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With the hurdles course in full aquatic mode, Friday’s Lingfield card currently consists of three chases and an AW NH Flat race.
However, the course has come over all Baldrick and announced that the two races with the most entries will split to create a six-race card. One of those is surely going to be the NH Flat with 26 declared at the moment with the 2m4f chase looking the other likely candidate. This is quite inventive stuff rather than just abandoning or sticking a bumpers’ card on, so let’s hope trainers support it.
Meanwhile, Wolverhampton will stage a double-header of God-knows-how-many races starting at midday and ending…probably in March or something.
Mike
One or two people will certainly be licking their lips that Cunning Lingers is hoping to lay on a mouth-watering treat.
By abandoning the hurdles races and staging a six-race card consisting of four steeplechases and two bumpers, it’s certainly better than losing the whole meeting.
Admirable flexibility. Lingfield sometimes rightly gets a tongue-lashing but not on this occasion.
Meanwhile, Wolverhampton will stage a double-header of God-knows-how-many races starting at midday and ending…probably in March or something.
Mike
15 of the blessed things and it happens to be the day I do my single, annual, artificial surface race meeting – should have novelty value if nothing else even though it will be a long day (last race is 19:30)
I’m sure Crusty will be absolutely delighted to know his two favourite callers – the two John’s – are covering the meeting.
Indeed, Lingfield has passed the inspection and will race tomorrow.
Looks as though the handicap will divide along with the Bumper.
This is another initiative we’ve seen coming from Ireland where tracks put on either all-chase or all-hurdle cards if parts of the course are unraceable. Lingfield’s problem is that the hurdle course is the summer Flat course and therefore has more use and has been watered.
The outside chase course is unused in the summer and can therefore be better preserved. I’ve long thought Lingfield could have taken on the United Hunts card at Folkestone quite easily and staged an all-chase card but the proximity to the Derby Trial meeting probably mitigated against that.
Leicester also stage all chase cards, especially towards the end of the NH season, to protect the hurdles track, which is shared with the flat course.
The "home straight" on the chase course is a distinctly separate track.
Certainly the right thing to do,as we have been splitting races here for a long time.I am sure the discussion in the merit of this will be on a lot of peoples lips,certainly shaving the fields in half is the right thing to do.
Nine, seven, six and seven for the four chases on the Lingfield card tomorrow.
There’s little doubt in my mind there is too much racing over Christmas/New Year when a) all the meetings are on and b) the ground is very similar everywhere.
The drier spell will help and it will be interesting to see if fields recover next week as ground improves back to good/soft.
I don’t have an issue with dividing races in these circumstances, where there are enough runners to justify it.
However my mind is drawn back to Ascot last May when the round course was unracable on the Friday evening, so they reverted to an all "straight course" fixture, achieved by dividing a 5f race into two divisions of 5 & 4 runners and the 7f race into two divisions of 6 & 5 runners.
For me that just did not work.
Nine, seven, six and seven for the four chases on the Lingfield card tomorrow.
There’s little doubt in my mind there is too much racing over Christmas/New Year when a) all the meetings are on and b) the ground is very similar everywhere.
The drier spell will help and it will be interesting to see if fields recover next week as ground improves back to good/soft.
I agree Stodge a very dull meeting tomorrow, but hopefully with the drier weather comes more runners amd better racing
Carlisle too have had several all-chase cards when the shared hurdle and flat track has been deemed unraceable ,or has been preserved for the Flat season. Of course, these all-chase cards were, like Leicester’s, programmed as such and not last-minute splits as per Lingfield tomorrow
As for the field sizes tomorrow I personally am more than content to have the two handicaps featuring ‘just’ seven runners as I find, betting-wise, double-figure fields tend to spawn tight lips and cold feet
classic post Crusty , I have spent the last 5 minutes laughing , strangely nobody else has picked up on your mouth watering riposte
Happy new year
R
classic post Crusty , I have spent the last 5 minutes laughing , strangely nobody else has picked up on your mouth watering riposte
Happy new yearThanks, Ricky. Happy new year to you, as well, and to everyone else on the forum.
Delighted to hear from Paul Ostermeyer that John Hunt and John Blance are due to be commentating at the bumper Wolverhampton meeting.
Just about to set the video to ensure I don’t miss it.
Hope the ATR anchormen aren’t expecting any responses when they hand over to John Blance…
Mentioning new commentators I heard Gareth Topham the day day from Catterick and boy is he boring with a very dull voice. Would rather hear John Hunt again and again any day.
Mentioning new commentators I heard Gareth Topham the other day from Catterick and boy is he boring with a very dull voice. Would rather hear John Hunt again and again any day.
Just be grateful it wasn’t the cheery Martin Harris at Catterick. He’s been the standing (cold) dish there for years.
Lord knows why, unless it’s to increase the bar profits by driving racegoers to drink listening to his monotonous voice and tedious style.
I actually
have
been hearing John Hunt "again and again" recently. Can’t watch a race without him popping up. Roll on Wolverhampton, I say…
classic post Crusty , I have spent the last 5 minutes laughing , strangely nobody else has picked up on your mouth watering riposte
Happy new year
R
Ah yes they did,if you look closely
Hope the ATR anchormen aren’t expecting any responses when they hand over to John Blance…
Why should he engage in pointless, puerile banter?
Hope the ATR anchormen aren’t expecting any responses when they hand over to John Blance…
Why should he engage in pointless, puerile banter?
Quite right. Why the anchorman can’t just hand over straight instead of asking for comments, opinions, jolly japes etc from the commentators, I don’t know, as we have both said before.
The point is that ATR should check in advance whether a commentator is willing to indulge in puerile banter (and should realise that he may be unable to provide a seamless link because he is possibly doing what his first priority should be, giving information to the racecourse crowd).
Obviously in the case of Matt Chapman, he is determined to try to engage the commentator in mindless drivel by means of an over-the top, bombastic handover.
In the case of John Hunt, of course, it is preceded by an equally appalling and obsequious link of the type: "We’re very lucky today to be joined by one of our finest and very TOP commentators, Mr…John…HUNT…a very good afternoon to you, Hunty."
I suspect embarrassing silences from the hapless John Blance are because he is rightly concentrating on keeping the racegoers informed and doing last-minute mugging-up on his colours etc instead of listening avidly to the ATR feed.
This means he is not replying seamlessly to the inane links of Chapman and others.The long pregnant pauses after these phantom handovers just make ATR look unprofessional.
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