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Indeed it is on although there are still some concerns in some quarters about some parts of the track – most notably the back straight on the hurdles course.
The last fence is being omitted in the opener and the third last hurdle will be omitted all afternoon.
One trainer has just said to me if he had any runners in the hurdle races then he would pull them out.
Well played Paul!
Agree with that. Good work Paul and fair play to Cheptstow for giving it every chance.
Good stuff Paul
The congratulations to Chepstow for giving it a chance flies totally in the face of the criticism Haydock received for doing something similar a couple of weeks back.
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Not really, Martin.
Chepstow were frequent and regular in inspecting the course, completely honest about the chances of racing at each stage and had positive forecasts (as well as a steady, quantifiable increase in temperature) to give them every chance of readying the track for racing. Haydock, on the other hand, preferred to drip-feed the public hopes and dreams rather than facts.
All credit to Chepstow.
To his credit Tim Long was completely open throughout – even before the final inspection it was, to use his words, "touch and go".
What is commendable is his involvement of key people in the decision making process and he closely liaised with jockeys and trainers throughout the morning and the final decision was made with their backing.
I think he sets a good example which some other Clerks would do well to pay heed to.
So glad it went ahead; was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoons racing and I thought the BBC’s coverage was excellent. Thanks to everyone who enabled this to happen.
I thought having the singing of the Welsh National Anthem before the race was a brilliant touch.
I’m not Welsh but there is something about the anthem that is really special and it always makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end – granted it wasn’t as atmospheric as hearing it at the old Arms Park or Millennium Stadium – but it was still moving nonetheless.
The congratulations to Chepstow for giving it a chance flies totally in the face of the criticism Haydock received for doing something similar a couple of weeks back.
A 5 minute internet check of 3 weather stations located within 10 miles of Haydock Park on the 19th of December at approximately 1 hour after sunrise (9:22am) would have revealed that the temperature/dewpoint hadn’t a snowballs chance of rising above freezing.
Paul, do you think the timing of the singing of the anthem was correct?
The race should have been under way by then.
Colin
Paul, do you think the timing of the singing of the anthem was correct?
The race should have been under way by then.
Colin
Not good, created a 7 min delay to the race, racing had been on time till then.
Not a fan of music or singing at race meetings but if they’re going to have it might be best to have it at 2.00pm while the horses are still in the paddock.Not good, created a 7 min delay to the race, racing had been on time till then.
Not a fan of music or singing at race meetings but if they’re going to have it might be best to have it at 2.00pm while the horses are still in the paddock.At the risk of starting WW3 it may not be 100% Chepstow’s fault.
I have a copy of the running order for the afternoon and there was plenty of time allowed.
However there is a key line which says – “The BBC …. want to hold the parade back until Claire (sic) has completed all the runners and riders.”
Now I obviously wasn’t watching the BBC coverage so I don’t know if they were running late.
Incidentally racing was potentially running 30 mins late at one point, as one of the options being discussed in the morning was dropping the bumper and putting racing back 30 mins
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