Go Jump Racing
- Thread starter BHA
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Probably is - I've bought season tickets to my local rugby team in a similar way with "senior" memberships available to those over a certain age (60 I think it is) the same price as for children (Under 16's) where as the children's tickets include free away games and the pensioners don't.
Also hope that in future the BHA let all children in to race meetings free of charge. When I was younger (10 or so years ago) Haydock had a "accompanied Under 16's free" - thus meaning if I wanted to go racing and my parents didn't I had to find someone to go in with as at the time they were charging me £13 to get in as an "unaccompanied Under 16".
When I was a lot younger, under 16s were free at Cheltenham even at the Festival. Yours truly used to bunk off and attach herself to a group going in. Worked best with the Irish because of the hair - and everyone would think I was someone else's grand/daughter. Took me a year to work that one out, for a couple of years before that I used to scoot down the railway line and wriggle in under the fence. Happy days!
Is the BHA satisfied with the dominant position Cheltenham holds in the jumping calendar?
Personally I find it a little galling to see trainers, after winning (or losing) top class races in January and February, smiling from ear to ear more in the knowlege that they still have plenty left to work on to improve for Cheltenham, than actually winning the race. With one or two notable exceptions, in terms of races and trainers, top class racing tends to get reduced to a series of trials pre cheltenham and consolation prizes (or Brucey Bonuses) post Cheltenham. Admittedly this has a s much to do with my own perception, widely held among the racing media, as it does to the trainers' methods, but it is undoubtedly a factor.
The Flat racing guru's tend to get races that are important in their own right in some sphere or other on a near weekly basis, whereas us jump fans end up with a beanfeast in March before which we're dribbling wrecks from anticipation and after which totally depressed at the prospect of another 12 month wait before it happens again.
Personally I find it a little galling to see trainers, after winning (or losing) top class races in January and February, smiling from ear to ear more in the knowlege that they still have plenty left to work on to improve for Cheltenham, than actually winning the race. With one or two notable exceptions, in terms of races and trainers, top class racing tends to get reduced to a series of trials pre cheltenham and consolation prizes (or Brucey Bonuses) post Cheltenham. Admittedly this has a s much to do with my own perception, widely held among the racing media, as it does to the trainers' methods, but it is undoubtedly a factor.
The Flat racing guru's tend to get races that are important in their own right in some sphere or other on a near weekly basis, whereas us jump fans end up with a beanfeast in March before which we're dribbling wrecks from anticipation and after which totally depressed at the prospect of another 12 month wait before it happens again.
simmo
Senior Jockey
I like dribbling with anticipation
and rather than looking to dilute Cheltenham's position, I would be more inclined to look towards a similar "festival" towards the end of the flat season.It is also undoubtedly a good thing in terms of heightening the awareness of the general (non-racing) public of the existence of a sport that isn't football.
Grasshopper
Senior Jockey
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2006
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This idea is a complete fallacy.
How many eyes did Imperial Commander's connections have on the Festival, during the Open meeting?
How many did Pipe or Charlie Mann have on the Festival, when their horses were running huge races in the Hennessy?
Will Nicholls and Johnson be giving any thought to Cheltenham, when their charges line-up in the Tingle Creek?
Will trainers be using the King George Chase merely to get fitness on a horse for a race three months later?
The racing media are, for the large part, idiotic hacks, and should be exposed as such whenever they perpatrate the wholly untrue myth that top-class races in their own right, are mere sideshows to the Festival.
How many eyes did Imperial Commander's connections have on the Festival, during the Open meeting?
How many did Pipe or Charlie Mann have on the Festival, when their horses were running huge races in the Hennessy?
Will Nicholls and Johnson be giving any thought to Cheltenham, when their charges line-up in the Tingle Creek?
Will trainers be using the King George Chase merely to get fitness on a horse for a race three months later?
The racing media are, for the large part, idiotic hacks, and should be exposed as such whenever they perpatrate the wholly untrue myth that top-class races in their own right, are mere sideshows to the Festival.
The Tingle Creek and the King George would be two of a handful of the aforementioned "notable exceptions" (although the winners won't make it back to the enclosure before a detailed analysis of how useful the performance was, as a guide to Cheltenham, is well underway). Handicaps don't count in relation to this. It's not a myth, so boo and go think of your own question .
Grasshopper
Senior Jockey
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2006
- Messages
- 16,050
Frankly, I don't see any problem whatsoever with performances being reviewed in the context of the Festival.
It's the suggestion that they don't matter, or that horses are not trying in these races, that I take issue with.