- This topic has 79 replies, 29 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 6 months ago by
.
- Posts
Well done to the ROA/RCA. Racing working together to put extra non levy money into the prizemoney pot and preserve the sports weekday footprint. Why shouldn’t a country the size and with the relative prosperity of the UK hold an average of least 4 meetings a day when the demand clearly seems to be there.
Glad the ROA seem to have given up their ridiculous manifesto of handing 1/3 of British Racing over to the bookmakers for its prizemomey and integrity costs (while still trousering levy money for the top level trainers/owners). They eventually did the small calculation it seems and realised lower racing contributes at least twice as much in levy as it takes out in prizemoney.
What we need now is a low takeout,
non laying
betting product, that treats it punters as customers and Phil Smith and co to remove their heads from their ar*es when it comes to handicapping unexposed racehorses.
Incoming….
No Surprises ….its shame all round
Twilight fixtures beggars belief , anyone with the smallest flicker of brain content would know this is a non sense
Can someone please take this lot away and keep them there and lets find someone to run racing , as frankly this fixture madness is a shambles
Ricky
We had a lovely two day meeting in the North West in November – the Grade 1 Betfair Chase on the Saturday and the Becher/Grand Sefton double header on the Sunday. Now there’s nothing.
That meeting was used to market Merseyside and the North West – particularly during the Capital of Culture year in Liverpool.
The BHA are on a single handed mission to destroy British racing.
BTW this "British Champions Day" will no doubt be host to a big race winner bred in the US and ridden by an Irishman.
Can’t help but agree with everyone else regarding twilight meetings. Absolutely pointless. Moving historic races to the weekend is a load of cobblers too. People have annual leave as part of their employment contract. What better way to spend a day off than go racing and no that the boss is still paying you for the priviledge?
String ’em up!
Corm , sorry I omitted to say thanks for posting this at such a late hour …before I launched into my condemning tirade ….
well done sir , I believe your batmobile is fully fuelled and awaiting your driver to whisk you away …
Ricky
- Total Posts 17716
The silence of the Racing Press on this destructive debacle is deafening. Nothing on the
Sporting Life
site about the Fixture List at all, and what reads like a BHA Press Release on the
Racing Pos
t site.
Perhaps we can expect an informed analysis from the likes of Grauniad Wood tomorrow? Answers on a postcard….
I notice that the Joel Stakes looms large in Change for Change Sake’s
"champion’s mile narrative"
. Why? How do they intend to raise the status of what is in essence a minor consolation prize? Have they even thought about it? Of course not. It’s just another strand of a Fairy Story based on fantasy and pious hope rather than concrete knowledge or expertise.
Any organisation which believes that alienating 85% of its customer base
AT A STROKE
is "good for the product" wants disbanding without further ado.
I notice that the Joel Stakes looms large in Change for Change Sake’s
"champion’s mile narrative"
. Why? How do they intend to raise the status of what is in essence a minor consolation prize? Have they even thought about it? Of course not. It’s just another strand of a Fairy Story based on fantasy and pious hope rather than concrete knowledge or expertise.
Any organisation which believes that alienating 85% of its customer base
AT A STROKE
is "good for the product" wants disbanding without further ado.
Great post, Pinza.
The Joel Stakes doesn’t even guarantee that the best horse wins. Group 1 winners carry penalties in the race etc. Have the BHA even thought about it? NO.
Not as mad as their F+M narrative that has no narrative at all.
I think I am alone in saying I am delighted the twilight fixtures are saved. I much prefer betting on the AW rather than turf.
- Total Posts 17716
Well done the BBC who – unlike the Racing Press – have actually got a fullish report on the business here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_s … 029038.stmGosden thinks the dates are wrong, and Dettori thinks it is all just marvellous.
- Total Posts 17716
How does the
St Leger
fit into their
"Long Distance Cup"
"narrative"?
Of course it doesn’t at all, but even this shower knew they had to fit it in somewhere… bet they’ve had a go at making it all-aged, though.
Blind leading the blind….
Sandown – Finale meeting, Saturday 24 April and Sunday 25 April (Friday 23 and Saturday 24 April, 2010). Now on Easter weekend.
Easter next year is about as late as it possibly can be and just happens to coincide with the usual Whitbread weekend, so no problem there
But is the intention to run it over Easter every year?
The Saturday could be as early as March 21st i.e shortly after Cheltenham and before the National
I’ll get in first with my thanks – clear off you stupid, stupid people at the BHA and let someone who knows something about racing run the whole thing.
Sandown – Finale meeting, Saturday 24 April and Sunday 25 April (Friday 23 and Saturday 24 April, 2010). Now on Easter weekend.
Easter next year is about as late as it possibly can be and just happens to coincide with the usual Whitbread weekend, so no problem there
But is the intention to run it over Easter every year?
The Saturday could be as early as March 21st i.e shortly after Cheltenham and before the National
but will be the same weekend as the Irish National (always Easter Monday) and so no horse will be able to run in both the National and Bet365 Gold Cup
Easter next year is about as late as it possibly can be and just happens to coincide with the usual Whitbread weekend, so no problem there
But is the intention to run it over Easter every year?
Wouldn’t have thought so, Drone – this meeting has marked the official end of the jumps season for some years now, so regardless of the actuality of Easter has probably stuck to that weekend at the behest of either the BHA or Sandown, or both.
It’s not the only interesting scheduling issue the abnormally late Easter holiday has thrown up by any means. See also the number of hunts who have steadfastly held onto their last weekend in April dates as This Is The Weekend On Which They Are Held And Heaven Forfend It To Be Otherwise; a position which has seen the likes of Balcormo Mains’ sole fixture taking place on Easter Saturday for the first time I can ever remember, and Easingwold hosting the first Easter Sunday fixture for as long as I’ve followed the sport.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Yep, been pm’d confirming it’s next year only
All for it being a Saturday/Sunday meet.
I for one think it’s a great shame that Sundays are being dealt a duff hand next year
Why all the emphasis on Saturday?
- Total Posts 438
Why all the emphasis on Saturday?
Isn’t it obvious?
RFC’s new fixture list is immediately going to attract those who would normally spend their Saturdays at football or shopping with the missus.
I notice that the Joel Stakes looms large in Change for Change Sake’s
"champion’s mile narrative"
. Why? How do they intend to raise the status of what is in essence a minor consolation prize? .
That’s a mere Listed event isn’t it?
Surely if this is truly to be a "Champions’ Series" all participating races should be Group 1?
So that would entail upgrading the Temple and Joel Stakes’, and four of the five Cup races
Wonder if the BHA are planning to approach the Pattern Committee with a request to do just that?
If one of the key goals of this exercise is to raise the profile of the sport and to attract newcomers then it would seem wise to keep the conditions of all the races as simple as possible, and with all being regarded as equally ‘important’.
Unpenalised Group 1s fit the bill perfectly
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.