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As expected, despite extensive consultation, no dramatic changes.
Seven more meetings than last year, but with the promise of many meetings being restricted to six races, fewer races compared to last year.
A quick analysis picked out the following changes:
Along with the well documented changes for Warwick and Towcester, two extra meetings for Ayr, Carlisle, Exeter, Fakenham, Newbury and Nottingham. Also two extra for Wetherby, although 4 are now flat fixtures.
Two less for Worcester and three less for Ffos Las.
With the introduction of Chelmsford, Kempton seem to be the biggest loser with substantially fewer fixtures.
Yarmouth have lost 9 next year due to their course improvement work.
....and you've got to look a long way back for anything else.
No seismic changes beyond those previously telegraphed, and notably an increase in the number of artificial surface fixtures of just
one
, despite some hysterical projections to the contrary at the time the review process was announced.
I was instantly drawn to a significant change in Cartmel’s fixtures programme, with the Lakeland idyll now upping its portfolio to eight racedays but losing Whit Saturday.
Is that by design? Given Lord Cavendish’s insistences in racecards in recent years how pivotal Bank Holiday racing is to Cartmel’s business model, I couldn’t be sure. There are still two days’ racing at the track in May, but on Whit Monday and the following Wednesday – I’d have thought holding on to the Saturday and losing the Wednesday would have represented the ideal.
Either way, the Cartmel programme now comprises two-day meetings no each of the four months from May to August, including the first ever Sunday fixture on June 28th (in competition with Uttoxeter’s Summer Cup fixture). At last, the country’s final pocket of resistance against Sabbath racing acquiesces.
That aside, though, it’s disappointing to observe that there’s nothing for Northern-based jumps connections, or enthusiasts, for an entire month between Perth’s mid-July and mid-August fixtures. Sedgefield won’t race any sooner than late-August anymore, and Hexham won’t, but some bugger ought to step into the breach. Aintree?
I’ll tell you what the most significant change in the calendar could yet be, however, and it’s not one that actually shows up in the fixture list as published. The BHA site advises that:
“In addition, BHA will be announcing in the coming days a series of race planning initiatives designed to reduce the number of small-field, uncompetitive races. This will include the removal of around 170 races from the race programme, ensuring that while the Fixture List will remain similar in size to 2014, the horse population is being asked to service fewer races at certain times of the year.”
How many conditions hurdles and chases, novice chases, hunter chases, etc., could that punch out? The publication of the Point-to-Point Racing Company’s
Planner
for 2014-15, delayed until November pending the outcome of the Rules fixture list consultation process, should shed some light on the last-named sort of race. I’m not sure they’ll have emerged unscathed…
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
n addition, BHA will be announcing in the coming days a series of race planning initiatives designed to reduce the number of small-field, uncompetitive races. This will include the removal of around 170 races from the race programme, ensuring that while the Fixture List will remain similar in size to 2014, the horse population is being asked to service fewer races at certain times of the year.”
As Alan has already posted ,,,its just a matter of Bookies Rule Ok
That may have been a skinhead slogan in the 70’s…but the harsh reality is that the bookies run racing , what they want they get
Lets keep it real
Will there be a drop in admission prices to reflect the reduction to six races at many meetings? Thought not. Less product for the same price.
Mind you, with RUK’s new winter season ticket I shouldn’t complain too much.
Next year sees a bit of a boost for Sunday jumping, sandowns first meeting of the 2015/16 switches to a Sunday,as does the old roan chase but with loss of ch4 I guess.
I also note the welsh national is on sun dec 27 so does this mean ch4 are showing this and kempton? As they currently only show the kempton 2nd day when it’s on a Saturday.Plans announced today.
http://www.racingpost.com/news/horse-ra … t7DaysNews
Seem to consist of getting rid of even more chases.
"Around 70 all-weather races will be removed from the programme in the January to March period while there will be a limit of on average 6.5 races being staged on all-weather cards during that period.
In the region of 100 jumps races will also be removed, around 80 of which will be chases
as the BHA said there were too many races for the horse population to satisfactorily service."
How long before jump racing consists of only hurdle races?
The other crazy thing is they’re removing them from September to November and January to March periods.
Given that jumping is usually impossible in January/February why not make a complete winter break in those months (like we used to have for summer jumping), starting after the New Year’s Day feast and coming back mid-February for those who want to get a run in before Cheltenham.
Next year sees a bit of a boost for Sunday jumping, sandowns first meeting of the 2015/16 switches to a Sunday,as does the old roan chase but with loss of ch4 I guess.
I also note the welsh national is on sun dec 27 so does this mean ch4 are showing this and kempton? As they currently only show the kempton 2nd day when it’s on a Saturday.Sundays at Sandown have never worked, have attended meetings there in the past and the crowd was pitiful. As C4 seems to be concentrating on showing more flat racing (Future Champions Day, All Weather Dross day on Good Friday) the Old Roan chase seems likely to go back to being shown on Racing UK, and unless Chepstow moves their Welsh National meeting to the first Saturday in January I doubt that will be televised either.
Maybe this case of supply outstripping demand with chases is related to the evolution of National Hunt pedigrees. The flat is having more of an influence and producing smaller, lighter-boned jumpers.
I’m just speculating using these trends and don’t have any figures, but perhaps more horses are staying hurdling and shirking the traditional chasing route.
Well, not always the smartest brains seem to run the company.
The reduction of chases to an average of 2.5 per card and also the scratching of around 80 chase races left me a little bit surprised.
National Hunt racing might slowly start to disappear and it could be very well ruined by a very high number of horses switching from the Flat to hurdle racing. I wouldn`t encourage ex-flat racers that much to compete over the jumps. In my opinion hurdle racing is not a proper sport. I think NH Flat races are a great introduction for your horses in order to see how a race has to be run. After competing in a few bumpers I would switch my horse(s) straight to novice chasing, since this is the "highest point" to be reached in the sport called NH racing. Encouraging trainers and owners to bring horses over from the Flat and to also run them in the summer months over timber doesn`t make much sense to me.
Therefore I would love to see a lot more novices getting the chance to be properly introduced over fences. Smaller fields are ideal in my opinion, since the horse gets a better chance to see its fences and to get away with the odd mistake.
Don`t forget that Florida Pearl never jumped a hurdle in public and neither did Kauto Star nor Master Minded in GB or IRE. And here we really are talking about proper NH horses. So if we want to have a proper sport, we need to be more selective with the breeding and of course with the race planning.Seem to consist of getting rid of even more chases
Not really – the total number of chases programmed has been running at historically unprecedented levels since around 2008, and these losses won’t suddenly set us back decades number-wise.
Which isn’t to say I won’t be disappointed by the loss of some chases. Quite the opposite. Some, however, have surely been condemned to history through the reluctance of trainers to service them properly numbers-wise.
Just let some well-known handlers dare to mourn the loss of any novice chases after years of mewling about them being too risky to participate in from a future handicapping perspective. Just let them dare.
I’m sadly resigned to my beloved hunter chases taking quite a hit by this move. Many have survived this long solely through moving to the non-Jackpot seventh race slot at a number of fixtures. No race seven, though, nowhere to hide.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
Sundays at Sandown have never worked, have attended meetings there in the past and the crowd was pitiful.
HBLB attendance stats advise that Sunday Flat meeting attendances at Esher have varied from 3,000 to 6,000 over the years – fine for many smaller courses, but I bet the 3,000 rattled around the big grandstands somewhat.
There’s a lot less to go on jumps-wise, with the 1997 renewal of this same November fixture representing the only previous Sandown Sabbath NH meeting ever held – 5,000 paid to get in.
I suppose there’s not a right lot to lose by giving Sunday another go. This fixture hasn’t enjoyed terrestrial coverage for years, clashing as it does with Badger Beer Chase and November Handicap day.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
The big negative regarding the dropping of chases is that we can be certain the cut won’t include any 0-100 or 0-110 handicaps.
This witless elimination of races that might produce small fields has been going on for years – for just one example, witness the destruction of the chasing program at Wincanton. It used to feature conditions chases on Boxing Day, then one in January and two in February. They provided opportunities for that class of chaser not good enough to win a Graded race, but forced to carry top weight in most handicaps. And every so often, the stars would turn out as well.
OK, they usually had less than 8 runners and there was often an odds on favourite, but it meant Wincanton racegoers had the pleasure of seeing the likes of Desert Orchid, Burrough Hill Lad, Bradbury Star, Garrison Savannah in the flesh.
All are gone now, replaced by wall to wall handicaps. National Hunt racing isn’t dying, it’s being murdered.
We are admittedly relying a lot here, AP, on the perspicacity of those making the cuts to eliminate certain small-field races only for the right reasons.
As intimated earlier, I’ve little sympathy for the loss of certain novice chases that were repeatedly shunned by trainers mewling over the adverse effect finishing too close to an actual or future superstar in one might have on their charge’s handicap mark. For the number of times that actually happens in practice, there’s one hell of a big element of nose-off-in-spite-of-face about giving these races such a wide berth.
I’d be a lot more concerned about the thinning out, or even elimination, of graduation or non-handicap intermediate chases – races that by their very conditions can never attract sizeable numbers, yet will always attract (broadly speaking) animals of comparable ability and often prove more informative at a Championship level than virtually any handicap.
That good new intermediate event at Newton Abbot the other week was certainly no less an event for containing just the five starters. Please God the BHA recognise there are grounds for keeping such races enshrined in the calendar that transcend the fact of how many or few participants they attract.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
GC,
Agree about that Newton Abbot race, the best of the season to date. And also good news that the similar race at Carlisle staged the day after the Charlie Hall has been awarded Listed status this year, so that one should be safe as well.
AP
The Colin Parker Memorial, AP? That’s terrific news in the context of the fixture list reforms, but also hugely deserved in any case. There can’t be many British courses of any code that have improved their racing portfolio to the same degree in the past few years.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
AP your so right about the Wincanton races,I can still remember seeing looks like trouble have his comeback in the John Bull chase and let’s not forgot they’ve dug up all the fences and replaced with portible ones.
I wonder how many runners Ascot,s amlin chase will get this year after last seasons match? The races future must be hanging by a threadSeem to consist of getting rid of even more chases
Not really – the total number of chases programmed has been running at historically unprecedented levels since around 2008, and these losses won’t suddenly set us back decades number-wise.
Which isn’t to say I won’t be disappointed by the loss of some chases. Quite the opposite. Some, however, have surely been condemned to history through the reluctance of trainers to service them properly numbers-wise.
Just let some well-known handlers dare to mourn the loss of any novice chases after years of mewling about them being too risky to participate in from a future handicapping perspective. Just let them dare.
I’m sadly resigned to my beloved hunter chases taking quite a hit by this move. Many have survived this long solely through moving to the non-Jackpot seventh race slot at a number of fixtures. No race seven, though, nowhere to hide.
gc
Really? I don’t have any statistics, but I feel like there are way more hurdle races than chases these days. Sometimes there are only 2 chases on a 7 or 8 race card.
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