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I was chatting with a fellow punter in the bookies’ yesterday and we couldn’t think of the last time we saw a walkover. A quick search on Google wasn’t of much benefit.
Would any of the learned TRF crew know when the last one was?
Under Rules, I presume we’re talking? There have been plenty in point-to-points over the last month or so.
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.
Jumps – 25 Feb 07, Exeter, Ballyfoy (3 dec, 2 NRs)
Flat – 10 Jan 08, Southwell, Rebellious Spirit (false start, only horse to pull up)Under Rules, I presume we’re talking? There have been plenty in point-to-points over the last month or so.
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Even a couple who were not winners!
One took the wrong course and one carried the wrong weight.
No such thing as a certainty.
Mark
Value Is Everything- Total Posts 438
Jumps – 25 Feb 07, Exeter, Ballyfoy (3 dec, 2 NRs)
Flat – 10 Jan 08, Southwell, Rebellious Spirit (false start, only horse to pull up)Thank you for the answers, Silvoir; it certainly looks as though I’ll have to track down the replay of Rebellious Spirit’s race online when time permits!
I can remember when walkovers were much more commonplace than is the case these days; I wonder why that is? Is it purely do to with the expanding racehorse population or is there more to it? Surely, given that the number of races has also grown significantly, there should be more walkovers today, if anything?
An anachronism thankfully seemingly gone but to be fair they were never as offenive as that ridiculous Newmarket Whip or whatever the heck they called it.
The number of walkovers has dropped because of the policy of re-openeing races if they don’t attract sufficient entries, either at the six day stage, or at the final declaration stage.
Any race with fewer than 10 entries is re-opened for 24 hours to permit extra entries.
Any handicap with fewer than 8 declared (overnight or 48hrs) is re-opened for 30 mins, likewise any non handicap with fewer than 5 declared.
Where they more frequent in the old days when perhaps course management was not as well mechanised in tems of watering? I seem to recall fewer runners and more walk-overs when the going was described as hard, a description not often heard these days or maybe that’s more to do with wetter summers.
I remember a walkover at a Point in which the winner got disqualified due to the jockey forgetting to weigh in.
I called a ‘genuine’ one at Exeter the season before last. Last two remaining runners bith came from same stable – Tom George and one was then taken out.
Yep, that was the Ballyfoy race cited above – that was my first day on the radio, if memory serves, which meant seven minutes’ worth of impromptu jibberish by way of filler when I was already a mess through nerves. Cheers!
Blue Splash came out in the morning of the race, as he’d won a nice class 2 novice at Newcastle the day before. Ballyfoy’s Tom George stablemate Swift Thyne followed suit shortly before the off, leaving the trainer to trouser nearly £7,000 with the former for having done barely a tap.
The ground was heavy, but not unraceable.
Apparently there are no opportunities for novice chasers, you know.
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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.
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