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Sounds like a good sensible decision to call off racing today. I am not too far away from Cheltenham and the winds are very bad. Public safety has to come first simple as that, you cant race horses with loads of temporary structures that could potentially fly all over the place and kill people and horses.
If they went with racing today and people died at Cheltenham as well as horses being hit with missiles, then everyone would be saying what a ridiculous decision it was to go ahead with the meeting and it would be bad for racings image.
Its cancelled on the advice of the police. If the police tell you to cancel the days racing then you simply have to cancel it. You dont have a choice in the matter.
It’s the police who decided FA Cup replays should be replayed 10 days after the original match, but not in Scotland!!
There are loads of sporting events with tented villages, but horse racing is totally obsessed with H&S.
If we kill a few corporate hospitality people, good!!
"seemorebusiness" wrote: I’m the first one to criticise some of the things this country does but although I’m very disappointed about the abandonment can you imagine if something did happen today? The festival would probably never be the same again. The H&S folks would have a field day.
Disappointing but at least they are going to squeeze all the races in over the next 2 days.
What do you mean the H&S folks would have a field day? They already have and do virtually everyday in British racing over the last 3 years. It’s a joke. Hardly a breeze in current interviews. What next? Can’t run because it’s sunny/hot/wet/sleety. A pathetic decision but this is fast becoming a pathetic nation.
The Listener is a better (and more in form) horse than Exotic Dancer. This might be the only soft ground Gold Cup for the next half dozen years, and what a wasted opportunity.
When we are relying on horses such as Knowhere and Halcon to make up numbers what sort of race are we going to have? We might end up with a crawl.
The Listener was sired by Roselier the leading sire of 4 mile winning chasers for the last 15 years.
The Listener’s full brother Fork Lightning won the William Hill Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in 2004.
The Listener is also a half brother to other 3 mile winning chasers Distant Thunder & Offshore Account.
If The Listener were to run in this years Irish or Scottish National he would be favourite.
The only thing against him is the Cheltenham undulations.
"Fist of Fury 2k8" wrote: So a horse who doesn’t get the trip is going to get it if it rains and conditions become more testing…and he’s going to beat Denman who ate him alive in the Lexus…..I gotta pack this sport in I think I’m going nuts :)
Are you basing your view on one run in last years falsely run Gold Cup? The Listener has already won 3 times over 3 miles or more and twice on heavy ground.
His jockey was far too conservative on him against Denman in the Lexus and should have taken him on far far earlier.
The Listener is class but we are never going find out this side of the Irish Sea at this rate.
Mike
If the The Listener was trained in Ireland he would be going for the Gold Cup. He has beaten most of the leading horses in Ireland and has won twice on heavy ground over 3 miles or more.
I don’t want this to be a penalty kick for the Nicholls pair and horses such as The Listener, Tamarinbleu, Monet’s Garden, Our Vic might well have brought more pace to the Gold Cup. I’m not saying they would win it, but they would certainly have Kauto & Denman off the bridle.
Last time we had a single figure Gold Cup field we had a 25-1 winner with the favourite well beaten.
Why oh why is The Listener running in the wrong race? With rain forecast the race was being set up for him. But for the Ryanair we would get a far more interesting and competitive Gold Cup.
Batman
We won’t have 10 runners in the Gold Cup at this rate. A small field would have made it a tactical race and played to The Listener’s strength.
He has romped home over 3 miles on more than one occasion so it’s rubbish this horse won’t stay 3 miles +.
The problem with Roselier’s is that plenty of them prefer flat left handed tracks, Suny Bay, Royal Athlete, Moorcroft Boy, Ossmoses, Kingsmark, d’Argent, Baronet, Royal Emperor, etc, etc. Notice a theme all these horses stayed extreme trips.
Anyway connections have now confirmed the wrong option has been taken. The Ryanair will be as tough as the Gold Cup if you exclude the big two.
Just hope The Listener’s connections realise the Gold Cup is cutting up badly and is being set up for their fella. He will be able to run the race at his pace (not the crawl like last year) and use the Roselier staying power. It’s a joke that his regular jock thinks he won’t stay. Roselier’s have one of the best records of any sires in the "Nationals".
In answer to Classic.
Can you name any horse or jockey killed because of low sun? In fact there must be more chance of a horse being killed on a wet slippery track, but as far as I know no racecourse has dolled off fences due to driving rain/sleet getting in the horses eyes. Do they doll off the M25 when travelling directly into the sun at 70mph? Of course not.
The dolling off of fences is getting well beyond a joke, and as stated previously in this thread does not appear to happen in Ireland and France with such infuriating regularity. Low sun, false ground (which is never spotted in Ireland), damaged fences/hurdles, repair work, supposed stricken jockeys. This country has gone H&S mad.
