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A 6 race card (with 2 Class 3 races and 3 Class 4 races) on ground officially given as ‘good’ has resulted in bumper field sizes of 2, 2, 5, 6, 5 & 9 respectively with the biggest field of the day being in the NH Bumper!
4 of the races currently have an odds on favourite with the other 2 having the favourite currently no bigger than 9/4. Granted it is early in the season but thats not much of an incentive to go racing when this is what is being offered for your ‘entertainment’.
Yes, just two go to post in the Novice chase. The often lamented novice chase programme which has many a trainer complaining about the lack of opportunities. And yet everyday, up and down the country almost every NH meet has at least one Novice Chase, where anything over 3 runners could be classed as a deep field.
The ground may be ‘good’ at Warwick, but it’s rock hard at most stables, which rules out any home schooling. AW gallops are OK for getting horses fit, but you won’t find many trainers willing to school over fences on an AW strip.
And of course, no trainer is going to risk injury at the start of a long season. For most NH horses, patience is a virtue. And I’ve owned a few that broke down on ‘good’ ground!
Officially good (good to firm) so maybe not that surprising the fields were small.
But how long do trainers wait for some ‘soft’ in the ground. There is none around and it seems to be the way of things now that, probably barring the tingle creek, there is little soft or heavy going this side of new year.
Look at the last 3 or 4 renewals of fighting fifth, Newcastle last week in Nov all good ground. Cant remember a soft ground King George for years. Even the betfair chase has been coming up soft (good to soft) at worse or good to soft.
Lots of trainers don’t exactly take advantage either, of course thinking primarily Nicky, but its always either too firm or too soft, rarely do we get the optimum it seems.
Looking at the weather forecasts for the next few days and weeks it’s not going to be long at all before we get proper soft ground.
If I had my way I’d do away with 90% of the summer jumps programme entirely. That’s clearly not going to happen but it really ought to be wrapped up by end of July latest and a proper break until mid September when there may have been enough rain about to add some moisture into the ground.
“If I had my way I’d do away with 90% of the summer jumps programme entirely.”
If I had my way, we would have no summer jumping and no “all weather” flat racing.
But I’m just a middle-aged malcontent.
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