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Hello,
I am a gentleman of considerable years, and have enjoyed both disciplines of racing all my life. Any association to horse racing by the family has been entirely with the Flat..
However, for the first time in my life, I have very little interest in this year’s Flat Season
Now maybe the "Flat Apathy" has been slowly building up over the last few years, or maybe it is because recent NH seasons’ have been laid out superbly, with, maybe not superstars, but genuine good performers appearing weekly.
I just don’t seem to have got any enthusiasm for 2008 Flat!
I thought to myself, the feelings will gradually return to this old sop, but now we are upon Guineas weekend and I honestly don’t give a toss who wins, nor will I fathom out, via form, who has a chance!!
Maybe I need reinvigorating by the Racing authorities to get me interested. Maybe they could employ some sort of New Labour Spin machine.
Fellow colleagues in racing has muttered the same feelings. Could it be the dismal PR performances of the Flat authorities? the continuous corruption charges?
For Racing’s sake, I hope it is just miserable me that is ill, and not an epidemic that could reduce Flat Racing to the status of the old Saturday afternoon fixed wrestling graced by Big Daddy and Mick McManus,
regards,
doyley
It isn”t just you – I have felt the same this season.
I went to the Craven meeting – it was OK not inspirational.
Ascot on Wednesday nearly got me out of first gear but the small fields were off putting.
Tomorrow I should really be at Newmarket but have decided to accompany Mrs O to the Spalding Flower Parade and the only reason I will be going to the 1,000 on Sunday is I have received no better offers and there is no jump racing anywhere – although I can envisage Mr Grayson suggesting a Point to Point meeting as an alternative.
Hopefully by the time Epsom comes around I may have mustered enough enthusiasm if not I can see Worcester being a more attractive proposition on 7th June and that’s saying something.
Tomorrow I should really be at Newmarket but have decided to accompany Mrs O to the Spalding Flower Parade and the only reason I will be going to the 1,000 on Sunday is I have received no better offers and there is no jump racing anywhere – although I can envisage Mr Grayson suggesting a Point to Point meeting as an alternative.
With pleasure!
Action takes place at
Cold Harbour (Herefordshire, I think)
Dingley (nr Market Harborough. Just up the road. G’waaan, you know you want to.)
Heslaker (nr Skipton)
Lower Machen (Rhydygwern, South Wales)I shall be at the last-named. The meeting at Mosshouses (nr Galashiels) scheduled for Sunday has been rained off and put back a week, so don’t go there unless you’re right silly.
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.
its been cold and windy.once the weather inproves we will all feel better.and enjoy all the good racing to come.so cheer up
It is probably to do with the amount of poor flat racing that we get day in day out perpetrated by the dreaded all weather.
Far to much flat racinga nd not enough jump racingsomeone different starts these threads every year, I didn’t think doyley would’ve joined the band.
Tomorrow I should really be at Newmarket but have decided to accompany Mrs O to the Spalding Flower Parade
I can hardly blame you. Walking flowers are one thing, but getting them to parade is quite a feat of botany. Who wouldn’t want to see that?
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.
Hopefully New Approach wins the 2,000 then because at least then we have the possibility of a superstar to follow (until Sheik Mo retires him at 3).
From my point of view this has nothing to do with the Flat vs NH debate – I am happy with both codes on turf, although I happily admit I do generally prefer NH.
However we have just come out of what, arguably, has been the best all round NH season in many a long year, coupled with what has been a less than inspiring start to the flat season – not helped by unseasonable weather which has done nothing to help the form.
Taking into account the strong headwinds I find it difficult to put too much credence on the form the Craven meeting for example.
It is cyclical anyway – there have been other years when the NH season was poor and the flat has come in flying and I was glad for it to start.
I cannot get enthused about something just because it happens to be there.
I need something to be enthused about – and thus far there has been little to be enthused about this flat season.
As for the Guineas I don’t happen to think either of this years are particularly strong renewals and I don’t see any superstars amongst this years crop of three year olds – there will be plenty of false promises but nothing will emerge again. Then again I could well be proved wrong – it wouldn’t be the first time.
As for my semi facetious comment about being otherwise engaged for the 2000 Guineas tomorrow – the main reason I won’t go has nothing to do with the racing but more to do with the "atmosphere" and boorish drunken behaviour of the crowd.
And to those whose response is "yawn" – fine – how about putting a counter argument about what has been good or inspirational in the flat season so far.
I would reply with something more constructive but in truth, the "we hate the flat, we love the jumps" thing is like a broken record, and it is a waste of time replying to it with anything constructive because you’ll just end up having to do it again the next time a similar thread is started,
For the record there are plenty of horses who I find exciting, ou to ver the next few days, Ravens Pass, New Approach, Ibn Khaldun, who all look to have classic potential, and although I wouldnt bet either of them O’briens challengers may produce something. Then theres the 1,000 on sunday, which through its sheer lack of superstars makes it exciting. You also have the very well regarded and Arc 4th Getaway out on Sunday, whose gallops at Maisons Lafitte generated the phrase "Bon Impressionante" in the CanalTurf write up several times. Then the exciting Chinese White out on sunday and the Tetrarch stakes on Monday.
Excitement is a matter of perspective.
To put a more positive spin on the same argument, this is the first year in a long time when I wasn’t glad to see the back of the NH season and the start of the Flat season.
I love both codes (prefer NH) but I must admit to not studying the Guineas fields too much this year.
Hello,
May I just add here, this thread was in no way a "FLAT vs NH" debate…I simply pointed out how I personally feel about this season!!
If I thought it would upset the forum’s intelligensia I wouldn’t of bothered!!
My point is that I consider Flat & NH as the best sport available to the people of the UK, somehow I feel the herberts on vast salaries at the Racing Authorities should start selling the product better than they actually do!!
If I am losing interest, what chance have new "entants" to the sport have..Also, if there is a two way split on Flat & NH within the Forum, What the F*** is wrong with that??
Let’s have some fun, for God’s sake, otherwise we may as well pack up..
And, finally, I would never post "yawn" on anyone’s thread…
regards,
doyley
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