Monday, 19 November 2007

Mixed Open

Well winter is here - I must be a soft southerner but I am not used to snow in November - Yuk.

Well the Open Meeting at Cheltenham was nothing if not controversial.

On Friday 14 year old Spot Thedifference, once again, won the cross country, then stumbled and fell after the line. Luckily he was OK and the cheer from the crowd when he was seek to be OK was the loudest of the afternoon. I must be honest though, I do not like seeing these older horses competing, I would like to see a rule whereby all horses should retire after their twelve year old season. Yes 13 and 14 year olds do win, but far too many also collapse and die either during or after their races.

Saturdays racing was marred by the deaths of two very promising young horses. Willyanwoody suffered his fall in the novice chase and his rider Ruby Walsh was also injured.

Granite Jack met his end in the big race of the afternoon, the Paddy Power Chase. More significantly he fell at the notorious second last fence.

I say notorious because, of the fifteen fences on the course, this particular fence accounts for 30% of all fallers. This is far too high a proportion and something needs to be done to make this fence safer.

The meeting turned into a farce on Sunday when the weather took a dramatic turn and it was only the really hardy racegoers who braved the elements.

In a way it was a fitting end to the meeting that the last race was abandoned.

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