Lingfield 12/12

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stodge

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I'm off to Lingfield tomorrow and thought I would put up my early thoughts on what is or should be the course's premier NH meeting of the season.

As we know, the hurdle course is unraceable so we have the curiousity of five chases and Bumpers to begin and end the card.

The opening race is a junior Bumper over two miles on the Polytrack. Very little form to go on so it looks down to the newcomers. I can't get past the fact that AP is down to ride the Jonjo O'Neill-trained OPEN DAY and he's probably the one though with the caveat that paddock and market inspection will be very important.

Race two is a handicap chase over two and a half miles. MAGOT DE GRUGY is good in a slog in the mud and did it well in bottomless conditions at Chepstow but renews rivalry with MR PRICKLE who he beat that day. MR PRICKLE has gone on to score at Towcester since and there won't be much between them. ROSS LEADER won a couple in the spring but on much better ground . I prefer SOPRANO who shaped well on his reappearance at Uttoxeter and could come on for that run.

Race three is a handicap chase over three miles. ME JULIE has top weight and the assistance of AP following her win at Ffos Las but this won't be easy and I prefer MAYEUL who was staying on well at Wincanton over two miles five furlongs. GREAT TSAR was disappointing at Towcester but might do better over this trip.

Race four is the day's feature, a Grade 2 Novices Chase over three miles. Only four turn out for this race but they are an interesting group. WEIRD AL won on better ground at Cheltenham so can jump which will help. BENCH WARRENT was well beaten by Michel Le Bon at Newbury a fortnight ago but isn't out of this. BURTON PORT beat MASSASOIT when the two met in a beginners chase at Bangor and has gone on to run well at Haydock. There won't be much between them. I prefer BENCH WARRENT simply because this is a race that turns up a shock or two and this will be really hard for these young horses.

Race five is another handicap chase over three miles and yet another small field. PIPO DE RE is an obvious choice following a good run on better ground at Newbury but I prefer NICTO DE BEAUCHENE who was well beaten at Chepstow but has run well here before and may be better suited to a slog in the mud.

Race six is a novices' handicap chase over two and a half miles. This is a pretty moderate race to be honest. LUPANAR was third in the two-mile beginners chase won by Sunnyhillboy at the last NH meeting but that was a very slowly-run event and all five had a chance at the last so I doubt the value of that form. I much prefer SILVER BAY who is very consistent and proven over trip and ground.

Race seven is a Bumper over two miles on the Polytrack. VOLTIGGER HILL shaped with promise at Ludlow and should go well but I always like Noel Chance runners in races like these and OUTSIDE THE BOX comes here having bolted up in an Irish ptp and could be anything.
 
Nice preview Stodge :)

Would add though that Weird Al won the opener at Cheltenham today so I doubt he'll be running tomorrow. Burton Port seems to be a bit of an in and out performer (at least last season over hurdles he was) so maybe the same traits will come out over fences.
 
Gonna have a good moan... after the frequent squeals from the ROA about poxy prize money, what a pathetic turn-out - THREE - for the Grade 1 at Lingfield. The Grade 3 isn't much better, and the turn-out yesterday at Cheltenham also saw microscopic fields racing for top prize money. Okay, so the going's Heavy, but at least most horses can manage to gallump round without doing too much damage, unlike Good or worse. I never want to hear any more bleats about how lousy British prize money is when there's such feeble support for the best grade jumps. It's not just that - it's very uncompetitive not just in horsey terms, but in betting and racegoer interest. How can racing entrance new fans when three go to post for a supposedly good quality race? (Rant over - I thangggyew.)
 
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Been saying it for months Krizon. They want to get rid of low quality but at the top end there are far too many races for good money as they are never supported. They should scrap 50 - 60% of the graded races which have 3, 4 5 and 6 runners in every year and use that money to fund the rest of the sport. There is a 0-50 on Thursday at Wolverhampton with 53 entries and unless you are rated 50 you will not get a run, and they are not dividing it. 41 horses which the majority rated 45 - 49 will not get a race yet the terms are 45 - 50. These horses are competing but unable to run, whilst at the top end flat and jumps the races for loads of money are not contested, and end up with poor fields. If the BHA had an ounce of intelligence they would use the money they would save on these stupid graded races which never have runners and put it into more races where there is a need for them.

But of course no one wants to reduce the number of graded races do they, well I for one get sick of watching 3, 4, 5 and 6 runner £40,000 races, in which there are three identical races over a space of 2 weeks, yet they wouldn't fill a max field between the three of them put together. My message to the big trainers would be, support the decent races or lose them altogether.
 
Review..

Just a few notes from this afternoon's action at Lingfield. A fine winter's afternoon brought a good crowd to East Surrey. The ground was heavy but a note of clarification - the past couple of days dry weather had left the ground sticky and holding rather than wet.

The opener was a junior bumper over two miles. They looked a nice bunch in the paddock but, as might have been expected, OPEN DAY was too good. He was always prominent leading or disputing with the hard-pulling MARLENO but readily asserted off the home turn and did it well. MAGGIE ARON ran on nicely for second but was never a threat to the winner. MABEL TASMAN shaped with promise in third.

It's hard to know what to make of this form - not too much perhaps. The winner already looks like a chaser and I suspect that's where we may see him in a year or so.

Race two was a handicap chase over two and a half miles. An active market saw SOPRANO backed from 5s to 7/2 with MAGOT DE GRUGY backed from 13/2 to 5s with support also for CAPTAIN TIDDS and HIGH OSCAR. The race didn't involve any of these as SENOR SHANE made every yard under a highly-enterprising ride utilising his low weight in the holding ground.

I'm sure the first-time visor helped but there was cause for encouragement in some of the winner's earlier form. CAPTAIN TIDDS chased down the winner in vain conceding 16 lbs. He had looked a real threat approaching three out but SENOR SHANE kept finding a bit extra. MAGOT DE GRUGY was never travelling after belting the first fence away from the stands but showed great tenacity to battle back for third in front of PACCO who signalled a return to form with this effort.

Both MR PRICKLE and SOPRANO were disappointing.

Race three was a handicap chase over three miles. In truth, this was a moderate heat and concerned only three from some way out. ME JULIE made the running but never got the uncontested lead she enjoyed at Ffos Las and was beaten approaching three out where GUNSHIP went on. GUNSHIP had had problems with his jumping but put in a solid round today and made good use of the near two stone concession from ME JULIE. GUNSHIP faced the final challenge from MAYEUL who has proved frustrating in the past. I think he did his best today and was given a patient ride but the weight probably anchored him too.

GUNSHIP is probably still well handicapped but I would need more assurance about his jumping especially in better company on faster ground.

Race four was a Grade 2 Novices' chase over three miles. Only three went to post and it was a bit of a non-event to be honest. BENCH WARRENT set the pace but BURTON PORT was always travelling and jumping well and duly asserted down the hill and kept on well. MASSANOIT had a chance but never looked like challenging the winner.

I'm really none the wiser about BURTON PORT - he's obviously got ability but today told us nothing about Cheltenham or anything else. I suspect races like the Feltham will be swerved in favour of another confidence-building event.

Race five was a three-mile handicap chase. This didn't look a strong event either but there was strong support for PLUM PUDDING. To be honest, the one which looked least like winning as the field passed the stands first time was BALLYFOY who was last and being hard ridden. However, Mattie Batchelor persevered and BALLYFOY not only got back in the race but ultimately prevailed. PIPO DE RE was getting 18 lbs from the winner and was always close to the pace so this was a shade disappointing.

NICTO DE BEAUCHENE was well there until the last when the petrol ran out. There was a query about his stamina on this sort of ground and that proved his undoing.

I couldn't stay for the last two races - the sixth was late off as three fences on the far side were dolled off because of the setting sun.
 
You're BOTH right, Flame and Krizon. Today wasn't a terribly edifying spectacle to be honest.

As far as the NH season is concerned, there is so much redundancy built in as far as graded races are concerned that if all the races take place there are inevitably not enough quality horses and the ludicrous re-scheduling of any abandoned races doesn't help.

Indeed, with the effort and money invested in drainage and frost sheets it's very hard to get top meetings abandoned these days.

You could argue Doncaster provided a useful function today as one of the few tracks guaranteed to produce good ground. Lingfield's card today was a waste of time and effort - an AW meeting would have been better.

On the Flat front, there's no reason why Lingfield couldn't stage a couple more meetings this year - they race on the 16th, 19th, 30th and 31st only. There's plenty of room for a couple more cards in the week leading up to Christmas but there seems no interest.
 
The only reason Lingfield persisted was that they couldn't reschedule to Folkestone, and they wanted to save the meeting for the high level of hospitality (i.e. pre-Christmas parties and lunches) that had been booked for the day.

It's really got to be time for the BHA to WAKE UP and see how ridiculously unbalanced its actual races are, and adjust prize monies accordingly.

Stodge, the crowd didn't look too good today, although in all honesty the view of the stands on tv isn't the best. My colleagues issued some 300-400 pre-paid entrance tickets, which certainly isn't good for a Saturday, NH, pre-festive meeting. Perhaps people were put off by the pathetic number of runners - they could follow the other meetings on the course's tv's, so it wouldn't be as if they'd miss those. But punters are maybe wising up to paying quite a lot of dough to see tiny fields, which don't represent value for money. They will stay home and watch from the comfort of their sofas, and I don't blame them.
 
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