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As a regular racegoer my pet peeve is 6 race cards, it’s a real short changer.
I can’t remember Ludlow having a six race card before 2015. Thursday’s will be the second in a row, assuming they don’t divide the first, which I’d be surprised about. Rubbish!
Both the other NH meetings that day are also 6 races. Is this a result of some cretinous BHA directive?
Yes its exactly the BHA’s fault, in their view having more six race cards will encourage bigger fields at other meetings – brilliant!!
Great. So over the course of my 2015 badge we’ll get the equivalent of a reduction of more than two meetings. I think I’ll send the BHA an invoice for compensation.
It’s not like Ludlow has any problems with small fields anyway.
I did ask on a previous thread whether there would be a reduction in entry prices to match the reduction in races at each meeting. Fat chance.
This policy was announced by the BHA a couple of months ago and most jumps meetings this year have consisted of 6 races. How about they reduce the amount of AW racing to encourage owners to send their horses jump racing instead of on the sand.
I’m a jumps man who understands the reason for bumpers(apart from the ones on polytrack at Lingfield) but doesn’t enjoy them as a spectacle so reducing meetings to just 5 jumps races does nog inspire me to go racing.
To be fair to Leicester, a fair proportion of their cards have always been six races.
That hasn’t been the case at Ludlow for a long long time. Ludlow has been doing its best to raise standards and is rewarded by a teriffically loyal crowd; now they risk having it undone by the diktat of a bunch of clueless central administrators.
At the same time the self same idiots sanction an endless diet of all weather sh1te on courses that run 50-odd meetings a year. Racing needs to clean out the Augean stables at the BHA. I am virtually incandescent.
At least ATR will be able to fit 6 race NH cards into their Racing Review slots (not Ludlow, obviously) without "editing" the longer races.
Six race cards were the norm back in the 80s and early 90s.
But definitely agree, I would not attend a meeting consisting of 6 races, where one was a NH Flat race.
....and you've got to look a long way back for anything else.
I don’t mind a 6 race card of 3 hurdles and 3 chases as for me that is enough races to look at and study and fits nicely into the place pot as well.
When the 6 race card includes a bumper then I feel that is taking the mick, as well as when they put the bumper as part of the first 6 races and then a chase as the 7th.
The only way to stop 6 race cards is if racegoers vote with their feet.
Tomorrow there are 6 races at Newbury including a bumper. As one commentator often reminds us ‘let’s see what happens’.
That Newbury card does tend to confirm that the number of horses in training is falling year by year. It’s a middle of the road midweek card with none of the types of race that regularly attract small fields, so comparison with previous years is interesting
Ten years ago, much the same card attracted 93 runners. Six years ago (six not five as 2010 was abandoned) there were 84 runners.
Two years ago there 63 runners. Tomorrow there are 47 declared and doubtless there will be a few non runners to deduct from that before we get the final tally.
But 93 to 47 in ten years of steady decline looks like a problem to me, and not one the BHA can cover up by simply reducing the number of races at a meeting.
And I agree that a six race card including a bumper is verging on fraud when the admission cost is unchanged.
Off at a slight tangent, but the Ebor Meeting now comprises four 6-race cards whereas it used to be three 7-race cards
Personally I find 6 races sufficient entertainment when on-course though I’d agree those should not include a bumper: they are an ideal 7th as they allow quick escape to the car/train/pub before the masses trying to get out, get out
I wouldn’t argue that we need less racing, but it should come in the form of fewer meetings, not fewer races per meeting.
Tomorrow’s card is also 5 races and a bumper. IIRC, when bumpers were introduced in the late 80s and early 90s they were always the 7th race.
I contacted Ludlow and they are as unhappy as I am. They have been told to schedule 6 race cards at at least half their meetings in the winter months, which at Ludlow is basically all of them. At the end of the day this benefits nobody.
Less turnover for the books, less opportunity for jockeys who have incurred travel costs, less bang for the buck for the racegoer, 35 minutes less retail opportunity for the food and drink outlets. And fewer opportunities for owners to recoup costs.
Why doesn’t the BHA understand that we need less racing than necessarily races, is our sport too much in the thrall of the bookies to see sense and cut back on fixtures?
When I first started going racing most cards were six races and seven was a treat.
14 races – at Salisbury I think – is the most I can remember.
I also think most jumps fans live for chases more than hurdles so two chase cards are always a bit gutting for them.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Why doesn’t the BHA understand that we need less racing than necessarily races, is our sport too much in the thrall of the bookies to see sense and cut back on fixtures?
It’s not whether they understand that fewer fixtures are needed, it’s that they cannot control those fixtures in any meaningful way because they do not own the fixtures. Tracks own the vast majority of fixtures (astoundingly).
When I first started going racing most cards were six races and seven was a treat.
14 races – at Salisbury I think – is the most I can remember.
I also think most jumps fans live for chases more than hurdles so two chase cards are always a bit gutting for them.
Yup I’m one of those. I’d far rather watch a meaty chase than a bumbling hurdle. I’m used to Leicester, where 6 races is the norm. When the evenings get lighter and the last race is at around 5pm, most punters run for it as soon as the horse has passed the post so as not to get stuck in the rush hour, or even leave before the last.
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