To water or not to water

[Desert Orchid]

It's no secret that I am against watering other than to maintain going and promote grass cover and am a regular critic of the Ascot officials for their zeal in altering the ground via the H2o.

We go through virtually the whole winter with naturally easy ground and when we have dry spell we water the buggery out of everything (including the beer).

So thumbs up to Ascot for this Sunday's meeting. The Turftrax map is showing proper good ground with good to firm in places. They are watering and some showers are expected but at least good-ground horses should have a chance of getting their conditions.

 

[Ian_Davies]

Of all the (many) things British racing has got wrong in the last 20 to 30 years, overwatering is one of the very worst.

And it's done irreconcilable damage to the breed because infirm horses with poor conformation have been winning Group 1s on overwatered slop and won places at stud to breed more of the same.

This and inbreeding closer than to the fourth remove is slowly but surely delivering a racehorse population of cripples who need more and more manufactured racing surfaces in order to be able to perform.

Meanwhile, in other jurisdictions (USA, Japan), they happily race on Firm and the old-fashioned, robust, top-of-the-ground horse with legs like iron can still have opportunities.

Horses like that seldom get their ground here, hence hardly ever have the chance to shine at Group 1 level and earn the opportunity to pass on their resilient genes to future stock.

 

[Mr Whatoxo]

Meanwhile, in other jurisdictions (USA, Japan), they happily race on Firm and the old-fashioned, robust, top-of-the-ground horse with legs like iron can still have opportunities

I agree with your sentiments about watering at British Tracks, but wouldn’t want to use the US as a sporting jurisdiction to follow. If we had some of their recent publicity here, on racetrack deaths and drug use (which is another factor in horses breaking down) that would possibly put the sport in jeopardy here.

If it is a welfare issue, perhaps we need to consider occasionally abandoning meetings here as the solution if the ground is too firm/dangerous, rather than always turning the taps on beforehand, as the default response. Though I don’t think too many participants would go for that!

 

[trudij]

You don’t want me to join in here, do you….

 

[Desert Orchid]

Today at Cheltenham they appear to be racing on proper good ground. It's showing as good on the Turftrax map with a going stick reading of 7.0.

So, my question now is, are the horses that race there in April less important than the ones that race at the festival in March?

The two meetings only four weeks apart but the festival is on the main ITV/STV channel whereas this meeting isn't.

Why do they feel the need to create artificially good-to-soft ground in March, when the water table will already be higher than now, yet they're quite happy to let horses run on good ground in April?

 

[jinnyj]

Because March is a very high profile meeting and there is a need to alleviate the faster run races which can often end in more serious falls

 

[Desert Orchid]

They didn't look to be doddling in RITG's race on good ground but you've reinforced my point, in that it seems today's runners don't seem to be as well 'protected' as the ones in March and I wonder if that is the way it should be.

Either you're caring for the horses or you aren't.

 

[jinnyj]

This time last year the ground I think was soft at Cheltenham and it got very chewed up. Come the May evening meeting which is for hunter chases, it hadn't been put back properly at all - like they couldn't give a stuff about hunter chasers/pointers. I spoke to Will Biddick that day and he said it was some of the worst ground he had seen there.

So no, they don't care. That said there is a new guy in charge so this might change.

 

[Jayhawk]

Today at Cheltenham they appear to be racing on proper good ground. It's showing as good on the Turftrax map with a going stick reading of 7.0.

So, my question now is, are the horses that race there in April less important than the ones that race at the festival in March?

The two meetings only four weeks apart but the festival is on the main ITV/STV channel whereas this meeting isn't.

Why do they feel the need to create artificially good-to-soft ground in March, when the water table will already be higher than now, yet they're quite happy to let horses run on good ground in April?

They would probably want the going to be a bit easier than officially ' good ', but the weather over the last month has been against them. Hardly any rain after the Festival five weeks ago, and the maximum temperatures for Cheltenham from 1 April to 15 April have ranged from 15 to 22 degrees ( timeanddate.com/weather/uk/cheltenham). It was only around 8 to 9 degrees in mid March , there's more sun now, and a lot of drainage underneath the racing surface as well.
The two and a half mile chute isn't being used today to give the groundstaff more time to water the remainder of the track.