Some Common Sense Please

As I write, Sedgefield is the only surviving turf fixture before Christmas and it must be 1.01 that will also suffer the same fate as the other, already abandoned, turf meetings.

There are the ubiquitous “all weather” meetings still planned, indeed extra meetings are being scheduled.

With roads in most of the country being, often at best, treacherous and with most police forces advising drivers to make journeys only if absolutely essential, is there not a case to be made for cancelling all racing for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week, extending the Christmas break by three days?

There will be those who will undoubtedly express profound disagreements with this proposal.

Bookmakers will protest about the loss of turnover, simple answer just show more of your silly cartoon racing .

Racecourses will protest but will, of course, deny it is anything to do with loss of revenue due to lost hospitality and booze takings.

Trainers will argue they should have the choice as to whether they decide to send runners to the races in the current conditions. Of course it is easy for them to say that as, invariably, it will not be them who will be driving the horsebox on icy roads.

Jockeys will protest at the loss of earnings.

All of those objections should be ignored and common sense should prevail.

Silly me, I have uttered the magic words “common sense” ….. there is little chance that prevailing is there?

Whilst on the subject of dangerous road conditions, the folly of driving in bad weather was hammered home on Friday after an abortive visit to Ascot.

It is 56 miles from the course to home and on a good day it takes about 1¼ hours on Friday it took 4½ hours.

Primarily this was due to people being out on the roads who do not have the slightest idea how to drive in the snowy conditions and in doing so they actually make the roads worse. Either by having accidents because they cannot control their vehicles properly or by driving in a manner which actually makes the road conditions more dangerous than they need be, especially on hills.

So, turning back to horseboxes travelling to the races, it does not matter if the driver of the horsebox is capable of driving in poor conditions, the impact of the idiots who should not be on the road also needs to be considered.

Twice in the last week I have arrived at a racecourse, only for racing to be called off after my arrival. Now I accept it is an occupational hazard when the weather conditions are poor, however I do wonder if, on occasion, courses are extracting the urine.

I appreciate it is a fine line in deciding if a meeting should go ahead and it can be a difficult call.

The first of my abortive meetings was Huntingdon last Sunday, the first attempt to rearrange the Peterborough Cup.

The course was perfectly raceable on Saturday and overnight temperatures of plus one were forecast. The forecast turned out to be very wrong and the mercury dropped to minus five

This clearly caught officials out and an early inspection was called. At this time the forecast was predicting plus temperatures and some sunshine. So a second inspection was called for 10:00.

Now the temperatures did reach plus three and the sun did come out but it turned out to be too little too late and racing had to be called off. When called off the decision was communicated quickly so the media could let the public know immediately.

In these circumstances I can see why Huntingdon held the second inspection.

Ascot on Friday was a different story.

Frost covers had been laid but the temperatures were so low frost still managing to get into the ground. Again an early inspection was called which proved to be inconclusive and a second inspection was called for 11:00, just 55 minutes before the first race was due off.

Now I am no expert but when I arrived at the course just before 10:00 it was patently obvious racing would not be possible. The covers themselves were frozen and there were frozen patches where the covers had been lifted, more significantly the temperature was still below zero and showed no sign of rising.

Trainers and jockeys who had been on the course were as one in saying racing would not go ahead.

Yet, despite there being an inevitability, officials still waited until the prescribed time of 11:00 before carrying an inspection.

Once they had a look officials were asked about the prospects of racing yet, unlike at other courses where an opinion would be given, an official, who could only be described as arrogant in the extreme (the sort of old fashioned pompous twit who should have been thrown out of racing years ago) simply said “you know the rules, the Stewards have to meet first”.

The meeting was eventually called off just after 11:15, less than 40 minutes before the opening race.

As one cynic commented, “late enough to make sure the most of the hospitality guests arrived.”

I do also appreciate the job of Clerk Of Course is a tricky one and there is a fine line between being a hero or villain.

For example for Barry Johnson at Exeter the other week holding out and having late inspections paid off and racing was able to go ahead, albeit only getting the go-ahead less than 30 minutes before the first race.

In this case it paid off but what if the course had not recovered sufficiently and racing had to be abandoned, Johnson would, probably rightly, have been vilified.

Should the decision as to whether to race not be left with the Clerks, who after all are under pressure from racecourse executives, who pay their wages, to race if at all possible?

The decision should be handed to the BHA’s course inspectorate and there should be a rule that if a course is not raceable two hours before the scheduled off time of the first race then racing should be abandoned.

Yes some meetings may be lost where conditions improve late on, however this should be weighed against the reputational damage which is caused when decisions to cancel are made at the last minute.

Instead of tinkering with what does not need to be changed, Racing For Change should be looking at some of these more fundamental issues.

The Good Old Days?

It is strange how your perceptions change as you grow older.

I am of an age where I can clearly remember the “winter of ’63” a winter where, for a primary school child life was bliss – it snowed on Boxing Day and the snow remained for almost three months.

I didn’t care a jot that we had no running water due to frozen pipes, in fact queuing at the water bowser with my parents was part of the adventure.

I also recall us becoming very popular with the neighbours as, later in the freeze, we were the first house in our road to actually have the water company come out and thaw our pipes – the reason being my mother was expecting my sister at the time.

I had to say having a sister was a disappointment – I wanted a puppy instead.

However the best part was playing out in the snow day after day. For adults it was probably three months of hell, for me it was three months of sheer delight.

Now roll the clock forward 47 years.

On the television we see children enjoying the snowfall, yet instead of feeling happy for them as they experience the delight I did all those years ago, my reaction is to snarl and revert to Victor Meldrew mode.

Whilst the snow may be fun to play in it is no fun whatsoever to drive in – even more importantly it has led to the decimation of turf racing. Indeed the snow has been so bad it has even led to the curtailment of some, so called, all weather race meetings.

Speaking of which when are we going to get rid of the wholly inappropriate “all weather” description, let’s just call it artificial surface racing.

I am one of those who blithely says I can get by without racing – you know what I can’t. I have been going stir crazy these past few weeks.

It became so bad I actually looked forward to going to an artificial surface meeting.

I have to say at this point that I have been very impressed with the racing authorities in the way they have handled the recent bad weather. From being an intransigent, inflexible beast a few years ago the authorities have been both reactive, proactive and, dare I say, innovative.

Last weeks all-bumper card at Southwell would never have even been considered previously. In the end it attracted good field, although small crowds. However the crowds may have been reduced by the bad weather – I tried to attend the meeting but had to turn back home after “progressing” a mile in the first hour.

Even when the snow cleared we were still kept on tenterhooks.

My racing of choice last Saturday, Huntingdon, had to survive a couple of inspections. Nothing to do with the snow but a thread of flooding from the nearby brook, the level of which was slowly rising.

This week should have been a return to normal and it started OK.

Yesterday was a turf meeting at Southwell, although as I drove through some dense fog patches near the course I did wonder if the weather was going to thwart me again.

Today the weather Gods have conspired to bite me on the bum yet again. All ready to go to Newbury, I checked early and the reports were it was raining.

By the time I emerged from the shower they had announced it was snowing and they were going to inspect at 9:00.

Sure enough racing was abandoned by 9:25 – another meeting bites the dust.

Please – no more snow – it looks pretty but it really is disrupting my life.

On the subject of life being disrupted, it has been bought home to me this last week just how much we do take things for granted.

As you will have gathered from my earlier comments I am no spring chicken and have been round the block a few times.

I can vaguely remember the very early days of cash machines where you were given a card by the bank which you could insert in a machine in return for an envelope of ten £1 notes, the card was retained after use.

Nowadays we take ATM’s and debit cards for granted. I know I rarely use cash any more, until this last week.

My debit card runs out the end of this month and normally my bank is usually very good at sending out new cards, usually about eight weeks before they run out.

So when I had not received my new card by the beginning of last week I rang them up. After going through seemingly endless phone options, then security checks, I finally managed to speak to a human who confirmed my new card had been processed on the 4th December.

We I had not received it.

No problem she says, I will cancel the card and order you a new one, which will arrive within the next ten working days.

Later that day I went to my local cash and carry, which only accepts debit cards and cash, no credit cards.

I went to pay for my goods with my debit card to be faced with the dreaded words “card declined” – I was saved further embarrassment by having sufficient cash on me to pay for the goods.

My immediate reaction was somebody had gotten hold of my new card and was milking my account. As soon as I was back home I checked my account and all was OK.

So it was a case of Mr Angry getting onto the phone to the bank again.

Well, to cut a long story short, when the replacement card was cancelled it also meant my current card was also automatically cancelled as it has the same card number – something the young lady neglected to mention in the morning.

This means, for the last week and a half, I have not had a debit card and boy oh boy do I miss it.

Shopping online is a no-no. I have to make sure I have enough cash on me whenever I go out and if I want to actually get some cash out then it is literally half an hour in the branch queuing, then having to prove who I am before I am allowed to have any of my money.

I had not realised just how much we take a little bit of plastic for granted.

A Question Of Timing

We are, once again, at the time of year when the racing program is controlled as much by the weather than by the BHA Planning Department.

The recent cold spell has resulted in a spate of abandonments as are result of sub zero temperatures.

In many cases the decision not to race is clear cut, however on other occasions the decision is not so clear cut and we face the dilemma of Clerks Of The Course playing a game of brinkmanship.

Now it is fully understandable that a course be given every chance to race, however there also needs to be a point by which time a final decision to race has to be made.

Making a final decision half an hour or an hour before the start of racing is unfair on racegoers, who seem to be the last stakeholder considered when it comes to making the decision to race.

Why should racegoers be expected to make sometimes long journeys to the course only to find it is called off at the last minute?

If a racegoer has already bought their ticket should they still take the risk and travel to the course? If they do and racing is off then they have wasted their journey, if they don’t go and racing goes ahead they loose their, not insignificant, admission costs. Either way the racegoer is the loser.

However there was a very telling comment during yesterdays deliberations at Cheltenham.

Cheltenham’s PR manager went on BBC Radio Five Live at 10:11 and made a comment along the lines that if racing was called off then racegoers could still come along and use the bars. That, to me, says it all.

We also have the vexed issue of consistency of information when these protracted inspections take place and in the last week the differences have been well highlighted.

Last Monday was the Welsh National meeting at Chepstow. Clerk of the course Tim Long was open and frank throughout the day, telling the issues exactly as they were. Even going into the final inspection he openly said it was “touch and go”.

Racing did go ahead and it was a late decision, however with the honesty and openness those thinking of going racing were making an informed decision as to whether to set off or not. Having said that the decision was still made far too late.

Now move forward five days and Cheltenham. All the pronouncements coming from the course were positive, nothing negative.

Yet those who were at the course were almost universally of the opinion that it was more likely racing would not go ahead.

This belief was even reflected by the Betfair odds.

As it happened racing went ahead, however it was a very close decision and the overly optimistic pronouncements were not a true reflection of the real situation.

There are also questions being asked about the pressures being applied to ensure racing went ahead. Especially amongst the jockeys.

At 11:00 a significant number of jockeys were expressing concerns about the safety of the track yet we are told at 11:45 there had been a straw poll in the weighing room and only two riders had expressed dissent regarding racing going ahead.

There was no significant change in the ground conditions in those 45 minutes.

So why the volte-face from the jockeys?

Unsurprisingly none were prepared to say anything “on the record” so we are left to form our own conclusions.

After the first race further concerns were expressed about ground conditions and a further inspection was held, delaying proceedings and adding to the uncertainty.

In the end racing went ahead but with 30 non-runners.

Is what happened at Cheltenham on Saturday good for the image of racing?

I would suggest not.

Racing wants to attract new racegoers – how will we attract them if we have uncertainty like we have had the past few days? With racegoers not knowing if racing is going to go ahead or not?

Is “put racing on at all costs if possible” the right ethos?

If racegoers are messed about like this they will turn their backs on the sport. Treating racegoers with contempt will only serve to alienate them.

We almost had a third “will it, won’t it” scenario today with a second inspection called at Sandown at 10:00. At least on this occasion the decision was made at that time and racing was called off.

Now I think three hours before the first race is a good time to make a final call as to whether a meeting goes ahead.

If a course is not fit to race three hours before the first race it should be called off. Yes there will be some occasions when a meeting is called off when it may have been raceable come the off time of the opening race.

There is a more fundamental issue and that is who makes the decision to race. Should it be left to the courses who, let’s face it, have a vested financial interest in racing going ahead?

How big a say should the jockeys have, yes they are the ones who will be riding but they also have a vested financial interest in the meeting going ahead – no rides, no pay.

I have said this many times before but I believe the decision as to whether a race meeting goes ahead should be taken away from the courses and be put in the hands of an independent team under the auspices of the BHA.

By all means take soundings from the courses, jockeys, trainers and owners but also consider the impact on the racegoers as well. However the key aspect is the decision should not take into account the financial impact of cancellation but should be wholly on safety grounds.

A few more comments on the issue of cancellations.

There are some who believe more effort should be made to run a meeting like Cheltanham on a Bank Holiday than a low grade midweek meeting at somewhere Plumpton.

Why?

A course is either raceable or it isn’t – the quality of racing is irrelevant.

A prime example of a meeting being run for financial expediency was the Plumpton meeting where Tony McCoy rode his 3,000th winner.

Conditions were atrocious that day – can the BHA and officials at Plumpton put their hands on their hearts and say the meeting would still have gone ahead had McCoy’s landmark not been looming. I would suggest not.

One final observation - when there are a spate of abandonments why do the BHA feel compelled to add additional all-weather fixtures?

Invariably the cancelled meetings are turf national-hunt cards. By replacing them with all-weather fixtures there is not a “like-for-like” replacement. So what is the motive.

Who, apart from the bookmakers, do these low grade meetings help?

They don’t help the horses, trainers or jockeys who are missing out as a result of the abandoned meeting.

They are unlikely to attract the same racegoers as the abandoned meetings.

Random Winter Musing

It is hard to believe we are already in February, what on earth has happened to January?


More pertinently what has happened to January’s racing, with over 30 meetings being lost to the weather.


February is starting in an even worse manner, with even so called all weather meetings being abandoned.


Isn’t it about time we did away with the misnomer of all weather racing and come up with a more appropriate name?


How about AS racing?


AS being Artificial Surface racing. Some would consider sandpit racing to be more appropriate.


But please no more All Weather.


*****


I have to confess I am feeling something of a jinx when it comes to the current bad weather. As I go racing about five times a week this time of the year I tend to plan my racing in advance.


In January I planned to attend 20 meetings – I actually managed to attend only nine and two of those were last minute reschedules.


For February I have 19 meetings planned and the first of those, Market Rasen on 3rd February, has already been abandoned.


So I have the following offer to racecourse managers. If you want your meeting to go ahead and not be at risk of being abandoned due to the weather, please feel free to make any financial inducement you see fit, so I do not plan to visit your course.


Otherwise the curse of The Beast may hit you.


*****


It is good to see the BHA staging additional fixtures to replace those that have been cancelled.


Let us hope the bad weather does not put the mockers on these additional meetings.


*****


In The Old Beast Almanac I predicted the closure of at least two courses in 2009. Little did I think the first closure would have come so quickly, nor did I think Great Leighs would be the first to go to the wall.


Administrators are looking to sell the course off, let us hope they succeed.


*****


Finally, on a non-racing matter.


I know most parents all think the fruit of their loins are the most wondrous creatures in the universe. However they need to bear in mind that others may not see your children in the same light.


I have just been on a flight where, for almost an hour some parents were happy to let their child run up and down the aircraft aisle, as if it was some adventure playground. They were quite oblivious to the nuisance their child was being.


Indeed they seemed more interested in enjoying their wine.


In the end a flight attendant put out an announcement for the parents to claim their child.


Guess what, they actually seemed miffed they were being asked to look after their brat?


You do wonder is some people should be allowed to breed.