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The start of our jumping year has always been a trip to Bangor..we used to see some really good horses start off their season there [Iris’s Gift springs to mind]..however, last year all the best horses seemed to go to Chepstow on that day so, as I’ve never been to Chepstow we thought about going there this Saturday instead…has anyone got an idea of which horses may be running at either track? I hate to desert Bangor but was disappointed by last years card…
The five-day entries were declared today:
Having been to this corresponding Chepstow meeting last year and the Bangor one the year before, I suppose I should try to get myself to the Hexham one this time!
All three courses represent a grand day out in my book. One word from the wise (?!?!?) with regard to the Monmouthshire venue, however; if you possibly can, fight your way through the sizeable crowd as far up the grandstand as you can. Even the best TV pictures don’t do justice to the undulations of the home straight, and you need to pick your possie carefully to be able to see all of the five fences up it.
From a people-watching perspective, you should find Chepstow the most gratifying of the day’s jumping options. Last year’s card was observed in person by all the big West Country and Wales trainers, plus JP McManus, David Johnson, Brough Scott, Eddie Fremantle, Robert Cooper and Cornelius Lysaght.
HTH,
Jeremy
(graysonscolumn)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.
looks like it’ll be Chepstow this year then;; I know that the two meetings clashed last year but we thought that this hadn’t happened in previous years; maybe we hadn’t noticed before.
..And for added context, here’s an indication of the sort of competitive, classy (compared to the season so far) fare you could realistically expect to see there;
http://www.neigh.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=48
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.
Even the best TV pictures don’t do justice to the undulations of the home straight, and you need to pick your possie carefully to be able to see all of the five fences up it.
Yep those undulations have to be seen to be believed – I have previously described the course as being an equine Alton Towers – it is probably the nearest a horse will ever get to going on a roller coaster.
Bangor on Dee for me as it is local plus it is a Haydock reciprocal so it wont cost me a bean to get in.
Looks a decent card with some good early season novice events and always a meeting to spot potential horses of the future.
Only reason Chepstow are racing this Saturday is because the BBC wanted it to be moved to form a double header with Ascot and so they can also cover Kempton on Arc weekend.
My only worry about bangor is the ground, running in heavy their bottoms horses from my experince campagning juvibile novice hurlders their during my Middlham park days.
I say it every year, but the expressions "Charisma (Records) Gold Cup" and "Mercedes Benz Handicap Chase", although now defunct as titles, are enough to make me slightly moist. I don’t care about your Summer Plates or your Newton Abbot marathon thingies, I want to hear leaves crackling under my feet, feel the air thin and crisp in my lungs and see proper chasers running for proper prizes over proper fences on my tellybox. Next weekend is the beginning of something wonderful and I’m like a kid at Christmas. Join me, please…..
It’s like the "dilemma" on the 18th October – Champions Day at Newmarket or The Showcase at Cheltenham.
I should really be at Newmarket for the last big weekend of the flat season but the allure, the siren call, of Prestbury Park is far, far greater.
I think of the Chepstow meeting as being the hors d’oeuvres to the main course of Cheltenham’s Showcase meeting which I still think of as the real start to the jumping season.
Bring it on!!!
I I want to hear leaves crackling under my feet, feel the air thin and crisp in my lungs and see proper chasers running for proper prizes over proper fences on my tellybox. Next weekend is the beginning of something wonderful and I’m like a kid at Christmas. Join me, please…..
…I need no persuading
A fine sonnet Rory, that washed the 0800 sleep from my eyes
Yep, the anticipation of the winter ahead remains undimmed.
I fear the sanctuary of this wonderful cloistered little world will be needed more than ever as the spectacular arsse-high tits-low somersaults of the big bad real world culminate in an inevitable tetraplegic neck-break
give ’em enough rope
well, we ended up going to Chepstow; the weather was fantastic and the racing was good..the backdrop was almost as spectacular as Cheltenham and it would have been nice to spend a weekend down there and stopped off at Stow.however next year it will be back to Bangor again for several reasons. A day at the races for me involves rushing to and fro from pre parade to paddock to winners enclosue and to the last fence in the chases, even if that means being so far away from the winning post that we have no idea of who has won..we did, eventually find the pre parade ring at Chepstow but it was quite a distance from the paddock..we actually spent quite a lot of time there, and it is really close to the track so, when the runners came thundering down the hill the youngsters that were being walked round the pre parade ring freaked out! I couldn’t believe how close together the last few fences were. Oh yes, the view from the grandstand is amazing and with a good pair of bins you get a great view of the last few fences. All in all a very enjoyable day, but it’s back to the last fence at Bangor next year!
if only you could have got to chepstow back in the 90s before northern racing wrecked the place.
Well Bangor was a lovely days racing.
Some good horses for the future, The Treacle Eater for me looks a good prospect after his first run over hurdles and will improve.
Breedsbreeze put in a good display against some fair sorts and cruised to an easy win and will pick up more wins before the season is out.
Great to have National Hunt racing back in the swing, Uttoxeter beckons on Wednesday and although the quality might not be strong it makes a change from being in work.
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