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After the shambles of a season last year due to the A1 insisting on wrecking Wetherby does anyone know if the Steeplechase course will be ready for the Charlie Hall Meeting.
If it is off then I hope at the very least it can be moved to either Aintree or Doncaster and keep it in the North.
I think Wetherby is the best jumps track in the North and i do hope that they bounce back in style.
According to a recent article in the RP (can’t find) chases are due to resume at the first meeting on October 15th
However the fences in the straight have been relocated onto the hurdle track and vice versa, as the ‘new’ chase track has still not bedded in sufficiently to allow the siting of permanent fences (hurdles can be moved around)
This will mean race distances will change and I believe they are to be ‘officially’ re-measured
A word of warning for anyone planning a trip to Wetherby. I’m reliably informed that several big stables have already indicated that they intend to avoid Wetherby in the short term due to their concrn about problems with the ground.
There are enough people concerned for the NTF to have approached the BHA asking if the feature races scheduled at Wetherby later this month can be moved.
On a similar theme, there are also problems with the hurdle track at Carlisle and they will be staging an all chase program at their first meeting.
The following has been posted on the BHA website today.
WETHERBY RACECOURSE
Since the Highways Agency’s widening of the A1 adjacent to Wetherby Racecourse and the resultant need to reconstruct part of the racing surface, Wetherby has been carrying out ongoing track improvement and treatment work in conjunction with leading consultants, the Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI).These works have been accelerated since the racecourse completed its 2007/08 season with a number of "all hurdle" cards.
However, despite the Course Executive’s best endeavours, its strict adherence to STRI’s action plan and regular monitoring by the British Horseracing Authority Course Inspectorate, some parts of the reconstructed section of track are at present very firm.
Intensive watering and aeration practices are currently being undertaken and a delegation of Authority Inspectors of Courses will be visiting the course on Wednesday, 8th October (i.e. Pre Entries stage) to review progress and confirm that acceptable going can be achieved in time for Wetherby’s first fixture of their 2008/09 season on 15th October. (Note: Jump fixtures where the going is Hard must be abandoned.)
A further announcement will be made after the visit next week.
Take a soding boulldozzer too the bloody road, we didnt need the blasted thing anyway, what we need locally is a bloody railway so the locals can get about. If costs the highways agency a few quid serve the swine right, they shoudnt have wrecked out racecourse in the first place.
Yorkshirepudding,
Any chance you could forsake walking your dog Wharfeside for a wander around the racecourse?
Any info about the state of the turf and siting of the fences would be welcome
Don’t forget a plastic bag, though admittedly a steaming great dog-dump deposited on the ‘new bend’ would be the most pertinent of statements
I do hope they move the meeting to Aintree.
The course will be in good nick having raced the weekend before and a good crowd will turn up.
Like a lot of Northern Jumps fans i love Wetherby but it has lost its way since the realignment.
Dont talk too me about dog walking, i had too ring he RSPCA as some tit of a farmer had dumped a load of sheep on a field that floods reguarly, the buggers were running the risk of being drowning, some of them were lame and they were being chased by children and scared by dogs ( not mine). Next time I here some of these so called country people complaining about townies they should learn a basic bit of stockmanship, IE not put sheep in am area that floods and half the local canine population on it. As for Weathery, its a good hour plus walk from home, i dont chuffing drive.
We had rain up here last night so sooner or later it should ease the ground up.
A word of warning for anyone planning a trip to Wetherby. I’m reliably informed that several big stables have already indicated that they intend to avoid Wetherby in the short term due to their concrn about problems with the ground.
There are enough people concerned for the NTF to have approached the BHA asking if the feature races scheduled at Wetherby later this month can be moved.
On a similar theme, there are also problems with the hurdle track at Carlisle and they will be staging an all chase program at their first meeting.
Carlisle’s hurdle track is also their flat track and takes a heck of a hammering. Coming originally from the Border area just north of there, I know Carlisle and it’s environs well. The area gets a lot of rain (The Lake District is less than thirty miles away). I did see somewhere that they were working on a new hurdles track but don’t know how that is progressing
Alan Lee has written about Wetherby’s problems in the Times today :
Despite the going report still reading ‘firm, good to firm in places’, there are 195 entries for the seven race card next Wednesday.
Dont talk too me about dog walking, i had too ring he RSPCA as some tit of a farmer had dumped a load of sheep on a field that floods reguarly, the buggers were running the risk of being drowning, some of them were lame and they were being chased by children and scared by dogs ( not mine). Next time I here some of these so called country people complaining about townies they should learn a basic bit of stockmanship, IE not put sheep in am area that floods and half the local canine population on it. As for Weathery, its a good hour plus walk from home, i dont chuffing drive.
We had rain up here last night so sooner or later it should ease the ground up.
Not likely to happen (the putting animals on areas that flood), half of the houses in Britain are built on floodplains and nobody seems to care too much about it. They’ll keep putting them on their and sadly building more river protection in their area won’t do much good as it’ll just flood further down stream and seep into the field
Will watch the Bobby Renton with some interest to see how the new alignment and ground has coped.
The funny thing and interesting sadistic to come from it is that if Ollie Magern wins a 3rd Charlie Hall and if Kauto Star wins his 3rd Betfair Chase then they must be the only horses to win the same race 3 times on a racecourse which has had different configurations for each induvidual race.
The funny thing and interesting sadistic to come from it is that if Ollie Magern wins a 3rd Charlie Hall and if Kauto Star wins his 3rd Betfair Chase then they must be the only horses to win the same race 3 times on a racecourse which has had different configurations for each induvidual race.
Neil,
What is the new configuration at Haydock this year? Is the water jump ready for use yet?
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