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Hoiles saying ground is better than the Official going. He claims it’s drying out quite quickly.
Luke Harvey, down at the start. Quote: “Nearer to Good than Good to Soft”.
Race times the best barometer of all – first race over fences 7.24s slow, first race over hurdles 14.28s slow.
Between Good and Good to Soft in Chases, but slower over Hurdles on the limited evidence so far, I’d say.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"First day the rails on the bends are pushed out as far as possible to ensure fresh ground for Fri/Sat. So the distances are between 50 and 75 yards longer than normal.
That would amount to about 5 seconds for the opening chase, so the time wasn’t much over standard. And visually, the first two ran to the last at the pace of a good miler on the flat!
There was no good to soft out there today that I could see. No divots, no mud on the horses or jockeys, no visible prints on the turf.
Just the usual whatever the going really is, it’s a big meeting so we call it good to soft.
Why on earth did they put 5mm on yesterday evening with this rain coming today.
They’ve left it like a swamp out there. Buckling under pressure as usual.Last race was 27.92s slow – it was a cracking idea to water.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Our Power’s folks none too happy with the artificial deluge. https://twitter.com/PotterGRacing/status/1646595852151005184
Should send him over to their American string…Heaven forfend that horses should race on good ground on a flat course (so no jumping or galloping downhill) in mid April.
No one can say the rain wasn’t forecast. Surely it would have made more sense to wait till Friday evening to decide.
Don’t think ITV even mentioned that the course had been watered, nevermind comment on it.Racing taking aim and shooting itself in the foot again. Absolutely mental decision.
I hope the ground dries out, especially on the National course. Otherwise, exhausted horses walking home under strong driving will be a terrible look for the sport.
Weather forecast is for things to dry out overnight, with plenty of sun tomorrow. So, by 5.15 i reck the ground will have dried out enough to make it tacky rather than outright soft.
Plenty of Sun tomorrow??!!
Calm everyone!
Still chance to get the taps on for an hour before lighting up time!
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"The clerk of the courses discretionary use of watering and then lying about the going to reduce non-runners is one of the biggest turn offs in the sport in my opinion. I don’t trust whatever they put in the going description one bit. Needs somebody independent to verify the going imo. They’ve ruined countless big meetings by just chucking water down when its not needed.
I’ve got criticisms of watering, especially when the going report can be seen by race times as obviously wrong. Last year the Grand National time was 0.94 faster than Racing Post Standard. That’s pretty much impossible for genuine “Good-soft”. I suppose clerks official going descriptions are always going to be (sub-consciously at least) optimistic in their assessment. The going report is – after all – marking their own homework. ie Their own assessment of how close they themselves have got to their good-soft target.
But do think we need to understand why clerks water and why they (supposedly) over-water.
The Basics:
The harder the surface a horse falls on the more likely it is to be injured / killed.
The harder the surface the faster they go and the faster a horse hits the ground both in a fall and in running between fences; so the more likely it is to be injured / killed.
…And those two things add up to a far greater threat of injuries and fatalities on good-firm than good-soft… And – has to be said – even good ground is a little more dangerous than good-soft.Watering Is An Inexact Science.
If clerks aimed for good ground then sometimes it will end up good-soft and sometimes genuine good-firm. Good-soft is no problem but good-firm is.
As things are; Clerks aiming for good-soft will sometimes end up soft and sometimes good.
Easy to criticise clerks for over-watering when the weather forecast is for rain, but that forecast can be wrong. Still a percentage chance it does not rain and they end up with a harder surface.Soft Ground Horses:
Some horses have a round leg action that pounds the ground and often seems more at home on soft or heavy going. And / or that action makes them more likely to injure / kill themselves on a harder surface. That said; stamina that produces good results on stamina sapping very soft ground can also come to the fore on less soft ground when racing at stamina sapping extreme distances. So again not an exact science.The Will To Run:
Then there are those horses who’ve had previous leg injuries that can be more likely to get other leg injuries / die on a harder surface; running between obstacles as well as in a fall…
But this is the Grand National! Horses have been trained all year for this and is often the horse’s last chance to win a big one. So it is in some ways understandable owners and trainers will to run. Trainers who would normally withdraw their soft ground and / or particularly fragile racehorse in any normal race instead take a chance in the Grand National. So – the theory goes – the chance of seeing a horse breaking down is greater in the Grand National and softer going helps prevent this.However, another theory is that with is so much watering there may be a thought by connections the going won’t be that bad, therefore encouraging connections to take their chance.
Value Is Everything“Good-soft is no problem but good-firm is.”
I can understand wanting to avoid firm in the going description over jumps. But not on the Flat. In the summer, racing ought to be taking place on ground on the fast side.
If racing is really saying good to firm is now bad ground to be avoided, then the sport has a major problem.
Stuck record alert: why is racing breeding horses more and more for pure speed but obsessed with only allowing them to run on artificially slow ground? Doesn’t anyone apart from me and Mr Davies not see the glaring contradiction?
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