Bring back Windsor over the jumps

[phil walker]

After spending a boring day at drab and lifeless Lingfield I wish they would bring back Windsor’s jumps programme.

I used to do well at Windsor when they brought it back a few years while they rebuilt Ascot, and the ground was always a lot better than the bog at Lingfield today.

[stodge]

I was at Lingfield yesterday, too, Phil. I thought it was one of the poorest NH cards I’ve ever seen and hardly surprising with cards at both Plumpton and Folkestone the previous day.

The weather didn’t help and neither did the closure of the Brasserie.

As for Windsor, there is no chance of NH racing returning – it’s not something Arena are interested in at that venue. There are some issues regarding the ground – they race every Monday during the summer and effectively use two tracks up the straight as Newmarket and Nottingham do to save the ground. The turn past the winning post is too sharp for racing and it causes problems with pulling-up on the Flat on occasions.

I think Arena want to improve the stands and the viewing but will face formidable planning problems.

[graysonscolumn]

I was at Lingfield yesterday, too, Phil. I thought it was one of the poorest NH cards I’ve ever seen and hardly surprising with cards at both Plumpton and Folkestone the previous day.

I’d have thought that, even with those two other cards in close proximity, there would still have been enough horses crying out for a run after the cold snap (and in anticipation of another this week) to have prevented the Lingfield card having cut up quite so badly. Maybe the prospects of the card not beating the weather, or producing bottomless going even if it did, was a deterrent for at least some.

The weather didn’t help and neither did the closure of the Brasserie.

Seems to have been a recurring theme these last few days for at least some courses. Nothing was open food-wise except the indoor carvery at Ayr on Sunday (when I went), and possibly not on the Monday (when I didn’t), either. Certainly glad to read in Mr Wilson’s Plumpton review that at least one course wasn’t regarding giving punters a choice of feeding options as an inconvenience over the same period, though.

As for Windsor, there is no chance of NH racing returning – it’s not something Arena are interested in at that venue. There are some issues regarding the ground – they race every Monday during the summer and effectively use two tracks up the straight as Newmarket and Nottingham do to save the ground. The turn past the winning post is too sharp for racing and it causes problems with pulling-up on the Flat on occasions.

Has that actually changed since the days when Windsor was a full-time dual-purpose course, though? I never visited the place until 2003ish, so that’s a genuine question – I’ve just not been aware of any forfeiture of ground, re-aligning of the winning post bend, etc., that would have made the place any less well suited to year-round racing nowadays.

Were any horses failing to corner successfully during the replacement-Ascot jumps fixtures of the mid-2000s? They all seemed to handle the course well enough when I saw Baracouda win the Long Walk Hurdle there, for example.

gc

Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.

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