Ian_Davies
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I've got fond memories of Kempton Park.
The now-defunct Turf Flat course with the Chute for sprints bisecting the course, the Jubilee course etc.
The opening October Jumps meeting, often bathed in early autumn sunshine, I've also been to the King George meeting a few times and been lucky enough to be a guest in a private box.
And more recently I've attended many AW meetings, mostly Wednesday evenings, when I've often been fortunate to again be a guest, this time in the Owners & Trainers.
If they close Kempton Park, I will undoubtedly miss it.
But I say that having not set foot in the place for well over a year now.
And that's the thing, the joint is all but deserted a lot of the time.
I saw Rebels Romance run and win there a couple of years ago - there were only a handful of us surrounding the paddock to watch him walk round and even fewer of us in the stands to see him forge clear.
It seems like everyone in racing is up in arms in the racing media at the prospect of closure this week, but how many of them actually go there regularly?
As people get older, I think many get in the grip of a "Tradition Syndrome."
They really don't like change, the notion of tradition becomes their God and their definition of tradition is how racing was when they first got interested.
But racecourses, races and race titles have come and gone for centuries - nothing stays the same forever and arguably nor should it.
I try to embrace change and live in the moment, not the past.
But it isn't easy.
It's only in recent years that I've stopped calling the Paddy Power Gold Cup the Mackeson, the Coral Gold Cup the Hennessy, the December Gold Cup the Massey-Ferguson and Saturday's Silver Cup the SGB.
And I miss racecourses like Towcester, Folkestone and Jumps racing at Nottingham and Wolverhampton.
Plus on the Flat, I miss the old Metropolitan Handicap, snaking across Epsom Downs, the Royal Lodge being on Ascot's Old Mile, the Futurity being on Town Moor's round mile and the Champion Stakes being "Across The Flat" at Newmarket.
But to dwell on the past is to fail to get the most out of the present - on balance, I like Champions' Day at Ascot, the fourth day at the Cheltenham Festival is fine by me and I don't mind the 1,000 Guineas being on a Sunday.
I don't know what the future holds for Kempton Park and my preference would be for it to survive.
But I think racing and the Racing Calendar would adapt to cope with its demise, so I don't really share the daily consternation I've been seeing this week.
What say you, dear fellow forumite?
The now-defunct Turf Flat course with the Chute for sprints bisecting the course, the Jubilee course etc.
The opening October Jumps meeting, often bathed in early autumn sunshine, I've also been to the King George meeting a few times and been lucky enough to be a guest in a private box.
And more recently I've attended many AW meetings, mostly Wednesday evenings, when I've often been fortunate to again be a guest, this time in the Owners & Trainers.
If they close Kempton Park, I will undoubtedly miss it.
But I say that having not set foot in the place for well over a year now.
And that's the thing, the joint is all but deserted a lot of the time.
I saw Rebels Romance run and win there a couple of years ago - there were only a handful of us surrounding the paddock to watch him walk round and even fewer of us in the stands to see him forge clear.
It seems like everyone in racing is up in arms in the racing media at the prospect of closure this week, but how many of them actually go there regularly?
As people get older, I think many get in the grip of a "Tradition Syndrome."
They really don't like change, the notion of tradition becomes their God and their definition of tradition is how racing was when they first got interested.
But racecourses, races and race titles have come and gone for centuries - nothing stays the same forever and arguably nor should it.
I try to embrace change and live in the moment, not the past.
But it isn't easy.
It's only in recent years that I've stopped calling the Paddy Power Gold Cup the Mackeson, the Coral Gold Cup the Hennessy, the December Gold Cup the Massey-Ferguson and Saturday's Silver Cup the SGB.
And I miss racecourses like Towcester, Folkestone and Jumps racing at Nottingham and Wolverhampton.
Plus on the Flat, I miss the old Metropolitan Handicap, snaking across Epsom Downs, the Royal Lodge being on Ascot's Old Mile, the Futurity being on Town Moor's round mile and the Champion Stakes being "Across The Flat" at Newmarket.
But to dwell on the past is to fail to get the most out of the present - on balance, I like Champions' Day at Ascot, the fourth day at the Cheltenham Festival is fine by me and I don't mind the 1,000 Guineas being on a Sunday.
I don't know what the future holds for Kempton Park and my preference would be for it to survive.
But I think racing and the Racing Calendar would adapt to cope with its demise, so I don't really share the daily consternation I've been seeing this week.
What say you, dear fellow forumite?
