Newmarket 3.45 yesterday.

[greektown]

Thank you Rory.

Best Wishes,

G

[aji]

I think they should have delayed the race until the storm passed. The horses could have circled at the start and they would have been in no worse position than when a storm brews up whilst they are out for exercise. Putting them in the stalls when they could have been badly frightened by thunder and lightening was ridiculous. The whole situation was unneccessarily dangerous for the horses, stalls handlers, jockeys and television staff. The race was also a complete waste of time for crowd, viewers, punters and followers of the form.

[MikkyMo73]

Yes, welcome to the forum Greektown and many thanks for the detailed and very sensible posting about the horses movements.

Cheers.

Mike

[greektown]

Many thanks Mike.

At the risk of becoming a bore may I just answer a point or two that "aji"
has made? This will be my last post on the issue.

While I understand your opinion aji , and , respect wholeheartedly your right to it, I must point out that horses at excercise will probably be wearing sheets which are lightweight blankets and/or waterproof sheets. The main reason for this is to keep them warm. The longer the runners are kept at the start in the rain the colder they will get. This increases the danger of injury such as muscle tears during the race. The colder they get the more likely they are to hurt themselves or run below their form. Or, of course , to become upset at the delay.

Athletes in any field need a warm up prior to an event to avoid these problems.

The problem with a delay in the circumstances we saw is that nobody actually knows how long those weather conditions will last or if they will worsen or not. It is not difficult to imagine a scenario where a delay has been implemented – the situation worsens and one wishes that the race had gone off at its scheduled time in the first place. These are situations where the stewards have to use their judgement and ( no, don’t laugh) we have to trust them ! It may well become a case of them being damned if they do , as now, or damned if they don’t.

It’s a difficult one no doubt but as no-one was injured I think we can say that that is the best we can hope for under the circumstances. They are all safe to run another day.

Best Wishes,

G

[seabird]

Some of the fillies might have suffered mentally, if not physically, but I do hope not.

Colin

[Author]

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