New Year is a time for looking forward and The Beast has dusted off his crystal ball to have a look ahead to 2009. (Is it really 2009 it seems it was only yesterday we were seeing in the new millennium).
Like everywhere else the credit crunch will dominate racing in 2009 and by the end of the year I can see there being a lot fewer horses in training (which may not be a bad thing).
I also envisage at least two of our courses disappearing for good in 2009, although we will see the opening of a new course at Ffos Las. However most racegoers will a) not have a clue how to pronounce it and b) won’t have the foggiest idea where it is. Although Fakenham will be happy knowing it is no longer the UK’s most remote course.
On a lighter note, here are some more predictions for 2009.
January
Irish trainer Jimmy O’Bollinger launches a blistering attack on National Hunt racing, declaring the Cheltenham Festival to be “as significant as my local donkey Derby.”
February
Carrying on his crusade Jimmy O’Bollinger calls for the abolition of National Hunt racing.
March
Newest Approaching, trained by Jimmy O’Bollinger, romps home the easy ten length victor of the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham. The trainer states the horse was only entered in the race due to an administrative error.
As the Denman / Kauto Star debate sends another 100,000 race fans to sleep, neither make it to the Gold Cup which is won by a 66/1 outsider.
April
The twenty seventh appeal by Dean McKeown against his warning-off fails, proving he is as good at throwing away appeals as he is races (allegedly).
May
A new EU directive forces the Newmarket authorities to rename two of the classics. So punters now have to tackle the 2,362 Euros and the 1,181 Euros.
June
Global warming forces the abandonment of the Derby after 6” of snow falls on Epsom Downs. In a rapid rescheduling the BHA decree the race will be run at Southwell’s AW meeting the following day.
July
Jockey Jamie Moore enters hospital for a pioneering humour implant operation. Unfortunately doctors declare the operation a failure when the implant rejects the champion jockey.
August
After yet more flooding at Worcester, Arena Leisure announce they are to deposit 1,000 tons of sand on the site and run Laytown style meeting in future.
September
Kieren Fallon returns to race riding and wins the opener at Laytown, the only meeting at which he can get a ride.
October
There is a major diplomatic incident at Longchamp as Frankie Dettori mis-times his flying dismount and lands on top of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
November
In another thrilling finish to the flat season, Frankie Dettori just beats Ryan Moore by a smile.
December
In an attempt to make the cross country events more interesting Cheltenham introduce some new features including machine gun posts to shoot jockeys who take short cuts. Making the ditches deeper and adding piranha fish to the water.
Wednesday 31 December 2008
Friday 19 December 2008
Bouquets and Brickbats
I have to admit I am not usually one for making New Year resolutions.
After all they are usually self indulgent and unachievable.
So to my utter surprise I made a New Year resolution for 2008 and, as you kindly asked, yes it was self-indulgent and, thanks to the vagaries of the British climate, ultimately unachievable.
My resolution – to revisit every UK racecourse in 2008, plus visit our newest course at Great Leighs.
The really frustrating aspect is I only failed by one, the miscreant being York. If you remember our balmy summer you will recall the August meeting was lost to waterlogging. Any other year it would not have been an insurmountable problem as York also normally race in September. This year, ironically, the season finished early so drainage work could be undertaken to address the waterlogging issue.
So I managed to visit every other course – which of them deserve bouquets and which brickbats?
Ascot
The first of our bouquets here. After the initial teething problems with the new stand they have listened to the public and the improvements have worked. I love the place now – they have introduced themed days without impinging on the racing itself and are attracting new racegoers.
After all they are usually self indulgent and unachievable.
So to my utter surprise I made a New Year resolution for 2008 and, as you kindly asked, yes it was self-indulgent and, thanks to the vagaries of the British climate, ultimately unachievable.
My resolution – to revisit every UK racecourse in 2008, plus visit our newest course at Great Leighs.
The really frustrating aspect is I only failed by one, the miscreant being York. If you remember our balmy summer you will recall the August meeting was lost to waterlogging. Any other year it would not have been an insurmountable problem as York also normally race in September. This year, ironically, the season finished early so drainage work could be undertaken to address the waterlogging issue.
So I managed to visit every other course – which of them deserve bouquets and which brickbats?
Ascot
The first of our bouquets here. After the initial teething problems with the new stand they have listened to the public and the improvements have worked. I love the place now – they have introduced themed days without impinging on the racing itself and are attracting new racegoers.
Cartmel
Well what can be said? The viewing is terrible and the racing is generally moderate (and that is being generous) but, you know what, it doesn’t matter one jot.
The atmosphere is great and the setting idyllic.Everyone should visit Cartmel races at least once in their life.
Cartmel just gets a bouquet for being Cartmel
Cheltenham
Well a big bouquet for their handling of the Festival Gales and the rescheduling of the meeting into three days – who will forget super Thursday with ten races?
Still a great course although it can get a tad uncomfortable on the really busy days.
Chester
For me overrated and overpriced, however they still manage to attract the crowds – it is just a same the crowds are predominantly stag and hen parties.
The idiosyncratic track detracts from fair racing, especially over sprint distances.
So it is the first brickbat awarded.
Doncaster
It may be new and “improved” course but it is grossly overpriced so a brickbat to Donny.
Epsom
In the middle of a massive redevelopment they still managed to stage the Derby meeting so a bouquet to Epsom and here’s hoping the new stand delivers all it promises.
So a bouquet to the Surrey course.
Fontwell
I am biased here, this is where I caught the racing bug – a delightful course and nothing in racing beats standing in the centre of the course during a steeplechase.
My one worry is the proposed new development does not detract from its charm, so a bouquet as a sweetener in the hope the changes are sympathetic.
Goodwood
Fontwell’s neighbour. Glorious racing, glorious setting and views to die for. A massive bunch of flowers here.
Great Leighs
Bouquets and brickbats here.
Bouquets for finally opening and for the enthusiasm and dedication of the team. Also a bouquet for producing the fairest AW racing surface in the country.
The brickbat is for the admission prices, which are high considering the viewing is so poor.
Haydock
Another brickbat awarded, this time for emasculating the jumping and introducing portable fences.
Also for putting interests of the beer swilling masses ahead of the racing fans.Both a dreadful shame as Haydock is a lovely course otherwise.
Huntingdon
From an aesthetic point of view it will not set your pulse racing. Functional rather than flash but with reasonable viewing and with some occasional very high class fields.
A bouquet for moving the Peterborough Chase back to a midweek slot and attracting a very competitive, high class, field.
Towcester
Still offering free admission – why can they do it and not others?
So, a nice bunch of red roses for Towcester.
Wetherby
It has been a very difficult eighteen months for Wetherby with a course re-alignment forced upon them.
The damage to the racing surface, especially on the chase course, was worse than anticipated.
However they have persevered and seem to have generally overcome the problems.
So a bouquet to Wetherby’s team.
Worcester
It could be a bunch of lily’s for Worcester.Beset by flooding problems it is had to see how the course can struggle to be viable in the current economic conditions.
Monday 8 December 2008
Cheers And Tears
Balance is the essence of the universe. The Chinese call it Ying and Yang. Without balance nothing exists.
In life it is generally only the very young do not have an awareness that life is an emotional rollercoaster. If a child has been fortunate enough to have had a stress free childhood, then as soon as the teenage hormones begin flowing they will soon realise life is an emotional roller coaster and, unlike at Alton Towers, it is a ride that never stops.
Racing is, of course, no different. One moment there can be adrenalin induced highs resulting is resounding cheers, the next that gut wrenching feeling you have in the pit of your stomach when something goes seriously awry and the tears begin flowing.
Saturday’s racing at Sandown Park was one of those days when both sets of emotions came to the fore.
The cheers came for two horses, one giving the first indication of his potential, the other underlining the potential he showed last year.
In the Henry VIII Chase all Free World had to do was turn up and the race was his – well that is what most thought.
Trained by champion trainer Paul Nicholls and ridden by the champion jockey AP McCoy. The only conceivable danger could have come from Alan King's Araldur, ridden by Robert Thornton.
As they came to the last the pair were well clear of their rivals and Free World seemed to have the edge over his rival.
Then it happened, Thornton actually managed to out-McCoy McCoy.
Ask any jump jockey what they fear most in a race and they will probably respond 'McCoy in a driving finish'. He is not the greatest jump jockey ever for nothing and his ability to ride a well timed, powerful, finish is second to none.
Yet, here at Sandown, in one of the toughest and unforgiving finishing straights in the country Robert Thornton was doing to McCoy what McCoy has done to so many of his rivals. He was outriding him.
In one of the best riding displays seen in a long time Thornton, metaphorically, carried his mount over the line to beat the odds-on favourite and champion jockey by a neck.
AP had been well and truly McCoyed.
The excitement was accentuated by the roar of the Sandown crowd. It is said to be impossible to beat the roar of the Cheltenham crowd, but from my vantage point high up in the Esher grandstand, I think the Surrey crowd gave the Gloucestershire / Irish mob a good run for their money.
Barely 35 minutes later the big race, the Tingle Creek, was underway. Usually a very competitive affair this year the star attraction was Master Minded. Another Paul Nichols charge – the one who left racegoers open mouthed in awe at his 19 length win in Cheltenham’s Queen Mother Champion Chase last March.
His only serious rival was Howard Johnson’s Tiday Bay and possibly his stablemate, last years winner, Twist Magic.
Yet it was neither of these who turned out to be his greatest threat. An obscure German raider called Fiepes Shuffle turned out to be the greatest danger.
The raider fell at the first fence but was soon on his feet and the loose horse decided to keep the front running Master Minded company as they turned out of the home straight.
AP McCoy, probably still stinging from his previous race defeat, was Master Minded’s controversial jockey at Sandown and I’m sure he, like many of us viewing from the stands, must have had flash backs to Clan Royal being taken out by a loose horse in the 2005 Grand National.
Eventually this loose horse decided to take the hurdle course and Master Minded was left to give a master class in a contest that was anything but a race.
Of his rivals Tidal Bay just wasn’t at the races and his stablemate fell at the second last when in second place but never likely to challenge the leader.
Again the Sandown roar did its utmost to lift the roof off the stand. This time in admiration of a class horse rather than a thrilling contest but the roar was just as heartfelt.
So we had the Ying aplenty, from two horses. One already an established star the other showing great potential. All being well Master Minded and Araldur are two names that will be discussed in years to come.
Now where there is the Ying there is also the Yang.
The Yang at Sandown came in the last race, the inaugural running of the London National.
Blue Splash will not be a horse familiar to most racegoers, trained by Peter Bowen his form figures coming into Saturday’s race were run 17, won 4, placed twice.
Nobody knew it when the runners set of at 3:35 but this was to be Blue Splash’s last race. His ending provided more than enough Yang to balance out the earlier Ying and it was to produce enough tears to balance out the earlier cheers.
Blue Splash was pulled up by Seamus Durack after the final fence on the first circuit. Durack quickly dismounted and started leading the horse back to the stables. Initially he looked sound and was walking back OK but slowly.
It was when he was walking past the stands that I saw out of the corner of my eye that he seemed to have "gone wrong" behind - it's strange how you suddenly notice these things, even when not actually consciously watching.
When I next looked a few second later Durack was removing the saddle and at the same time Blue Splash started showing the "classic" signs of a horse having a heart attack.
Unfortunately he collapsed right in front of the packed enclosure, no more than five or six feet from the rail.
In terms of getting to the horse it happened in the worse possible place - the vet was with him very quickly but she could do nothing to help alleviate the horses suffering until the screens arrived. Unfortunately it was the most inaccessible place for the following vehicles to get to and it seemed an eternity before the truck with the screens arrived.
The screens that could allow the horse some privacy and dignity in his final moments.
In a perverse way it was a blessing it happened so close to the rail as most racegoers would not have seen too much of what was unfolding on the course - although for those by the rail it must have been terrible and there were families down there too.
It was distressing seeing the horses life coming to an end so publicly and I am not ashamed to admit I had tears rolling down my cheek at what was unfolding before me.
One couldn’t help thinking what must have been going through the horses mind at this time – do they have any concept of what is happening to them? I hope not.
The incident also brings home the danger of the sport we follow so closely. How the competitors, occasionally human, more frequently equine, sometimes pay the ultimate price.
Although it was not pleasant to view, I can also see some positives from what happened so publicly on Saturday. It will remind some racegoers who forget (or choose to ignore), in particular those morons who cheer when a horse falls, that the sport is fraught with dangers and our enjoyment comes at a price.
The horses are not just objects provided for our entertainment, they are living creatures. They are generally loved and very well cared for, none more so than by the lad or lass who looks after them every day.
One scene that always upsets me at a racecourse is a lad or lass walking down the course, nearly always in floods of tears, carrying the tack of a horse of theirs who will not be returning home.
By all means cheer at the Ying but please never forget the Yang.
RIP Blue Splash born 23rd April 2000 died 6th December 2008
In life it is generally only the very young do not have an awareness that life is an emotional rollercoaster. If a child has been fortunate enough to have had a stress free childhood, then as soon as the teenage hormones begin flowing they will soon realise life is an emotional roller coaster and, unlike at Alton Towers, it is a ride that never stops.
Racing is, of course, no different. One moment there can be adrenalin induced highs resulting is resounding cheers, the next that gut wrenching feeling you have in the pit of your stomach when something goes seriously awry and the tears begin flowing.
Saturday’s racing at Sandown Park was one of those days when both sets of emotions came to the fore.
The cheers came for two horses, one giving the first indication of his potential, the other underlining the potential he showed last year.
In the Henry VIII Chase all Free World had to do was turn up and the race was his – well that is what most thought.
Trained by champion trainer Paul Nicholls and ridden by the champion jockey AP McCoy. The only conceivable danger could have come from Alan King's Araldur, ridden by Robert Thornton.
As they came to the last the pair were well clear of their rivals and Free World seemed to have the edge over his rival.
Then it happened, Thornton actually managed to out-McCoy McCoy.
Ask any jump jockey what they fear most in a race and they will probably respond 'McCoy in a driving finish'. He is not the greatest jump jockey ever for nothing and his ability to ride a well timed, powerful, finish is second to none.
Yet, here at Sandown, in one of the toughest and unforgiving finishing straights in the country Robert Thornton was doing to McCoy what McCoy has done to so many of his rivals. He was outriding him.
In one of the best riding displays seen in a long time Thornton, metaphorically, carried his mount over the line to beat the odds-on favourite and champion jockey by a neck.
AP had been well and truly McCoyed.
The excitement was accentuated by the roar of the Sandown crowd. It is said to be impossible to beat the roar of the Cheltenham crowd, but from my vantage point high up in the Esher grandstand, I think the Surrey crowd gave the Gloucestershire / Irish mob a good run for their money.
Barely 35 minutes later the big race, the Tingle Creek, was underway. Usually a very competitive affair this year the star attraction was Master Minded. Another Paul Nichols charge – the one who left racegoers open mouthed in awe at his 19 length win in Cheltenham’s Queen Mother Champion Chase last March.
His only serious rival was Howard Johnson’s Tiday Bay and possibly his stablemate, last years winner, Twist Magic.
Yet it was neither of these who turned out to be his greatest threat. An obscure German raider called Fiepes Shuffle turned out to be the greatest danger.
The raider fell at the first fence but was soon on his feet and the loose horse decided to keep the front running Master Minded company as they turned out of the home straight.
AP McCoy, probably still stinging from his previous race defeat, was Master Minded’s controversial jockey at Sandown and I’m sure he, like many of us viewing from the stands, must have had flash backs to Clan Royal being taken out by a loose horse in the 2005 Grand National.
Eventually this loose horse decided to take the hurdle course and Master Minded was left to give a master class in a contest that was anything but a race.
Of his rivals Tidal Bay just wasn’t at the races and his stablemate fell at the second last when in second place but never likely to challenge the leader.
Again the Sandown roar did its utmost to lift the roof off the stand. This time in admiration of a class horse rather than a thrilling contest but the roar was just as heartfelt.
So we had the Ying aplenty, from two horses. One already an established star the other showing great potential. All being well Master Minded and Araldur are two names that will be discussed in years to come.
Now where there is the Ying there is also the Yang.
The Yang at Sandown came in the last race, the inaugural running of the London National.
Blue Splash will not be a horse familiar to most racegoers, trained by Peter Bowen his form figures coming into Saturday’s race were run 17, won 4, placed twice.
Nobody knew it when the runners set of at 3:35 but this was to be Blue Splash’s last race. His ending provided more than enough Yang to balance out the earlier Ying and it was to produce enough tears to balance out the earlier cheers.
Blue Splash was pulled up by Seamus Durack after the final fence on the first circuit. Durack quickly dismounted and started leading the horse back to the stables. Initially he looked sound and was walking back OK but slowly.
It was when he was walking past the stands that I saw out of the corner of my eye that he seemed to have "gone wrong" behind - it's strange how you suddenly notice these things, even when not actually consciously watching.
When I next looked a few second later Durack was removing the saddle and at the same time Blue Splash started showing the "classic" signs of a horse having a heart attack.
Unfortunately he collapsed right in front of the packed enclosure, no more than five or six feet from the rail.
In terms of getting to the horse it happened in the worse possible place - the vet was with him very quickly but she could do nothing to help alleviate the horses suffering until the screens arrived. Unfortunately it was the most inaccessible place for the following vehicles to get to and it seemed an eternity before the truck with the screens arrived.
The screens that could allow the horse some privacy and dignity in his final moments.
In a perverse way it was a blessing it happened so close to the rail as most racegoers would not have seen too much of what was unfolding on the course - although for those by the rail it must have been terrible and there were families down there too.
It was distressing seeing the horses life coming to an end so publicly and I am not ashamed to admit I had tears rolling down my cheek at what was unfolding before me.
One couldn’t help thinking what must have been going through the horses mind at this time – do they have any concept of what is happening to them? I hope not.
The incident also brings home the danger of the sport we follow so closely. How the competitors, occasionally human, more frequently equine, sometimes pay the ultimate price.
Although it was not pleasant to view, I can also see some positives from what happened so publicly on Saturday. It will remind some racegoers who forget (or choose to ignore), in particular those morons who cheer when a horse falls, that the sport is fraught with dangers and our enjoyment comes at a price.
The horses are not just objects provided for our entertainment, they are living creatures. They are generally loved and very well cared for, none more so than by the lad or lass who looks after them every day.
One scene that always upsets me at a racecourse is a lad or lass walking down the course, nearly always in floods of tears, carrying the tack of a horse of theirs who will not be returning home.
By all means cheer at the Ying but please never forget the Yang.
RIP Blue Splash born 23rd April 2000 died 6th December 2008
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