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Surely the real problem at Haydock is the drainage, and, despite their plans for dual flat racing surfaces, isn’t it true they have lost a number of summer meetings on ground that hadn’t been raced on in the preceeding weeks anyway?<br>Rather than letting the lunatic accountants take over the asylum, wouldn’t they be better of sorting out this problem, which would benefit both flat and NH without the need to emasculate one of the best jumping tests in Britain?
Bear – interested to hear more about thoughts of Chairmen Nicholls and Hobbs. Where did you hear of that?
Properfences,
In Saturdays Post. Slung it away, but the gist from Nicholls was that by moving fences about the landing sides wouldn’t become compacted and would therefore be safer for horses to land on. Can’t remember what Hobbs said but it was something typically banal. Neither of them send boxloads anyway.
Good to see Trevor Hemmings venting his spleen in the paper today, there is no owner who supports the track more and he is talking in terms of taking his horses elsewhere in future. Granted he has not been sighted puking up on the members lawn on a Friday night or pi ssing on the Be Friendly statue, so one wonders if the Management will take much notice as he’s clearly not the sort they want to attract!
Quote: from bear on 4:34 pm on Mar. 5, 2007[br]
Slung it away, but the gist from Nicholls was that by moving fences about the landing sides wouldn’t become compacted and would therefore be safer for horses to land on. Can’t remember what Hobbs said but it was something typically banal. Neither of them send boxloads anyway.<br>
<br>Agreed, and doesn’t it reflect badly on them! I’ve long despaired of certain of the top trainers’ carping over how few opportunities there are for high-class animals (particularly in novices’ chases), yet when some such are presented to them at Haydock and Wetherby, courses where – horror of horrors – they’d need an animal which can, you know, jump a bit, they are conspicuously absent.
Haydock’s chases have always deserved to be better patronised numerically than they have been for a long time, but not even appearance money / covering travelling expenses has been able to bolster turn-out in these as often as not. Suggesting the failure of Hobbs, Nicholls, etc. to support the track better directly lead to the imminent destruction of the old chase circuit would, of course, be extraordinarily unwise, but they’re certainly no friends of the place in my eyes and the apparent failure to add their voice to the cries of dissent suprises not one iota.
Jeremy<br>(graysonscolumn)<br>
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
<br>Surely the main reason why Hobbs and Nicholls don’t run many chasers at Haydock and Wetherby is the simple fact that they train in Somerset.
Through most of the winter, it would mean an overnight stay for horses and staff if they run anything north of Uttoxeter. They don’t have many runners anywhere in the North – it’s not some boycott of Haydock.
As such, I’d agree that their views on the changes are pretty much irrelevant.
AP
Interesting article by Scu (who makes far more sense in writing than he does on telly) in yesterday’s Mail, mentioning his father’s reminiscences on the days when you could walk along the top of some courses’ fences. Showing my age, I know, but I remember Newbury, Ascot, Kempton, Newcastle and of course Cheltenham (and even Doncaster!) belonging in that category, certainly in the 70s anyway. Ironically, I never thought Haydock’s fences were THAT stiff, though they have become much softer recently.
God, I’m turning into Ginger McCain!
Quote: from apracing on 8:18 pm on Mar. 5, 2007[br]<br>Surely the main reason why Hobbs and Nicholls don’t run many chasers at Haydock and Wetherby is the simple fact that they train in Somerset.
Through most of the winter, it would mean an overnight stay for horses and staff if they run anything north of Uttoxeter. They don’t have many runners anywhere in the North – it’s not some boycott of Haydock.
As such, I’d agree that their views on the changes are pretty much irrelevant.
AP<br>
<br>All true to a point, though if the likes of Bowen, Evan Williams, Milton Harris etc. are prepared to traipse up to the likes of Sedgy and Catterick for even smaller pots in the bleak midwinter, I’m not sure the Somerset Set really has that valid an excuse.
gc<br>
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
The water jump has gone, it is no more, it is an ex-water jump.
Kirkland Tellwrong, I accuse you of being a liar.
The water jump has gone, it is no more, it is an ex-water jump.
Kirkland Tellwrong, I accuse you of being a liar.
…and of having a silly first name.
Says “Jeremy”.
Either way, yes, my understanding was that the Haydock water’s status as one of the only, if not the only, naturally-growing example of its kind left in Europe would have saved it from execution, but evidently not.
I’ll be at Huntingdon on Betfair Chase day, I think, but will be watching the screens to try to gauge the look and feel of the new jumps course veeeeeeeeeery closely…
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.
Take the Betfair Lancashire Chase off them as punishment, or degrade it to a Handicap Chase. If they want a Gd1 race it must be a Gd 1 track and fences, not the toys they are now using. Well done to Harvey Smith and Trevor Hemmings.
It’s interesting about the small crowds at Haydock for the jumps meetings.
I stopped going to the summer Saturday meetings a couple of years ago – I couldn’t stand the communal sing-songs in the Tatts Stand while the races were on. There’s nothing like a load of drunken woolybacks to put you off.
Anyway, I hope Aintree pick up some of the slack from Haydock. The course is still a much under-used facility and the crowds are very healthy for the newer meetings they have put on in recent years.
I know the track is a very different test to Haydock but maybe there could be more events on the Grand National course to provide the jumping test that Haydock used to provide.I heard of a plan to resite the water jump on the current infield opposite the stands, but I didn’t spot any signs of progress on the television last weekend.
November 24th sure will be an interesting day at Haydock…
On a similar theme, it’ll be interesting to see Wetherby’s realigned circuit jumps and rides this month. On the map I saw recently, all four fences in the home straight have been resited- are these brand new fences? The big open ditch moves to 3 out and it looks like the water jump has gone…
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