Forum Replies Created
- Posts
I take a different view. I think the racecourse authorities are the ones in charge and the buck stops with them. I believe it is their duty to confront the problem head-on and eradicate it once and for all.
I too remember the Stalbridge Colonist incident in the Scottish National when I was still in my short pants, and to find this kind of incident still occurring decades on is simply not acceptable, granted Lucy Gardner’s mistake was different in that she thought they had another circuit to go rather than her riding a finish a circuit too early. As Yeats says, there have been many incidents of the latter kind down the years and not many of the kind of mistake Lucy made. But as Betlarge says, they are basically the same kind of error of misjudgement.
It’s easy for us to say Lucy should have been able to count the number of hurdles jumped, count the number of circuits and known they were near the end of the 2 ¼ mile+ race and so on. However, in the high-pressured situation of a race I imagine it is not that simple when things are happening around you at speed, with maybe horses making mistakes or falling and impeding you, or indeed horses running off the course in front of you! I imagine Lucy got distracted by Jamie Moore’s horse hanging badly and eventually dumping him on the far side. As a result she must have lost her concentration momentarily and lost count, with confusion then set in. I suspect it’s harder to keep tabs on things on a tight, unique ‘figure-of-8’ track like Fontwell too! It is no surprise a similar sort of thing has happened there in the past, and it involved a much more experienced pro jockey at that.
In my view, racecourse authorities ought to undertake steps to ensure this kind of thing does not happen, as far as practicable. They should create and adopt some kind of a warning system for the jockeys that is nearly fail-safe, foolproof and idiot-proof. For example, how difficult is it to attach some kind of a mechanical device to the side of the judge’s box, with a hi-vis (rigid) flag which can be hoisted just as the runners have set out on the final circuit, so that when they come round into the finishing straight the jockeys can clearly see the flag high up in the air, signalling the end of race and so must ride out a finish? How difficult is it to do something like that in this day and age? In this way, some pressure would be taken off the jockeys and the ball is in the other court.
Of course, if then any jockey should still infringe the set rule, there could be no excuse and he/she must be dealt with appropriately. In the event of a mechanical failure rendering the hi-vis flag undeployable, then there would be contingency plans in place such as stationing a staff member at the bottom of the home straight with an appropriate flag and/or a bell.
The Lucy Gardner incident and other similar ones are just embarrassing and they do nothing but put the sport we love in a poor light. Stupid mistakes they may be, but I believe they are not unavoidable. Anyone can make a stupid mistake on their own but if they had someone else monitoring and overseeing their actions the whole time then those mistakes would be far lessened and even totally eliminated. In racing we have the racing authority in control and it should do just that – be in control!
So come on, whoever is in charge, sort it out. After all, we are in the 21st century now, not the 19th.
Yeah, certainly a great trainer in his heyday was David Loder. Would love to see him return to the big stage for sure, as he’s a real class act. I vaguely remember making a comment on Channel 4 Teletext Service’s Racing Chat pages a few years ago, about hoping for David Loder to come back big time and launch a real challenge to a certain Aidan O’Brien’s powerful stable of young equine talent. I certainly wish he could come back.
By the way, did anyone else on here take part in the Ch4 Teletext Racing Chat a few years ago? It was a jolly good bit of fun really. Loved the banter.
My memory of The Vaux Gold Tankard is solely based on Sea Pigeon and that he won at Redcar?
If my memory serves me right, the Vaux Gold Tankard was initiated at Teeside Park but after that course closed in the early ’70’s the race was transferred to its neighbouring course at Redcar, and that was just before the era of Sea Pigeon.
Mind you, I could be totally wrong of course, in which case someone will correct me on this, I’m sure.
For what it’s worth, I agree with a lot of the comments on the rescheduling of the Derby. Running it half an hour later at 4:30 won’t make a darn bit of difference to TV viewing figures. However, if the Derby were to run quite a bit later than that, like the Irish Derby now, say between 6:30 and 7:30pm (crucially after tea), then this might help boost viewing figures.
An added bonus is there won’t be that many meetings competing with it at that time of the day either.
Sorry, Steve, re your reply below (you beat me to it!) but I’ve had to make slight changes to my badly constructed sentences!
My other suggestion is that there should be no other racing apart from Epsom. Its crazy having half a dozen fixtures that day however as the bookmakers are in charge of racing that will never happen.
In the years gone by, there was just the one meeting competing with the Epsom Derby on the Wednesday – or should that be supplementing it? – the good old Vaux Gold Tankard at Teeside Park.
Those were the days, eh?! Does anyone else recall it?
Punters just want to back the winner – they don’t care which team the jockey was riding for.
Maybe so, but team betting is available and if you had a flutter on a particular team to win it, like I do every year, then you might – just might be interested.
The European Team just pipped ‘The Girls’ team by a single point.
Olivier Peslier won the Silver Saddle, with Emma-Jayne Wilson a close second.
I actually like what Insomniac suggested earlier in the thread. Why not showcase the Shergar Cup around the whole country? Let’s have the spectacular event staged at all the thirty-odd Flat turf tracks in Britain in turn, say in alphabetical order, perhaps? So we would begin with Ascot (again!), followed by Ayr, then Bath, Beverley, Brighton, Carlisle, Catterick….and so on. Now that would be even more of a novelty, wouldn’t it?
Considering the huge crowds Ascot manage to attract for the event every year, it would be interesting to compare crowd sizes with the same event staged at the smaller tracks around the country, especially around the northern circuit. And come the always popular York’s turn, in about thirty-four years’ time,……….who knows what will happen?
Then again, dreams don’t ever come true, or do they?
I dont recall them doing this for any jump racing,however I do hope they do this for Cheltenham next year.They do seem to favour the flat racing though.
They did something along similar lines for Cheltenham one year, with first few races on Channel 4 and the rest film 4.
Film 4 ??
Wow !!
There must have been some real stars on show, like your namesake RedRum, that they decided to make a film of the last few races so quickly!!
I totally agree with Betlarge and Peruvian Chief. I’ve been watching racing since a youngster and I enjoy the Shergar Cup just as I enjoy class racing. Not being a gambler at all really but I’ll have a small punt on the Shergar Cup races this afternoon just as I’ll have a small punt on the Derby or Cheltenham Gold Cup.
The Shergar Cup races are interesting because they contain, in my view, the ‘right’ number of runners and every horse has a fair chance. This makes win and e/w betting interesting. I mean, we don’t get 4 or 5 runner farces or races dominated by a long odds-on shot. Nor indeed do we get multi-dozen-runner cavalry charges which are near impossible to solve. Also, it’s great to see jockeys from around the world competing. It only adds to the interest. But one can ignore the team aspect of it and concentrate on individual horses and jockeys, just like any other type of races. What is wrong with that?
So I cannot believe the animosity and hostility some people show towards the once a year event.
They used more 4 a few years ago for the Cheltenham Festival if my memory serves correct.
And more recently the Dubai World Cup as well, I believe.
If the ground is really firm then I’d expect War Command to run better than he did in the Guineas. Let’s see what happens.
Personally, I’d prefer regular updates on going stick readings taken at various points throughout the entire course, length and breadth. That way there’d be no confusion, and no argument. Can’t argue with real facts and figures.
Think I heard it said that the ATR Cheltenham Preview will take place next Monday 10th March, presumably after racing, when ATR are scheduled to screen three meetings in the afternoon. As it’s the eve of the great festival, the programme should provide the most up-to-date news and views, not to mention tips as well, and it should prove enlightening. I shall certainly be tuning in.
I notice on the ATR website, Last Instalment is currently available at 33/1 for the Gold Cup with a couple of Irish-based bookmakers, whereas he is only priced between 5/1 and around 9/1 with any other bookmaker. Even allowing for the fact that certain bookmakers may not offer NRNB terms, still this discrepancy seems a bit big to me. Do somebody know something others don’t, about LI’s participation?
Yep. Me! Guess I just couldn’t resist risking a minuscule amount of my pocket money on Texas Jack today, at the price, especially with him being one of my favourite horses at the moment. I even backed him each-way, in a 7-horse field!
On reflection, Dan Barber of ATR was spot on with his analysis, saying the horse’s stamina would be found wanting over 3 miles in the soft/heavy ground. Sure enough, that’s the way it panned out, but Texas still gave me a good run for my money. I’m disappointed he is most unlikely to turn up in something like the Ryanair Chase at the Festival though. Given better ground, he must have a fair chance over 2 ½ miles in my book.
If I were Paul Nicholls, I’d sign up Noel Fehily without hesitation whatsoever. Should have had him in the first place, imho.
. But God knows what has happened to the likes of the Gainsborough Chase, for instance, which used to be run at Sandown in early February. Admittedly it was just a little graded (conditions) race but one that gave Gold Cup hopefuls an opportunity to be seen stretching their legs in the middle of the week. For that reason the name of the race sticks in my mind.
The Gainsborough Chase became the Agfa Diamond Chase around 1990 and later the Agfa Handicap Chase. After Agfa gave up sponsoring the card around 2005, presumably because roll-film sales had plummeted, other sponsors took it on; last year it was the Betfred Masters Handicap Chase
Many thanks for this valuable piece of information, Drone. It just goes to show how much – or in this case how little – attention I paid to a re-branded title of a heritage race of ours!
