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Quote: from cormack15
I wonder if there are any other crazy ideas which would make for more entertaining racing.<br>
…how about a Ladies Day at the Cheltenham Festival.
I’m showing up in a burqa, if anyone’s interested.
That sounds a great idea AP. Then we could be sure that the winner really possessed the necessary athleticism, stamina, speed and soundness on which to base the future of the breed.
David Brady,
I had to laugh when I saw your knockout competition idea as that’s just what I was thinking about.
How about pitting the best 8 two-mile chasers (on ratings with the leading four being seeded) against each other in end-of-season match races from the top of the hill to the winning post at Cheltenham (about 6f jumping 3 or 4 fences?) If Cheltenham didn’t agree to the extra meeting, Sandown could step in with each race starting from just before the first railway fence.
Draw (seed in brackets) –
Q-F 1 – Kauto Star (1) v Oneway (1pm)<br>Q-F 2 – Nickname (4) v Dempsey (1.20)<br>Q-F 3 – Newmill (3) v Voy Por Ustedes (1.40)<br>Q-F 4 – Well Chief (2) v Ashley Brook (2.00)
S-F 1 – Winner of QF 1 V Winner of QF 2 (2.30)<br>S-F 2 – Winner of QF 3 V Winner of QF 4 (2.50)
Final – Winner of SF 1 V Winner of SF 2 (3.30)
Winner – £150,000<br>Runner-Up – £75,000<br>Losing SF – £50,000<br>Losing QF – £25,000
Total Prize Fund – £425,000
If the public took to it, you could do the same with the best 2-mile hurdlers, 3-mile chasers, novice chasers, novice hurdlers etc……
If the whole tournament thing was too much, I would certainly like to see some match-races introduced. If they were staged on a Saturday, you would get the build-up all week and then 15 – 20,000 racegoers packing in to see it on the Saturday. How about the winner of the Gold Cup v the winner of the Queen Mother v the winner of the Ryanair racing over 2m4f at Sandown on the last day of the season for £100,000!?
Last year would have been War Of Attrition v Newmill v Fondmort:biggrin:
Can any older viewers tell me what Dawn Run v Buck House was like? Was it run at a true pace? What prize was on offer? Who came up with the idea?
(Edited by PAULCS at 8:02 pm on Feb. 24, 2007)
If you ran those races at Haydock, Paul, you could use the brush hurdles and run the winners of the Champion & Stayers as well.
How about the relay Gold Cup instead of the Shergar cup. After each lap the Jocks must pass the whip to the next Jock on their team. Can you imagine the outrage as team Winston and Co. drop their whip with one lap to go.
How about a ‘Triers Trophy’ – winner gets 5lbs knocked off their official rating, runner-up 3lbs, third home 1lb – what price a quadruple dead-heat of David Pipe-trained runners?
Move the mascot race to Aintree as the final event on Grand National day and have the competitors clamber round a full circuit of the National fences in their ‘wacky’ costumes, possibly with some step ladders to assist them over the bigger obstacles.
That should equalise the annual ‘elite athlete in disguise’ shenanigans.
Stuart Hall could commentate…
(Edited by non vintage at 10:37 pm on Feb. 24, 2007)
put the top ten flat jockeys and their mounts in the stalls then just before the off ,the stalls handlers take their bridles off , so they cant pull em and stop them then we can all have a fair bet……………………..no that could never work
Go real crazy, put together a 16-runner handicap on the all-weather and have them all run on their merits. Pie In the Sky I know but we can dream.
Have jockeys assigned to horses by random ballot.
(Edited by Gareth Flynn at 11:23 pm on Feb. 24, 2007)
I can feel all this positive energy as people get their pet hates and qualms of their chest.
Great thread, sure you will all feel better for it in the morning :)
How about the winner of the Grand National, The Cheltenham Gold Cup and the winner of the Ascot Gold Cup in a 3m flat race with a guaranteed pace setter and a few no hopers (nothing new there) to give the horses cover if they want it?
At Ascot they could turn the tunnel under the grandstand into a Monaco Grand Prix-style feature by starting and finishing races in the parade ring. This would add some spice and mystery to the racing while hardly making it any less visible than it already is.
Get Betfair to run a book on the best turned out at Ascot…Then a seperate one for the horses!!!
I know this could never happen but why dont the Cheltenham executive stage a greyhound race  during the festival week.
Brighton could allow the traffic to keep crossing the racetrack on the  public road that crosses the track whilst races were in progress.<br>Jockeys could get their mounts to either jump cars or swerve around them.
The WWF should be allowed to arrange a ‘winner takes all’ wrestling match befor the first race to decide what on course bookie has the number 1 pitch.
At Royal Ascot all jockeys should be made to ride in top hats as a sign of respect to The Queen. Any jockey whose top hat falls off or fails to raise it towards the Royal Box will be disqualified.
Also at Royal Ascot allow Gary Wiltshire, Barry Dennis, <br>Gary Selby and J. McCrirrick to be allowed to all ride in the same carraige in the Queens procession from Windsor Castle to the grandstand at Ascot. <br>They would need at least an hours start on the Queens carriage but it could be a close finish to see what one reaches the finish first.
(Edited by Seagull at 9:36 am on Feb. 25, 2007)
Replace weight handicapping with staggered starting stalls a la greyhounds. This could also be implemented to negate draw bias though logistical problems may well be encountered in Conditions events over 5f at Beverley when an Alan Berry horse drawn 1 will – on a strict interpretation of form – have to start after it’s finished, as it were.
The ideal antidote to revive those induced into a coma by a century of circuitous if learned debate on the last great unsolved problem facing mankind – ‘is the Admiral Rous weight theorem correct’.
(Edited by Drone at 12:15 pm on Feb. 25, 2007)
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