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If you ask me, I’d MUCH rather watch them ride around the track in the rain (after all I live in Washington state, USA where it rains more rains than 99% of the rest of the country) than parade around anywhere else. LOL! Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still wear a fancy Derby hat every year on Kentucky Derby day but other than that I’ll traipse around in the rain to watch them run! Hopefully not too much rain however other wise the tracks get too soggy and dangerous for the horses and jockeys.
Slew DID almost die once of a collapsed jugular vein. He also overcame some injuries and ailments but none of that diminished his star power or quality. He was a formidable opponent willing to battle any horse who took him on. He is the only undefeated Triple Crown winner. His grandson (my friend’s horse) is alot like him in temperment and it is such a joy to be so close to some of racing’s immortal blood!
Here’s the link to Seattle Slew’s website if you are interested in reading about him and his impressive career (both as a racehorse and as a stallion). He is a racing icon here for certain.
http://www.seattleslew.com/thanks for the link; apart from him being in my ‘Julian Wilsons Greatest Racehorses’ book [the first thing I bought when I ‘came back’ to racing after being busy raising my kids.]…….I didn’t know a great deal about him. I think the racing in America over the past few years has been quite amazing, and I can’t believe just how many wonderful fillies and mares we have had in England, France and America [although seeing Ruffian on the same utube page as Zenyatta upsets me a bit; like, please God keep her safe!]. It’s nearly always the racemares that I find myself getting terribly emotional about…not sure if you’ve heard of Ouija Board and Attraction; the latter is at her owners stud at Floors Castle in Scotland..we were there last Autumn but, alas didn’t get a glimpse of her [damn]. Antepostking is Geralds pal; they do a lot of writing on the Trends part of the forum and are a great couple of guys. The good thing about this forum is that there is a good mix of people, and their knowledge amazes me. I have a friend called Deb who lives outside Seattle; she’s does a film forum called chasinghtefrog, so we chat about what the weather is like in our different parts of the worlds. I’m off to York races next week for the first time, so I’m quite excited about it..I usually only go to the jumps meetings! I’ve studied every horse in the big race; not so that I can back the winner [no chance of that!] but so that, when they walk into the paddock I shall know everything about them. many regards…….mo
I think it is impossible to convert someone to love a sport that they’ve never liked. I can’t stand Cricket and nothing will ever change my mind to love it.
Actually, I think our love for certain sports is influenced by what we’ve gone through during childhood with a bit of help from our parents, mainly our Dads.This may sound a bit potty but, thinking back as far as I can remember, the first toys I played with were animal models whereas my younger brother always played with cars (he loves F1) and my older brother liked kicking balls breaking the odd window (he adores Football). Throughout these early years, we competed against each other with our toys and, every weekend, my dad would have World Of Sport on the TV to watch the ITV seven. Now, I strongly believe my love for Horseracing was initiated due to these factors and circumstances that were amalgamated into my psyche.
When families visit racecourses (whether they like racing or not) I do feel that, at least, one of their kids may develop a genuine interest in Horseracing.
Does not sound at all potty. My grandfather backed Airborne who won the Derby and my mother looked after 2 point to pointers. I bought my first Horses in Training when I was 9 and first scrap book was of grey horses – this goes back a while but Nicolaus Silver, Flying Wild, Richard of Bordeaux, Owens Sedge, Roan Rocket – think it is still in the loft. Always loved racing and, of course, soft spot for greys!
Rob V, I disagree with you slightly. Usually, I would rather rub acid into my eyelids than watch golf, but my son and I found ourselves transfixed by that tournament where Tom Watson nearly won. My opinions have softened toward the sport since then. People can change.
It’s just a pity that the BBC would rather spend our money on athletics and pap paps – many will never know what they are missing by getting involved in our great sport.
Good news: At Southwell today, there must have been five thousand people. I wonder whether this represented a modern day record. I
have never, ever, seen so many people at the sandpit.
Even the translocated Great Yorkshire day of two years ago paled by comparison. There were thousands of people there and twenty seven bookies too. It was like the old days.
Contrary to the propaganda of the reactionary elitists, I would estimate that at least three quarters of them watched the races from the stands and I saw just the one drunk, a mature lady from Ollerton who’d clearly enjoyed too many lager and blacks. The fact that fancied horses ridden by McCoy won races ensured a real buzz about the place, as did the hundreds of incredibly tasty women in nice shoes and invisible underwear wandering about the place.
I understand Pontefract was packed too – and Newbury on Saturday.
Is this
really
a sport in crisis? Is it? Or is it just the betting side? I note the opening poster is a much respected bookmaker and forumite, and that the voices most critical of horse racing in the past two weeks are those of the demented Ralph Topping and his glove puppet, David Hood.
I was checking out York Racecourses website today in an attempt to decide how much effort I have to make to smarten up my rather scruffy self next week and noticed that they had Pepa Pig there today. I occured to me that if my grandson was into Pepa Pig there may have been a chance of persuading my daughter to come racing with me again one day[had it been Thomas the Tank Engine or Paddington Bear my chance of success would have been much greater]. I took both my kids to the races with me for years and we attended most of Dessies Open Days at Ab Kettleby, but they have no interest in going racing these days. A few years ago I would have had no understanding of the need for Pepa Pigs at race meetings. I’m really glad that Southwell had a good day today; something has changed in the public perception of Southwell I think, because I feel more inclined to go to Southwell than Uttoxeter these days.
Moehat,
I absolutely HAVE heard of Ouija Board…………I LOVE OUIJA BOARD!! I miss her…she was a brilliant girl for sure and I wish I had had the chance to see her when she came to the US for her amazing Breeder’s Cup wins. WHere is she? HOW is she? I’ll bet she is spoiled and still beloved by all. I know she had a Kingmambo baby but haven’t heard anything further after that. Is she in foal again or has she had other babies?
Another mare I would have just LOVED to see was Makybe Diva. Holy Smokes she was tough girl too! Her 2005 Melbourne Cup win gives me chills still. We have had some phenomenal fillies and mares the last few years (all over the world). And how about "Goldi" winning the ‘Le Marois"? Sounds like it was a good race by her…Do you know of a link where I can watch it? All we have (so far) is just a word replay on it but it sounds like it was a good one.
Actually, there was an article last week. Voodoo Prince is going into training with Ed Dunlop.
http://www.racingpost.com/horses/horse_ … _id=585723
I think that might only bring you to Ouija Board’s details, but click on Stories.
Gerald,
Thanks! Voodoo Prince (how appropriate for a "Weegie" baby)…Is that her Kingmambo colt?? Is she in foal again to Kingmambo (do you know) or another sire?THANKS so much for the link…I will avidly follow any stories about her I can get as I just loved her and nvere wavered in my support of her in any of the races I ever saw her run in . A brilliant turf mare for sure and I look forward to see ing if her babies can replicate her brilliance.
All the answers to your questions are in the article.
Just in case you couldn’t access it, I’ve found the direct link.
Southwell has had some bumper attendances this year, Moe (though not on the scale of Sunday). Friendly people and an enjoyable afternoon out. And don’t forget those wonderful backend meetings at Nottingham. I read your post saying you enjoyed the Kilverton meeting: I much prefer the October afternoons.
Often, there’s just you, a couple of hundred hardcore, and some of the most famous faces in racingdom accompanying their best prospects. Great fun. You don’t need to bet to enjoy these particular meetings.
I went racing at Stratford this evening, unusually for me just as a "normal" racegoer, rather than working.
In our group were two first time racegoers.
Now bear in mind this was a "normal" meeting with no themed attractions or after racing bands or concerts.
Without any prompting one of my guests, before the last race, turned round and asked me why so many people there were not bothering to watch the racing.
An interesting observation which was actually quite difficult to answer.
I made the point of looking during the last race and I would say at least 40% of those in front of the stands were showing any interest in the race.
One good point from the evening is we now have two people who both want to go racing again.
Might be another facet in the Stratford example, Paul – the viewing at the Warwickshire venue from all but the posh boxes / restaurant is so limited that it does tend to invite other ways for people to amuse themselves.
I’ve never seen too much in the way of boorish drunken excess at Stratford, but even at flagship meetings like the hunter chase ones in May, there always seems to be an above-average quotient of people milling round with a drink and friends before, after and significantly during races.
Hard, perhaps, to wish people to pay more attention to the action, when the view of that action is so utterly compromised by a grandstand barely adequate for peering over and above a mostly billiard table-flat course.
It’s the one reason I don’t visit the place rather more than I do, for all that it was dead handy when living in Birmingham and not a million miles away even now. Like Ascot, it’s very much a case of me paying to get further off the ground (or being invited to do so), or not really bothering.
Mind, it sounds like your evening wasn’t a wasted exercise, Paul. Despite the viewing problems, and possibly the most sickening fall you’ll see all season (assuming, without being facetious, that many people
did
see it), you still got two potential repeat visitors out of it. Atta boy!
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.
Good news: At Southwell today, there must have been five thousand people. I wonder whether this represented a modern day record. I
have never, ever, seen so many people at the sandpit.
Even the translocated Great Yorkshire day of two years ago paled by comparison. There were thousands of people there and twenty seven bookies too. It was like the old days.
Now that’s really interesting, Max. I know you and I have discussed previously both within and without the fora how much of a paying appetitite there is for jumps action at the venue nowadays, and how they’ve had to park halfway down the access roads on a few occasions this year. This seems like another step up on even that! 5,000 would be twice the number which witnessed Quixall Crossett’s 100th defeat in 2001, for many years the course’s post-conversion to dual-purpose record attendance.
A real sock in the mush for some of those halfwits on another racing forum yesterday, who were using the spate of falls in the first two races as just the opening they needed to suggest that Southwell should be shut down and fired into space, it being, and I quote, "a sh*thole death-trap of a track that nobody wants to visit". You’d have been proud of the defence we put up of the place on the radio.
It looked a lot of tish and pish from our monitors, but presumably the claims from the self same posters that "there wasn’t a blade of grass on the course" were just as inaccurate from closer inspection, were they? I note Paul Moloney came back after the opener and declared in "beautiful jumping ground", which seemed nearer to the truth to me.
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.
Southwell attracts that kind of press, GC. I’ve never understood why. There was nothing wrong with the ground yesterday: Good, fast jumping ground. If the sport is going to deliver summer jumping, then Southwell is no worse or no better than any other track.
There is definitely more interest in jumping here, GC. Even if I got a bit excited on the numbers yesterday, you can knock off a thousand if Ladies Day had coincided with an AW fixture.
I won’t forget the stands in a hurry – packed for each race.The paddock was three deep all the way round before each contest too, which suggests that certain accepted highbrow views about modern racegoers are a bit wider of the mark than has been hitherto suggested.
Max,
If memory serves Southwell hosts a solitary NH evening meeting. Have you ever been to this and if so has it attracted a crowd larger than the summer-jumps weekday afternoon meetings?
Interested to know as I’m of the belief that summer-jumps is well-suited to evenings and Sundays; and given your glowing report of last Sunday’s meet it would seem I may be half-right, or half-wrong if you prefer.
Haven’t attended a great many Sunday meetings but have enjoyed those I have. A ‘relaxed’ aura does pervade them and in my experience compared to Saturdays the boorishly intoxicated are notable by their abscence; as are the "highbrow" turfistes, though I have no particular axe to grind with them
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