Am I Bothered?

People keep telling me I should be excited about Camelot going for the triple crown in tomorrow's St Leger at Doncaster.

Try as I may I cannot garner any enthusiasm for tomorrows race at all.

He only narrowly won the 2000 Guineas, he won a weak Derby with no real strength in depth in which his main rival seriously under performed. The Irish Derby was similarly weak and run in atrocious ground conditions and the St Leger is a race which has long been a shadow of its former self.

Yes he may well win tomorrow but what does it prove?

Connections, understandably, have wrapped him in cotton wool, he's never raced against serious opposition and, unlike Nijinsky going into the St Leger, has only raced against his own age.

IF, and it's a big if, he goes on to race as a four-year-old and then beats decent horses then he may be considered a great horse and may be spoken of in the same breath as other Triple Crown winners, until then he's just an above average runner from Ballydoyle. 

Will I be watching the race, in truth it will probably be impossible to avoid but my main focus when the St Leger takes place will be looking at the runners in the parade ring for the Nursery at Chester.

Sink Or Swim?

These have been quite a few leaks this week about cutbacks in the fixture list for 2011, I’m going to wait until the fixture list is actually published before making any comment on cuts, although it is a subject dear to my heart.

However the speculation has prompted Ffos Las supremo Dai Walters to warn Ffos Las, Britain’s newest, may be forces to close if the reports are true. Actually I hope that isn’t the case but it has made me think, which courses would I not mind seeing close.

I was initially tempted to go through all sixty courses but decided it is too much like hard work for me to do and for you, dear reader, to plough through.

So what I will do is go through the tracks which I feel strongly should remain open or I would be happy to see become a new chapter in Chris Pitt’s, A Long Time Gone, the bible of closed racecourses.

If I don’t mention a racecourse here it means I have no strong feeling either way.

Aintree: now on “normal” race days Aintree can be one of the most desolate courses imaginable, empty and soulless, However for three days in April it hosts one of the greatest jumps meetings in the world, including arguably the most famous steeplechase of all the Grand National and for that reason alone Aintree has to survive.

Ascot: the building of the new stand was nothing if not controversial and I was one of its greatest critics. However Ascot listened to the feedback and addressed the issues. Now I love the place and Ascot has to rank amongst the best racecourses in the world, it stays.

Ayr: It calls itself Scotland’s Premier Racecourse – it ain’t. Although millions have been spent improving the inside of the stands, externally they still look tired and jaded. The track itself is beset with problems, they regularly seem to have unsafe or false ground. One I would shed no tears for were it to close.

Bath: It has the distinction of being the UK’s highest racecourse and therein lies a problem in that it is built on a free draining hill, yet it has no watering system. This invariably results in firm going and resultant small fields. Weekend meetings are a nightmare attracting beer swilling hoards. Another that would not be missed.

Brighton: The course has long had a sordid reputation, although this has improved in recent years. The place still does have a seedy, tatty feel and the stand could do with being replaced. On the plus side the views are fantastic but this also results in major problems in that a sea fret frequently rolls in, obscuring visibility of the racing. As Sir Alan, now Lord, Sugar would say, “reluctantly, you’re fired.”

Cartmel: A perfect example of “less is more.” Only racing seven days a year this is a gem of a course. It should be an abject failure as viewing is terrible but this is more than compensated by the idyllic setting and fantastic atmosphere. This is a course I would dip into my own pocket to save.

Chester: One of two controversial inclusions in this list I suspect. As this would be the first course I would close down. I dislike the place with a vengeance. It may well be the oldest course in the country but it is not fit for purpose. Viewing is terrible, it is cramped and ram packed solid with racegoers at every meeting. Now some would take the latter to be a positive and it would be if they were there to watch the racing. Chester is a drinkers course, where the object seems to be to pour as much alcohol as possible down ones throat then become as obnoxious as possible. Chester could stage three legged donkey racing and most of those attending would be none the wiser. If you have ever wondered what it is like to attend a Chav’s convention then may I suggest a day at Chester races.

Fakenham and Ffos Las: I am going to lump these two together as they have similar issues.

Unless you happen to live locally both are absolute sods to get to. In the case of Fakenham it is located in a part of the country where dual carriageways have not yet been invented and whichever way you go you will be on bendy, single carriageway roads. Add to that the local farmers seem to use driving their tractors at 20mph on raceday as being some sort of mating ritual you will arrive exasperated.

With Ffos Las it just seems a long way from anywhere, look at the map and it simply seems to be a case of popping across the Severn Bridge and then a quick hop down the M4. It isn’t it is a very long drag down the M4 and when you finally escape the motorway the local signposting to the course takes you a very pretty way indeed.

However both should be saved.

With Fakenham the journey is vindicated by one of the friendliest tracks you are ever likely to visit. Small, compact, good viewing and some decent arcing.

With Ffos Las you get one of the best, if not the best, racing surfaces in the country.

Fontwell: Well I am biased here but this is the very first course I visited and I love the place.

You have never properly experienced National Hunt racing unless you have watched a Fontwell chase from the intersection in the centre of the course.

Haydock: This was a once great course which has been emasculated by constant tinkering to the National Hunt course. The ground has been bear ruined and the going reports frequently border on fantasy. Worse of all the priority of the executive seems to be more focused on attracting Chester’s boozers and Chavs than providing decent racing. So another for which no tears would be shed.

Kempton: London could easily afford to lose one course and it would have to be Kempton. Granted it is home of the King George and it does still host some half decent jump meetings. However its sell out to AW racing is unforgivable.

Redcar: OK some personal prejudice here. If the wind is in the wrong direction you get the fumes from the nearby chemical plant so you go home with a sore throat and streaming eyes. It is a real pain to get through and driving through the bleak industrial wasteland to reach the course is depressing and to add to the depression, to reach the car park you then have to drive through the middle of a cemetery. That just about suns it up.

York: And we end with another controversial decision. Yes it is a great track, yes the racing can be high quality. However it is another course ruined by its clientele. The mid-week non Festival meetings are just about bearable but for the festivals and weekend meetings, it turns into a drink fest and a not very pleasant one either. By late afternoon there is invariably an edge to the place as the alcohol begins to take effect. A shame but for me it ruins a good afternoons racing and like Chester is one of the courses I invariably leave thinking I would not be at all perturbed if I was never to go there again.

Doesn't Time Fly?

I don’t know about you but when I was a child the six week school summers holidays seemed to last for an eternity. Long days and weeks playing outside, or more likely stuck indoors in the pouring rain having to amuse ourselves. There were no computer games, indeed it was only large multinational corporations who could afford any computing power, and not even any television to be planted in front of. We had to use our imaginations to generate our entertainment.

I am minded of the seemingly long summer holidays as I look at the calendar and realise we are fast approaching the end of June and I am wondering where this year has gone. Is it really six months ago that the racing program was being decimated by the bad weather?

Where has the time gone, these last six months have flown by far faster than a six week summer holiday ever did.

I have this theory about why time seems faster as we get older. When you are seven years old one year represents just over 14% of your entire life, at my ripe age of 55 that year represents a mere 1.81% of my life. So that same year is now just a tiny proportion of my life so it seems to pass by quicker. This is my theory of relativity anyway and much easier to comprehend that Einstein’s.

Each year I aim to visit every one of the UK’s racecourses at least once. I say aim as it isn’t always that simple, indeed it is a logistical nightmare.

In 2008 I missed the target by just one, with York thwarting the ambition by having the Ebor meeting abandoned and not having their usual later meetings due to maintenance work.

Last year was even worse as I missed the target by four, this time the culprits being four of the five Scottish courses.

As I write this on 28th June I have visited 34 different courses so far this year and, all being well, the tally will have hit 36 by the time this month ends in two days time. I also have dates pencilled in for all the remaining ones, apart from two – which are, guess what, two of the Scottish ones.

Who knows this may yet be the year when I finally crack all the courses in a calendar year.

I have nothing but admiration, therefore, for Bob Champion who recently visited all 60 racecourses in 60 days. In 59 cases he managed to visit the courses on a race day, the only exception being Taunton which he visited on a special event day.

His route was tortuous to say the least, one example being Wincanton, followed by an evening meeting at Kelso the next day, then all the way back to Hereford the following afternoon.

Bob raised over £100,000 for his Cancer Trust and the Injured Jockeys Fund, well done to him.

Last Saturday I was at Chester racecourse, a course where they have been racing for over 400 years.

It is the one course I actually hate with a vengeance. Enclosed by the City Walls, a railway line and a river the course is, to say the least compact.

Viewing is not particularly brilliant, not helped by the large number of tents erected in the centre of the course. Indeed the best view of racing is arguably attained for free by standing by the City Walls outside the course and looking in from the outside.

Chester also has the highest admission prices in the country.

Despite all of this, the majority of meetings are sold out in advance.

It almost defies belief, until you realise the overwhelming majority of those attending do not have the slightest interest in the racing. It is a social event or, to be more precise, a binge drinking event.

Last Saturday it was heaving, it was hot and the booze was flowing like water. The local population were out in their droves and it was clear the local tanning salons and artificial nail purveyors had done a roaring trade. Whilst most of the ladies looked elegant it was also clear, looking at the suitability of some of the outfits, that local mirror vendors were going through a tough time of things.

I actually wonder how many of those present on Saturday actually saw a horse.

It has been suggested that if Chester put on six races for three legged donkeys then they would still fill the place up. Indeed running races for three legged donkeys may actually provide a better spectacle, as they are probably less likely to be unbalanced by the tight turns of the course.

Chester has the worse draw bias of any course in the country and surely it is no coincidence that the four runners withdrawn from the opening contest just happened to be the four worse drawn runners in the race.

If the boozed up crowds and poor viewing are not enough to rankle the true racing fan then the final straw is for those who choose to drive to the event.

A racegoers traffic flow system is introduced on racedays, designed to make the journey to the track as miserable and unpleasant as possible. Whoever designed the “traffic management” system in Chester on racedays should be sacked immediately. I arrived in Chester over two hours before the first race yet I still ended up spending 40 minutes fuming in disorganised traffic chaos.

It is the only course traffic management (now there is an oxymoron if ever there was one) specifically designed to make the journey to the course actually worse than it need be.

For me Chester is one of the two courses in the country which I would not be upset about if I was told I could never go there again.

By a strange coincidence I was at the course with the second worse draw bias last week.

Beverley’s 5f course has a strong bias for high drawn runners, yet in one of the apprentice races over the 5f course one of the young riders actually managed to blow the advantage of a high draw.

Having been give a plum draw against the far rail the horse was slowly away and the rider panicked. Instead of waiting for the inevitable gap to appear as they passed the intersection the rider chose to switch towards the stands side to find daylight. Despite running on well the horse came home a never nearer fourth, whereas it may well have won had the rider stuck to the stands rail – oh well I suppose these apprentice races are there to help riders learn.

My visit to Beverley was also my first days racing after Royal Ascot and what a contrast in the crowd.

At Ascot we became accustomed to seeing the gentlemen in their top hat and tails, at Beverley the attire of the gentlemen was more football shirts, vests and even topless (a shame the latter did not apply to some of the ladies) but I tell you what – I bet they had as an enjoyable days racing as those who were in the Royal Enclosure a week before.