There is currently 1 person viewing this thread.
Rather pessimistic statement by the new chiefs at the BHA about the effect of climate change on summer jumping. The way things are going this year, summer ground might continue until Christmas. If watering is banned then it will be flat racing as well that could be cancelled during long droughts. However, 1976 which was the driest year in my 70 years of clear memory was followed by one of the coldest and wettest summers in 1977 so you never know. At least we are not getting years when racing is off for frost and snow for weeks on end.
sort by:
Show
per page
Replies: 21
|
By:
they seem to be turning their guns on summer jumping yet the fixtures being moved are the tracks that haven't raced during the summer & are being transferred to tracks that have
go figure |
|
By:
I doubt there is any need to panic just yet.
Would losing/cutting back summer jumping be such a disaster? It might stop Skelton's quest for a million winners, but you would have thought many wouldn't mind a proper break. My reading is warmer and wetter winters and much too hot days. |
|
By:
its everything that needs cutting back not just summer jumping
|
|
By:
Absolutely, there was more than enough racing before all-weather racing. I think the idea was to replace meetings that were called off. Now said meetings are not called off so we have both taking place. Racecourses are never going to cut back. It seems that much of the sport just exists to facilitate wall to wall gambling. Then ironically there is supposed to be concern about addiction.
|
|
By:
a/w is probably the best supported but I agree with you dd its either/or because there aren't enough horses to sustain the current fixture list
|
|
By:
newmarket today 7f 2yo maiden 4 runners, 1m 2yo maiden 3 runners...should have canned the 1m maiden & reopened the 7f race
6 race card would have sufficed |
|
By:
Because we live in a country where, it seems, the loudest voices rule the roost, as opposed to those with the most sense. And because the animal rights people have such a loud voice, I can see the BHA eventually caving in and steeplechasing being pahsed out, followed by hurdles.
That would appease the the fanatics for a while and leave flat racing - where the real money is in the breeding - to go on for longer. But it would only be the thin end of the wedge because the fanatics would soon go after that. Although I long thought summer jump racing, certainly from June to August, was a wrong step, phasing that out is the first step to caving in about NH racing completely. BUT, if summer junmps were phased out, are the likes of Bowen and the Skeltons etc. etc, plus the sales agents who source the horses, likely to lose £40+k of their income without reverting to legal measures for restraint of trade? I wonder. The fact is that those who run UK racing have let too many genies out of too many bottles in the past twenty years or so and will struggle to put them all back in. Short-term gain often leads to long-term pain but the BHA have no concept of that at all. |
|
By:
And the relentless changes to starting procedures, omitting obstacles due to the sun etc. More radical decisions are required such as stalls designed for jump horses, moving fences and hurdles to minimise the problem of low sun. They know exactly when the risk is there. The Sun has been in exactly the same place in the sky at 4.20pm on October 4 at Uttoxeter since racing was invented. Move race times or move the fences. Neither is that hard to do. Bit like Wimbledon who insist that it is an outdoor grass tournament and only close the roof after the rain starts. Pathetic.
|
|
By:
They had it right previously imo, re the jumps Market Rasen Saturday night late May signalled end of jumps season
new season started early August at Newton Abbott and gradually grew from there (think my memory is correct in this) Same with AW (which I actually like so don't want rid of that!) should be September through to AW finals day in April then a break and turf only - yes they may lose a few fixtures to waterlogging etc but less racing overall should mean more prize money for remaining races and more competitive fields, bigger crowds and a reduction in overall cost of day out. I realise none of this will actually happen but it's my tuppence worth  |
|
By:
Absolutely, sageform.
What shames the UK as a nation with regard to omitting fences is that France has steeplechase fences that are unable to be moved or omitted at many of their tracks. I cannot imagine that low sun does not present an 'issue' in that country, yet they carry on regardless - as far as I know anyway. What shames us is how the whole countery is frightended of its own shadow (excuse the partial pun) and now so risk averse I am surprised any of us chance geting out of bed in the morning. OK, riding a huge steeplechaser across one ot two fences with a low sun isn't ideal (I say that before the nambty-pampies pounce on my view) but we have been doing it for a very, very long time and they do it in most other racing nations. No, the UK is now ruled by fear of litigation - most of which would be dismissed by any competent judge - to the point where ours lives are negatively affected. And.. do we need startiong stalls for jumpers? A novel idea but not really required. All is needed is competent starters who do not try so hard to make each start 'perfect' and jump jockeys to show more common sense in not trying to steal a few yards in races of at least 2 miles!! |
|
By:
You are correct north east with the finish Saturday night at rasen then resuming in August at newton abbot with Devon and Exeter the following day ,
You are also correct with the rest of your post |
|
By:
There is one advantage to small fields and lots of racing.
It does give a lot more owners, esepcially syndicates, the chance to win races. If we end up with bigger and more competitive fields, I fear a lot of syndicates will not win races and their numbers shrivel up and die. Modern society is not renowned for its patience in anything and I do fear a lot of syndicate owners will fly their nest if they do not win at least one or two races, not necause of the prize money but simply because going racing to see a horse you partly own finish well beaten in many a big field would soon put people off. |
|
By:
put some sungalsses on if the sun is out...
thats what most folk do.... dont they |
|
By:
the HORSES /JOCKS couldnt see the SUN because the FENCES used to be 2 ft higher
, MIKE PARRY in one of his skits with ALAN BRAZIL on talksport 20 yrs ago uggeted SUNGLASSESS/VISORS and WING MIRRORS on horses |
|
By:
It is the horses that can be blinded by the sun. The jocks could easily wear tinted goggles (or shut their eyes) but the horses need to see the fence. Moving some fences is possible on most NH courses and moving the key races to at least 2 hours before sunset would solve most of the problems. But of course the TV companies and sponsors now decide when sports events take place. Silly me.
|
|
By:
As I keep saying, horses in other countires have no issues jumoing fences into the sun!! Fences are not omited in France, but arwe racetimes adjusted to get around the 'issue'? And, of course, for many, many, many years NH racing in the UK did not have this low sun issue. No, it is our sh*t scared attitude throughout that is causing the problem.
|
|
By:
in ire the other day think it was sligo they had multiple fences omitted in 1 race, not fences in a straight line but all different approach angles
|
|
By:
less racing overall should mean more prize money for remaining races
Less racing overall would also mean less prize money for the remaining races. The courses get media rights payments for each race they stage. Less racing simply means less money overall. ________ I'm coming more and more to the conclusion that all racing governance and 'leadership' should disband itself, get out of the way and let the racecourses just put on fixtures according to what the market - racegoers, punters, owners and trainers - wants. After all, that is how horse racing began and developed in the happy days we remember from the past. Horse racing arose the way it did because that is how the participants wanted it, not how some governmental busybodies like the BHA planned and ordained it. |
|
By:
Be careful what you wish for. If all courses were independent of a central body, it would be much easier for a Government to ban it. The sport has changed in so many ways in my lifetime. I can remember when big flat races had 40 runners and no stalls! And the Grand National was generally won by one of the handful to get round without falling of being brought down.
|
|
By:
Fair point, sageform. It's worth noting though that the Greyhound Board of Great Britain proved powerless when the far left chose to ban dog racing in Wales and Scotland.
|
|
By:
I didn't say that the BHA would save racing but without a united voice the Government would find it much easier to ban it. We alrady have smaller parties in Parliament calling for a ban. Are punters sufficiently united to support racing? I doubt it.
|