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Snoabflatjumps
Ok, we have the champion stakes, leger, arc and breders cup to look forward to. But how many of you are actually counting the days down to the Paddy Power, Henessey and King George. Is Diamond Harry going to follow up again in HEN?? and is Long Run a cert for KG and GC again or will Weapons Amnesty give Long Run another lesson in fencing?? Hurricane fly, Peddlers Cross!! First Lieutenant the most exciting novice in a decade. All thoughts appreciated. Roll on some real excitement!
Newton Abbot
Saturday 20th August
1:50 toteplacepot Win Without Backing A Winner Juvenile Hurdle Cl4 2m1f
The countdown starts now: 4 hours 55 minutes
Or for those with a little more patience, Perth starts at 3.10. Both Newton Abbot and Perth have Class 2 handicap hurdles on their cards.
Rob
Really looking forward to Cheltenham kicking off on 14 Oct, which also happens to be my birthday so a double celebratio. Captain Chris and Oscars Well excite me the most. Which horses do it for you?
The flat is far better than the jumps and what a year we’ve had so far.
I can’t find much enthusiasm for the jumps I’m afraid, one big race every blue moon, one run per horse until Cheltenham and about a dozen blank weeks.
one race every blue moon??? what about the paddy power,betfair,hennessy,tingle creek,december gold cup,long walk,king george in consecutive weeks lol.must admit though this has been the best flat season i can remember but the uk season looks a bit barren between york and the new champions day
As far as I’m concerned, the summer is just a chance to wind down while I wait for October. I don’t pay attention to summer jumping either. The only useful thing about the flat turf season is trying to pick out the future juvenile hurdlers in the 3yo crop. I’m starting my walking exercise now so I can build up for the opening meeting at Cheltenham.
And yes, I’ve seen Frankel, and yes, he’s impressive but he’ll be dust in the wind at an age when Kauto was just starting to rise to the top.
We have to wait til the middle of March these days though dont we.
"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"
We have to wait til the middle of March these days though dont we.
Yep. To be honest its crap until then. These big races beforehand – half of them are handicaps. Jumps season begins in March and ends after the Grand National meeting.
We have to wait til the middle of March these days though dont we.
Yep. To be honest its crap until then. These big races beforehand – half of them are handicaps. Jumps season begins in March and ends after the Grand National meeting.
Ian I think it can be deduced from the title that this thread is for national hunt enthusiastics. So alone you come to try and dampen the mood with your verbal cold water. At least the national hunt stars are not here today gone tomorrow like the flat.
Besides the King George VI chase is not a handicap. The big races start in October.
With the execeptions of Frankel and the Group 1 breakthrough of Hayley Turner in a few months time I doubt that we will remember much else about the 2011 Flat season. There is always so much hype associated with the Flat and plenty of the time it fails to deliver.
From a punting angle too many impossible handicaps affected by so many unpredictable factors not the least too many jockeys messing up too often.
Yes, roll on the quality jumping.
The flat is far better than the jumps and what a year we’ve had so far.
I can’t find much enthusiasm for the jumps I’m afraid, one big race every blue moon, one run per horse until Cheltenham and about a dozen blank weeks.
I take the complete opposite view to you, Ian, and can find very little reason to watch flat racing.
You wait an age while young and frightened horses are forced and manhandled into the stalls. Then they come flying out, run like crazy for what is sometimes only a few seconds, often in a straight line, and it’s all over. Yawn…zzzzzzz
Where’s the skill? Just point and kick (or whallop). Where’s the bravery and talent? (Apart from the talent to run fast). The horses are mostly too young to have any personality or character, and their careers rarely exceed 3 years. NH horses can have a racing career spanning over 10 years, and we have time to get to know and love them. Even their sometimes frustrating quirkiness!
To my mind it cannot compare with the excitement of jump racing and never will, and I don’t just mean the big races either. Small, low-value NH races can often provide the most exciting finishes and spring the biggest surprises! Gripping stuff!
The flat is far better than the jumps and what a year we’ve had so far.
I can’t find much enthusiasm for the jumps I’m afraid, one big race every blue moon, one run per horse until Cheltenham and about a dozen blank weeks.
I take the complete opposite view to you, Ian, and can find very little reason to watch flat racing.
You wait an age while young and frightened horses are forced and manhandled into the stalls. Then they come flying out, run like crazy for what is sometimes only a few seconds, often in a straight line, and it’s all over. Yawn…zzzzzzz
Where’s the skill? Just point and kick (or whallop). Where’s the bravery and talent? (Apart from the talent to run fast). The horses are mostly too young to have any personality or character, and their careers rarely exceed 3 years. NH horses can have a racing career spanning over 10 years, and we have time to get to know and love them. Even their sometimes frustrating quirkiness!
To my mind it cannot compare with the excitement of jump racing and never will, and I don’t just mean the big races either. Small, low-value NH races can often provide the most exciting finishes and spring the biggest surprises! Gripping stuff!
Well said! I have actually really enjoyed the flat season this year partly because of Frankel etc but it was nice to get a fix of jumps at Bangor a couple of weeks ago. The fixture I am most looking forward to at the moment is definitely the showcase meeting at Cheltenham.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPD1ULJR6us
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq-Wq_GPKz8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7ULR0Onpp4What makes this different is you can walk around a trail and get to see much more of the behind the scenes stuff. You may even get Edward Gillespie showing you around as I did! All the staff muck in. So you can get to see the stewards and judges boxes, see horses shod, learn something about fence construction etc and ‘meet the authors’ events where you can chat to the authors of racing books and people like Jilly Cooper.
That first two day Cheltenham has a really great atmosphere and a little more ‘laid back’ than normal!! It is great to catch up with all the regulars too; then you have the sales on the friday evening. It is great after six months without Cheltenham!!! 14th and 15th come along!!
http://www.cheltenham.co.uk/racing/fixt … wcase.htmlPlus then some of the horses running at the meeting – Midnight Chase and Chicago Grey for example last year – are stars in their own right.
The best thing about the flat season is that I can spend weekends doing something else. Roll on 14th October….
Especially looking forward to Wishfull Thinking, Weapons Amnesty, Peddler’s Cross, Noble Prince but also all the other low level dodgepots I see week in week out at Ludlow and the like.
Roll on Listowel
Really looking forward to seeing the Fly, Pandorama, Quito De La Roque, Weapon’s Amnesty and the top class Irish 2 mile chase brigade!
There is little point to a thread like this. Just decends in to a Flat V Jumps rubbish. Both codes are great for different reasons so will both have their fans. Does not mean one is "better" than the other.
Just look below.
The flat is far better than the jumps and what a year we’ve had so far.
I can’t find much enthusiasm for the jumps I’m afraid, one big race every blue moon, one run per horse until Cheltenham and about a dozen blank weeks.
I take the complete opposite view to you, Ian, and can find very little reason to watch flat racing.
You wait an age while
young and frightened horses are forced and manhandled into the stalls.
Then they come flying out, run like crazy for what is sometimes only a few seconds, often in a straight line, and it’s all over. Yawn…zzzzzzz
Where’s the skill? Just point and kick (or whallop).
Where’s the bravery
and talent? (Apart from the talent to run fast).
The horses are mostly too young to have any personality or character,
and their careers rarely exceed 3 years. NH horses can have a racing career spanning over 10 years, and we have time to get to know and love them. Even their sometimes frustrating quirkiness!
To my mind it cannot compare with the excitement of jump racing and never will, and I don’t just mean the big races either. Small, low-value NH races can often provide the most exciting finishes and spring the biggest surprises! Gripping stuff!
How the …. can anyone describe flat racing as "young and frightened horses are forced and manhandled into the stalls"?
Nighthorse, what do you think horses running directly at a solid object thought the first time they are "forced" to try it? Were they not "frightened"?I love both codes equally, but to answer some of the jibes against the Flat….
Most jumps "horses" don’t like certain appendages being scratched against the birch. Which is one reason for gelding operations, and to make them more amenable to rigours of jump racing. It is because they are geldings they can race for longer. Geldings race for longer in both codes. Flat geldings can have long careers too.
Jumps racing relies (primarily) on Flat horses sireing Jumps horses. ie Jump racing relies on Flat "entires" for National Hunt "geldings". So wouldn’t be too down on those early retiring good Flat horses if I were you.
The best jumps horses these days often run fewer times during a year than flat horses.You don’t get Flat horses whipped to near exhaustion like some over jumps do when ploughing through the mud. And that is nothing to do with "bravery" on the horse’s part. It’s just some will do evrything a jockey asks, some won’t. Hopefully when the new whip rules come in to place it will limit "encouragements" to three; so going some way to allieviate the situation.
There’s also not the amount of deaths on Flat racecourses.
Am sure when October looms up I’ll be looking forward to Cheltenham. Not yet though. Unfortunately, we have the spectacle at the moment of horses jumping on firm(er) ground. I Wish they’d ban Summer jumping.
Value Is Everything
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