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I cannot have this continual missing out of fences because of the low sun. Fences were jumped for donkeys years into the low sun, until one day, some bright spark said "we can’t be doing this, it could be dangerous!"
I’m sure horses look at the bottom of an obstacle before they jump it (hence the positioning of the orange take-off boards) so it can’t be as bad as, say, driving directly into a low sun is for humans.
When a three-mile chase encompasses 10 fences and a 5 furlong run-in, the race might as well be abandoned, in my opinion.I was at Donny last time they had the Grimthorpe and the same thing happened then so it is something which will happen again in the future.
The course should have run the chases first if they knew low sun would affect the racing.
As for Kelso it is pot luck at any meeting
I agree totally. Modern day wimp jockeys don;t want to take risks. If you go to the start of a race where the sun is likely to be an issue, you can here them all complaining to the starter and asking for action to be taken.
Proper jockeys from ten years and more back just got on with the job without the childish moans.
As for Kelso it is pot luck at any meeting
It’s a major irritation at Kelso, but go down the course a bit when the sun’s low, look back toward the fiinsh and you can see what a problem it is.
Ironically having taken out two hurdles per circuit in the Grade 2 Hurdle, their top race of the season, the hurdles were back in use for the 5.25.
I do believe that Kelso could lessen the inconvenience with a little thought. If they placed two hurdles down the side of the course, and only one in the straight, they would only have to miss one out per circuit when the sun is low. Positioning would have to be thought out, with two fences down that side, but I reckon it’s the best solution. I e-mailed the course to that effect but haven’t had a reply.
Rob
Rob,
I watched that Grade 2 on ATR and from the pictures, the shadows of the horses seemed to be at about 60 degrees to the line of the track, suggesting the sun was far from shining straight into their faces. Also that race was staged 1hr 40m before the official sunset time – nowhere but Kelso seems to find this a problem so early in the afternoon.
AP
Could you imagine them missing out a fence in the National? All hell would break loose.
What I find strange about the whole missing out of fences is that in Ireland you very very rarely see it happen. A jockey and/or a horse must be in a pretty bad shape for it to happen and even then some decide to jump over the stricken jock/animal!
My biggest bugbear however is the term "false ground". What the bloody hell is false ground. Ireland has so much rain it can almost be termed pluvial and yet with all their bad weather you never see a fence dolled off. The horses have to swim round some courses but they jump every fence far more often than we do over here. Is it a jockey thing? Maybe. But a lot ride in both Ireland and the UK. Perhaps in Ireland they are made of sterner stuff and would be seen as "wimpish" if they were to remark on the sun, false ground etc.
AP
I can only the imagine it’s got something to do with the finish at Kelso being uphill. Only a guess mind.
Regarding the shadows it depends where you noted them, since ‘the straight’, isn’t straight until after the last hurdle. The course has a slight bend to the left after the last, meanint the hurdles are not on the same alignment as the run-in.
Rob
AP is spot on. There was no problem at all with the angle of the sun part across the straight.
Can’t see anything changing in the future, what would happen if both jockey and horse broke their necks at a fence when jockeys didn’t want to jump it because of the sun but were forced to. I drove into the sun a couple of weeks ago and it was impossible to see. Would it be possible to redesign some tracks?
I don’t know this for sure but I’d imagine it’s more of a problem for the jockeys than the horses. Given the position of a horse’s eye on the side of his head you wouldn’t think sun directly in front of him would be as much of a problem as for us humans.
It is frustrating- I remember being against Stormez at Cheltenham one November meeting because of his jumping when he won what became practically a 3 mile flat race!If a jockey and/or horse fell and broke their necks because of the low sun at a fence everyone would be complaining that the fence should have been dolled off.
I would much prefer that a fence be missed than someone get seriously injured. Whether the horse is affected by the sun or not makes no difference – if the jockey can’t see it then things instantly become very dangerous and injuries occur.
As for false ground, it is one of the most terrifying things to hit when galloping at speed. Horses fall, jockeys are hurt…it’s not pretty…I can’t believe that anyone on here is willing to suggest that their betting money and enjoyment of racing should come above the safety and well being of the jockeys and horses who all work so hard to produce this thrilling sport.
What I find strange about the whole missing out of fences is that in Ireland you very very rarely see it happen.
That’s because the sun doesn’t shine in Ireland, just rain, cloud, and more rain..
But that doesn’t answer my question as to why the same doesn’t happen in Ireland on anywhere near the same sort of scale. They must surely have the same problems as here in the UK but they don’t doll of their fences. Why is that??????
What you must also remember is that horseracing needs gambling to survive and if punters spend there money on a race where they expect 20 fences to be jumped, base their decision on the fact that 20 fences are to be jumped then I can see why they are a bit miffed if half of them are not. They’re are not going to get their money back and the fact that a horse/jockey may have escaped injury is not their main concern. That is not to say that is my personal opinion but it is certainly true of some but not necessarily on here (diplomacy is difficult isn’t it!).
I can’t believe that anyone on here is willing to suggest that their betting money and enjoyment of racing should come above the safety and well being of the jockeys and horses who all work so hard to produce this thrilling sport.
Seconded. My thoughts are essentially “why hold jumps races if not to jump obstacles in them?”, but emphatically not at all costs; and heaven be thanked that sensibilities have changed such that riders are no longer ever compelled to hurl themselves at nearly 5ft of birch in reduced or zero visibility.
I don’t regard previous generations of jockeys as “men” or any the braver for having ridden into low sun previously, but rather either bloody-minded or maybe even a bit dim.
As with a number of arguments on TRF, though, the low sun one recurs every 6-9 months or so (see also https://theracingforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=69867&highlight=low+sun, which is recent enough to have escaped the postings cull) without a consensus of opinion ever being reached. Nor will it. Not a problem, though.
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.
Could you imagine them missing out a fence in the National? All hell would break loose.
If the 2m chase they ran last autumn – in which all three fences in the straight on the Mildmay course were omitted – is any guide, I think the very worst havoc that low sun could wreak in the Grand National would be to force the omission of the Chair and water jump.
Even then I’m not sure that the water wouldn’t have adequate protection from some of the tall buildings in and around the course, but it’s been over six years since I last visited Aintree so can’t say for certain one way or the other there.
With little, if any, run-off area either side of the two main rows of fences, running around these wouldn’t be an option – the race would have to be abandoned. However, I don’t think either row faces directly into the sun on a bright April mid-afternoon.
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.
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