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From tomorrow until August 2nd there are 17 races for amateurs on the flat. This equates to exactly one race every four days – over a wide variety of distances. Many are scheduled as the first race on the evening cards to allow the professionals to get to the course from their afternoon meeting. Similarly they often card apprentice races in the same slot.
There are plenty of filly only races to given opportunities, as has been said earlier, for the 50% of the horse population. Actually we don’t cater as much for fillies only races as, for example, in the States where there is a significantly far greater amount of fillies only Group races.
There is centralised race planning at BHA..
I was in Singapore when an American trained horse had to be put down after a catastrophic leg injury. The young American jockey was in tears and told the connections "I can’t believe they shot him" and they were distressed. I asked the official vet why this had happened and they said it was far quicker and better for the horse and was their approved method.
Subsequently I’ve had my own horse put to sleep using lethal injection (whilst I held him). They first of all inject a sedative to make them sleepy and then give another injection of a lethal dose of chemicals. It takes quite a while and I think if a horse was in immediate pain the shot from a bolt gun would be preferable.
Just need to check what you need. Reading the 1970 Flat Raceform I’ve found just a few Irish results:
Good Review – Unplaced in Knocksinna Flat Race (Qualified riders) at Baldoyle on Jan 31st over 2m 1f.
Deny’s Adventure – Won Johnswell Maiden Plate at Gowran Park on Feb 26th over 2m 1f.
Killiney – 2nd in Rahens Maiden (qualified riders) at Baldoyle on March 17th over 2 miles. Then 1st Courtown Maiden Plate (qualified riders) at Punchestown on April 29th
They are the only ones from that list. Obviously I have the full results for these races. I’ve got all the Raceforms and I do have Irish form books but I don’t think they go quite far enough back.
What do you need?
Yeats there are a couple of reasons why they jockeys only ride in 5 of the 6 races.
Firstly it means that if there is an injury/illness or late arrival (like at Haydock) there are a couple of jockeys who could ride so we wouldn’t get non runners.
Having a top class reserve jockey just standing by wouldn’t work. They would rather go and ride at other tracks even if (like the reserve horses) you paid them to be there.
Secondly it allows the jockeys who are resting to do some media work (Channel 4/RUK/Press) so that they can convey to the viewers what it is like to participate.
Thirdly some of the international jockeys aren’t riding regularly at this time of year. Therefore they feel 5 rides is plenty. Remember in events like the Hong Kong jockeys competition they only ride in 3!
Yes we have this discussion every year and I normally pop up to defend it!
As others have said it’s a one-off day and hugely popular with the racegoers who like it’s relaxed ambience. Even Richard Hughes pointed out that the crowd far outweighs King George Day and there is a buzz around the place.
You can say the crowd is down to the concert but lots of other courses also have concerts – often with bigger current names – and I think the actual racing does appeal to the family market.
My 11yo daughter – who normally doesn’t watch racing on TV – was glued to it throughout the day and was cheering on her favourites. She totally got the team element and it was a very positive experience for her.
I was a bit concerned about the concept of the girls team but they did prove they are as good – if not better – than the men (without any advantages) which is a good thing for the public to take on board.
I’m certainly glad that it’s gone away from the original – flawed – concept of the teams chosen by their country of ownership. That was a disaster.
The world class jockeys which are show cased certainly add something to the British Calendar. Last year we showcased Jo Moreira who went on to take the racing world by storm and this year Emma-Jayne (who is Canadian by the way) showed that she’s top class. They also demonstrated how well overseas riders communicate with the media.
The team thing does rile some and I can see why. However the jockeys are also chasing the Silver Saddle (and the cash that goes with it) so they are definitely out for themselves, as they should be.
The quality of the racing had dipped in recent years but the cash injection has meant better quality runners and really competitive racing this year. No less than 12 runners were rated 100+ and the lowest rated runner on the card was 82.
It’s a special day which works well for the huge on course crowd and was enthusiastically presented by More 4 and Channel 4.
Just watched an episode of sporting (football) celebs.
One question was who was the winning jockey when Dick Francis famously lost the Grand National. You were given the initials DD.
I was shouting Dave Dick but nobody guessed it and it was a pointless answer!!
That is correct Burrough Hill. Quite an extraordinary turn around from failed hurdler to winning the Jubilee and July Cup – Group 1 races over 6 furlongs!
Over to you…
The official scratch time for all early closing races is noon as AP says.
However some trainers can scratch horses well in advance, especially if injured/dead. Zoustar, for example, has already been taken out of all his engagements at Royal Ascot/Newmarket.
If it is sizeable bet you could call Weatherbys to check when exactly it was withdrawn.
Which winner of a Royal Ascot Group 1 race had finished 8th in a maiden hurdle at Cartmel less than two years before?
The original nominations were on either December 4th 2012 or April 8th 2014.
There was a scratching stage on March 4th and another one on May 20th. Noon for all these dates.
Next stage is June 2nd when you can supplement or "confirm" original nominations. Declaration to run is 10am June 5th.
What was the horse?
Brighton in 1977 with the Realm filly Hatta trained by John Dunlop.
However in Racehorses of 1977 the photo of her winning the Molecomb shows that she wore rather strange colours – not the maroon and white that went on to be so familiar.
The trouble with trying to make the course narrower is how narrow would it need to be to try and stop them splitting.
The July Course is far more narrow that the Rowley Mile but they still split there in the big, tactical races.. It’s often not about the ground – you rarely get jockeys talking about bias there – but more about where they think there will be pace or cover.
I wish Soumillon had jumped the Spanish horse and run straight down the middle.
I live in Newmarket and it’s probably hard for people who don’t live here to understand just how dry it’s been. Whilst most of the country was suffering with flooding earlier this year we have hardly had any at all. For the last couple of months I can barely remember it raining.
We’ve fields for our ponies and the ground is all cracked from the lack of moisture. The ground round here is very quick drying.
I’m sure it would have been really quick if Michael hadn’t put some water on occasionally and of course it needs this water for the grass to grow and thicken.
He put 5 mils on it on Monday but then left it alone and we did get a decent (planned) drenching of rain last night (2.2Mils). It’s been up to 19 degrees this week although cooler today.
Dry again today and forecast to continue over the weekend.
