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Someone of a more morbid disposition than me could look into it. As it happens, it is the falls at Southwell – Ballydurrow, Red Columbia etc – that stick in my mind, though that is partly because I had some sort of an association with those horses.
Fibresand is supposed to be deeper than equitrack was or polytrack is (and "first generation" fibresand was, if anything, slower than what we have now). And yet some horses were not getting up from what should have been fairly routine falls, i.e they did not involve broken legs or necks but just involved hitting an unforgiving surface at high speed.
The swirling mist could also have caused a major problem had any of the finishes been closer – you will be aware how far the stands are away from the track. It would have been impossible to decide a really close finish and punters would have been extremely unhappy had the result gone against them.
Unfortunately the BHA does not show photo prints from Kempton on their site but trust me the photo finish prints were virtually unreadable last night. It took the judge a good ten minutes to produce the final result of the 8:20.
Interesting. Doesn’t a edict from the course, or the BHA, or whosoever else, come into play if the view of the final furlong or so does deteriorate below a certain level (and precisely for the reasons you’ve outlined)? I know sea fret has kiboshed meetings at Brighton in the past as soon as the murk enveloped the latter, most important part of the racetrack.
Certainly the last furlong to furlong and a half looked acceptable from the telly pictures at home, and I presumed that on that basis the Kempton executive regarded viewing as still good enough to race on. But it was a bit closer to unraceable than that viewed from the course itself, was it?
That then being the case, I wonder why the executive thought it could have it both ways. Surely either there is enough of the course still viewable that x furlongs can be seen, trustworthy photos can be produced if necessary, etc., or there isn’t. It can’t have been to ween a few more bar or betting takings out of the remaining crowd, judged on what you said earlier.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
whats the feeling about the recently expressed view in the RP that wetherby should pack it in and go AW? (cat amongst pigeons…)
They’ve been chewing-over the idea of a Flat track there for years. Topographically it would suit fine.
It’s with some trepidation I’ll be watching tomorrow as despite the liberal watering the weather in these parts has been so unseasonably warm and sunny, with commensurate unseasonably rapid grass growth and hence soil-water loss that I fear it will be pretty fast going.
Rain forecast overnight Friday/Saturday may come to the rescue of the Charlie Hall et al
the then Equiturf and first-generation Fibresand.
How did equiturf differ from equitrack GC?
Have to admit to not recalling the former term at all
Equiturf differs in having never ever been laid on Lingfield at all – reading back through the thread, I’ve meant one thing and called it the other twice (although in mitigation there is an Equiturf used for lining show-jumping arenas, too). The mental deterioration continues unabated.
Been a good thread this, though, hasn’t it. Forthright but civilised. A / the / any / no God bless TRF and all who sail in her.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
To be clear: I wasn’t being petty by churlishly drawing attention to something I knew to be an error. Genuinely thought an ‘equiturf’ variant may have been tried that had escaped my notice.Genuinely never interpreted any ill intent in the reply, Drone. Worry not!
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Keep up the good fight Simon.
The anti’s are still fixated on the idea that ‘AW racing’ is somehow a separate branch of the sport. They forget that ‘All Weather’ was just a marketing slogan.
What takes place at Kempton, Lingfield, Southwell and Wolverhampton is flat racing. It’s flat racing on an artificial surface, but it’s the same horses, same stables, same owners, same jockeys, same distances as any other flat racing.
As I’m sure I’ve mentioned here before, it’s amazing how those who purport to detest ‘AW racing’ have no problem at all with the Breeders Cup and the Dubai Carnival.
AP
Used to look forward to the start of the flat at Donny. When flat racing goes on all year round it just ain’t the same. Things were a lot better when I were a laad; well, may be not.
Don’t much care for “all weather” racing. Got no problem with the surface, it’s very safe. Provides a service to its customers, trainers, jockeys, bookmakers, even punters. Just not for me. Reason I didn’t bet on it initially was the poor standard and a lot of it still is. Admittedly there are some decent races these days, but still don’t bet. Some punters don’t bet on two year olds, Class 5 + handicaps, Chester, heavy, sprints; it’s just another way of narrowing your range. If there were Group 1 races on polytrack in UK then I’d wave my normal rules of engagement. Truth is in the last 20 years I have had more bets on US “all weather” racing. Guess that makes me a hypocrite.
As I remember it (might be bit biased) 20 years ago there was not the wholesale dross there is now. At first poor stuff seemed restricted to all weather surfaces. But soon spread to all racing; turf flat and jumps. Though Peter Savill may have had something to do with it. I just wonder, would they have got away with putting on sh*te without it first appearing on the AW?
Value Is EverythingI like the sandpit racing. It’s fun, in a masochistic way, trying to get a lucky 15 up at Wolverhampton on a Sat night.
I would argue that there are some punters that do go to the bookies for racing but end up playing the FOBT’s. If there was not any horse racing I don;t think they would still go in.
There are also punters that will go in specifically for the dogs…or at least they will take that if there is no horsee worsey action.
Zip
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