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Had some interesting entries for their star fixture, but after being rescheduled due to the weather, it now looks rather weak.
Bangor, Uttoxeter and Warwick all looking highly unlikely, trainers desperate for their horses to run…
Disappointing.
Racing For Change – just don’t see it.
There have been almost 100 major accidents in northern England today because of freezing rain falling on frozen ground – these accidents have been on motorways and major routes, not quiet back roads.
With such poor and dangerous driving conditions would you want to risk driving your valuable horses through the region, not to mention risk to the drivers and stable staff.
I would call it irresponsible and say the lack of entries, especially from Southern yards is understandable.
I suspect Musselburgh, disappointed as they may be at the loss of that fixture, will just be glad to get some racing on Mark.
London, the barometer for UK jumps racing has had some more snow.
Last Saturday evening, it snowed for a few hours and it started to melt Sunday and was gone by Monday, but since that few hours of snow, there has been no jumps racing in the country.
Jumps trainers need not worry about putting diesel in the motors this weekend as there won’t be any racing on turf until sometime next week now, unless of course it’s to run on the AW, as thankfully there’s plenty of that going on.
I suppose courses when they keep scheduling inspections are just being over-optimistic and they know but just don’t want to say it, that they won’t be racing for a while.
With the cold staying for the next couple of weeks and more wintry showers likely, could be an opportune time for some holidays.
Funny, I look out of the window here and all I see is dull and damp…
Shouldn’t be any problem racing at Musselburgh tomorrow assuming the forecast is anywhere near correct. For all that it’s a mainly northern entry tomorrow it’s a strong card with all the handicaps 0-130 or better and fair quality in the novice events (top ORs 128 and 139). One or two of the race titles might look rather grandiose, but Musselburgh at this set their sights at a decent level and quality improves year on year. They’ve regularly headlined with a £10,000 added event at midweek meetings this season and there aren’t that many racecoruses who have been doing that.
I do note that Vic Dartnall has Mic’s Delight entered in the novice chase. That will some trip if he decides to travel.
Should anyone scoff at the idea of Cheltenham Trials Day at Musselburgh, I should point out that both Divers and Zemsky had their warm up races at Musselburgh last year before wins at the Festival.
Hopefully the weather stays favourable up here as there is a decent card in the offing for Morebattle Hurdle Day at Kelso on Wednesday. I assume that either Oscar Whisky or Binocular will make the trip.
Rob
Should anyone scoff at the idea of Cheltenham Trials Day at Musselburgh, I should point out that both Divers and Zemsky had their warm up races at Musselburgh last year before wins at the Festival.
Apropos of which: it has not gone unnoticed, or down too well among the cognoscenti, that Zemsky’s hunter chase has been quietly removed in between the original racedate being lost and the rescheduling of the meeting for tomorrow.
Tomorrow does not clash with any Points in Scotland, and the one programmed for Sunday – the Dumfriesshire & Stewartry at Overton, near Carluke – wouldn’t have taken many animals away from the Musselburgh contest and vice versa.
Moreover, the race was already programmed as the seventh race in the meeting’s original incarnation, so there were no issues about a hunter chase occupying a jackpot race slot on a Saturday afternoon assuming a like-for-like swapping across. That there is another hunter programmed at the course’s next fixture this coming Thursday should also be irrelevant.
All a touch disappointing, to be honest, and it would be nice to learn from the racecourse executive what prompted the decision not to retain the hunter for the little harm it would have done anyone.
gc
The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
GC
To be pedantic Zemsky’s race hasn’t been removed as it was held at the last midweek meeting and is scheduled once again for the meeting on Thursday next. Sunday’s planned hunter chase was a new event giving us two such events per year at Musselburgh instead of one, albeit over the same distance and within five days of each other! However I do agree with you, I would have liked the hunter chase to have been retained instead of replacement with a handicap.
Rob
Ultimately it’s two hunters being cut back to one with little obvious good reason, and off the back of a period of grim weather that aspiring Foxhunter qualifiers can ill afford.
That’s going to look a worse decision yet if Kelso’s meeting on Wednesday, and the hunter therein, goes for a burton as well; though those closer to the course than I will have a better steer on its likely prospects.
I do, of course, hope something akin to a heatwave envelopes Scotland this weekend, as I’m all over Overton if it survives. Yes.
gc
The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
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