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2:02 race was delayed due to the removal of the second last hurdle due to low sun (the third last at the top of the hill was already out for the same reason) but inexplicably the last hurdle was actually jumped.
The last hurdle happens to be aligned exactly as the second last is and when the camera shot drew back to show both hurdles in the same shot head on you could clearly see the shadow from the sun was identically being thrown to the left of both of the hurdles and actually showing the spaces in wing of each flight.
That would indicate that the sun wasn’t shining head on i.e. into the jockey’s faces but actually side on – in any case if the second last was unsafe due to low sun then the last should have been taken out as well because there was no difference in how the shadows were being thrown at both of them.
Absolutely ridiculous and not even Ruby and Gary could offer an explanation as to why you miss the second last but jump the last.
I thought the exact same thing when I saw them dismantling the hurdle with the shadow thrown sideways.
They have to be seen to be doing something to counter global warming.
I have to say I quite like that yellow disc shaped thing that has started appearing on the horizon late in the afternoon every day.
The fact they jumped the last without incident proves it makes little difference but does increase the chances of those with a flat pedigree.
Once you let the spectre of elf 🧝♀️ N’ safety out of the bag you cannot put it back in. you cannot stop the snowball a rolling. Look no further than the grand “hurdle” at aintree in April heading swiftly towards 25 runners next year.Kelso and Aintree already affected by “dangerous” sunlight; no doubt the other cards to follow.
Am I the only one who is getting really annoyed by this rubbish? It’s health and safety gone mad, I tells ya!
It happens all the time at Aintree. I have to wonder if it is worth racing there at this time of the year.
For me it is far more prevalent now than it has ever been and it is not like the sun is a new invention that only today’s horses and jockeys have to face – to me you have no real scientific evidence to suggest it is a problem for horses who see vastly differently to humans and jockeys saying a horse took off too early at a fence doesn’t mean the sun was the issue as horses take off too early at obstacles in races when the sun has been no existent.
I have watched plenty of races (at Sandown especially the Pond Fence) where races took place in bright sunshine and horses have jumped the affected fence into the sun perfectly with no problem but now all of a sudden it is a problem where there doesn’t seem to be a sunny race that goes by that a jumps race doesn’t get turned into a slalom course.
If the sun is shinng directly head on to the fence then I can of course see the argument for missing it out but in this particular case if they had dolled of both the last two hurdles (which would have made it the last three not being jumped) then that at least would have made some sense (personally they were both safe to jump) but to cite low sun and still jump the last when the shadows were replicated exactly the same for both hurdles makes zero sense.
Yes health and safety should always be taken into account in these cases but not at the expense of common sense when your reason for dolling of an obstacle is clearly not a factor.
Racecourses frightened of being sued is the main factor.
I remember seeing a meeting at Sedgefield one evening when they dolled off all the fences in the back straight because it was considered too dangerous to jump them. They ran past all the fences – and then the leader took a crashing fall at the first fence in the home straight.
They dolled off the last two fences in the last chase. Presumably because of low sun. Which was so low it was behind the grandstand. And a cloud.
Bumpers are the one race where low sun is never an issue, so does it make sense to run them as the last race on the card at this time of year? All three venues where low sun was an issue today concluded with a bumper.
Why not run them as the first race on the card instead and give a race with jumps more chance of being able to jump everything?
The two hurdles in the straight at Aintree were not jumped in the FIRST race on yesterday’s card run at 12.25.
I know we’re in winter but nevertheless the sun is still at its highest point at 12 noon. This is getting crazy!
The shadows visible in this replay as they take the fences in the home straight make the point that the sun doesn’t get much brighter or lower. This was the last year before low sun started to be an issue, but I don’t recall anybody thinking that this major race was either dangerous or anything out of the ordinary. McCoy, Fitzgerald and Walsh are all riding in this race, but they all go along with the modern approach now.
Sprinter Sacre’s Tingle Creek win – they jump the Pond Fence facing directly into bright sunshine
Last two fences omitted at Naas today, despite the sun being almost at 90 degrees to the jumps. Ruby Walsh diplomatically saying more or less nothing, instead of “What a load of absolute bollocks”.
The not too distant future:
Unfortunately it’s a lovely still sunny winter’s morning at… [insert NH course of your choice]…so the stewards have announced an inspection later to see if racing can go ahead. Clerk-of-the-Course Tim Nicebutdim is hopeful, informing us ‘thankfully persistent heavy rain and a howling wind is forecast to arrive by mid-morning. I’m wearing my lucky Mackintosh so we should be okay to race’
Watching the 3.20 at Plumpton, the sun came out after the race started and was shining brightly. It looked as though the first fence in the straight was directly in the glare of the sun.
All five horses jumped the fence without any mishap and completed the course.
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