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As a recent thread highlighted we should remain positive as there’s a lot good about racing in this country but surely the chaotic cramming of fixtures into the weekend period needs looking at?
I had a couple of bets in the Oaks today but the overload of races come the weekend is plain silly imo. It’s got to the stage where I just can’t be bothered even looking at some of the secondary meetings.
For example surely either Catterick or Beverley could take place this Sunday rather than tomorrow?
I see K Fallon in The Weekender shares a similar view. How safe can it be for jockeys to be speeding around the country morning, noon & night to ride out, chase winners and try to make a living for themselves. I know trainers dread Thursday mornings as it’s a nightmare trying to declare for all the meetings and get jockeys booked up.
On a related topic 5 meetings on RUK tomorrow afternoon, only one on ATR. Surely it’s time for the 2 channels to merge and provide a consolidated service? How much time will there be tomorrow for preview / review and analysis? How many races will be viewed on the RUK split screen tomorrow – I’d say at least a handful.
The main issue for me is racecourses want Saturday meetings as that is where the beer money is.
RFC – over to you………..but I am not holding my breath.
I was thinking exactly the same thing, particularly for Racing UK. Derby Day is one of their highlights and they want to give the meeting its utmost coverage, but when they have to show Beverly, Catterick and Haydock they’ll barely have anytime left to concentrate on Epsom.
I never used to think this, but am now strongly of the opinion Epsom should race by itself on Derby Day, or at least allow one other meeting, otherwise it gets overshadowed.
This should be an issue for Racing for Change but since they are simply hopeless they’ll probably do the reverse and arrange for an additional all weather meeting or two.
I never understand the summer jumps fixtures theory, last week we had Hexham, Sedgefield then Wetherby on 3 consecutive days. Kelso also raced last Sunday. As we know these meetings are targets normally of the Borders/Northumberland/Lakes faithful. Whilst in numbers of horses running wasnt bad, It could be a lot better(stable capacity allowing) if meetings in the north were spaced out. Its a shame the RP dosnt print crowd attendances in their on course reporters reviews. I would be interested to know the numbers getting thru the gates when tracks close each other run in the same week compared to a spaced out pattern. Newcastle ran last night, I didnt get, but my taxi drivin buddys were under the impression their were more Cabs on the rank than Punters.
The best one is Mondays fixtures which we spoke about last year, Carlisle and Cartmel Afternoon meetings, How does the M6 cope I hear you ask…… while your stuck behind the old man who still cant tow that caravan after 40 years of trying
Surely the issue is no one takes into account what channel the races are on tonight for example Stratford & Down Royal tonight 5 minutes apart obviously with two 3m+ hunters chases aT Strafford these would clash on ATR so they stick them together and put Haydock on the other channel and a flat race after these.
It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to work them out better.
Tomorrow ATR has Tramore only in the afternoon and Stratford in the evening.
Racing UK has Epsom, Haydock, Catterick, Beverley & Mussleburgh.
I don’t know what they can do about this in the future but is it because the racecourses own their own tv rights unlike other sports ie football which are sold as a package maybe if Racing was sold as a package they could sort this issue out.
If Racing UK And ATR grew up and worked together they could let the other channel show a racecourse when they are oversubscribed on a day but it will never happen.
I’m a firm believer there is too much racing in the UK but I’d also argue that Race Planning needs a complete overhaul.
This Sunday (9/9) there is an all-aged 1m2f handicap at York for horses rated 66-80. According to the Programme Book the next 1m2f handicap in the North, for older horses in the same ratings bracket, (well actually 61-75), is at Redcar on the 29/9 – nearly 3 weeks apart.
Unsurprisingly Sunday’s race at York has attracted 45 entries but the Safety Limit is 20 meaning a fair few horses will miss the cut and not get a run.
So if you have an older horse trained in the North of the country rated in the 70+ where do you run him in September? In theory you could go a whole month without a run, with a horse that is at peak fitness & ready to run. Or else you travel further afield to the likes of Sandown and Newbury which can turn out to be an expensive exercise considering the prize money that is on offer.
I appreciate it’s difficult to keep everyone happy but it would be good to see some of the All Weather racing cut back and more focus put on the middle tier say for horses rated in the 70-90 category.
Every horse that wins a race during the month should be supplemented into a specialised meeting on the last Sunday of the month where horses will be entered into races over the distance they won at competing off level weights in different class’s whereby their are no independent body that handicaps them after the race but can return to the fixture list off the same mark.
Every horse that wins a race during the month should be supplemented into a specialised meeting on the last Sunday of the month where horses will be entered into races over the distance they won at competing off level weights in different class’s whereby their are no independent body that handicaps them after the race but can return to the fixture list off the same mark.
That would make a mockery of any Handicapping system that existed you Muppet! Bit like your Posts really!
I’m a firm believer there is too much racing in the UK but I’d also argue that Race Planning needs a complete overhaul.
This Sunday (9/9) there is an all-aged 1m2f handicap at York for horses rated 66-80. According to the Programme Book the next 1m2f handicap in the North, for older horses in the same ratings bracket, (well actually 61-75), is at Redcar on the 29/9 – nearly 3 weeks apart.
Unsurprisingly Sunday’s race at York has attracted 45 entries but the Safety Limit is 20 meaning a fair few horses will miss the cut and not get a run.
So if you have an older horse trained in the North of the country rated in the 70+ where do you run him in September? In theory you could go a whole month without a run, with a horse that is at peak fitness & ready to run. Or else you travel further afield to the likes of Sandown and Newbury which can turn out to be an expensive exercise considering the prize money that is on offer.
I appreciate it’s difficult to keep everyone happy but it would be good to see some of the All Weather racing cut back and more focus put on the middle tier say for horses rated in the 70-90 category.
Couldn’t agree more.
Connections need to be provided with a reasonable number of opportunities to choose from.
There is quite enough all weather for my pallet already.
The programme should be changed in my view.We keep hearing that there’s too much racing and then, when we get the shock news that two racecourses are going to close in a matter of months, it turns out that even that isn’t going to result in a reduction in fixtures because they are just going to be redistributed within the parent group.
Completely crackers.I’m a firm believer there is too much racing in the UK but I’d also argue that Race Planning needs a complete overhaul.
This Sunday (9/9) there is an all-aged 1m2f handicap at York for horses rated 66-80. According to the Programme Book the next 1m2f handicap in the North, for older horses in the same ratings bracket, (well actually 61-75), is at Redcar on the 29/9 – nearly 3 weeks apart.
Unsurprisingly Sunday’s race at York has attracted 45 entries but the Safety Limit is 20 meaning a fair few horses will miss the cut and not get a run.
So if you have an older horse trained in the North of the country rated in the 70+ where do you run him in September? In theory you could go a whole month without a run, with a horse that is at peak fitness & ready to run. Or else you travel further afield to the likes of Sandown and Newbury which can turn out to be an expensive exercise considering the prize money that is on offer.
I appreciate it’s difficult to keep everyone happy but it would be good to see some of the All Weather racing cut back and more focus put on the middle tier say for horses rated in the 70-90 category.
Couldn’t agree more.
Connections need to be provided with a reasonable number of opportunities to choose from.
There is quite enough all weather for my pallet already.
The programme should be changed in my view.More AW bashing it seems. If it is the scourge of racing as we know it then why do a good percentage of our top trainers keep having runners.
Over the past 5 years 25% of Mark Johnstons runners have been on the AW. Richard Hannon nearly 22%, John Gosden nearly 23%, Saeed Bin Suroor 19%, Richard Fahey nearly 19%, and even the two Sirs, Henry Cecil and Michael Stoute have managed 17% and over 13% respectively. They obviously don’t know what they’re doing.
More AW bashing it seems. If it is the scourge of racing as we know it then why do a good percentage of our top trainers keep having runners.
Over the past 5 years 25% of Mark Johnstons runners have been on the AW. Richard Hannon nearly 22%, John Gosden nearly 23%, Saeed Bin Suroor 19%, Richard Fahey nearly 19%, and even the two Sirs, Henry Cecil and Michael Stoute have managed 17% and over 13% respectively. They obviously don’t know what they’re doing.
Quoting statistics proves absolutely nothing – anybody can quote random numbers to support whatever spurious argument they like – spin doctors and marketeers do it all the time.
Millions of people eat at McDonalds – that still does not mean their product isn’t cr@p and probably only fit for animals – although I wouldn’t, personally, even feed it to an animal.
Millions of people eat at McDonalds – that still does not mean their product isn’t cr@p and probably only fit for animals – although I wouldn’t, personally, even feed it to an animal.
No, but it means it’s popular, which was surely Aaron’s point?
Mike
Or maybe it means there is nowhere else to eat / race nearby? The X factor is popular but is it any good? Depends who is asking or answering!
My OP was to highlight there is a section of racing in the middle tier that Race Planning needs to engage with and improve the Programme Book for in my opinion.
In view of the volume of horses in training, then there is probably not too much racing. However as the OP points out, some types of horses are not well-catered for.
The thread title is another question, no doubt flogged as only a dead horse can be flogged. The sheer volume of racing means that the funding for prizemoney is spread far too thinly to create a healthy industry. Breeders are ultimately responsible for the over-production of horses but short of putting a ceiling on the number of mares a stallion can cover in any one season (although I doubt such a measure could be effectively policed), I cannot see how you can cure a problem that is self-driven.We’ve experienced similar problems for races over 1m6f. I think the basic problem at this time of year is that the turf season is starting to wind down and the AW courses don’t offer many races for horses rated 75 plus.
That is a function of those courses not wishing to offer the levels of prizemoney required for class 3 and 4 handicaps.
The upshot is that if you have a flat horse rated 75 plus then you need to be thinking in terms of either running in France or Ireland or running over hurdles.
We will be considering both options over the next few months.
Or maybe it means there is nowhere else to eat / race nearby? The X factor is popular but is it any good? Depends who is asking or answering
Again, irrelevant. Aaronizneez’s point had nothing to with it being ‘any good’, he was merely saying it was very popular with trainers.
As Eclipse First rightly says "In view of the volume of horses in training, then there is probably not too much racing".
Your original point about race planning may well be valid though.
Mike
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