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According to Andrew Cooper (COTC): “The ground is too inconsistent for Flat racing, there were a significant number of false areas which couldn’t be avoided. That’s the crux of the call and it’s not really going to improve within the timeframe. It’s not fit for purpose today.”
No inspection is scheduled ahead of Saturday’s jumps finale card at Sandown with Cooper saying: “I haven’t had a chance to assess the impact of the rain here [on the jumps track] but it will have eased. There will be no issues, though, and no inspection planned, ” Cooper added.
Being that the hurdle course uses the flat course, I am a little confused as to how ground too inconsistent for flat racing due to a significant number of false areas, doesn’t impact horses jumping hurdles over the same course and warrant at least having a look rather than the above comment.
The thing about rain is it tends to fall evenly, whereas the same cannot always be said of artificial watering systems, something the CoC there is particularly fond of round the year.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Chickens coming home to roost at Sandown,OTT watering in the summer to keep the flat trainers happy has lead to bottomless ground over hurdles compared to years ago.
They need a lot of luck with the weather to prepare the course for today after the bashing it gets now on Imperial Cup Day and it’s all caught up with them.Was watching some of the old runnings of the Tingle Creek and the Whitbread Gold Cups and a number were run on good to firm ground and whats more they were even jumping the Pond Fence directly into the sun too!!!!
Gasp…how could they I hear the horse welfare brigade shout but wouldn’t you know it many of those exact same horses not alone had no ill effects from it but were back for more in the following year(s) renewals.
Mother nature more often than not will sort it out herself without human (sometimes ham fistedly) intervening and while I can somewhat understand trying not to have good to firm ground (especially if it is jarring) for NH racing, good ground rather than good to soft should be what COTC should be aiming for…..if you have a horse that can’t race on good ground then it really shouldn’t be racing at all.
I am convinced there is no problem with good to firm ground. Racecourses are being ruined through the watering done to avoid it.
The majority of Flat racing used to take place on ground that was good to firm or firmer. A lot of jump racing took place on ground with firm in the description, even in the depths of winter. This included tracks like Haydock, now ruined through excessive watering.
We’ve been jumping on firm to hard ground the last couple weeks in MD and VA with no ill-effects. Though there’s been a bunch of rain this past week so ground should be softer for the Maryland Hunt Cup (which does not have irrigation as per “fair hunting country” conditions) and other races tomorrow. The US jumps courses that are irrigated generally water to the firm side of good.
I do notice that most US jumps courses grow the grass much longer than UK courses, 6-8 inches vs 4 inches. Even the flat tracks cut closer to 5 or 6 inches. Most courses here are tall fescue in the north or Bermudagrass/annual rye mix in the south as opposed to the perennial rye in the UK. That probably makes a difference in how much cushion is on a “firm” surface in either country
It is common place for this flat meeting to be over watered and the COC to describe it as good to firm (good in places) but it to actually be good to soft.
Hard to believe the track was watered this week, no wonder the flat meeting was abandoned.He didn’t water the flat track this week. The only watering was done to the back straight, most of the chase course and a small part of the hurdle course. It’s not done to achieve good to soft, but to try as far as possible to get the same going round the whole of the track. The chase course in the home straight doesn’t dry out as fast as the far side, because of the shade from the stands. And what trainers really don’t like is inconsistent ground, half good to firm, half good to soft.
I’m not putting this up as a defence of the Coc, I too get annoyed by constant watering of flat tracks, often done to pander to certain trainers and ensure that ‘star’ horses are run at their track. But if we’re going to criticise, let’s at least get the facts right. Sandown are certainly as bad as anywhere on this and it would be better if they would follow the example of Leicester, and not run any hurdle races in the two months prior to their first flat fixture.
This the official report posted on Thursday:
Watering Watering (In Progress) Selective watering, primarily of Chase Course, since Monday 17 April. Selective watering of Back Straight – 2f of Hurdle Course and Water to last Railway Fence Wednesday afternoon (5mm) and repeated Thursday (3mm)
Nothing wrong with good to firm imo
The trouble is some of the trainers will kick up stink and threaten to pull the horses out.What should have happened was the clerk say go ahead and do it. Instead they pandered to the noise
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“to try as far as possible to get the same going round the whole of the track.”
Something he evidently failed to do, judging by the reasons given for the abandonment of today’s card.
I’d say the best way to ensure the same going round the whole of the track – only really possible on a perfectly-level circuit with no undulations whatsoever – is to let nature take its course.
Unless you get two different weather systems simultaneously over two parts of the same racecourse, any rain will fall evenly.
Tbh, the damage has already been done – Firm ground has been phased out and top-of-the-ground horses aren’t going to stud so much anymore.
It would take a generation to reverse this awful trend and a lot of horses bred for “slop” getting jarred up on Firm ground, or simply hardly ever running, in the short-term.
It’s a depressing state of affairs.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"“it would be better if they would follow the example of Leicester, and not run any hurdle races in the two months prior to their first flat fixture.”
Judging by the race times and the way they finished at Leicester’s previous Flat fixture, I’d say the Midlands venue isn’t without its problems either.
Artificial watering poses problems and when it’s done on terrain that’s shared between hurdlers over Jumps and Flat horses arguably poses even more.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Leicester is a venue I sense would not be missed. Have been there once, November 1980, the meeting abandoned after the first race, a juvenile hurdle run in a snowstorm and won by the future Grand National runner up Mr Snugfit.If memory serves the stands sported badly painted blue panels.
I used to enjoy the Hunters’ Chase meeting at Leicester, but that fixture sadly no longer exists.
Neither does the cross fence open ditch four out – it’s been moved to become a fourth fence (three out, I think) in the home straight.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"The course opened in 1875 and they charged everyone half a crown with Queen Victoria’s head to get in. Surrey was beautiful countryside back then you could take your wicker basket and stroll into a haven of trees, birds, and bushes, sit yourself down or stretch lazily out,, and have your cucumber sandwich, and if your heart stopped, you wouldn’t be found for weeks – it was that remote. You had to watch out for the wasps back then they were more territorial and angrier and best advice if you found some was to leg it. Nicer people about back then too, and the horses loved sniffing the country air. More interesting things to do too – for example if you went into your back garden or your patch as some called it, you would find it teeming with life all year round, and so you would sit down to have a snooze and you could wake up and find yourself sitting next to a friendly bee. At night if you left your window open the big moths would come in and have a bit of a shifty round and you could befriend a moth back then. Even sixty seventy years on Surrey still retained some of the same charm but going back to the 1870’s there was lots of interesting things to do and people used to natter on street corners – much more than they do today. You go for a walk in the same countryside place today and you are likely to get arrested for trespassing, or run down by an artic or you might find yourself embarrassingly in someone else’s garden and walking through their sparse looking vegetables.
Surrey featured in this afternoon’s edition of
Down Memory Lane.
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