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Without Derby trials, there is no Derby. It’s as simple as that.
The same fate the Olympic Committee will have to deal with: No qualifying events for most Olympic sports results in abandonment of the entire games.
It is not as simple as that.
No trials are needed for the Derby. They are not like qualifying events for Olympic sports.
I have just read the modelling paper that underpins yesterday’s shift in UK government policy. It makes very clear that the suppression measures are in place for 5 months minimum, though to the end of August. That’s what Whitty and Vallence mean when they are saying ‘months’ and so that would seem to put paid to much of the flat season. The paper suggests there may be a relaxation in September (coinciding with the new school year?), but – in the absence of any vaccine – an ‘on/off’ switch, determined by the number of Covid-19 cases in IC beds, will trigger the resumption of the suppression measures in the autumn/winter. So I am not even optimistic about a resumption of the jumps proper until 2021. All told this is long haul, very long haul – 18 months I think, unless it turns out that the Chinese experience shows that drastic suppression works.
It’s pointless to speculate but, since we don’t have much else to discuss now, I’ll put my oar in! I believe that SOME sport will be back in SOME form before we think, albeit behind closed doors. The impact of keeping people isolated for months on morale and mental health cannot be underestimated and some scrap will have to be thrown if they want people to comply. This isn’t China and, even with extra powers (which will come), the same draconian clampdown won’t be possible. Even during the War, the Government found it had to let some events take place to keep people on side. Whether this will apply to racing is another matter (particularly given the inherent dangers of the sport and reliance on emergency services which has already been mentioned).
One thing I do know is that forums like this can play a critical role in keeping people in touch and engaged (and a provide a chance for a bit of a healthy disagreement!) so please nobody give up just because there’s no racing!
I suspect this year’s flat season will be a write-off; if we are lucky the next NH season might be saved
Agree, I think it will be a write off.
I know there are more significant issues facing the country right now but if there is no British racing – and the possibility of no racing in Ireland either – how can RTV continue to charge a subscription?
This is all about stemming the tide of the deaths and getting the NHS to cope. As soon as the curve flattens and falls (2/3 months) then the government will start to relax slightly the measures. Measures as a restriction will likely remain until spring 2021, this virus is here to stay and we need to live with it until we find a vaccine. But allowing events to continue initially behind closed doors will happen this summer I’m sure of that. Life needs to continue, we can’t and won’t lock everything down until Spring 2021. Therefore I still don’t see a reason why the flat season can’t kick off in July say and all the trials can still be run before the classics and Royal Ascot can still go ahead, plus a load of two year old races that need to be run for next year that no-ones mentioned yet. Horses can still be trained on the gallops before that surely?
This is all about stemming the tide of the deaths and getting the NHS to cope.
The concept of losing any part of the flat season is something that is anathema to myself, until put into context. Stemming the tide of death, even if just a small ripple, is essential when lives are at stake
Small time punter like me who only follows flat, it will be sad news if entire season is called off. Also, it means we already have seen the last of Enable
I think everyone agrees it’s the right approach but UEFA have announced today that the plan is to finish domestic seasons and the Champions League by the end of June, I don’t see why the BHA can’t put in a draft plan now along these lines. Minimising deaths is critical obviously but 19,000 people died of regular flu last year and not many of people on this forum would’ve blinked at that. Life has to go on. I’m expecting the BHA to announce a draft plan fairly soon after today’s announcement
Even during the War, the Government found it had to let some events take place to keep people on side
Plenty of online resources regarding the continuation of cricket and football during WW2, and interesting they are too; but a brief surf has found little about racing. That it continued, in an albeit very truncated form, is well known, and the best horse to race during those dismal years was probably the top filly Sun Chariot
Did find this link to a book with the splendid and probably apt title ‘Insane and Unseemly’. A good read I’m sure but £75 is just too indulgent
The wartime annuals of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanacs are amongst the most sought after and pricey, due to very small print runs
100% with you Tonge
This Forum can play a vital roll during worrying times and while there is no racing we can still go down to The Lounge and start a few Threads to keep our brains ticking over while racing is off and more importantly for those who might be living alone and find this Forum a lifeline a Thread to say how we are coping with this Virus and for those who have recovered from it what it was like and how they coped. Having been ticking off the days to the
start of the flat season the news that all racing had been cancelled until at least May has come as a huge disappointment and we are now in unknown territory as to when it will return. At least we still have the Dubai World Cup meeting to look forward to Tonge ….
have to add hopefully to that last statement
JacThings turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...- Total Posts 2553
strawbear, was it really? I think not.
Information from the Telegraph Chronicle of Racing, a book of extracts from their racing pages, regarding racing during WW2.
All the Classics were certainly kept going, with the Derby and Oaks run at Newmarket. The Leger wasn’t run in 1940, but resumed the following year, also at Newmarket.
There must have been quite a lot of flat racing as the number of winners ridden by the champion jockey is shown as ranging from 68 in 1940, to 88 in 1944. The champion was Gordon Richards except in 1941 when Harry Wragg (71 winners) took the title after Richards suffered a broken leg at Salisbury in May.
Evidence of establishment support for racing is shown by a picture of King George VI leading in Sun Chariot after the 1942 Oaks. He’s wearing RAF uniform and cap and there’s a crowd twenty deep around the winners enclosure of the July Course.
NH racing also continued until September 1942, when it was stopped for the duration, but resumed at Cheltenham in January 1945. There’s a report on Medoc II winning the 1942 Cheltenham Gold Cup, a race run in thick fog, which informs readers that commentator Raymond Glendenning never mentioned the fog to avoid giving weather information to the enemy!
One other extract from the paper – April 4th 1943: Racing continues at Longchamp in Occupied France despite a British bombing raid prior to the meeting.
From another source, Racecourses on the Flat, the section on Doncaster states that the St Leger had various wartime homes – Thirsk, Manchester, Newmarket and York.
Doncaster was taken over as a base for the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, Kempton was a POW camp and Newbury from 1942 was the main US Army base.
They have not called of pointing in Ireland yet, although the UK season has been stopped. Presumably the big commercial 4yo handlers think that they will have sales to go to with their winners. I imagine that eventually both the races and the sales will bite the dust. The people who want it to go ahead don’t seem to absorb that you don’t simply turn up on the day in the fresh air, but that each meeting requires the local amateur organisers to meet and plan. The rumour mill has long maintained that the sales companies are acting as banks for the big handlers, and rely on the ’boutique’ sales to get their money back. If that is true, they will feel the strain also.
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