- This topic has 27 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 3 months ago by
.
- Posts
I would speculate that both you and I will have attended both Flat and Jumps meetings back in the day, CAS, when the ground was Firmer than it is right now at Fakenham.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Course watering does happen during winter, I would imaging the period watering NH course would be a big no-no or at least restricted somewhat would be during the summer racing period when we have hose pipe bans and such but they still water then as well
….never heard any racecourse give a lack of an irrigation licence being in place as a reason why decent ground couldn’t be provided in February, so that was the reasoning behind my WTF line.I thought Newbury had the covers down for that cold snap last week and that was the reason why they didn’t water for Saturday’s card but I could be wrong.
Ascot watering for Saturday…….I guess their irrigation licence was already sorted out and in place.
I’d consider avoiding every horse that ran well on Saturday at Newbury next time then
May have left a mark on them
“Ascot watering for Saturday…….I guess their irrigation licence was already sorted out and in place.”
It all depends on the local authorities and their policies which will vary around the country.
It’s not necessarily a case of racecourses forgetting to obtain a licence – it’s often a case of being denied one.
Newbury didn’t have a licence.
Tbh, I think a lot of people in racing can’t see what’s coming.
One feature of global warming, as we saw last summer and even autumn, is prolonged droughts.
Does anyone defiant think that, amid hosepipe bans and risks of water supplies being cut off to local housing areas, local authorities are going to give racecourses free rein to pour endless amounts of water on tracks so a load of increasingly-inbred equine cripples don’t break down?
There was a time when racing didn’t have this issue – breeders sacrificed speed and precocity to breed hardier stock with good bone that could race on lightning quick ground.
Those days need to return because I can see racing having its taps turned off by local and even central government if future patterns of weather continue to mirror what we saw in 2022.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"“I’d consider avoiding every horse that ran well on Saturday at Newbury next time then
May have left a mark on them”
It may have left a mark on anything with a high knee or rounded action that needs cut.
Anything that actually thrives on Firm ground will be fine.
Aucenrisque is entered up again at Wincanton on Saturday.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Only about half of the steeplechase courses in the US actually have irrigation installed. The “Maryland Hunt Triple” are all ran on au natural ground and Irish-breds have done very well in those races in recent years, Vintage Vinnie being the prime example. If horses in the UK and Ireland are actually more tenderfooted now I don’t think it’s from their breeding.
What else can it be from?
When Group 1 races are no longer ever run on Firm ground – and are often run on Good to Soft, or even Soft, ground – you get a different kind of horse going to stud.
And when you prioritise speed and precocity above all other qualities and inbreed to the fourth and even third remove, you inevitably get a more fragile breed.
It seems to me that the great thing about other jurisdictions like the USA and Japan is that they still race on naturally Firm ground and the horses winning Turf Group 1s in such countries are the robust sorts who will breed robust sorts at stud.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Training, maybe? Or a natural environmental consequence. There’s less rain in the eastern US, so horses are turned out on (on average) firmer ground, train over firmer ground (or dirt/AW), go hunting in the offseason on firmer ground, they get used to moving over the surface and their legs/hooves may toughen up as well. Or maybe there’s a difference in farrier practices, in how horses are trimmed/shod that affects their action.
Looking at the sire/broodmare sire of some of our recent Grade 1 hurdle winners over firm ground:
Snap Decision (Hard Spun/Unbridled)
Down Royal (Alphabet Soup/High Yield)
Noah and the Ark (Vinnie Roe/Old Vic)
The Mean Queen (Doyen/Kris Kin)
Winston C (Rip Van Winkle/Machiavellian)
Surprising Soul (Perfect Soul/Elusive Quality)
Zanjabeel (Aussie Rules/Machiavellian)
Moscato (Hernando/Nashwan)
Rashaan (Manduro/Rainbow Quest)And some recent major timber winners over firm ground:
Andi’amu (Walk in the Park/Septieme Ciel)
Vintage Vinnie (Vinnie Roe/Bobs Return)
Tomgarrow (Aizavoski/Bienamado)
Senior Senator (Domestic Dispute/Awesome Again)
Schoodic (Tiznow/Hennessy)
Goodoldtimes (Gold Well/Alphabatim)These all seem like “normal” pedigrees, maybe more flat-oriented than you’d expect and there’s no AQPS/NTB because the US Jockey Club is weird about that but otherwise I can’t really see a pattern that separates them from horses in the UK.
“What else can it be from?”
The advent of training on gallops with an artificial surface, now common practice in every stable I’ve ever been involved with. Other then schooling, I doubt if many NH horses trained in the UK ever gallop on grass except when they race.
Plus the use of mechanical horse walkers, which have replaced the long hours of labour intensive road work that the like of Fred Winter and Fulke Walwyn would have used through July – September to prepare their horses for the jumps season. I recall having a horse with Stan Mellor in 1990/91 and watching all his string set off for two hours of walking on the Ridgeway across the downs. All done to harden the limbs whilst waiting for autumn rains to make it possible to use their grass gallops. The only artifical surface at Stans place back then was a strip about four feet wide used for the early stages of teaching young horses to jump.
….never heard any racecourse give a lack of an irrigation licence being in place as a reason why decent ground couldn’t be provided in February, so that was the reasoning behind my WTF line.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.