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In this week twenty five years ago, my 1989 racing diary shows visits to Newbury for their two day summer meeting on Wednesday and Thursday.
The opening day featured the Ballymacoll Stud Stakes, a Listed event for 3-y-old fillies over 10F, a race that survives to this day, now run as the Lord Weinstock Memorial. The winner then was Shyoushka, trained by Henry Cecil (the Sir camer later), ridden by Cauthen.
That was supported by a race for 2-y-olds over 6F called the Berkshire Stakes, a race that has a place in history as it was won in 1970 by Brigadier Gerard on his racecourse debut. That was echoed in 1989 with an impressive success for the debutant Dashing Blade (Jeff Smith, Ian Balding, John Matthias), who folowed up in the Champagne Stakes at Salisbury (as did the Brigadier) and went on to win the National Stakes and the Dewhurst.
Top billing on the Thursday card went to the sponsored Summer Handicap (a 0-110 contest), in which my account shows a loss of £500 invested on the favourite Versailles Road, ridden for Susan Piggott by a 3lb claiming rider called Frankie Dettori – hard to believe he’s been going that long isn’t it. Dettori had ridden out his 5lb claim when winning on the horse ten days earlier at Leicester.
But the highlight of the Thursday meeting, with the benefit of hindsight, came in the Kennett Maiden Stakes for 2-y-olds over 6F, won in a canter by the 8/15 fav Dayjur. There was also a 6F conditions race for 2-y-old fillies called the Kingsclere Stakes, won by Chimes of Freedom (Cecil/Cauthen again), who went on to win the Moyglare and the Coronation Stakes as a 3-y-old.
So in the space of two days, three future Group 1 winners were on display, as well as a future Group 1 rider.
Not something that’s likely to be repeated at Newbury this week, now down to a one day meting. The two conditions races have gone (ironically the last running of the Kingsclere Stakes in 1999 was won by a horse called Kingsclere trained at Kingsclere), the Summer Handicap has gone (of the three seasonal races at Newbury, Spring Cup, Summer Handicap, Autumn Cup, only one is left) and only the Listed race offers much incentive to actually go to Newbury.
This week we get two maidens, the Listed race and then four Class 5 handicaps. They consist of two 0-75 races and two 0-70 races, each of which offers the BHA minimum allowed for the grade, just under £2,600 to the winner.
Every single race on the two day card in 1989 was worth more than the each of the last four races this week. The decline of this once top class racecourse into a marketing project based in the middle of a housing estate (or currently a building site) is one of the saddest things I’ve seen in racing.
Would anybody be surprised to find the Lockinge being run at Ascot by the end of the decade?
I knew standards had slipped, but hadn’t realised standards had slipped quite that far Alan.
Any idea how Goodwood compares? Doesn’t seem as many good races there either, away from the Glorious meeting.In general (at all racecourses) are there definitely fewer good races around? I know there’s been some downgrading, but has it been made worse by re-naming and/or more difficult to find good races because of an increase in numbers of poor grade racing and the good stuff being switched to Saturdays?
Genuinely unsure of the answer.Value Is EverythingLovely reminders from Apracing of times not long ago when midweek and Friday cards at Newbury were packed with interest. Regrettably now all the quality races seem to happen on Saturdays when the place is full of the coach party brigade and those casual racegoers who seem intent on eating and drinking through the afternoon.
Loved the old midweek atmosphere of a knowledgeable crowd seeing decent and competitive action, with future stars liable to be on view. Now as rightly remarked upon its a building site with racing, waiting to become a residential estate with racing. Huge pity.Ginger,
Goodwood do stage the occasional Class 5 handicap, but if you look at their meeting this coming Friday, all the handicaps are 0-85 or better. I certainly don’t remember them staging four on the same card.
Sandown on Friday afternoon include one Class 5 0-75, but at least have the decency to offer £6,000 in prize money. Musselburgh the same afternoon do even better, as their only 0-75 handicap offers £8,000. And overall, Musselburgh continue to put other courses to shame with the level of prize money and the quality of race they put on.
It’s difficult to escape the conclusion that Newbury are under such financial pressure that they can’t afford to match the prize money offered at tracks of similar staure. There are also four consecutive Class 5 handicaps for minimum prize money at Chepstow on Friday, which is hardly a comparison Newbury would seek.
On the day last week when it was announced John Hills had died there was a meeting at Chepstow, it reminded me of 25 years ago when I was a member of a syndicate with the Racegoers Club and John trained one of horses, it was a very moderate horse, who not much later ended up pony racing.
I went to see it run at Chepstow in a little low quality nursery but the win prize money for the race that day 25 years ago was at least £1100 more than 7 of the 8 races at Chepstow last Monday. And that’s just in actual amounts not taking into account inflation.
It’s not just the flat Alan,on a couple of days in the winter the newbury prize money was less than little Ludlow !
Not to mention the fact that they no longer let you stroll into the middle of the course to stand by the fences,still you never know mr thick might turn things around there but I fear the damage has been done.The two conditions races have gone (ironically the last running of the Kingsclere Stakes in 1999 was won by a horse called Kingsclere trained at Kingsclere), the Summer Handicap has gone (of the three seasonal races at Newbury, Spring Cup, Summer Handicap, Autumn Cup, only one is left) and only the Listed race offers much incentive to actually go to Newbury.
I wonder what the thinking was behind discontinuing these two contests was. Field sizes, maybe?
I notice that the last ten renewals of the Kingsclere – 1989 to 1999, assuming 1993 is missing from the
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archive for a reason – racked up an average of 5.2 runners between them, but then that’s just the nature of that sort of race, by and large, isn’t it? For a while in the late 1990s/early 2000s, at least, I seem to recall that the only way you were guaranteed to get a sizeable field in a conditions event was to offer up appearance money – cash which barely double-digit rated characters such as Time For The Clan and The Castigator would mop up for the privilege of being beaten furlongs by the penny numbers of serious participants.
Going back through the
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archive, the Summer Handicap wasn’t the more competitor-laden contest I was expecting either – fields of 5, 6, 5, 8, 5, 6 and 6 from 1989 up to its final renewal in 1995, with the conversion of the race to a 3yo-only event in 1992 causing only the briefest of spikes in participation.
Can’t think what else might have caused the executive to call time on these contests, but then I hadn’t thought courses were quite so sensitive regarding small fields (and the loss of betting income from them in particularly) back then. Certainly these event predate any ABB-inspired talk of censure for courses that can’t attract runners by the thick end of 15 years.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
Goodwood do stage the occasional Class 5 handicap, but if you look at their meeting this coming Friday, all the handicaps are 0-85 or better. I certainly don’t remember them staging four on the same card.
There were three class 5 handicaps on last Sunday’s card (£3234.50 to the winner of each) as well as a seller, though in fairness the first home in that seller won just shy of six and a half grand. I wouldn’t have thought that the majority of sellers during the season are that well remunerated.
I’d not be in a hurry to hold that card up as steadfast evidence of Goodwood’s standards falling into decline – rather, they’ve more likely just taken a position on how little prizemoney they can put up and still successfully bid for a two-fixture Sunday which few other courses appear to want to race on (Perth, whose richest race of the season took place on the same day, naturally took a different view). Courses have to be the drivers for a more handsome programme of racing on Sundays – it’s still too easy for some to secure a fixture that day with what seems a bare minimum of outlay.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
GC,
That 6F conditions race at Newbury did survive for three more years with the Kinbgsclere name replaced by sponsors, but the 2002 running was the last. My best guess would be that it was a victim of the competitive racing initiative, or possibly the introduction of Novice Stakes. The latter being another ‘great idea’ that never really took off and now limps along with just a few examples in the program.
I’ve done some digging on how many Class 5 handicaps there are in the program at Goodwood and Newbury respectively. Last year Goodwood staged 73 handicaps, 17 of them were Class 5 and about half of those were apprentice or amateur rider races.
Newbury staged 55 handicaps, of which 21 were Class 5, so a much higher percentage of the total. Amateur and apprentice events also featured at Newbury.
Here’s an extract from the Chairmans report given at the recent AGM held on May 30th:
Our commitment to investing in our racing was again in evidence with a 5 per cent. increase in prize money to £3.7 million. We were also pleased to conclude a three-year prize money agreement with the Horseman’s Group that will protect all stakeholders’ interests and puts Newbury in premier tier status in terms of
prize money contribution.A neat piece of spin which ignores the fact that their biggest race in terms of prize money is the Weatherbys Super Sprint in July – and all the money for that comes from the entry fees paid by the owners.
And the contrast between the claim of ‘premier tier status’ and four consecutive races offering total prize money of £4,000 on Thursday seems pretty stark to me.
I assume they have shelved the idea for an all-weather track at "The Racecourse Newbury"
which was supposed to have been in place 2 or 3 years ago.? I’m sure that would have brought in the crowds…My best guess would be that it was a victim of the competitive racing initiative, or possibly the introduction of Novice Stakes. The latter being another ‘great idea’ that never really took off and now limps along with just a few examples in the program.
Limp is the word, AP! By my maths just 40 novice stakes races took place in Britain during 2013, as opposed to 92 in 2003.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
I assume they have shelved the idea for an all-weather track at "The Racecourse Newbury"
which was supposed to have been in place 2 or 3 years ago.? I’m sure that would have brought in the crowds…I was told by one of the Directors it hasn’t entirely been shelved. Phil, all the new work in progress has/is being done so as not to get in the way if they revisit the AW idea in future.
Value Is EverythingI assume they have shelved the idea for an all-weather track at "The Racecourse Newbury"
which was supposed to have been in place 2 or 3 years ago.? I’m sure that would have brought in the crowds…I was told by one of the Directors it hasn’t entirely been shelved. Phil, all the new work in progress has/is being done so as not to get in the way if they revisit the AW idea in future.
Thanks Ginger
What surprises me with threads like this is the idea that Saturdays are somehow immune from a lack of quality.
Tomorrow is basically drivel and punters would be best advised to hold on to their money and wait until next week.
Both the supposedly premier meetings, Sandown and York stage five handicaps. Sandown do have listed race but take a look and yes, it is over five furlongs so you could easily have draw problems and plenty of trouble in running. There is a potential improver in the maiden but great news it’s ridden by the punter’s friend, Jamie Spencer.
stilvi
If you look ahead a few says it’s Royal Ascot. Yes they could try and include Group races, but with so many chances in the next week they would struggle for runners. As it is there’s plenty of chances for those a bit below the top level.
To condemn tomorrow’s racing as ‘basically drivel’ is short sighted in the extreme. On the basis of that statement the vast of sport taking place across the spectrum every weekend is ‘basically drivel’, because it’s not being played at the top level.
Rob
stilvi
If you look ahead a few says it’s Royal Ascot. Yes they could try and include Group races, but with so many chances in the next week they would struggle for runners. As it is there’s plenty of chances for those a bit below the top level.
To condemn tomorrow’s racing as ‘basically drivel’ is short sighted in the extreme. On the basis of that statement the vast of sport taking place across the spectrum every weekend is ‘basically drivel’, because it’s not being played at the top level.
Rob
My comments were obviously made from a punter’s perspective. The level of ‘drivel’ will vary from week to week but this is regularly one of worst weekends of the year. I was merely suggesting that punters might be better served by hanging on to their money for a few more days.
As a punter I don’t mind small fields. That old one about ‘the bigger the field the bigger the certainty’ is no more than a load of old tosh. Yes, there will be people who glorify in getting the winner of an ‘impossible’ handicap but in all likelihood it won’t take them too long to give that money back again.
Horses who should be taking in potentially small field condition races are now virtually being forced to run in handicaps and guess what the prices are just as short. Connecticut and Token Of Love are examples from today’s racing.
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