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Heh heh, I can well imagine. You’d earn your keep as a catcher there – maybe a Land Rover and a blowpipe full of darts would be standard issue!
For the interested, Chris Pitt’s magnificent A Long Time Gone recalls the history of jumps at Flat HQ, such as it existed, in one chapter.
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.
Well, if Great Leighs does raise the bar for all weather racing, great. Can’t help feeling it’s for the betting shops.
We need more quality all weather racing if we (Britain) are to compete with other countries on dirt. I do wonder where Grt Lghs will get runners from…
It would def raise the interest for me if I could see more classy horses on the all weather.
Maybe they could have all weather "classics" or some group races?
Zip
I agree with Zippy that we could do with more good quality racing on the AW. Today’s Lingfield card isn’t too bad, imo.
Although I’m not a big fan of Arena Leisure, I get the feeling that they are not entirely to blame for any build up and overflow of dross. There are other factors, namely, the breeding industry, the BHA, and the British "winter" weather ( plus summertime floods and wash-outs, I suppose).
From my experience of it, the UK NH scene is mostly in the West ( inc Welsh) with a smaller hub in the North ( inc Scotland).
Bigoted enemies of the AW always say the thing is all being done for the bookmakers, with the implication that the poor old punter or, more accurately in their minds, the poor old racing enthusiast and connoisseur, has to pay for something unwanted.
Well, I find this confusing; even Laddies and Billy’s are finding their share prices down right now, so I don’t really thing shop punters care much what is on offer.
My guess is that live racing is to be actively discouraged in the shops with the realisation that better returns can come from easier means eg FOBTs, cartoons, bingo and all the other numbers rackets.Who the hell out of this lot – shop-keepers and customers – is bothered about opening up a venture that takes place miles away in some weather-exposed field?
Now we come to the nub: those few hardened souls who DO attend the AW- be it as punter or bookmaker – deserve all the credit and praise they can get.
These are REAL racing enthusiasts and should be respected by all who profess to like the game, imo.well said sean r, ive given up with the ‘snobs’ who tell me what a great time they have at cheltenham or aintree or ascot when they go twice a year and spend most of their time in a queue or in the bar, demeaning my many trips to lingfield or kempton in the winter and in the snow or rain or cold sometimes when there are just a couple of hundred of people there
funny thing is most of these people dont pay a lot of attention to anything other than they attend or the big shiny meets and games, theyre an event person and generally sun-reading muppet-sheep
I think it was John Hislop who wrote that mercifully they don’t have jumps racing at Newmarket otherwise loose horses wouldn’t be caught until they’d reached Cambridge.
Dont forget that York used to hold jumps races in days of yesteryear.
If i had my way id axe the course enclosure at York and build a new jumping track on the inside
If they took a dozen AW horses and put them as swops in the Epsom Derby then most of the "AW dross snobs" would not know the difference.
The winner would still be rated 120+Being a born and bred Chelmsford man, it’s nice to see the place become a ‘racing town’. I live in Brentwood nowadays, but i’d love to attend the first meeting as it is still only 20m down the road for me.
I’m glad to see a proper start date on the cards.Or maybe not!
Rumour has it that they will not be ready for April 4th.
April 20th is now the more likely start date!
Or maybe not!
Rumour has it that they will not be ready for April 4th.
April 20th is now the more likely start date!
What year…..???
i’ve just fired some emails off to them asking for confirmation of the date
i thought it was to be the 5th, have seen the same rumours you have that it is getting moved back to the 20th and their website now just says ‘spring’ doesn’t mention the 5th and shows only the 20th and 24th as first fixtures in April but still to be confirmed
we will get there eventually and seeing as some friends have moved 2 miles away and have spare rooms i might be going a bit
It has been officially put back to 20th April due to the recent bad weather impacting finishing off the final works.
I think this could be a blessing in disguise as an opening on 4th April would have been overshadowed by Aintree.
April 4th is to be used as a "test day".
Just received the following response from Pippa Cuckson, comms director at Great Leighs :
There has been a change to arrangements – April 4 is now a trials day (no press or public by order of BHA), with April 20 the first actual race meeting.
As this is a new racecourse on a green field site, we have to test an
extensive horse and public infrastructure in a live situation on a scale
never previously attempted by anyone currently working in British racing.
Apart from everything on site, no-one is in a position to say yet how the
local highways network will react either. Therefore H&S will strictly cap
numbers on site at several of our initial meetings. This is why we have been at pains to talk about start-of-racing and "soft launches", and NOT to talk about "grand openings" or indeed to sell tickets for those first few dates.We waiting to hear from H&S about numbers and obviously have to try and find some sensible compromise between recognising that April 20 is a major news event, and that we will have to oblige as many members of the media as humanly possible, but not such a free for all that they attend at the expense of others who have been closely involved with the project over time, or even connections of the runners – quite a juggling act! Information will be circulated after Easter, though actual admission numbers probably won’t be confirmed till after the April 4 trials.
The first dates for which tickets will be freely on sale to the public are
May 28-29.We are in the process of updating our website, as the new arrangements were only agreed with BHA late yesterday afternoon.[/color:21nzbo3f]
I suppose the knockers will moan some more but it will open soon and I will be going and almost certainly enjoying it.
The only thought I have which I will ask is whether there will be pro-rata reduced season and membership packages ? When I get an answer to that I’ll put it here.
Can anyone email me a scanned .gif of a press badge for the 4th ?
Pippa Cuckson, comms director at Great Leighs :
Now there’s a contradiction in terms. Where’s Pippa been hiding for the past couple of years?
Rob
Just received an email inviting me to Great Leighs opening day on 28 May 2008. Have they delayed it again. They offering a £100 per head deal. hmmmm
If they took a dozen AW horses and put them as swops in the Epsom Derby then most of the "AW dross snobs" would not know the difference.
The winner would still be rated 120+lol
a class 3 sand race on a wednesday night for 10k. 3 runners declared. What a complete and utter waste of time and money this track is…..
How much proof is required that there is far too much racing in this country?How much proof is required that there are far too many tedious anti AW posts on this forum?
There were 5 horses declared for said race and 2 NRS – so what?
Why didn’t you post that there is a maiden there tonight with runners owned by Khalid Abdulla, Cheveley Park, Hesmonds Stud, Saeed Manana, Ballymacoll Stud and A E Oppenheimer? That speaks volumes about how the track has gone down with the professionals imo…
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