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It is arguable that, whereas over shorter race distances on the Flat horses are beaten by lack of speed, over longer race distances, especially over Jumps, horses are beaten by exhaustion.
There are four scheduled races in excess of 3m at Stratford and Newton Abbot this coming Sunday.
If the forecast still looks like being 35C plus later in the week, is it wise to allow them to go ahead?
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"I wouldn’t even walk to the local shops in that kind of heat so I absolutely wouldn’t ask a horse to run when it is that hot. Particularly not over long distances with obstacles in the way. I don’t care how many vets are on call and how much water is available. If such measures are necessary in the first place then it isn’t worth the risk of animals who can not make informed decisions.
If the temperatures are in the mid 30s and (particularly NH) racing goes ahead, then commercial interests will have won out over legitimate welfare concerns.
About two weeks ago when the ongoing heatwave reached Paris and temperatures rose to 38-40 degrees the jumps racing at Auteuil started at around 8:45 a.m. and was over shortly after noon. It still would just too much to have the horses travel in a box for hours to get to the track and then home.
No one wants to deny anyone the chance to work but there comes a point where a day’s loss of earnings has to take second place to equine welfare.
Early starts are no use to the off-course betting industry, anyway, so I would suggest it is better to abandon, or if possible postpone, Jumps fixtures during a heatwave.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Here is an idea. We could stop the jumps season in early June. Then start it again in early August. That way it would avoid all those really hot days in July.
I wonder if anyone has ever thought of it before?
Ludicrous idea – it could never work.
You write as if it used to be the norm and everyone was perfectly happy with it.
You’ve obviously spent too long in the sun today!
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"It’s impossible to come up with a better suggestion than an actual two month break but if we accept that isn’t happening, there’s always the other end of the day. In midsummer you can easily start a meeting at 6pm with no worries about the light. Why not hold all jumps meetings in the evening?
Because you do have worries about the light, in this case the sun.
You obviously didn’t watch Uttoxeter last week.
There are plenty of arguments for going back to the two month break but heat isn’t one of them. You’re just as likely to have a heatwave in august as you are July.
Low sun isn’t just an issue at summer evening jumps meetings – it’s an issue whenever there is, err, low sun!
And that can be at different times of day at different times of the year.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"I propose that the temperature unit in the thread’s title be changed to F, instead of C.
An astronomer can tell you the precise date, time, location and duration of every solar eclipse for the next thousand years. I’d like to think somebody could work out the best time to run a selling hurdle at Plumpton.
I’d be interested to know what temperature ranges racing takes place within in the numerous countries more renowned for a hot climate than the UK.
Possibly there will also be an element of what an individual horse is acclimatised to having an influence on what is safe. When we are getting to 35 degrees in the UK, I have unease about any racing taking place, not just Jumps.
I ran today in the heat – I was late so hotfooted it. I was luckily wearing a minimal vest type tee shirt with my arms fully exposed. I ran quite a long way certainly a few hundred feet. I am not suggesting what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
Definitely. In fact I would say 30+ although it’s difficult to put a number on this as humidity can also be a factor. It’s easy to abandon when too cold or too wet so why not too hot?
Like Marlingford I believe 35 is too hot for any racing.
Isn’t there a precedent for this – do I recall a 3m2f chase at Cheltenham being abandoned due to it be an abnormally hot day for that time of year? Also didn’t Southwell end a jumps meeting after a few races last year when it got too hot, so I imagine that the same precautions will kick in again this time if required.
During the heatwave of 2003, I can certainly remember a few greyhound racing meetings being called off.
Quite simply yes they should be.
I don’t see it happening though and sadly it will likely take a horse dying from heat exhaustion during or post race before the matter will be even mentioned let alone addressed. The argument being that plenty of water is on hand for horses to drink and/or be cooled down with mist fans so they believe their bases are covered.
With the climate issues meaning the increase in more extreme hot days (especially in countries that are less known for them) this is (and is going to be) a much (excuse the pun) hotter topic horse welfare wise than a slippery bend which often results in an automatic abandonment of the meeting.
Personally I have never been a fan of summer jumps racing as it just doesn’t appeal to me, but I know there is a niche type market for it for horses that require quicker ground than they would get (due to over watering) during the rest of the NH season and maybe there are steps that can be taken to mitigate having to run long distance races (especially) in the hottest part of the day by maybe starting earlier or later in the day where possible.
I guess planning for that would be an issue as how would you know what meeting will likely be affected ahead of time where you can still re-jig the race running order of a meeting or move it forward or back time wise.
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