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Do they ever run on turf if there is snow lying on the ground ?
I didn’t like Wolves this afternoon – it was quite pretty but it just didn’t look right
Harness racers do-there’s the famous St. Moritz "White Turf" of course, and tracks in Scandinavia, Germany and Russia run in winter with snow tires.
Tracks here rarely close due to snow unless it’s a white-out (i.e. that 2010 blizzard), high wind warnings, or conditions worsen during the afternoon. Up north every track has equipment to get rid of the snow quickly. While UK courses are bigger than those in the US, it shouldn’t be that much more difficult to plow them.
It’s not the track surface generally Miss W, it’s the fact the trainers, horses, jockeys etc might not be able to get to the courses and that the public might slip over in the course and get all litigious.
Even though we invented roads we’re not very good at keeping them clear for driving and you can’t blame the trainers for not wanting to risk it in this weather.
We’ve all gone soft.
Do they ever run on turf if there is snow lying on the ground ?
I didn’t like Wolves this afternoon – it was quite pretty but it just didn’t look right
Harness racers do-there’s the famous St. Moritz "White Turf" of course, and tracks in Scandinavia, Germany and Russia run in winter with snow tires.
Tracks here rarely close due to snow unless it’s a white-out (i.e. that 2010 blizzard), high wind warnings, or conditions worsen during the afternoon. Up north every track has equipment to get rid of the snow quickly. While UK courses are bigger than those in the US, it shouldn’t be that much more difficult to plow them.
It’s not the track surface generally Miss W, it’s the fact the trainers, horses, jockeys etc might not be able to get to the courses and that the public might slip over in the course and get all litigious.
Even though we invented roads we’re not very good at keeping them clear for driving and you can’t blame the trainers for not wanting to risk it in this weather.
We’ve all gone soft.
With climate change causing a shift in the jet stream it’s likely that there will be worse winters in years to come. Remember that England is at roughly the same longitude as Alaska. If the powers that be won’t learn how to deal with winter weather you’ll have bigger problems than a few cancelled cards.
You have a choice with all weather racing – watch or dont. I was happy to take a look on saturday and even unearthed a winner or two. The quality isn’t something that overly bothers me, and it can be nice to just pick out a few races. Turf racing, especially in mid summer can be so full on with no time to breath that it is good when you get a quiet spell like this.
Was particularly pissed that Musselburgh was off today though! Was all set to head along and see a good card.
Time instead spend analysing a few races at the Festival so not all bad. Have unearthed 3 potential bets for various races so not a wasted day lol!
I think mentioning how rubbish the all-weather is on a day when there’s no turf racing is an excellent way to draw attention to its shortcomings.
Sure, there are occasionally some half-decent races but most of its pisspoor and parts of it are IN MY OPINION AND PROTECTED BY THE MEDIA LAW DEFENCE OF FAIR COMMENT AND AN HONESTLY HELD OPINION insultingly artful, if not actually criminal. Certain columnists have said this in the Daily Bookie’s Advert, sorry, the Racing Post, but they seem to vanish from its pages fairly rapidly.
Off the top of my head, most of bent racing investigations seem to revolve around all-weather rubbish.
One thing is clear to me: if racing was forced to attract new audiences on the basis of the all-weather, the sport would be in far deeper trouble than it is already.
Morning all
To be fair, a lot of NH racing is pretty poor stuff as well. Fields of novice hurdlers dominated either by a single long odds-on favourite from a big stable (Nicholls, Henderson) or two from large stables and it’s 20/1 bar the two.
Class 4 and Class 5 handicap hurdles and chases are basically sellers which are far from edifying as you watch some old plodder slog round hock deep mud at Chepstow or Towcester.
Then of course you have the Bumpers which are appalling and the Hunter chasers which are little better.
For every Cheltenham, Sandown or Newbury fixture, there are a large number of moderate to poor jump meetings and, to be honest, a 20% cull of some of these fixtures wouldn’t be a loss.
I’m not going to defend winter Flat racing in terms of quality – I can’t. Most of it is uncompetitive drivel especially at Southwell and Kempton. That said, it serves a purpose in spells of weather like this (apparently).
If I pop in to any of the dozen or so betting shops in and around my High Street on a weekday, I won’t see crowds of eager punters poring over the latest offerings from Wolverhampton – the biggest crowds are around the FOBTs.
To imagine that the same types of shenanigans and corruption within racing don’t happen equally across the codes is naive and unproven, in my opinion.
Competitively, the AW fields are more evenly matched or have closer finishes than most of the NH fields which are often lopsided or small.
Each to their own though and if climate change or global warming does make a big difference temperature wise in England that will be another reason why AW racing could increase.
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