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I thought it may be an idea to share some information about ither unusual races of the world. Some of you may have been to things like the Palio in Sienna. Others may have been to White turf as I have .
My greatest ambition is to go to this one day:<br>the Omak suicide race, a Native American horse race in Washington state:<br>http://www.talkingproud.us/ImagesCulture/Racing/OmakSuicideRun.jpg
http://www.omakchronicle.com/special/special2.htm
I think it is in August. Awesome. Amazing. Raw.
Then the Belgian Grand national is up soon too; at Waregem:<br>http://www.turf-be.com/hippodromes/fr/waregem.htm
Anyone been to these and what didi they think? Amyone know of any more? There are all sorts of strange races in Mongolia and stuff too; and I hear they are even doing a race on a frozen lake in Moscow. Then <br>I know Vladislav Snitkovski (double velka winner) was building a replica Pardubicka course at Rostov on Don but I don’t know anything more.
Quote: from GreenGreenDesert on 12:45 am on Aug. 21, 2006[br]There are all sorts of strange races in Mongolia <br>
Not quite Mongolia but further west on the Asian Steppe in Kazakhstan there’s a pleasingly atavistic form of Polo played in which the ‘puck’ is a headless goat’s carcass.
The horsemen of central Asia are remarkably skilled.
Have you ever tried Koumis – fermented mare’s milk? It’s popular out there
Thanks for the links.
Not a race exactly but still an interesting one:
I’ve been to Waregem, Greengreendesert. Long time ago. 1991 I think. Good fun, but I’m afraid my remarks about the Velka Pardubicka would apply almost exactly.<br>Chacun a son gout though. :)
I was once involved in GB jump jockeys V Russian jump jockeys event at Pyatigorsk in the Caucasus – just North of Georgia.
Our plucky team included Carl Llewellyn, Luke Harvey, Steve Smith-Eccles and Marcus Armytage.
On the day before the competition we were invited to watch some of the horses schooling over the jumps and to walk the course.
We studied the bull finches, the massive ditches, the double hedges etc but, being a hot day, we were relieved to know that we didn’t need to walk to the furthest corner of the track to see the "wall with a log on the top".
However what we didn’t realise was this jump was new and the local horses were unfamiliar with it. Therefore as it came as only the 4th or 5th jump on the course they were going fast, clipped the log and all did somersaults.
Only Steve cleared this fence and he fell at the next one anyway.
Carl was taken to hospital and the others were all beaten up – causing the competition to be cancelled after only one race!
We were taken on interesting trips to see studs featuring ex-British stallions, etc and yes, Drone, we were given, to go with out freshly butchered lamb bbq, fermented mares milk which fizzed when you took off the bottle top. I stuck to the vodka!
The suicide race looks mental! Thanks for this thread GGD – very interesting stuff.
It is Cormack, I saw a program about it (think it’s the same one), they go down a sheer drop all at once into a river?
The only reason it’s continued is due to it’s place in traditional Native American life. It’s been around for ages but in support of the animal rights brigade I don’t think that in the old days there were 3 of them run over a particular weekend.
I think we have between us identified a new aspect; maybe even a "new" sport.<br>EXTREME HORSE RACING !
Smith Eccles was telling me all about the race at Pyatigorsk…he was at the velka last year and enjoyed that …he said about the log.
All these races have in common great traditions and it is hugely impotant they do not succumb to the PETAphiles and western morality Imperialism.
Keep it going!!!
Whote Turf actually is pretty quality flat racing. But they have skijoring, and Sami reindeer racing too which is awesome. Will post a link later.
The Grand Steeple Chase des Flandres (Belgian Gran National at Waregem) is next Tuesday.<br>I’ve been to the last two editions and had a great day. The racing isn’t of top quality, most of the runners are second-rate French handicappers and there are also a few trotting races on the card. <br>The course isn’t that tough, the particularities are the finish on a turn, a bank and the water jump, also on the turn, into which the winning jockey is obliged to jump after the prize giving. In the past this ditch was filled with black water pumped out of a nearby factory but it looks much cleaner these days!<br>But that doesn’t stop the locals making it into a huge day out. The race coincides with a week long festival in the town and all local businesses are closed down for the day to allow people to go to the races. At the end of the day you finish up walking through puddles of beer and belgian chips.
Has anyone been to the Gran Premio di Merano?
flatcapgamble…I know nothing about strange races but I will give you a dog’s small story that coud be a bad omen for those that have the peculiar habit of watching equines for hours and hours and up until the species gets so fed up with eyeballs on their mainframe – they will eventually look around :nailbiting:
The biggest :buddy: beer festival in the world is in Bavaria. The festie started in 1810 when Ludwig 1 got spliced… and possibly his horsey bride decided that her relatives should finalise the sixteen day extravaganza with a race or two. Eventually sense prevailed and the old dear ‘ put on my bit’ racing was replaced by two swings and a mechanical thing that went round and round for bergers to jump on and off from.
That’s the omen ! <br> it’s happening a bit today as racing is gradually being replaced by people’s need to shout, swing and embrace the new sport of rollercoasterball.
In the first Sunday of the festie you will see people dressing up in cow and goat uniforms. They are not clowns but people just filling a need. An eyeball or two up and down their mainframe is indeed a strange festish ! :coolwink:
Gamble you are as mad as me.:o
Okay. two new relevant bits for this thread.
CRAIG ROBERTS of Miss fahrenheit and Yankeedoodledandy (2nd at Auteuil recntly)fame was 2nd in the German jumps jockeys table for three consecutive seasons to the excellent and tragically confined to a wheelchait Petr gehm. There is a NEW SLIDESHOW of Petr’s exploits on Registana sent to me by a lovely young lady in Pardubice. Its in the comments at the bottom. <br> <br>http://www.myspace.com/davedent
Anyway back to Craig. He rode all over germany, and is possibly the only jockey ever to have nearly DROWNED  in a race. At Badharzsburg in germany. I will write a story up about it on my blog when I get chance.
Also on that thing about Registana and petr gehm is are pictures of Merano . I have been there and had a great time with ferdy murphy, darin Maguire Paddy O donnell and The Czechs.
Highlight. Ferdy comes rushing over and says; "Dave, can ye translate for Adrian in the paddock as Czech tv want to interview him. "<br>"ferdy" I said; "I can only speak a few phrases…like Pivo prossim (beer please) and krasne kone (beautiful horse)"<br>"Yeah I know but he may need a little help".<br>So there I am in the paddock at Merano with Adrian Maguire in the irish Stamp/Paddy’s return  colours. <br>Valsy Weiner from czech tv is doing the interview. he spaeks 50 words of English.<br>When I saw it broadcast on czech tv a few days later we were all a laughing stock.<br>This is how it went.<br>Vlasty:<br>"Adrain Maguire…how do you feel about you horse after merano for Pardubice?"
Adrian turns to me. <br>Me:<br>"Adrain…how do you feel about your horses chance at Pardubice after this run at Merano"<br>Adrian turns to Vlasty, and says:<br>"we wouldn’t be thrashing him now for this; the Velka is his target"
Valsty:<br>"Adrain…do you look forward come pardubice?"
Adrian again turns to me.<br>Me:<br>"Adrian…do you look forward to coming to Pardubice?"
Adrain;<br>"Oh yes it will be a great craic and I think the horse has a serious chance"
And that is how it continued for twenty minutes. <br>Three days later back in Pardubice when it was broadcast the whole packed Czech pub was in tears of laughter.
Oh and by the way, a Trainer who takes his horse easy (finished 4th in his own time) in a 350 000 euro race as a prep for a much harder race for much less money has my utmost respect. And trust.<br>That was in the days before the disgraceful spectacle of horses having to be thrashed or jockeys punished for being non triers. Punters do not feed the horses, know what ground suits, and how fit they are. <br>So sod punters. Horse welfare first please.
I have no objection to the whip when the time is right.
Anyway racing is not about money to Ferdy. First and foremost it is horse welfare and second is glory. He is a proper person; and it was a disgrace how that crappy programme tried to stitch up him and Jamie O when a trainer will say anything to put hay in the haynets to such a t*** of a  prospective owner.
<br>(Edited by GreenGreenDesert at 5:42 am on Aug. 23, 2006)
<br>(Edited by GreenGreenDesert at 5:48 am on Aug. 23, 2006)
<br>(Edited by GreenGreenDesert at 5:49 am on Aug. 23, 2006)
<br>(Edited by GreenGreenDesert at 5:51 am on Aug. 23, 2006)<br>
(Edited by GreenGreenDesert at 5:53 am on Aug. 23, 2006)
flat tap… I am as mad as hell and I am not going to take this anymore :laugh:
sod the punters is an elegant phrase I rather like :biggrin:
I am interested to know exactly how you were sent a slide show by a lovely young lady, or a krasne crone, in Pardubice ?
Ferdy’s easy race was a brilliant tactic but so hard to call Green green. I suppose some well jacketed types would call it the mystery of racing while the crushed punters would bite their short tails and squeal of the misery of racing ! Possibly a – do you like marmite question, or is it time for the whip ?
<br>*******<br>late night eddy….
I’ll leave you your space :giggle:
Green green you are as mad as a hatter writing so late<br>but it’s gotta be said<br>you’ve got yourself a plucky first thread<br>on the mainframe.<br>Gamble once had one helluva late night drinking sesh<br>with an old german jockey<br>who arrived on crutches, oh and a blonde<br>who later invited him to the Hamburg festie<br>for a three days of jumps.<br>This was back in the 80’s<br>when Jentz was supreme<br>and back in Blightey, Cubby’s size eights reflected fistfulls of fivers<br>…but anyway this guy despite his age still raced<br>up with the young guns taking on the birch,<br>but often came a cropper at the water.<br>Had a thin raspy laugh<br>so probably still had some twig in him.<br>Yes action days back then<br> and I read it in gamble’s diary.
Somethng green in my cocoa water bowl<br>I may have been got at<br>hallucigems
<br>(Edited by gamble at 3:07 am on Aug. 24, 2006)
p.s ..trackside 528, Flatseasonlover and conall are the only<br>other barkers up at this ungodly
<br>(Edited by gamble at 3:12 am on Aug. 24, 2006)
<br>its 406 am Dave Jay and Green green have joined the party of ghosts<br>
(Edited by gamble at 4:07 am on Aug. 24, 2006)
Horses need a run often before a big race.
If your target is the National; it is wrong to flog it to get thrid in the gold cup.
We cannot have our horse racing controlled by punters.
The mystery of whether the trainer of the horse is targetting the race is part of the fun of working out what to bet; serious punters know that.
And most national Hunt is not about betting to the owners and trainers. It is about the sport, and the never failing to hold you in awe ability of the horse<br>attacking a fence.
Don’t get me wrong. Ferdy didn’t Pull the horse; if he could have won coming over the last it would have been different….but not to flog it for third; 4th was okay…tll good prizemoney and the horse saved for his target. It was a prep run for the Velka; they didn’t expect it to win…but wouldn’t have minded if it had in a canter.<br>Anyway it pulled up in the velka….that is the class of the race now…then won the sporting index I think at cheltenham.
<br>How did I get the czech girl to send that?
You need to join myspace folks. Do yourself a profile, say your interests, business, what you are looking for…friend, girlfriend, clients etc
The you can join a myriad of different interst groups. Viw what people write in forums, and ask them to join you as a friend.
Of course, 90% of it is kids networking about music. It is a great way of selling stupid kids with all their rebellious posturing, stuff. Which is why Murdoch bought it probably. Want to find every kid on the planet you can sell U2’s new record to? You can do it immediately.
However…as more and more adults join, the prospects for business, and serious interest friendships grow.
So what started as a marketing tool exploiting kids, can acrually be used as a massive connector of like minded people across the globe. If they speak english of course. But it won’t be long before it exists in many languages.
I searched "Pardubice"on a google search with "myspace" it is better than myspace’s own rubbish search engine.<br>Straight away it gave me Adrienne and we communicted by pm. She was so excited that I had heard of the race; she was flushed with pride about something part of her heritage. She has pics of Avril Levigne on her myspace, and I said why not have pics of registana rather thansome American? She agreed…but the whole emphasis of myspace had been music networking. So immediately she sent me that slideshow; and will put more about horses on her myspace now.
Same happened with marie Bridgewater, David’s niece. She has stuff mainly about music…as has ZOZ. But as we find more and more people who want to talk horses…or vintage cars or lacrosse or whatever it is…then we can adapt and not just use it as a music interest thing. Marie sent me an email saying she is going to put more about NH racing on hers; I did not prompt her.
Of course the first people to realise the potential of it were PETA. they target kids anyway and fill their minds with crap…so there are thousands of little PETA zombies on theree; but still.<br>It can be used for networking of any business or interest.
<br>(Edited by GreenGreenDesert at 12:50 am on Aug. 24, 2006)<br>
(Edited by GreenGreenDesert at 12:56 am on Aug. 24, 2006)
Great bit of mad poetry there!
Now. I have already told Sarah Hobbs this. We have done the Velka and White turf and Merano. Now we have to be looking further afield for our frontiers. We are maybe looking at the race on the Asiatic steppes, or ebven the endurance race with the 17hands prehistoric yakut horses in Siberia. But Sarah Hobbs was utterly captivated by the Reindeer racing at St.Moritz so that may have to be first stop next year. grab a load of this:
http://www.arcticphoto.co.uk/supergal/s … 007-01.htm<br>http://www.arcticphoto.co.uk/gallery2/arctic/peoples/sami/kk2773-00.htm
I may ask Philip if he wants to train a reindeer for us so we can go with a runner!
There is quite a lot about the Sami way of life on the thread about "Poxy Labour" ….because their policies threaten these peoples and ones like them as much as British rural people and our hunting. Worth your while looking in the lounge I promise you.
I have the privilige of one of the worlds’ bravest riders on my myspace join as a friend today.<br>Naomi Peasley.<br>A Colville Native American and resident in Omak. <br>You can read about her here:
http://www.inlander.com/inlandway/283314880663782.php
Her brother won the Omak suicide race this year.
This myspace thing has the ability to connect people the world over; its potential is marvellous.
http://www.myspace.com/davedent
There are a few of us here that have pages up….we will hopefully see some more of you on.
I have Patrick Mccann the racing photographer as a friend too who has some nice pics on his page.
(Edited by GreenGreenDesert at 4:48 am on Sep. 20, 2006)
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