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Last Monday’s bumper at Fontwell (5.10) was run over just short of 1m 6f. I thought that give or take the odd few yards, the minimum distance for a race under rules was 2m?
No, there are a few examples of bumpers run over shorter distances.
In Fontwell’s case, there is no 2 mile start. The minimum distance over hurdles there is 2m 2f.
More to the point I thought the idea of bumpers was to get horses with no racecourse experience used to running in National hunt races which is why they were run on the hurdles courses with the hurdles out but the wings left in.
If that is so then why are Lingfield allowed to run their bumpers on the AW track?
There’s a few hurdles and chases run at less than 2 miles these days since ‘Wetherbygate’ caused a remeasuring of all courses. It was easier to allow races down to 1m 7f then having to alter start positions, some of which would not be very convenient.
On a linked issue I walked the course at Musselburgh and note that they have measured their standard distances to the nearest centimetre and they are marked on distance markers at the respective starting places. Presumably they have a measured line and any raceday adjustments are given relative to that line.
If I remember correctly all racecourses had their distances remeasured in 1992, but used the centre line of each course.
It was subsequently decided this gave a false indication of distance, as the vast majority of runners keep as close to the inner rail as possible and distances were remeasured using a line 3 metres from the inside rail.
Newbury probably hold the shortest races under NH rules – 1m 4f 143y for “Junior” NH flat races.
....and you've got to look a long way back for anything else.
IIRC in his autobiography Dick Francis said there were once 1m4f hurdle races, but they were hair-raising contests, run at dangerous pace, and few missed their demise.
The official NH minimum trip is 2m over hurdles and fences but remeasures have rendered many contests officially short of that in the same way a few Flat races are no longer the traditional UK minimum of 5f.
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The famous Brown Jack began his career in 1M 4F hurdle races as a 3-y-old in the autumn of 1927 – ran in six of them and won the last five.
Absolutely superb – love that.
Thank you.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"
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