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Nothing like prejudices to fuel stupidity.
Judging people by their accent is anti-snobbery which is just as bad as snobbery itself.Am delighted for Michael Buckley, puts in a lot of money in to the game and hasn’t had the best of luck over the last couple of years.
Quite frankly Zark, considering what you’ve said recently, hope you don’t come back.
Well said, Micheal Buckley has had more than his fair share of bad luck over the years Zetas Son , Mutare and New York Rainow are just three that come to mind.
Nothing went right for SE today, and everything fell right for Barry. SE by far the better jumper and I feel he would have been hard to pass having pinged the last.
BHA handled it disgracefully and contradicted themselves. Lynche should have jumped the last anyway (the half that wasnt blocked) . Barry would have followed, as would the remainder. What then??I’ve now had time to look at this in cold light of day and watched the reply a few times. First of all those who backed Sizing Europe will have difficulty bemoaning their luck. Whilst the result may have been different had they jumped the last fence the facts are they had to bypass it, this happens on a regular basis. Both horses were affected and there is no way of knowing that the result would have been different. Finnians Rainbow was holding his position and was just as hampered as the second. A stewards enquiry wouldn’t have changed the result.
As to what happened I think the officials on course did what they could under the circumstances. They followed procedures that have been in place for 16 years. The clerk of the course made the correct call that the fence needed to be bypassed as there was an injured jockey and member of the public on the other side. The officials by the fence put out the boards and a man was stationed with the bypass flag and a whistle to warn the jockeys. The boards were moved towards the inside more, on a call by an official to give added protection to the injured parties in the case of a loose horse. The problem was the jockeys were in two minds as to whether they should jump the fence or not, unfortunately that was their problem. It is up to them to make sure they know the rules. They are both experienced jockeys and should have known. Infact they clearly did know the rules because they both went round the fence. The main problem was that the last two fences are very close together this made things difficult as their was little time to react. Perhaps it may have been better to omit the last two fences.
Of course there needs to be an enquiry and procedures may need to be altered, that is the nature of things. I do though think that there is a lot of unjustified criticism of the on course officials. It’s all well and good people blaming officials and BHA but how many of these people were voicing their concern about bypass procedures, that have generally worked well for a long time, before today ?
Nothing went right for SE today, and everything fell right for Barry. SE by far the better jumper and I feel he would have been hard to pass having pinged the last.
BHA handled it disgracefully and contradicted themselves. Lynche should have jumped the last anyway (the half that wasnt blocked) . Barry would have followed, as would the remainder. What then??They would have been disqualified and race voided and the jockeys would have been to blame.
Forgive me for not knowing the names of the people involved in this incident but I’m amazed that everyone has avoided the obvious question.
The incident happened and ‘boards’ were put across the final fence to signal that the last fence wasn’t to be jumped. The ‘boards’ were then moved to the inside of the fence. The obvious question is, WHY?
Now I’m no brain surgeon, but if the boards were left where they were supposed to be, and in the place that signalled clearly that the jockeys/horses were to omit the final fence, then all horses would have went around the final fence no problem.
By moving the boards to the inside, the jockeys/horses still went around the final fence, but with confusion.
So what the hell did moving the boards achieve? The stricken jockey and photographer were on the inside of the course. Moving the three boards to the inside of the fence meant that a horse could have jumped the last fence to the right of the boards and then fell left-handed into the injured party. Leaving the boards where they were initially would have meant all horses went around the fence (just like they eventually did thankfully).
So the question is, why were the boards moved?
Baffled!
Forgive me for not knowing the names of the people involved in this incident but I’m amazed that everyone has avoided the obvious question.
The incident happened and ‘boards’ were put across the final fence to signal that the last fence wasn’t to be jumped. The ‘boards’ were then moved to the inside of the fence. The obvious question is, WHY?
Now I’m no brain surgeon, but if the boards were left where they were supposed to be, and in the place that signalled clearly that the jockeys/horses were to omit the final fence, then all horses would have went around the final fence no problem.
By moving the boards to the inside, the jockeys/horses still went around the final fence, but with confusion.
So what the hell did moving the boards achieve? The stricken jockey and photographer were on the inside of the course. Moving the three boards to the inside of the fence meant that a horse could have jumped the last fence to the right of the boards and then fell left-handed into the injured party. Leaving the boards where they were initially would have meant all horses went around the fence (just like they eventually did thankfully).
So the question is, why were the boards moved?
Baffled!
As I said the boards were moved to give added protection in the case of a loose horse.
"As you’ve said"
Maybe try explaining then Kenh instead of just saying!
Added protection. What added protection? It was a cock-up, admit it.
Moving the boards meant that the horses could have jumped the fence, and landed pretty close to the injured party. Am I correct? Of course I am. And in that case, if by moving the boards, the fence could have been jumped, then could a horse have fell left-handed onto the injured party? Of course it could.
Now let’s leave the boards where they were initially placed, right across the fence. Could any horse have jumped the last fence? NO.
So please explain, WHY, by moving the boards to the inside, did that add protection to the injured party? All it served to do was add confusion and increase the possibility of one of the horses jumping the last, and heavens forbid, falling left-handed into the injured jockey.
Admit it, it was a farce.
And Kenh, you’re point about a loose horse jumping the fence makes no sense either.
We are going back to the boards across the fence again. One placed on the left of the fence (in front of the injured party), one towards the centre of the fence, and one towards the right of the fence.
That would mean the whole fence is dolled off, no horse/jockey/loose horse would attempt to jump the fence, hence the injured party were safe from more ‘falling horses’, loose or not.
All boards towards the left of the fence (as it was) then meant a loose horse, or a horse/jockey could have jumped the fence towards the centre, fell and skidded left-handed towards the injured party.
Admit it, it was a cock-up.
Nothing went right for SE today, and everything fell right for Barry. SE by far the better jumper and I feel he would have been hard to pass having pinged the last.
Watch the second last – if anything Finians outjumps SE.
It was Lynch who made the decision not to jump, and steered his mount to the right. So Geraghty has to react, so he’s behind as they pass the last but finishes with a clear lead.
And Kenh, my final point on this is this.
Are you then saying, that at a Cheltenham Festival, they only have three boards to doll of a fence that is much much wider than a standard NH fence?
Isn’t the reason a fence is dolled off usually because a jockey or horse is still stricken at the landing side? So why is a fence dolled off perfectly 99% of the time when this happens, yet during the Champion Chase, they couldn’t do it?
Or do jockeys only get this ‘added protection treatment’ at Cheltenham, thus leaving half the fence available to be jumped?
Put simply mate, if a jockey falls at Plumpton on a Monday afternoon and a fence is fully dolled off to protect him, then they SHOULD be able to do it at a Cheltenham Festival.
Argue until you’re blue in the face Kenh, but you know I’m right and that what happened during the Champion Chase was a farce.
Cant believe the events yesterday……..Biggest 2 mile chase of the year turned into an egg and spoon race……..fairplay to AD putting pertinent questions to the official and not fairplay to the official for fluffing the answers.
I think the best horse won the race, although SE probably did get slightly more hinderd and one erratic jump by either at the last would have cost them the race.
The big problem I had, and I think the reason so many people are teed off is that that official came across as very a arrogant demigod.
He could have made a simple apology for any confusion at the time and sent out a full statement 24 hours later after an internal inquiry.
SHL
SHL
Would the result have been different? We’ll never know. However, there was no reason that the last couldn’t have been jumped. The injured parties, and I hope they recover, were on the inside and one was off the track. Blocking the rails side of the fence would have been no problem. They had a lap to do it.
Atrocious stuff and I would be annoyed if I’d had money on the runner up. The fence might have made a difference, might not I know but… Jumping is the name of the game and the best jumper in the field lost a possible advantage.
The reason for placing the boards together is that it makes it less likely that a loose horse will jump that part of the fence than if they were spaced out. This is infact BHA instructions and the officials at the fence did nothing wrong. The flagman was clearly on the course waving his flag and the jockeys know the rules, there is even a notice posted in the jockeys room to tell them you can’t jump a fence that has been part dolled off.
Of course there could be a case for having more boards at the fences but that is now easy to say in hindsight. How many of those lambasting the officials have raised that issue before yesterday ? Not many I suspect.
The reason for placing the boards together is that it makes it less likely that a loose horse will jump that part of the fence than if they were spaced out. This is infact BHA instructions and the officials at the fence did nothing wrong. The flagman was clearly on the course waving his flag and the jockeys know the rules, there is even a notice posted in the jockeys room to tell them you can’t jump a fence that has been part dolled off.
Of course there could be a case for having more boards at the fences but that is now easy to say in hindsight. How many of those lambasting the officials have raised that issue before yesterday ? Not many I suspect.
Chequered flag man is supposed to be 70 yards away from the fence – I doubt he was 70ft away.
The reason for placing the boards together is that it makes it less likely that a loose horse will jump that part of the fence than if they were spaced out. This is infact BHA instructions and the officials at the fence did nothing wrong. The flagman was clearly on the course waving his flag and the jockeys know the rules, there is even a notice posted in the jockeys room to tell them you can’t jump a fence that has been part dolled off.
Of course there could be a case for having more boards at the fences but that is now easy to say in hindsight. How many of those lambasting the officials have raised that issue before yesterday ? Not many I suspect.
Chequered flag man is supposed to be 70 yards away from the fence – I doubt he was 70ft away.
If he was 70 yards away he would probably have been nearly in the second last. The fences are very close together.
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