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Some tracks are thought to have more difficult fences than others. Is this because they are higher than the standard heights or is it because of some other characteristic such as a tight or undulating track? Also, apparently, I read somewhere that Irish fences are harder.
From watching on TV and video , all the fences look much of a muchness to me except the Grand National fences. So it’s not clear why some courses are so difficult. Can anyone enlighten me?
There are many number of reasons why some fences are considered more challenging than others but I would say the height differences on uk courses makes a negligible difference.
Some tracks fence construction is stiffer than others so they are more forgiving if a horse brushes through the top (if you look at most french fences they are designed to be jumped in this way), the location of the fences on the tracks eg uphill / downill can make a difference, take off and landing height and in particular the difference between the two (IMO this is seems to catch a lot of horses out on the national course), distance between fences i.e the railway fences at Sandown only have a few strides between them so horses are having to adjust their stride quickly to meet them right etc etc etc
its fair to say that the grand national fences are a lot softer than years gone by,but then so are the fences on the park courses so aintree still catches them out.
i think ascot,cheltenham,kempton,newbury and sandown have the stiffist fences along with some at wetherby.
haydock used to have to tough fences bout sadly they dug them up to be replaced by portible fences that are so easy that horses fall at them by being too complacent with them.
to sum up theres a major difference between the stiffness of a fence at a small track at like taunton and a top track like cheltenham and thats how it should be.to sum up theres a major difference between the stiffness of a fence at a small track at like taunton and a top track like cheltenham and thats how it should be.
Certainly agree that’s how it should be and for the greater part it is.
Always worth noting the anomalies, though. Hereford and Cartmel’s fences are stiffer than the norm for a low-grade track, for example.
Temporary changes – be they deliberate or unwitting – to the toughness of fences are often worth looking and listening out for. I don’t think I’m dropping a major clanger in suggesting that Worcester is generally regarded as a fair track with inviting enough fences – a Newbury for the low-grader, if you like!
However, the fences were all extensively repacked at the start of 2006, and if not necessarily precipitating a huge upsurge in fallers thereafter certainly presented the lesser animal it often attracts with more issues then previously. They’re about where they used to be again nowadays, though, I reckon.
Conversely Doncaster’s set of proud, wooden-framed obstacles (you can see them in the background on Youtube footage of 1970s era St Legers) started to be replaced with portables in the 1980s.
1975 St Leger (white-framed Cheltenham-alikes abound)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH0MzEWPjs01982 Pennine Chase (already some of said portables in home straight)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lch1fytjnEk1996 Great Yorkshire Chase (porta-fest)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct0J4VZuDdsI’m not sure they have always been a fitting enough test for a course of that standing, but to this pair of barely trained eyes, at least, they seem to have constituted a bit more of a test again in the last few years.
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.
If memory serves Doncaster’s fences were rebuilt during the lengthy period of closure required to erect the new stand. In my opinion – and ‘stiffness’ of fences is rather a matter of opinion – they are substantially more robust than the ones they replaced, though are still ostensibly portable. How often they’re actually trundled about I don’t know; infrequently at a guess, as Doncaster remains a woefully under-used NH venue considering it presents a good gallop, good winter going, good fences and good facilities
Huntingdon barely qualifies as a gaff I suppose, but its fences present a good test. With Kempton and Wincanton it forms a triplet of sharpish tracks that reward adept fencing. Always give a second glance to horses with winning course form at one when turning up at the others
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