Forum Replies Created
- Posts
I don’t think it’s anything to do with summer jumping, we’ve always had that in Ireland and the type of horse running in them tends to be different to the winter horses. A 3 month break would be very unfair on horses who like to hear their hooves rattle off the ground.
I do think breeding has a lot to do with it. I’ve only been following racing for around 30 years but I don’t ever remember as many horses breaking down on the flat as there is now, and back in the 80s they often ran on very firm and even hard ground. Maybe the stats will prove me wrong and it’s just the fact that all races are now on tv, but it just seems so bad especially in the last couple of years. Owners don’t seem to have the patience to wait for the old store horse type in NH and there’s been a huge influx of flat breeding into it. As for the flat, I’ve never been a fan of 2yo racing. Some of the 2yos I’ve seen at the races this year look more like ponies.
I don’t know what can be done to change things but I do hope something is done or we risk turning into the killing fields of US dirt racing.
I only just saw on another site that The Fonze had a heart attack and died at Killarney. I didn’t realise that, very sad to hear. He was a game servant who mixed jumps and flat and had a special affinity for Tramore of all places. His form this year hadn’t been great but seemed to be returning on the A/W at Dundalk. RIP
I’m not a fan of the National but I wouldn’t like to see it gone. I don’t see any problem with Synchronised running today. He didn’t exert himself after unseating McCoy and the fact he carried on running and jumping after his fall at Beechers gives the lie to the claim that he didn’t want to run in the race.
The run in to the first fence definitely needs to be reduced, it allows the horses build up too much speed before undertaking any jumping. I don’t think starting stalls would work with NH horses unused to them, but maybe a rolling start with vehicles like they use in trotting races which would veer off.
Lowering the fences seems to have made them more dangerous, but Steeplechasing is right about the stiffness compared to normal park fences. I’ll never forget the sight of the two Irish horses at Valentines in the Topham in 2009. I guess you create a different race totally if you change them to park fences. Would the crowd still come, would people still bet if they thought the "randomness" was gone. I’d be happy to see them changed in the morning if it meant less danger for the horses.
I agree with the RSPCA about drop fences. They aren’t fair on horses who are expecting to come down to the same level as they take off. Get rid of them.
The number of runners does need to come down especially since they’ve added the run-offs. There are too many horses of equal ability going for the same position.
At the end of the day however three horses died in the Gold Cup on the Flat at the Dubai World Cup. No matter what is done to courses there is always going to be some risk where racehorses are involved. Big and strong they may be, but they are also extremely brittle.
I guess there won’t be any Gigginstown runners at Ascot in the near future. Obviously the biggest owner of National Hunt horses in Ireland, and hugely successful businessman, Michael O’Leary with his jeans and hatred of ties would be so ghastly a sight that he would distract all the members of the premier enclosure from the racing.
When I went to the Canadian International in Woodbine, their second biggest meet of the year and very far from my definition of a gaff track, I wore t-shirt and jeans, as did many others there, entry was free and a good time was had by all. Did it make any difference to my enjoyment of the racing that the people sitting beside me in the restaurant were not wearing suits with black shoes? Of course not, I went to enjoy the racing not for a fashion show.
If I want to go to a jump meeting in Ascot I have to dress to their extremely objective idea of good dress. And to top it off I would have to pay £50 to them into the bargain.
And they wonder why British racing is dying a death and struggling to attract new customers.
Can understand ATR giving preference to Limerick. It had a Grade 2, admittedly short in numbers, and the lowest value race – the bumper – still carried a higher purse than the richest event on the Towcester card.
What I don’t understand was the decision to give prominence and commentary to Leicester over the Christmas Hurdle today. That said it was poor race planning between the UK and Irish authorities to schedule them so badly.
Everyone who backed it on Betdaq was paid out within minutes of them crossing the line. The biggest I’ve seen anyone mention being matched at was 14. She was 11+ all the way down the back straight, while Mourad was 1.02. I thought it looked too good to be true and left it thinking there was huge delay on RTE, I don’t use betfair so didn’t know what was going on there. I’m kicking myself about that now. After jumping the last it was still available at 3 and in-play so I helped myself to some of that, not huge winnings but I’m more than happy.
Betdaq has nothing like the liquidity of Betfair but obviously some people arbing between the exchanges will have been pretty badly stung now that their Betfair bets have been voided.
I’ll have to try and find Dessie’s interview from the Post last Saturday but from what I can remember that’s the way they are supposed to call a race, going right through the field so everyone on the course can hear their horse. His contract is up in a couple of years but he hopes to continue as he needs the money. The only problem I have with his calls, though he does make the occasional howler mixing up horses, which he freely admits to in the article. He is particularly scathing of the exchanges and doesn’t believe in laying of horses to lose.
I prefer Jerry Hannon, like Des he’ll go through a field so you know where your horse is but he puts a lot more excitement into it, especially at the finish and is less prone to mistakes.
That’s not to say I don’t like English commentators, it’s just they use a different style. I assume dictated more by the TV networks than by the racecourses. I think the current list of English commentators are probably the best I can remember. The likes of Johnston, Hoiles, Hunt, Machin and Owen are top class.
Oh dear, I’ll keep that in mind too. The Racing Post has almost all her races on Very Soft or Heavy.
I don’t think she’ll get an easy lead with Foildubh and Spill The Beans in it.
Thanks for the info Martin, it’s always helpful to hear from someone who has actually seen the horse run.
Front runners often do well at Roscommon, despite the uphill finish, it’s no Towcester but nowhere near as flat as the tv pictures make out. The Chase track is on the outside but isn’t usually railed on the inside of the fences so I’d be worried about her losing a lot of ground if she jumps right. Looking at her form she should be fine on the ground, it’s described as soft and we had lots of rain today (I’m about 20 miles from the track). It looks a cracking race for the track though, some pretty good novices in it.
There is a video news report on it at
http://www.noz.de/video/?bcpid=105081528001&bckey=AQ~~,AAAABpMkjVE~,Ts9VAkjIBSMEMmG7L-8a38ZiXWQewjhP&bclid=45528675001&bctid=1143675619001
it’s in German though.
WARNING it shows the fall and the aftermath.
AngloGerman thanks for that info about Siberion. I was looking through his form before the race and for a 10yo he was fairly lightly raced which suggested to me he might have been injury prone. There were a number of lengthy lay offs between races. He was a beautiful looking grey and was running a good race when the accident happened. I don’t know why, but it always seems worse when it’s a grey, at least for me. About the only thing I can say is that the vet was on hand very quickly so he wouldn’t have suffered for long.
I don’t think it’s necessarily the firm ground. Even going back to when Tramore was shown on the old Racing Channel I can remember horses slipping on that downhill stretch. They might have stats for deaths going back years but do they keep them for horses who slipped up and/or ran out losing all chance there. The fact so many horses died in one day has brought it into focus.
I don’t know how they can fix it, maybe camber the track like Goodwood did some years back or divert some money and build a grandstand at the new track.
The only one I know for definite is Seperate Ways as David Marnane tweeted that the stable were devastated at losing him. Ger Lyons mentioned that 4 died so I assume you are correct. It’s beyond me why anyone runs a horse at that course, the amount of who come down on the flat on the hill down towards the straight is frightening. And the last couple of fences get a number of horrible falls. I still don’t know how Onzo Mor managed to get up after his fall at the last yesterday. Even knowing he had got up it still looked horrific in replay.
They were supposed to be moving to a new site at Lisselan, but with the Irish economy in depression this was postponed as there was no funding for the grandstand, although a lovely track was laid which is now used for schooling. As soon as any funding is available they should use it, even if they don’t get the fancy stands they originally envisaged because this death trap needs to be closed soon.
I just got a tweet from Richard Hoiles, who was commentating. He said it wasn’t good, it took a long time to load her into the horse ambulance but they were hoping they may be able to save her for paddock duties. So fingers crossed for her.
Don’t know how she is, but replay here
I had a look at it on youtube and I think you are right about it being Lyreen Wonder, even though it reads very differently than what happened. There are two loose horses with nosebands but from where he loses the jockey he never passes the other one, and he comes down again when Davids Lad falls. It certainly doesn’t look a nice fall, going over on his neck, but it may well be that he was winded.
