- This topic has 48 replies, 29 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 1 month ago by
.
-
Posts
-
I didn’t know anything about this until the leaflet dropped out of this month’s Owner & Breeder. Has anyone seen the course? It looks like an interesting addition to the country’s racecourses
Thanks, Rob. From the Ffos Las website (my emphasis):
The British Horseracing Board have allocated 8 races to Ffos Las racecourse for the 2009 season, which will put the racecourse firmly on the horseracing calendar.
Just read the article on the possibility that Ffos Las will close if it is loses 12 of its fixtures next year.
Bearing in mind some of the really poor courses with pitiful prizemoney it would certainly be an act of ‘complete lunacy’ to deny this course at least the same number of fixtures as last year.
If necessary the twelve fixtures should be taken from the worst 12 fixtures (in prizemnoney terms) amongst the other courses.
- Total Posts 17716
This simply must not happen. It’s incredible that the best new venture for decades might be threatened – essentially by politics rather than economics.
This seems to me to be a combination of calling the BHA’s bluff and "I’m taking my ball home". Ffos Las were certainly not guaranteed anything approaching 28 fixtures a year when they started up. It seems rather naive to base their business plan on such a level, particularly given the current funding issues.
That being said, it does seem rather daft to have a continuing raft of ‘all-weather’ fixtures right through the year, while denying a turf course the chance to hold just over two fixtures a month.
Given that Ffos Las are making a fuss about fixture allocation, don’t be surprised to hear howls of disgust emanating from this part of the world before long.
Rob
N.Henderson said that the course was good enough to hold the Gold Cup there, he and other trainers need to speak up!
I am all for closing some racecourses. But Ffos Las is an excellent racecourse, well constructed, with good prizemoney, situated in an area that needs/deserves a racecourse. Get rid of a few others, not Ffos Las.
Do wonder whether Mr Walters is seeking to maximise pressure to get the best compromise. Powers that be need to negotiate a deal to reduduce numbers by a manageable level.
Value Is EverythingTuffers , Just cannot see that happening , common sense will prevail
Probably lose a few meetings , but not the whole 16
Good course by all accounts , just too far from Luton to even contemplate nowadays , given cost of going racing , its a no go
Ricky
So everyone has been screaming for less fixtures for years, and now there is going to be. Great course it may be but in the great tradition of redundancy, it’s ‘last in – first out’
It’s a shame if the place does close, it certainly wouldn’t be top of my list for the axe.Maybe racing would be better served if all the people making calls to the BHA going ‘we want less racing, we want less racing’ had actually been more honest & said ‘we want less racing at Lingfield, Wolverhampton, Southwell & Kempton.’
It’s much easier to cry ‘less’ than it is to offer an alternative.
As I understand it , the BHA are to axe about 80 fixtures . To cut 12 from any one course would seem unnecessary and even if it were necessary , surely there are other courses less deserving of fixtures.
It’s hard to argue the point that taking twelve fixtures from Ffos Las is draconian. That said, I do think some people go overboard about the track – it’s very good but it never seems to get that many runners as far as I can see and I’m slightly dubious as to whether it’s a genuinely dual-purpose venue or simply a jump course with the occasional Flat meeting.
80 meetings isn’t that much in the cold light of day – Kempton are racing four days this week alone and could presumably drop 5-10 fixtures over the year without too much impact.
I do think the Thursdays and Fridays with six meetings need to be looked at
So everyone has been screaming for less fixtures for years, and now there is going to be. Great course it may be but in the great tradition of redundancy, it’s ‘last in – first out’
It’s a shame if the place does close, it certainly wouldn’t be top of my list for the axe.Maybe racing would be better served if all the people making calls to the BHA going ‘we want less racing, we want less racing’ had actually been more honest & said ‘we want less racing at Lingfield, Wolverhampton, Southwell & Kempton.’
It’s much easier to cry ‘less’ than it is to offer an alternative.
There was a thread not so long ago where people gave their opinions of "if one (or more) courses had to close, which ones would you be less sorry to see go" or words to that effect. Can’t remember anyone saying Ffos Las.
The "All weather" could be cut back, especially in summer. But that’s not all (imo).
I agreed with Slipperytoad. Bath was top of my list of Southern courses to go.
Value Is EverythingThis article really belongs on 2 threads, since it came from
THE RACING POST
Extra opening for Ffos Las despite fixtures cap
By Andrew Scutts 8:56AM 30 AUG 2011 THE BHA said on Monday there would be no going back over the decision to cap the 2012 fixture list at 1,400 – meaning a reduction of at least 80 fixtures – but that Ffos Las would be able to make its case for being allocated more than the 16 schemed in the provisional programme.Ffos Las founder Dai Walters has threatened to close the course, Britain’s first new track for 80 years when it opened in June 2009, as well as sell his horses in training, if the Welsh venue does not receive what he considers an economically viable number of fixtures for 2012.
The track is due tostage 29 meetings this year, but the declining horse population in Britain has led to the BHA’s decision, taken in consultation with the Racecourse Association and Horsemen’s Group, to reduce fixtures in 2012.
That isset to hit Ffos Las hard, as the process that enabled the course to acquire an extra 12 fixtures for this year, from the 120 ‘ leasehold’ meetings available, will contract this time round.
Only 40 of those BHA-owned 120 fixtures are set to be allocated for next year and it is unlikely there will be a bidding process.
However, the fact that Ffos Las is 86 miles from its closest track – Chepstow – and that it has been well received by horsemen, especially trainers in Wales, is likely to stand it in good stead
when it comes to the allocation of leasehold fixtures.The BHA’s assistant racing director Richard Wayman said: "The BHA board made the decision to cap next year’s fixture list on horse population grounds. Almost 40 per cent of races are currently attracting seven or fewer runners and, without intervention, this situationwould worsen in 2012.
"It is important that the fixture reduction is spread relatively evenly throughout the year and, following consultation with the RCA, it was agreed the most sensible approach would be to
remove 80 fixtures from the 120 leasehold fixtures that had been allocated on one-year agreements between the racecourses and Horsemen’s Group in 2011."How the remaining 40 fixtures will be allocated for 2012 is still to be agreed with these parties."
Wayman added : "On considering all the facts available, including a detailed analysis of the potential impact of significantly reduced foal crops, the BHA board believed it had to act in order tomaintain a competitive sporting spectacle that will remain attractive to racing’s followers, both on and off-course."
It is understood the BHA has taken the view that the rate of decline in numbers could increase from 3.2 per cent this year to roughly seven per cent next year. The average number of horses in training in the first six months of 2011 was 14,729 – down from 15,957 in 2008, a drop of eight per cent.
Ladbrokes’ trading director Mike O’Kane told the Racing Post there had been a suggestion that cutting the fixture list to 1,400 would cost the levy £2 million a year. While the BHA accepts that reducing fixtures will "probably mean reduction in levy", it is keen to stress that it is impossible to quantify and that bigger field sizes will prove more attractive to punters – a point O’Kane himself made – as will the overall impression of a slightly leaner sport.
Trainer Tim Vaughan on Monday lent his support to Walters, but Ludlow supremo Bob Davies said: "I’m afraid I’ve no sympathy for Dai and people at Ffos Las. He knew when he went in for his licence in the first place he was guaranteed only 16 fixturesand that he had to get the rest from somewhere else.
"The fact he made up a bigger racing programme from BHA leasehold fixtures, which won’t be available in 2012, is irrelevant. He can’t rely on a business plan that includes getting leasehold fixtures."
He added: "We’re all in the same boat, especially the smaller courses who took on leasehold fixtures. We could lose two fixtures at Ludlow, but we won’t know until the fixture list comes
out."I’d have a lot more sympathy for existing courses, like Perth, which have invested money in fixtures for many years but stand to lose out."
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.