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Almost £200k in prize money on ground that will be much better than most courses at this time of year and Musselburgh are rewarded with a pathetic 64 runners over the 8 races. And almost half run in the 2 handicaps.
If I hear one more complaint about the levels of prize money in this country…..
I agree totally an absolute disgraceful turn out. I’d love to hear from owners and trainers why they aren’t supporting this fixture by running more horses.
I saw an interview with I believe the managing director at Musselburgh on Racing UK the other day saying they will make a loss on the fixture as its run on a Sunday, but adding they are giving something back to proper jumps fans by staging some good class racing. Full marks to the course for saying this and staging a far better day’s racing than the dull fare staged today.
Simple matter of geography isn’t it – the vast majority of good class NH horses are trained along the M5 corridor south of Worcester. That area contains Jonjo, Twister, Hobbs, Pipe, Nicholls and V Williams and many smaller yards.
So although the prize money at Musselburgh tomorrow is good, it’s no better than Cheltenham last week, Sandown today or Newbury next weekend. Why would you send your horses on a 600 – 800 mile round trip in mid winter given the risk of travel problems or the meeting being called off?
It’s in the wrong place for most trainers, travelling must be very difficult not withstanding any doubts on the meeting taking place
Simple matter of geography isn’t it – the vast majority of good class NH horses are trained along the M5 corridor south of Worcester. That area contains Jonjo, Twister, Hobbs, Pipe, Nicholls and V Williams and many smaller yards.
So although the prize money at Musselburgh tomorrow is good, it’s no better than Cheltenham last week, Sandown today or Newbury next weekend. Why would you send your horses on a 600 – 800 mile round trip in mid winter given the risk of travel problems or the meeting being called off?
The difference between Musselburgh and the courses above is the ground. Nicky Henderson is quoted as saying "we support this meeting every year. Going to Musselburgh is all about the ground". Surely there are plenty of decent horses in the south of England who are running on unsuitable ground and with the festival normally being run on good/good to soft going surely the trials for Cheltenham are more relevant if they are run on similar ground.
It’s in the wrong place for most trainers, travelling must be very difficult not withstanding any doubts on the meeting taking place
So what you’re saying is that when the Horseman’s group complain about the prize money in British racing they’re really only interested in the prize money in the south of England.
If messrs Henderson, Ferguson and George can send runners up to Scotland to run on good ground for excellent prize money then I see no reason why other trainers can’t. Or is Musselburgh going to have to relocate 300 miles south.
It is a shame as Musselburgh do try very hard to put on good racing. Plenty Newmarket trainers send horses up there for the valuable summer flat events. But it is a helluva long way to send a horse in a horsebox when there is snow/frost around and possibility of a postponement/cancellation.
It’s in the wrong place for most trainers, travelling must be very difficult not withstanding any doubts on the meeting taking place
So what you’re saying is that when the Horseman’s group complain about the prize money in British racing they’re really only interested in the prize money in the south of England.
If messrs Henderson, Ferguson and George can send runners up to Scotland to run on good ground for excellent prize money then I see no reason why other trainers can’t. Or is Musselburgh going to have to relocate 300 miles south.
Why would they travel 300+ miles when they have similar races on their doorsteps ? It is the lack of runners from the North that is the problem, why aren’t they running ? Surely there are more than 4 novice hurdlers in that area ?
Patriot,
You keep bringing up the prize money, but the fact is that it’s extremely rare to hear anybody connected with NH racing complain about it.
All the moaning, the protests, the boycotts and complaints have been aimed at flat racing – Leicester, Redcar, Yarmouth and Wolverhampton having been the focus of attempts at organised withdrawal of horses with varying degrees of success.
And the people that have promoted those protests have been the likes of William Haggas, John Gosden, Mark Johnston, Paul Dixon etc, not exactly names familiar on the NH circuit.
If you care to do a search through TRF, you’ll find a) examples of me praising the prize money at Musselburgh and b) the story of me as a small owner sending a runner from the Lambourn area up there to contest a twenty grand 0-85 handicap. I’m a fan, but as someone that knows the reality of ownership, I’m also aware of what’s involved in sending horses that sort of distance.
Patriot,
You keep bringing up the prize money, but the fact is that it’s extremely rare to hear anybody connected with NH racing complain about it.
All the moaning, the protests, the boycotts and complaints have been aimed at flat racing – Leicester, Redcar, Yarmouth and Wolverhampton having been the focus of attempts at organised withdrawal of horses with varying degrees of success.
And the people that have promoted those protests have been the likes of William Haggas, John Gosden, Mark Johnston, Paul Dixon etc, not exactly names familiar on the NH circuit.
If you care to do a search through TRF, you’ll find a) examples of me praising the prize money at Musselburgh and b) the story of me as a small owner sending a runner from the Lambourn area up there to contest a twenty grand 0-85 handicap. I’m a fan, but as someone that knows the reality of ownership, I’m also aware of what’s involved in sending horses that sort of distance.
I’ll accept the comments about prize money but what incentive do courses have to put on loss making fixtures with decent money if connections don’t support them. And I still think you will learn more about your horse’s Cheltenham running him in good company on similar ground to that of the festival rather than the mud down south.
Ps, when I have a few spare hours I will read through the old threads and no doubt pick up a few nuggets of information!!
The track at Musselburgh doesn’t bear much resemblance to Cheltenham, does it. They couldn’t be more different. To call it a Cheltenham Trials day is an inaccurate description. It is however, a very good card in it’s own right.
To send a horse to Musselburgh from the Lambourn area will cost well into 4 figures. The owner gets that bill even if the horse doesn’t get a run due to a weather cancellation, and the weather recently would leave me worried about that possibility.
The track at Musselburgh doesn’t bear much resemblance to Cheltenham, does it. They couldn’t be more different. To call it a Cheltenham Trials day is an inaccurate description.
Spot on. Why hold a northern trials day at what is an essentially a Flat track? Let’s face it Henderson only sends his horses there in search of good ground. However far the journey, if you have an old style staying chaser in the making I would have thought Musselburgh would be the last place you would want to send it.
Spot on. Why hold a northern trials day at what is an essentially a Flat track?
Let’s face it Henderson only sends his horses there in search of good ground.
However far the journey, if you have an old style staying chaser in the making I would have thought Musselburgh would be the last place you would want to send it.
..and therein lies the main point, the ground is decent and Musselburgh is one of few courses able to offer good ground at this time of year. Without looking I would say that the ground hasn’t been worse than good to soft at Cheltenham all that much in recent years.
The argument about ‘an old style staying chaser’ going to Musselburgh is irrelevant. The course know that they are never going to suit such horses so that other than a hunter event, which is a law unto itself, they don’t feature a staying chase on the card.
On a vaguely associated point, Kelso could hardly claim to mimic Aintree yet 2 of the last 4 Grand National winners have had their warm up race at the Borders track.
Rob
Why not just hold all trials at Cheltenham and be done with it??!!!
Again massive credit to Musselburgh for putting up decent prize money and getting some competitive fields….shame the County Hurdle cut up with 4 non runners.
I can’t quite understand why some of the Novice events had such small fields. I guess it goes back to a diminishing horse population. However you’d think owners and trainers would target decent prize money on a Sunday when in theory it’s easier to attend.
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