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Ssssh It’s Dead Secret

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  • #26179
    Avatar photoNathan Hughes
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    • Total Posts 31237

    Why all the silence about Royal Ascot?
    It’s only just over two weeks away and on here TRF we have one thread with six posts on the St James Palace stakes. There’s more posts on Cheltenham 2015 and that’s 10 months away.
    Has Grasshopper been sneaking in and deleting Royal Ascot threads or do we just not get that excited about it? :(

    Blackbeard to conquer the World

    #480802
    Avatar photoBurroughhill
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    • Total Posts 1635

    Cheltenham is way more exciting! End of……..

    #480809
    Avatar photoGingertipster
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    • Total Posts 31537

    Why all the silence about Royal Ascot?
    It’s only just over two weeks away and on here TRF we have one thread with six posts on the St James Palace stakes. There’s more posts on Cheltenham 2015 and that’s 10 months away.
    Has Grasshopper been sneaking in and deleting Royal Ascot threads or do we just not get that excited about it? :(

    There’s a real hot property on the first day Nathan, going to streak away from his rivals. 11/2 is outstanding value. :P

    I think the reason why there’s less talk of Royal Ascot (yet) is we don’t know who’s going to turn up and for what race? Toronado or Olympic Glory or both? Ascot are less likely to water than many courses, will Kingman turn up? Will Cirrus go for the POW or Corry Cup?… And if turning up, will he be as good on a firm surface? If not, is Treve a clever bet now @ 7/4? Are the French all coming over for their Coronation? If not, will Lightning strike for a first time? Or will we finally get to see my tit ania? Will the horse with four "a"’s and two "e"’s at last show what a good horse I think he is in the Jubilee, or will Slade power home?

    Value Is Everything
    #480814
    Avatar photoespmadrid
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    • Total Posts 599

    Way to early for Royal Ascot. I’ll start getting interested about 10 minutes after those carriages have churned up the turf on the straight mile.

    However, only 133 days until the proper racing cranks up a couple of gears, remember how the televised NH season used to begin.

    http://youtu.be/vu9a4DFdcKU

    ....and you've got to look a long way back for anything else.

    #480833
    homersimpson
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    • Total Posts 2866

    There’s also a couple of small races at Epsom to think about beforehand :wink:

    #480838
    Avatar photoricky lake
    Blocked
    • Total Posts 3003

    Nathan , face it son , this is a jumping forum …and why not :D

    Its a cert Chelters will always be more popular , the flat season only really starts at the craven and peaks a few times….before fading into all weather cheating dross …

    The Jumps starts from that first sat when Chepstow kicks in , then builds into a crescendo for Chelt , Aintree . and Punch

    The clever clogs who dilute the flat by cramming all the good stuff on a saturday , have in effect lost an heap of interest in the process

    Good thing is however , it will be covered by Ruk this time ,,,so will be watchable at least

    imo

    #480844
    runandskip
    Member
    • Total Posts 412

    Don’t worry Nathen I’m sure her highness miss balding will be calling it the "greatest meeting in the world" even though none of its races are a highlight of the flat season let alone anything else but it must be half decent if she is bothering to turn up given that she can’t be arsed to do the eclipse,king George and goodwood this year!
    I read somewhere that the nature of the meeting has changed since the rebuild and it will be interesting to see if the same thing happens to Cheltenham when it’s new stand is finished in 2016.

    #480845
    Avatar photocormack15
    Keymaster
    • Total Posts 9199

    OK Nathan – TRF ROYAL ASCOT 2014 coming up…

    #480846
    Avatar photoBachelors Hall
    Blocked
    • Total Posts 1667

    Now there are two threads with fifteen posts in total.

    In my opinion, Royal Ascot shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same breath as Cheltenham…

    Fundamentally, it’s a Royal event. Without wanting to get too political, the issue of the crown can still be a prohibitive one. France and America are republics and many Irish are staunchly antipathetic towards Liz and her institution. This isn’t to even mention the vulgar classism that has no place in modern sport. (The Australians like the Queen but they provide a few sprinters here and there – the kiddy table of horse racing). Furthermore, whilst royalty does sometimes attend Cheltenham, it is always "Horses > Royalty" as opposed to "Royalty > Horses".

    Indeed, there is a sense that for many attending, the racing is a mere sideshow to the hats and pageantry and that bell end with the hat who comments on the pageantry which is genuinely stomach churning.

    Then there’s the quality of the racing. Cheltenham is for the crème de la crème in every single category. Win a race at the festival and over 90% of the time, you’re the undisputed champion. Royal Ascot on the other hand, whilst hosting a few Group Ones, simply isn’t comparable. Many of the championship standard older horses will be having their first run of the season, the Derby/Oaks winners never show up and the best two year olds of the season generally haven’t even seen a racecourse before June. Champions day threatens to fill this role but even then, it is in competition with the Arc and the two year olds run at Newmarket and Doncaster.

    Let’s not forget the Cheltenham roar. Royal Ascot can’t even muster up a respectable "Huzzar" or "Bully".

    I’m not a huge flat racing fan but even then, I rate York as a superior festival and the King George, the Eclipse and the Sussex Stakes as more relevant summer events. Besides the first UK Juvenile hurdlers appear at Hexham next Saturday and next Sunday is the French Champion Hurdle… Then the World Cup starts.

    #480891
    Avatar photoNathan Hughes
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    • Total Posts 31237

    OK Nathan – TRF ROYAL ASCOT 2014 coming up…

    Cheers boss.
    Any chance of having a ‘You’re the trainer’ comp this year?

    Blackbeard to conquer the World

    #480908
    Avatar photoGingertipster
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    • Total Posts 31537

    I wouldn’t bother David, by the looks of this thread… If it isn’t Cheltenham then nobody is interested. :lol:

    Can’t see why just because Cheltenham is the best 4 days of the year, why anyone needs to run down every other meeting, or rather every Flat meeting. You don’t get Flat enthusiasts doing the same when Cheltenham comes on. They could easily point out that Jumpers are just horses that would not be good enough to make the top grade Flat racing. Let’s face it, that’s why they’ve gone jumping.

    Why can’t we enjoy both codes?

    Value Is Everything
    #480911
    Avatar photoTriptych
    Participant
    • Total Posts 16291

    Channel 4 showing every single race for 5 days and I’m thinking how many days I can get off work to watch it.

    Must admit I’m concentrating more on who’s going to win The Oaks and The Derby at the moment, so without the favourites got it down to Ihtimal and Kingston Hill…then bring on the carriages and guess the colour of The Queen’s hat and the best day of the whole Meeting:-
    Tuesday 17th June
    The Queen Anne
    The Kings Stand and the St.James’s Palace..

    My only wish is that my husband was a racing fan then I could sit and watch it without feeling guilty that he’ll be living off pizza and micro chips for 5 days: :wink:

    Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...
    #480914
    Avatar photoGingertipster
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    • Total Posts 31537

    No need to feel guilty Jac.
    Men have been known to cook you know.
    A week of getting his own meals won’t hurt him,he’s a big boy now!
    You sit down and enjoy Royal Ascot. :P

    Value Is Everything
    #480917
    Avatar photoTriptych
    Participant
    • Total Posts 16291

    No need to feel guilty Jac.
    Men have been known to cook you know.
    A week of getting his own meals won’t hurt him,he’s a big boy now!
    You sit down and enjoy Royal Ascot. :P

    Thing is it’s not just a week Ginge, all those days I’m off to Newmarket until end October, he just doesn’t see what I see in it all, think you’ll have to drop in and explain what ‘good value’ there is in regular visits to a racecourse oh and pop into Pizza Express on your way. :lol: :wink:
    Night
    Jac
    :D

    Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...
    #480919
    andyod
    Member
    • Total Posts 4012

    Great advisse for the other woman.

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