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I’m looking for some inspiration/suggestions from anyone that has done or is planning on attending a couple of meetings in the same day this year.
Myself and a friend did a couple of "double headers" last year, on one occasion we got the train from London to Nottingham, took in the first 4 on a flat card there, then back to the station, one change to Uttoxeter in time for the first for a summer jumps meet, that worked well (we didn’t have the time or inclination to say behind for the Chesney Hawkes gig afterwards).
However my favourite was the Exeter/Cothelstone point to point double in May last year. Again train from London to Exeter, taxi to course, we missed the bumper, got a taxi 70 miles (bargain at £60) to Cothelstone for the only evening point meeting in the calendar. The driver got lost, and we missed the first, but we took in 5 races there, before heading back to Taunton (only a few miles, cab again) and back in London before midnight. Cothelstone was an absolute joy, it’s in the Quantock Hills, completely in the middle of nowhere, but the scenery is stunning, the atmosphere is very relaxed, and I’d recommend it to anyone. We reckon nobody else has ever done this ambitious double…………….(cue someone to tell me otherwise) Unfortunately the exeter meeting isn’t on this time around, so we can’t do it again.
I’ve got my eye on an Easingwold point to point/Thirsk Evening meeting double on a Saturday in early May, if anyone has been to the Easingwold point let me know. I’ve been to Thirsk before, and loved it.
Having been to 30 of the rules courses so far, I’d like to cross more of those off, but any suggestions of any good/possible double headers in the coming months would be helpful/welcome.
The ultimate would be a morning bags dog meeting, followed by afternoon and evening racing, and then the last half dozen races of a night dog meeting, a triple or even quadruple header, I wonder if anyone has ever done that!!
!
Went to Easingwold a couple of years ago (looking at the possibilty of Whitwell next month when I go home for a couple of weeks).
Got a bus from York to Easingwold and then it’s approximately a 20-30 mins walk from there to the track.
Basic facilities as you expect from a point but does the job.
Wouldn’t be the greatest views although no problem seeing the action where it matters.As for double headers did Wolves & Chepstow one day when we had runners on both cards.
Missed the last couple of races at Wolves but made it to Chepstow in good time.Are you interested in suggestions for the flat?
If so, Salisbury in the afternoon, Bath in the evening.
I haven’t checked this season’s fixtures but this has certainly happened in previous seasons.
Colin
I have previously gone to Kempton in the afternnon, and Lingfield in the evening though it was very tiring doing two meetings in one day, goodnews knows how jockeys do it!
I’ve done Goodwood and Newbury in the same day by car a few years ago. Or was it Newbury to Goodwood? Meant missing a couple of poor races.
Agree, Salisbury -Bath is a good suggestion
Value Is EverythingI regularly do the Friday of Royal Ascot and then Newmarket in the evening followed by the concert. However you usually need to miss the last at RA and will usually miss the first at Newmarket.
The first evening meeting for many years will be held at Higham on Saturday 7th May but the 4pm start means hard to do a double header.
I know a few lads who’ve done a Brighton and Hove dogs double-header – and also the same dog meet with Plumpton. Easy to do with the dogs not starting until 7:30pm or if there’s an evening meeting at Brighton it’s possible to do a BAGS meet at Brighton and then the racing in the evening.
Can’t say I’ve done a double-header myself but a number of years ago did the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the last ever dog meeting at Cradley Heath the following night!
Talk about the sublime to the ridiculous!!!
It would seem highly likely that a Kempton AW evening meet would follow Epsom or Sandown some time or other
Likewise worth checking Southwell with Doncaster, Nottingham, Leicester and Market Rasen
These Yorkshire doubles may be of interest:
16th April Ripon Doncaster (overlap likely so early in year)
30th April Thirsk Doncaster
14th May Thirsk Doncaster
3rd June Catterick Doncaster
16th June Ripon Beverley
1st July Doncaster Beverley
27th August Beverley Redcar (overlap likely so late in year)- Total Posts 17716
I once combined the Grand National at Aintree with 5 hours of Wagner’s
The Valkyrie
done by Scottish Opera back down town at the Empire Theatre.
As there are (in theory) eight horses running in
The Ride of the Valkyries
which starts Act 3, I think that counts.
It all made for an epic day, that’s for sure.
Love double headers and there are loads possible, though my personal favourites are horse-greyhound combos. Haydock Park/Belle Vue, Goodwood/Hove. I like the contrast.
My favourite ever was a combo double header. Sir Percy’s 2006 Derby and then Westmead Hawk’s second Greyhound Derby at Wimbledon afterwards. Tear-inducing ecstasy. They ought to plan that again, but the Greyhound people/William Hill are apparently reluctant – which is silly. One of the best days of my entire life and a day that made life worth living.
Over in Dublin in September, Harolds Cross (Friday) Irish St Leger (Curragh) Irish Greyhound Derby (Shelbourne Park) was another magnificent triple decker which I can’t recommend enough.
Also done:
Newbury – Lingfield on Lockinge day.
Nottingham – Doncaster (Summer Saturdays)
Warwick – Leicester (Mid-June)Used to go to Wolverhampton a lot on Saturday nights (Uttoxeter/Wolverhampton?) but the M6 has squeezed the joy from that idea.
Pontefract on a Friday night is a potential second helping for quite a few Yorkshire tracks, A1 permitting – Bacchanalia of heroic proportions.
I once combined the Grand National at Aintree with 5 hours of Wagner’s
The Valkyrie
done by Scottish Opera back down town at the Empire Theatre.
As there are (in theory) eight horses running in
The Ride of the Valkyries
which starts Act 3, I think that counts.
Would be a good soundtrack for the National
da dada da da…over Bechers they go…DA DADA DA DA…all safely around the canal turn…
DA DADA DA DA
…five fallers at the Chair
Blimey O’Reilly what a day Pinza
Ears Ringing or what
- Total Posts 17716
Blimey O’Reilly what a day Pinza
Ears Ringing or whatAn unforgettable one.
My first live National – Specify’s year – and being a poor little schoolboy who’d spent all his money getting a ticket for his first live Wagner later on, I was up the bank by the first ditch.
I’ll never forget the drumming noise of the approaching field, so loud you couldn’t believe it, then that split-second’s silence as the leaders were in the air at the fence – and then, the mayhem! the mayhem! Birch crashing, riders shouting, and one blinkered horse on the floor.
It was the great L’Escargot, who got up nonchalantly and trotted off without a care in the world. Tommy Carberry (father of today’s lot) also got up, less nonchalantly, uttering choice words which – tender babe that I was – were quite new to my ears.
Second time round they were going a hell of a lot slower, and there were not nearly so many of them. Different sounds, different jumping style, jockeys silent now.
All that and
The Ride of the Valkyries
in one day… marvellous!
Leicester day meeting followed by Nottingham evening meeting ( ladies night!! )
Thats a belting day!!
Many thanks, some good suggestions there, I’ll certainly be looking at doing one of the yorkshire doubles, as a few of those tracks I need to cross off.
Salisbury/Bath is on in June, been to both, but thats a good one.
And I’ve just noticed on the Leicester/Nottingham both days are Ladies days!!!! tempting, but I try and avoid saturdays if i can.
The Derby followed by the Greyhound Derby, sounds brilliant, I live in Essex and have been to Newton Abbot, Exeter, Carlisle etc etc, but I’ve not made it to Epsom yet, I will have to give Derby Day a whirl, and get to Wimbledon again before the place closes (Romford is my local track)
Thanks for the info on Higham too, I’ve been there a few times, only 30 odds miles from me, had no idea it was an evening meeting, same day as my planned easingwold/thirsk double, given me a dilemma now!
I think if I attempt to throw some opera in, I may be going alone!
Easingwold is roughly half way between York and Thirsk on the A19. If you do go to the Point don’t miss the opportunity to wander around the town. Lovely little place
if anyone has been to the Easingwold point let me know.
Aye, I’ve been. Decent, friendly course on the whole; though one that poses a slight quandary viewing-wise as you either forego the action on the back straight if down in the public areas, or else march way up the hillside (where the commentator’s truck is) to see that but sacrifice a better view of the finishing chute in so doing.
I don’t know if they still are, as it’s eight years since I went last, but the hog roast sandwiches there used to be the thing of legend – you had to dislocate your jaw to fit them in. Absolutely huge!
The scope for Pointing / Rules Saturday double-headers virtually nil this term, owing to the huge number of Pointing meetings being held on Sundays – never was the imbalance greater. The only two other options I found to go with your Easingwold / Thirsk one are these, and even then you’d not have to mind missing a couple of races from one or other venue;
April 23rd – Sandon or Dingley / Nottingham
May 7th – Kingston Blount / WarwickThin pickings, all in all! A far cry from the days when one could do notionally do a Marks Tey / Great Leighs double-header in the depths of winter, had one been so minded – hailing from that neck of the woods, sir, were you ever?
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
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