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I don’t especially like the fact that NH racing has reached the point where the jockeys run things and the stewards and course officials just have to do as they’re told. But it’s now a fact of life that when the jockeys say fences need to bypassed, that’s what happens.
But what really irritates is the lack of any sort of initiative to deal with this differently. It was absolutely obvious a half hour before the 3M novice chase that the fences would be bypassed if it was run at the scheduled time of 4:05. So why not make the decision there and then to re-schedule it to be run after the final race bumper.
Don’t say it can’t be done – I was there when a Gold Cup was delayed for 90 minutes. Races can also be delayed by a lack of medical cover (ambulance gone to hospital etc), or by an injured horse or jockey still on the track.
It would also be possible to officially schedule the bumper to be run 25 minutes after the novice chase, knowing that if the chase is run as normal, everybody just accepts it won’t go off at that time. But if there is a low sun issue, run the bumper at the advertised time and the chase 25 minutes after that, by which time the sun is behind the stands.
They all seem to like a bit of management jargon, so let’s call this ‘Low Sun Contingency Planning’. Surely that would be better than a 3M novice chase run with ten fences instead of eighteen, and a half mile run-in with a novelty chicane!
I should have added that sunset time at Cheltenham yesterday was 5:53 pm, so there was plenty of daylight to spare.
I heard a rumour there is going to be a new race called The Doll It Off Chase whereby all the obstacles are dolled off so it would be like a bumper.
The more I know the less I understand.
As the fences started being dolled off I thought will there be any left to jump
VF x
What makes it worse is that the race had exactly the same issues at the same time last year so Cheltenham do nothing and hope the sun isn’t out,same with scheduling The Greatwood Hurdle for 3.30 again despite that race’s previous issues.
It’s just as well it was a rainy day at Aintree today given The Old Roan was 65 minutes later than last year.Cheltenham should buy that sun-blocking thing from Mr Burns.
They could put the price of all alcoholic beverages, apart from Guinness, up to pay for it.
Problem solved.
Well it seems that we’ll find out if anything has been learned. Forecasts as per the Accuweather site:
Saturday:
AccuLumen Brightness Index™9 (Very Bright) 17% Cloud Cover
Sunday:
AccuLumen Brightness Index™10 (Very Bright) 0% Cloud Cover
I’m only going on Friday, which I’m pleased to say is forecast to be overcast and gloomy.
Cheltenham are on full alert, as the inclusion of this in the official going reports demonstrates:
“Low Sun Provision
Low sun could result in obstacle omission at this fixture”
That’s not a provision, it’s a prediction and ‘could’ should read ‘will’.
Ap racing quoted in Chris Cooks racing post column today! We’re in the presence of greatness😂
So tired of this….it is a blight on NH racing, not the actual low sun (which has always been a thing but in the past very rarely do I remember races having fences ommitted let alone to the extent it is now on bright sunny Winter days) but its the response that as soon as the sun arrives = dolling off fences.
Yes I know welfare is paramount in this day and age but I do think the jockeys (who have access to shaded googles to negate the issue for them) and authorities are now taking liberties in just assuming that horses (that see vastly differently to humans) are making mistakes at fences simply due to the low sun.
It seems a very subjective determination on the part of the jockey to say his horse made a mistake because he was blinded by low sun (any other evidence to support it???), when horses make just as many mistakes when there is no sun and have simply guessed and took off too early and I have watched countless races in the past where horses have raced into bright sunshine and jumped fences without any incident whatsoever – many renewals of the upcoming Tingle Creek Chase have had the field racing directly into the sun at the Pond fence with no issues (Sprinter Sacre’s year being a prime example).
Obviously you can’t test the theory scientifically by getting horse to jump obstacles directly into low sun as opposed to doing it with no sun to prove that they have an issue with low sun but (just like excessive watering because the perception is that good fast jumping ground is a welfare issue) I do think the rule has been taken advantage of and very much to the detriment of the sport where chases have at times now been turned into glorified slalom hybrid flat races with the odd fence to jump.
Maybe the reason the prophet’s five al Khamsa mares came back across the desert to him despite their raging thirst was not out of loyalty, but that the sun was in their eyes and they couldn’t see the water
Stupidity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result.why is The Greatwood still scheduled for 3.30 again this year given its history with low sun?
Just throwing it out there but has anyone considered just putting up light weight black netting in the direct line to the sun that can be easily & quickly assembled and surely wouldn’t cost 2 to 3 million?!
Why not invite ideas from those inside or outside the sport to find a proper solution if moving the race times is not feasible?
It would also be worth experimenting with a black mesh suspended from a pair of drones. Drones are already in use to provide pictures for TV and they can be controlled easily enough these days.
It isn’t necessary to totally block out the sun, just do enough to eliminate the glare.
My feeling is that the people running racing these days don’t see this as a problem. A few fences are bypassed, who cares, it’s still a race. So they don’t see the need to solve it, especially if it means spending money. After all, no horse has ever been withdrawn from a race just before the start because of this issue. If owners and trainers are happy to play chicanes, why should the courses do anything about it.
Thinking back to another era, but I recall the Mackeson as was, and what is now the Greatwood were run on the same day, and earlier on the card – particularly when on the BBC. From memory, approx 1.20 & 1.50….so low sun never affected either race….
Now it sounds like rain and not sun could be an issue for the meeting with earlier predictions of between 20-30mm of rain through Thursday night into Friday morning now being updated suggesting it could be significantly more than that for the start of the November meeting – Cheltenham is currently good to soft (good in places) after being watered last on 7 November and then getting 21mm since Monday.
Would be kind of ironic if we started getting horses now being withdrawn due to the ground being too soft when just a few days ago it was too quick – wonder if any trainer will have the gaul to utter the ‘waiting for better ground’ excuse after this.
The weather gods are having a right laugh at the moment – the Cross Coutry race was abandoned due to the middle of the course being unsuitably firm (as watering was concentrated on the main course only) so they put on a Veterans race instead, which itself should have taken place at Wincanton’s meeting back on 26 October which was abandoned due to firm ground.
Goes from one extreme to another they are having an inspection there tomorrow morning.
The more I know the less I understand.
ITV just said the forecast is saying it will continue raining until late evening/early Saturday morning – problem is now that they have raced on the ground it is opened up and now more susceptible to the rain.
The race times have been 18.46s, 21.14s, 35.13s and 14.63s slow so far and the ground will have been at its best today and will get progressively worse. Think there must be a real concern that they are not going to be able to race tomorrow as it will likely hinge on just how much rain they get between now and 7:30am tomorrow when the inspect takes place.
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