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National Fences getting even easier and losing that special appeal
National Fences getting even easier and losing that special appeal
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Replies: 155
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its an industry led thing hh not the tracks themselves
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obv each track have different groundstaff so there will be differences in how much birch they are putting in fences
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unless portable of course
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oh it's blatantly obviously industry led wsb...
the dumbing down effect has been happening for years now... Operation Creep. |
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They might as well just sellotape newspapers across the track at Ludlow, getting more brush through every meeting
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Ludlow has been a farce for years in hell...
other courses following suit now... nanny society stuff tbh. |
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harder to jump Ludlow's hurdles than it is their fences imv.
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Yes fences are laughable now but rather that than the Death Traps of Days gone by.
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Pardubice in Czech Republic is brutal and one could argue that it needs to be modified for the safety of horse and rider. No genuine racing fan wants to see horses badly injured or killed just to make a spectacle.
Only an eejit would argue "but horses get killed on the Flat". True, but I can assure you that a horse in the Pardubice or the National or even a hurdle race at Bangor has more chance of getting killed than a horse running on the Flat. It was great event back in the day but they should just scrap it now. The National has run it`s course in history, like throwing Christians to the lions back in the day. |
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pardubice has been heavily sanitised in recent years, taxis fence been modified a number of times & isn't the taxis of old
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Correct wondersobright
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Doncaster fences look like they have been 'easily packed'...
Billy Boi Blue demolishes one and just kept galloping. |
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no need to pick your feet up
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McCain horse ploughs through one at Doncaster...
the 'make them easier' email clearly reached Donny too. |
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winner 3 out
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freeze the video with the horse's front legs just about to touch the ground, the horse is literally IN the fence
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oh i know wsb...
it's hideous tbh. |
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it's clear there is an agenda...
the direction of travel is blatantly obvious. |
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give it a few years we'll have hologram fences...and no I'm not joking
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the direction of travel is obvious wsb...
it won't be reversed now... pretty farcical if you ask me. |
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I agree
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favourite ploughing through fences at Musselburgh there...
they clearly got the memo. |
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Chemical Warfare walks through a fence at Newcastle...
utterly laughable. |
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never even looked like falling as well hh...hologram fences
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it literally walked through it wsb...
that's not the game i once new... shocking imv... clearly courses have been asked to make them easier... no doubt about it imv. |
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the donny of old...
. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuaEscz9XLE&list=PLfn5x2SD03q5AUWCbaPHyls7pkpKqqORC&index=2 |
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back in the day donny fences were regarded as fairly soft in comparison to other tracks
like brick walls compared to these days |
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vast majority of tracks have eased their fences wsb...
100% guaranteed... obviously they haven't told us that... but they have. |
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What is the special appeal? 6 fallers, 6 brought down and 6 finishers? I much prefer a competitive race with enough in contention a the second last to make an exciting finish.
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What is the special appeal?
------------------------------- certainly ain't watching horses plough through the centre of fences and carrying on as if it were made of feather dusters sageform... it's hideous imv. |
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The element of jeopardy has been minimised.
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that's putting it mildly sf.
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if hologram fences were introduced, it actually wouldn't be much safer
and I'm not joking |
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Fatalities in jumping all round have been an area they've tried to reduce for obvious reasons. It may have removed the 'old days' and old 'appeal' but really we're lucky if jump racing even still exists in context of the modern day views...
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Totally agree Stu, as a massive and life-long racing fan I now look back at the Grand Nationals of the 1960's and 1970's with something close to horror.
No need for fences to be as hard as they were and it was a lottery unless a very special type of horse - like Red Rum - came along. Watching Andy Pandy crash out in Red Rum's 3rd winning national is sickening. Jump racing is safer now and all the better for it. But, I will be surprised if it still exists in 15 to 20 years time. The BHA will eventually sacrifice the jumps to placate the animal rights brigade so that the more money-spinning flat racing survives. |
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There's a fine line to be reached though surely?
I watched a race at Musselburgh yesterday and there was a grey horse literally walked, and I do mean walked, through the second last fence I think it was and stayed in the race. There definitely still has to be a jumping test and element of risk, otherwise what's the point of the obstacles being there in the first place? Horses walking through fences is no spectacle and actually encourages poor jumping techniques in the breed. If we're trying to eliminate fatalities completely, then racing over both codes would be as well ceasing altogether. A sad day indeed. |
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I watched a race at Musselburgh yesterday and there was a grey horse literally walked, and I do mean walked, through the second last fence I think it was and stayed in the race.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- you must have missed lots of jump racing over the last couple of years SS coz it's been like this (and increasingly so) for that period of time at least... Ludlow was the first to make them like a feather duster... and many many others have followed... it's a hideous spectacle imv. |
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Yes, there is a fine line to be drawn. But we were talking about the Grand National and back in the past that race was just too hard in terms of the fences. Even more so when any old hack could be entered. At least today only the better horses and more able jumpers can run.
Of course, commons sense tells us that we will never eliminate horse deaths in racing but the animal rights fanatics do not use common sense. What will save the flat, however, is the argument that a wild horse could easily badly injure itself just running around a forest or a field. In those cases, the poor animal might suffer for quite some time before dying. At least with racing they are put out of their pain and misery almost straight away. (I recall being on safari in Kenya back in 2002. Out in the bush, we saw a lion with terrible facial and leg injuries limping along looking awful. Our guide said it had almost certainly been kicked by a bull which it and others in the pride had been trying to take down. No help for a wild lion in that situation is possible and it demonstrated that animals will die - just like us - no matter what the circumstances.) BTW, don't get me wrong, I love watching the jumps and am off to Southwell for today's NH meeting very shortly, but I now cannot bear to watch the carnage of Grand Nationals past. They were an unnatural test and I do not see what people enjoyed about them. |
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Despite fences getting easier, there's still a fair amount of fallers in races?
There is an easier task to get over a fence these days, but jumping is still a part of the ability surely? |