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20/20 hindsight is a great blessing.
So you knew on Monday morning, when the going was good to firm, firm in places, that the forecast for a mainly dry week, was about as wrong as it could possibly be and that Thursday would see non stop rain.
Can’t really blame them for this one as clearly mother nature decided to fu*k with them.
That being said I do wonder how 18mm (0.7″) of rain falling during the course of the morning on what was officially good to firm (firm in places) ground would be enough to be able to waterlogg the course……..maybe a season long policy of watering meant that the water table was actually higher than it would normally be this time of year to where it simply couldn’t handle the rain it received.
Had they received that amount of rain in a very short period of time, you could possibly understand the course not being able to drain it away quick enough – probably not a good analagy here but when you water your dry plants after a few days without watering them, the water quickly soaks straight through the soil and it isn’t until it has soaked up enough water before any additional water sits on the surface rather than being soaked up.
No rain since February 27th yet the Sandown clerk leaves the course in that state.
It’s an absolute disgrace.
Yeah, Nichols hinted that he wasnt particularly happy before The Imperial.
And then Alan King seemed to say much the same, just now, after Charisma Cat won the flat race.
Yes it was a bit of a nuisance really. Go Dante’s trainer wished the ground was softer than the going description and luckily for him (and the punters) it was. I didn’t back him because i thought the ground wasn’t going to be soft enough. And Wreckless Eric’s trainer was looking forward to getting back on some good ground and unluckily for him (and the punters) it wasn’t as intended.
Maybe the key takeout is wait to watch the 1st race and make my own mind up about the going, and then place bets
It’s not an isolated case though is it over the last year? Surely the clerks (of the courses) should be able to call the ground going, accurately
Sandown’s watered ground descriptions are good (good to soft in places) on the chase course and good to soft (good in places) on the hurdles course, but (outside of the Imperial Cup – 3rd race) the times tell you something rather different:
1st race (Hurdles) 27.40s slow
2nd race (Hurdles) 16.60s slow
3rd race (Hurdles) 8.00s slow
4th race (Bumper) 15.10s slow
5th race (Chase) 16.90s slow
6th race (Chase) 13.00s slowIf waiting until after the first race a punter can miss a hell of a lot of good prices. If a good judge waits too long the odds of over-priced horses will have been taken by other good judges.
It is unusual for Clerks to get it very wrong anyway. Although some are worse than others (Haydock and Newbury).Personally I find it better to bet fairly early – more “ricks” in the early markets… And then (if necessary) react on betfair once I know one or two times and have a more accurate knowledge of the going.
Value Is Everything“If waiting until after the first race a punter can miss a hell of a lot of good prices”
My remark was tongue in cheek, Ginge, hence the whistling emoji.
I much prefer to punt early doors, but it’s damned annoying when the going is not as indicated in the morning, without any weather interference up til race time, as was the case today at Sandown.
I agree Wilts.
It wouldn’t be so bad if – once they know the times of the first one or two races (and how fast/slow the horses have finished) – they admit to getting it a bit wrong and change the official going.Value Is EverythingHow much of a factor was the watering at Newbury and Ayr this weekend? Looked artificially good at Newbury yesterday. Presume the Good/Soft at Ayr was engineered too. I would prefer to make my going assumptions on ground delivered by the Gods rather than by the Groundsman.
Trainers are understandably reluctant to run jumpers on fast ground because the risk of a career ending soft tissue injury (straining a tendon) is much higher. Horses can come back from this injury but typically they would need a year off before being ridden again.
Hence the watering.
If I had a jumper I wouldn’t run it unless the ground was good to soft.
Bit of a storm brewing due to the CotC at Thirsk who has it sounds like admitted to giving a different reading to what the ground actually is to entice runners.
There’s been many a time I’ve been left bemused by going reports, most recently the Uttoxeter Midlands National day stands out.Here is a link to the video.
Apparently the BHA are looking into this.
As a qualified Geologist, I can fully understand where he’s coming from.
Each racecourse has it’s own unique ground characteristics which vary, due to differing bedrock, hydrology/drainage, subsoil, topsoil and grass type for example.
A going stick can only be used as a guide to the going at individual tracks, it should not be used to provide universal going descriptions, i.e. a reading of 6.0 may indicate soft going at one course, but the same reading would indicate good to soft at another.
The BHA does recognise this in their going stick info:
https://www.britishhorseracing.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Going-Stick-Average-Readings-1.pdf
I would have thought it should be possible to publish the historical going stick readings for each racecourse to see how the going descriptions compare. Then there should be no need to misreport going stick readings as trainers and punters would understand what a particular reading would equate to at that particular course.
If Clerks cannot be trusted to provide accurate readings, maybe the BHA should require independent readings to be taken and reported.
....and you've got to look a long way back for anything else.
Apparently the Newmarket COC stated before racing on Thursday that there was a faster strip of ground, on the far side, about a yard off the rails. The bit that mainly Tom Marquand utilised well throughout the afternoon.
How farcical is it though for a supposed top track? If the COC knew that, why didn’t he rail off the faster strip and use a slightly narrower track?
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