- This topic has 20 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 4 months ago by
.
- Posts
– Generally speaking all the decent racing condensed into a Saturday afternoon, 95pc of the weekday stuff is utter mince (not as a betting medium).
– No more Bristol Hurdle or Bula Hurdle with the name changes.
– Slower horses running for the same prizemoney as on the flat.
– Small fields.…but the complaining wont start until April.
Happy lot this jumps brigade.
The Flat brigade would be a happier lot if
– we had any decent racing at this time of year to condense anywhere
– we had any historic winter race names beginning with B to lose. Unless you count the Betfred Bingo this or the Bluesq Balls Games that
– we weren’t attracting so many connections from all corners of the world to race for our low prize money for specifically ‘economic’ rather than sporting reasons!
– our smaller fields weren’t subdivided into even smaller fields to stretch meetings to eight races starting at the crack of dawn
– come next April we weren’t looking forward to wall-to-wall racing again, as if it ever went awayThe reason jumps has thrived in recent years, at least relatively, is that it hasn’t born the brunt of all the hairbrained modernisation and expansion of British racing.
The Flat brigade would be a happier lot if
– we had any decent racing at this time of year to condense anywhere
– we had any historic winter race names beginning with B to lose. Unless you count the Betfred Bingo this or the Bluesq Balls Games thatQuebec Stakes – an epic AW classic – is without a B in-front of it for next Saturday. Maybe you should work on convincing Rod Street to create a British Champions AW day? Only condition for that ground-breaking idea is that we have a 0-52 handicap closing the card with at least 1 Irish participant.
Re the happiness of the jumping fraternity, I can only say it is not "Slower horses running for the same prizemoney as on the flat," but slower horses running for more. Baby Mix is Class 4 handicap on Wednesday at Kempton material. Phil Smith would’ve had him in off 75.
Let’s be honest, the "International Hurdle" is the second worst named race in Britain, behind only the World Hurdle. There’s nothing International, World or Global about any of these races.
Will always be the Bula Hurdle in my eyes – and I’m no old fuddy duddy resistant of change (37 if you must ask!), but someone who appreciates the Sport’s great history.
The only change I would accept is if the race was renamed in honour of a more recent hero (e.g. Istabraq).
Oh..and while we’re at it, bring back the Great Yorkshire, Gerry Fielden, Warwick National, Cathcart to name but a few.
I actually can accept the "World" Hurdle as Stayers is not the most imaginative title – although older members will I’m sure still refer to the Spa Hurdle.
…and I’ve not event started on the flat…!
Let’s be honest, the "International Hurdle" is the second worst named race in Britain, behind only the World Hurdle. There’s nothing International, World or Global about any of these races.
Reminds me of the Champion Stakes
It depends if the Champion Stakes was named after the Racehorse or for some other reason.
I actually can accept the "World" Hurdle as Stayers is not the most imaginative title – although older members will I’m sure still refer to the Spa Hurdle.
Blasphemy!
The World hurdle will always be a disgusting marketing tool foisted on the sport by Ladbrokes.
I was so glad yesterday when Barry Geraghty referred to the race as the Stayers.
World Hurdle is the pits and on the face of it Stayers’ Hurdle unimginative and all too obvious, but I always liked it. Its simplicity evoked in me a gritty near-grim image of tough race-wise sluggards facing the final shoot-out. And for some reason the plural possessive apostrophe seemed to add to the effect
Take your points Glenn, all weather program expansion in particular, but you could substitute summer jumping into your argument and you’d be more or less in the same place.
You won’t hear the jumps crowd complaining too much about endless small fields, they find them "interesting". The Tolworth, Bula, Scilly Isles etc…passed into yesteryear with barley a murmur, prizemoney rarely mentioned, 80 rated chasers and failed flat juvenile hurdlers, Corinth defined.
RFC wouldn’t get a look in with the jumps boys, imo.
RFC wouldn’t get a look in with the jumps boys, imo.
Was Edward Gillespie not the first branch of Racing For Change?
Commerciality > Sport. The long-term project will be complete when the Gold Cup is on a Saturday, and it will require none of Rod Street’s input.
The ability at the higher levels to use the emotive elements of NH racing positively has paid off.
Reminds me of the Champion Stakes
Qipco Champion Stakes, please. The Champion Stakes might not crown champions, but it’s a worthy championship contest is my defence.
Does ‘history’ matter to any but us anoraks?
I’m sure 95% of Saturday’s crowd at Cheltenham or bettors on the race couldn’t care whether the ‘Bula’ was the ‘Bula’ or whatecver. I’m sure most of them would be ‘who’s Bula?’.
Sad, maybe, but true.
Happy lot this jumps brigade.
We jump for fun.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
I’m sure 95% of Saturday’s crowd at Cheltenham or bettors on the race couldn’t care whether the ‘Bula’ was the ‘Bula’ or whatecver. I’m sure most of them would be ‘who’s Bula?’.
Sad, maybe, but true.
Is that 95% one of the 61% of statistics made up on the spot?
Does ‘history’ matter to any but us anoraks?
It matters if you wear a leaky one
to suggest the history of such garment
made showerproof but loyal through
cold Scottish winters,
stood the test of time,
for me watchingSebastian vi
on the west coast,
through my snorkel,
tunnel vision,
it was REAL though!It’s a shame that racing doesn’t make more of its history and heritage.
The horses that give their names to these races like Bula typically have a good story to tell and it’s often a missed opportunity in my opinion.
Not everyone that goes racing is there for the betting or the booze remember. Take my inlaws for example. They bet small stakes on occasions, they will maybe have one or two drinks. What they do enjoy is the sport and the occasion. So much so they have decided to take a share in one of the partnerships I run. Never in a million years did I think that would happen!
So what does attract them to racing? I’d say the race as a spectacle, the beauty and power of the thoroughbred, and the history of the sport.
It’s the wrong move IMO to standardise the sport and omit a large slice of the history.
We jump for fun.
gc
This weeks jumping fun.
Wednesday – £20k 3m Graduation Chase – 4 runners
Thursday – £20k 2m 1.5f Graduation Chase – 4 runners
Saturday – £25k 2m 5.5f Graduation Chase – (max) 6 runnersI’m tempted to join in the fun.
By all means do, Jose. I’m sure there’ll be something of interest in all three from a (p)laying, aesthetic or emotional standpoint. Preferably all three.
Those field sizes are of no especial concern. By the very way they are framed (winner-of-two steeplechases with no ratings ceiling, to all intents and purposes), graduation chases are never going to attract double-digit events routinely; and in being run over a variety of distances, the three examples you’ve quoted probably won’t have been competing for too many of the same animals.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.