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The Friday night idea is hardly original is it, the July Course have been doing it for about 25 years.
And Goodwood have been selling their Friday evening meetings in June as Music Nights for some time.
Spot on with Hibernian Gold. There’s a picture of him winning the Brigadier Gerard Stakes in Racehorses of 1991, and the net muzzle is clearly shown.
CAS,
Timeform Racehorses of 1991 confirm that Spinning ‘has worn net muzzle’. The fact that he’s rated 110 but with a TF squiggle probably explains it. But there’s no mention of him wearing it over hurdles and that’s confirmed by the pictures of his various wins in Chasers and Hurdlers.
My memory of that era is that the net muzzle was the 20th century equivalent of the modern day red hood. Horses would be fitted with a net muzzle going to post and for most, it would be removed at the start.
There’s nothing about it in the form books of that era, as even wearing one in a race didn’t have to be declared. It was one of those things you only knew about if you saw it on the racecourse.
They just need a bit of positivity:
Sing along:
The sun’ll come out
Tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar
That tomorrow
There’ll be sun!When I’m stuck with a day
That’s grey
And lonely
I just stick out my chin
And grin
And say:Oh!
The sun’ll come out
Tomorrow
So ya gotta hang on
‘Til tomorrow
Come what may!Jonbon was 1/2 on Tuesday – that’s the sort of drift that usually tells a story from his stable.
I think he’s in the wrong race, given he’s proven his stamina for a longer trip twice now at Aintree. And his sire had the double of Gold Cup and Grand National earlier this year. So I’d have preferred to see him running in the 2M 5F race at Ascot next Saturday, then on to Kempton on Boxing Day.
But instead we have the usual Henderson policy of sticking in the same rut, season after season. Age beats every two mile chaser eventually and stepping up in trip is the logical response. And with Jonbon, you have the added incentive to go the Ascot/Kempton route, as he plainly enjoys a right handed track.
It would also be worth experimenting with a black mesh suspended from a pair of drones. Drones are already in use to provide pictures for TV and they can be controlled easily enough these days.
It isn’t necessary to totally block out the sun, just do enough to eliminate the glare.
My feeling is that the people running racing these days don’t see this as a problem. A few fences are bypassed, who cares, it’s still a race. So they don’t see the need to solve it, especially if it means spending money. After all, no horse has ever been withdrawn from a race just before the start because of this issue. If owners and trainers are happy to play chicanes, why should the courses do anything about it.
Well it seems that we’ll find out if anything has been learned. Forecasts as per the Accuweather site:
Saturday:
AccuLumen Brightness Index™9 (Very Bright) 17% Cloud Cover
Sunday:
AccuLumen Brightness Index™10 (Very Bright) 0% Cloud Cover
I’m only going on Friday, which I’m pleased to say is forecast to be overcast and gloomy.
Cheltenham are on full alert, as the inclusion of this in the official going reports demonstrates:
“Low Sun Provision
Low sun could result in obstacle omission at this fixture”
That’s not a provision, it’s a prediction and ‘could’ should read ‘will’.
Same Sandown meeting – 2024, 51 runners – 2023, 50 runners – 2021 – 51 runners.
Ironically in 2022, the meeting was abandoned after three races when heavy rain left the course waterlogged.
“Too much racing for the horse population” or ‘Not enough rain for the horse population’. Ffos Las today, soft ground, 58 runners.
The answer to the question posed by the thread title is, the same as always happens when we have a long, dry autumn.
As an example, detail from my 1990/91 form book. Wincanton, then on a Thursday Nov 8th, official going Firm. Badger Beer Chase, £12k to the winner, two runners. Silver Buck Chase £6.6k to the winner, two runners.
Following day, Cheltenham, going good to firm. The 3M novice chase, 3 runners – 3M hcp chase, sponsored by my then employer, four runners.
Day two of that meeting was better, but still only three runners in the 2M novice chase. The Mackeson was won by Multum In Parvo, who turned out again a week later at Ascot, again on good to firm, in a field of five for the £21k to the winner H + T Walker Gold Cup. He was well beaten, arrived home lame and never recovered.
It was still good to firm at Ascot for the SGB meeting that year, before the rain finally arrived in the south. This was all quite common over a period of several years in the late 80’s, early 90’s.
For trainers the equation is simple. The owner spends a six figure sum on a horse that won an Irish point or bumper on soft ground. If you decide to take a chance, because it’ll be a small field and good prize money despite the fast ground, and the horse is lame next day, who do you think will be training his next purchase?
The idea that the 70’s and 80’s were some sort of ‘golden age’ doesn’t chime with my memories of going racing back then.
The racing itself was good and sometimes great, but most of the tracks had facilities that were run down and often dangerous. Many tracks had wooden staircases, narrow and often enclosed, that were the only access to the upper parts of the stands. Newbury used to have paraffin heaters on wooden floors in the bars. At Cheltenham in Tatts you stood on wooden planks in the stand (a la Bradford football ground) and that was the same at many tracks.
The on course bookmakers would rarely price up until 10 minutes before a race and opening shows had margins that would shame a Glasgow loan shark.
And the gents at most tracks resembled a cowshed, both for ambience and aroma.
I loved it, but I was young(er), I’d usually had three or four pints before getting to the track, and I was only there as part of a group of drinker/punter friends.
I should have added that sunset time at Cheltenham yesterday was 5:53 pm, so there was plenty of daylight to spare.
“The issue isn’t the days it’s run on but the quality of racing. Too many Grade 1 races dominated by almost one stable exacerbated by a declining NH horse population.”
Nail – Head, well said Astralcharmer.
Gold Cup:
1997 – 2013 2 Irish trained winners
2014 – 2025 10 Irish trained winners
The Derby
1985 – 1999 0 Irish trained winners
2000 – 2025 15 Irish trained winners
Watching these races is like being a West Ham fan, knowing that a) your team will probably lose and b) the owners have no clue what to do about that.
I’ve no issue with the Irish connections or horses, and freely acknowledge that Mullins and O’Brien are masters of their craft. But just like Man City winning the title year in year out, the drama and passion diminishes as each year passes with the same results.
When did we last see scenes like those inspired by Desert Orchid, or indeed Dawn Run? When did any Derby winning trainer match the public feeling accorded to Henry Cecil?
The Cooolmore ‘boys’ often seem almost unmoved by their big race winners. Compare that to the excitement that shone through the screen after Cicero’s Gift won last Saturday.
Changing the day you run the race won’t make them any more competitive.
From my post of Aug 17:
“Because the arguments they’re deploying this time won’t sound so convincing when the Treasury comes for the VAT concessions enjoyed by ‘millionaire owners’, as I’m sure the government will label them.”
A piece in today’s Telegraph, which I’d guess is based on Treasury leaks designed to assess public reaction:
Wouldn’t be such a bad idea IF they moved all the dross to the Saturday card and kept the Gold Cup on Friday.
So Saturday program:
1:30 Mares Novice Hurdle
2:10 Cross Country Chase
2:45 Juvenile Handicap Hurdle
3:20 National Hunt Chase
4:00 Foxhunters Chase
4:35 Kim Muir Handicap Chase
5:10 Championship Bumper
I wouldn’t have included the N H Chase, the old four miler, but the latest incarnation of that as a novice handicap is beyond the pale. And if it’s felt essential to have a Grade 1 chase as the feature, the Mares or the Ryanair wouldn’t be much missed on the first three days.
This was the cause of the sand being kicked up:
“Some drainage work, sand slitting was completed on the round course from approx the 1m 4F start to the 4F marker in September.”
As for the way the races turned out, the whole day seemed like a demonstration of chaos theory. I posted those figures because I’d never seen such a wide gap in the readings across the width of the track, and Ascot seemed keen to limit the info getting to the public. The official going report just said the going stick number on the straight was 8.2.
Two races over 1M, the first won from stall one, the second from stall 23 (20 really after the reserves were taken out). No way to explain that that would make any sense!
An interesting report from Kempton posted today, prior to their first NH meeting next Sunday:
“Watering: We commenced watering on July 1st 2025. We applied 20mm of water per week to maintain plant growth. We intensified the irrigation program on October 1st, applying 40mm per week. We will apply a further 80mm of water in four applications before Sunday October 19th 2025.
They do have the advantage of the large gravel pit to provide a supply of water. Even so, I’ve never seen a CoC admit to planning to apply that much in a week.
