sun).

they should do some sort of test at a yard who is up for it...

get half a dozen horses to jump a few hurdles/fences looking in to the sun and see how it pans out...

as long as owners give it the ok i don't see an issue with that at all...

in fact a pro-active yard would just do it and post the results on social media.

The only other solution is to reconfigure the worst affected courses. Have more of the obstacles on the parts of the course that are not affected by low sun. But if the professionals don't see a problem, nothing will change.

if everyone just says 'there's nowt we can do' then nowt will happen...

it's utter nonsense of course...

they just can't be @r$ed to do/try anything coz they are too lazy...

journalists/presenters/pundits never challenge them...

ends up the betting public being treated like a piece of $h1t...

i mean it's only the mugs who part fund the sport so who cares what they think.

Just got to love the new sport being invented:

National Hunt Slalom racing!

Given the horse's natural very wide peripheral vision, it a wonder they race at all when the sun shines.

Surely this is not beyond the wit of man to resolve.
You can block out the sun with minimal effort with something in the right place. Given the exact position of the sun at any time of the day in any place on Earth can be precisely predicted thousands of years in advance, then surely some sort of strategically placed pair of parallel posts with one or more movable tarpaulins can effectively end this farcical situation?

Just look up at the sky and shout left or right,or cloud please……ffs…

Parking Sensors on the chest strap. When the horse hears the continuous BEEEEEEP it knows it's time to take off. Could also reduce the amount of fallers by taking the timing decision away from the jockey.

i guarantee there won't be any low sun issues on Wednesday anyway.

Retractable roof.

How long before they take out hurdles cos it's got too dark to see them?

at what point will Doncaster be affected by the low sun today ?

Cheltenham also probably now the sun has popped out.