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It was quite unusual for a member of Haydock Park not to be at one of his meetings on Saturday just gone as instead i was in attendance at Sandown for my first ever visit for Bet365 or Whitbread Gold Cup day.
Staying in a hotel at Earls Court i had a nice tube ride down to Wimbledon then change for a train to Esher where the sight of the stands and the course are just breathtaking and really do give you something to get all giddy like a kid on a school trip.
Arriving onto the track i was greeted by friendly staff who told me which stand to go to for a nice cuppa and this was the Sandown View bar which had views both sides of the course and paddock and you can even see Kempton from the stands aswell as planes from Heathrow and also the arch at the overcostly Wembley.
Racing wise a top class selection of Flat,Hurdle and Steeplechases that would grace any course as a single top billing contest in its own right given the quality of horses that were on display.
At 12.30 though the parade of champions began and the main incident was Denman getting loose and running around the parade ring but thankfully he stopped even though he skidded on the turf and thankfully didnt do himself any damage but the way he ran maybe Paul Nicholls can run him in the Golden Jubilee as he would not look out of place in it.
Big race wise it was fantastic for Philip Hobbs to win the Gold Cup given his season was probably done when Detroit City died and this was a win for yard which truly deserved it and Monkerhostin showed that you can still get a good tune from an old fiddle.
In the Derby trial Centennial ran a blinder and will improve a hell of a lot and who knows we could have a pretty wide open Derby with lots in with chances although Feared in Flight who took a bit to get going could be an ideal St Leger type given the way he stayed on and will do well when upped in trip.
All in all though i can say that Sandown is a wonderful course and an experience to behold in racing with top class facilities and something for everyone right across the board of life wether you be a posh snooty snob or a normal working class memeber of the public.
One thing which did amaze me though is that we only have 2 mixed meetings this season and maybe we should have more when you consider in Ireland how popular the likes of Galway,Listowel and Bellewstown festivals are, Surley we should have more as it brings fans of both codes together and to be at Sandown and see the likes of Paul Nicholls,Sir Michael Stoute,John Gosden and David Pipe on the same course was amazing.
I’d certainly concur with the upbeat assessment of Sandown, having enjoyed it hugely on my – very – belated first visit last November.
However, for someone who tolerates Flat racing, but not really to the point of wanting to pay to go to see it that often, mixed meetings offer me too little of what I prefer.
I’m not sure what Tatts cost at Haydock nowadays, but £15-20 for one Swinton Hurdle, one long distance hurdle and four or five Flat races of professional rather than the same heartfelt interest, doesn’t rate the same sort of VFM for me as seven 3m chases for a tenner at Guilsborough.
Don’t get me wrong – by the end of this calendar year I expect I will have taken in a few Flat meetings as well as the more regular diet. Indeed, I think I’m supposed to be organising a trip to Windsor for my Day Job colleagues very soon! But the prevailing summer and autumn pattern in Ireland of mostly mixed meetings doesn’t really do it for me.
There are considerations for riders as well as just jumps-mad plankton like me, too. With Flat jockeys in Britain now restricted to riding at nine or 10 meetings a week on health grounds, for many of the top jocks surely going to a mixed card for the sake of only one or two rides is not something they’d want to have to make too much of a habit of, I’d suggest.
Jeremy
(graysonscolumn)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.
Had a memorable dayt heir a couple years ago in the company of Tim Claydon of the Headquarters Stud France followed my dinner in Chelsea with Pengamon. Nice track, Beverley has a steeper incline though..
I love backing Mccoy on a come from behind hurdler their ,my father and I have many a get out of jail free card backing him their on less successful days at wetherby.
Jeremy, could you summarise why it is that you are not all that keen on Flat racing? I don’t think you’ve ever told me that I’m aware.
I’m glad to see you Sasenenachs belatedly realising the attraction of the mixed meeting, but as I remember posting here a couple of years ago I think Sandown’s 2m hurdle and chase are superfluous to jumps pattern requirements. Don’t forget they only came into existence to replace the lost Cheltenham due to FMD- given the poor quality of this year’s renewals it must be time for them to leave the stage to Punchestown which after all, was there first!
Jeremy, could you summarise why it is that you are not all that keen on Flat racing? I don’t think you’ve ever told me that I’m aware.
Very funny, boss. I think. I don’t know now. Um, didn’t I ever?
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.
The Liverpool Grand National, Doncaster Lincoln and Newbury October meetings all used to mixed meetings. Liverpool became a jumps only fixture when they did away with flat racing, Doncaster wanted the Lincoln meeting to be flat only to "launch" the Flat Season in style and Newbury, from what i remember changed their fixture on economic grounds.
I seem to remember Chepstow having a mixed card for a while on the late Spring Bank Holiday Monday, two hunter chases – the finals of some sort of point to point series, and the remainder of the card flat racing.
All in all though i can say that Sandown is a wonderful course and an experience to behold in racing with top class facilities and something for everyone right across the board of life wether you be a posh snooty snob or a normal working class memeber of the public.
One thing which did amaze me though is that we only have 2 mixed meetings this season and maybe we should have more when you consider in Ireland how popular the likes of Galway,Listowel and Bellewstown festivals are, Surley we should have more as it brings fans of both codes together and to be at Sandown and see the likes of Paul Nicholls,Sir Michael Stoute,John Gosden and David Pipe on the same course was amazing.
Excellent post Neil, and I’ve just picked a couple of paragraphs out there.
I was actually really in awe of the place when I got there on Saturday – I’m getting used to working with Christian now, but we’re usually talking midweek meetings at Huntingdon, Market Rasen or Stratford, where you get 3,000 or so spectators. I’m quite comfortable with that. But this was the big time – I’m told there were 20,000 there, but it felt like more than double that!! As a lad originally from a council estate in Leicester, I really felt out of my depth at times, most noticeably when I was invited into the Royal Box, and I promptly found myself sitting with Andy Stewart and Clare Balding!! But what I really liked is that everybody I spoke to was really approachable, from the staff and stewards at the course right up to Graham Wylie and a very dapper trilby hatted fellow I spoke to in the Owners and Trainers bar (he told me he was an owner with Richard Hannon). Indeed, I’ve promised the course that I’m going to write to their MD to praise them for the day, and one day, I would love to return there when I’m not working, and I can enjoy a day at leisure. A great place.
Maybe what made the day so great is seeing people like Frankie Dettori, Ruby Walsh, Sir Michael Stoute and Paul Nicholls at the same track. Again, I totally agree with Neil here – it would be wonderful to have more mixed meetings, and when you look around at the top class flat and jumps courses we have, well, Ascot, Kempton and Newbury would be 3 courses I would throw into the hat to stage a mixed meeting. There are lots of mixed meetings back in Germany, however these usually exist of just one jumps race with 6-8 flat races, and with these horses usually trained by flat trainers anyway, the spectacle isn’t quite as good as it was at Sandown.
Darren – AngloGerman
I seem to remember Chepstow having a mixed card for a while on the late Spring Bank Holiday Monday, two hunter chases – the finals of some sort of point to point series, and the remainder of the card flat racing.
That’s correct – these were the finals of the Mens’ Open and Ladies’ Open series. Both have led nomadic existences since then, with the former currently held at Towcester and the other, um, nowhere, after Huntingdon dropped it ahead of last year. Meh.
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.
Jeremy, could you summarise why it is that you are not all that keen on Flat racing? I don’t think you’ve ever told me that I’m aware.
Did you send Jeremy to a furlong marker to time the last 220yds for every race at Wolverhampton every Saturday night, Pru?
, Doncaster wanted the Lincoln meeting to be flat only to "launch" the Flat Season in style .
Well that failed miserably then as the beginning of the flat season is a disgrace really it almost apologetically stutters into action.
Get rid of everything before the Craven meeting then start the flat there. Its so obvious really when you think about it. Run the Lincoln on the Saturday, easy peasy.
Mixed meetings? They’re OK but I wouldn’t like to see any during the summer but then I don’t like summer jumping,
In April / October / early November, fine bring them on.
My memory of the time when there were mixed meetings around is that they were not that popular.
Leaving the feeling with NH followers that they would rather have all jump races and the flat followers obviously wanting all flat………….(neither fish nor fowl was the expression I was looking for!!!)
I am, and was, surprised at this seeming polarity of thought, as one who appreciates both codes (almost equally) I would have no problem with a mixed meeting.
Do mixed meeting create problems for the Clerks of Course and groundsmen?
Colin
Sandown is very local to me and despite some fairly mixed management (and there still isnt quite the same attention to detail you see at Kempton or Goodwood) in recent times, the course itself is still fantastic. I was there last Friday
The layout and viewing cannot be beaten. Probably has the nicest Winners enclosure and the most accessible paddock viewing of any course
But the crowd is decent mix too. Not slightly overwhelmed by the country set like Newbury or dominated by the boozing blokes in bad suits like many a northern course
As for mixed meetings…i have mixed feelings. I tend to find that as the seasons open and close I largely switch my mind from one code to the other. Its a novelty, but not something im desperate to see more of
You will not be amazed to discover that mixed meetings are not very popular amongst the senior jockeys.
Jeremy, could you summarise why it is that you are not all that keen on Flat racing? I don’t think you’ve ever told me that I’m aware.
Did you send Jeremy to a furlong marker to time the last 220yds for every race at Wolverhampton every Saturday night, Pru?
Heh-heh, nothing quite so heinous! Perversely, though, it was Prufrock who encouraged me to be rather less myopic about the Flat, as it was made clear that there would be days at the Sprotsnam where I could neither preview nor review jumps racing because there wasn’t any. Indeed, the Spotlights I did by way of a try-out before getting the job included at least as many Wolvo sprints as they did Warwick handicap hurdles!
From a professional point of view, that was one of the best favours anyone could have done me, to be honest. I’d still die on my ar*se right now if trying to analyse the Derby for you, but I picked up enough to be able to function at a lower level – and let’s be honest, few are the people in the racing media who can get away with being entirely one-code wonders.
It’s Doncaster and Hexham for me on the radio this weekend – if recent stints are anything by which to go, I stand more chance of finding winners at the former!
Be that all as it may. Per Prufrock’s question, my preference for the jumps over the Flat is mostly predicated on the beliefs in;
– the visual spectacle. My imagination was first caught when, not even six years old, I’d see these horses jumping bloody great lumps of birch on the ITV Seven. To the young mind that provided more visceral thrills than the intrinsically safer summer equivalent,
– the appreciation of longevity, a quality I admire outside of racing as well. Seeing old friends of all abilities reappearing year in, year out (and in my formative years that was as much the likes of Cheekio Ora, Prince Carlton, Britannicus, Taffy Jones, etc., as it was Bregawn, Burrough Hill Lad, Corbiere and similar) was a real pull. Flat equivalents exist, too, of course they do, and I always smile if a Kylkenny or Sharp Hat pinches another race, but these are undeniably fewer in number.
– getting more for one’s money. I like to go to the races to see horses race for more than a fleeting minute or minute and a half at a time, and too many Flat sprints come and go before my maggot brain has had chance to comprehend how the race develops (three cheers for Bath and Pontefract, then, where I stand a bit more of a chance and whose meetings I was actually quite happy to race-read at!). Point-to-points, with a minimum of six races and none over less than 2m4f, suit my preferences rather better.
– realistically price-tagged competitors. I’ve never been a huge fan of animals changing hands for big six- or seven-figure sums they can only tentatively hope to recoup on the racecourse. Jumps is far from immune from such profligacy, of course (hello Garde Champetre), but such phone-number outlays are still more prevalent on the level. To my mind there is far more to cheer about something like 30,000gns purchase Speciosa winning a Classic than one of her 500,000gns rivals doing so, and I just wish there were more examples like that to give me something to cheer on at the highest level.
Those would be the main reasons, but probably not the only ones and by no means ones I hold especially sanctimoniously. Enjoy your racing in whatever shape or form you prefer, y’all.
Jeremy
(graysonscolumn)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.
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