NH 2010-2011: Weather Watch

Exeter apparently set to run the first two hurdles races, before taking a look at whether the chases can go ahead.
 
They are pouring hot water on parts of the track - cannot imagine that is good for the ground in the short or long term.
 
With all our scientific know-how surely it is not beyond our wit to find a 'natural' and harmless antifreeze for spraying or incorporation.

Don't anyone mention aw surfaces please.

MR2
 
It would be a miracle for either Fairyhouse or Punchestown to go ahead this week - maybe if pushed back to the weekend but not before.
 
Fairyhouse now on Sat.
Punchestown tomorrow week.

I'd say Punchestown will be on, but still has to be a doubt about Fairyhouse. If the thaw sets in on Thursday, there will be some amount of water on the track and if it freezes then I'd say good luck to racing on Sat. Only chance they have is for decent thaw and no freezing at night.
 
Fontwell Park is off, too, tomorrow. Leicester and Taunton also gone.

IS, there's no bloody thaw in my part of Brighton with ice! I'm only five minutes from the seafront, and I'd have expected the salty air to have knocked that for six, but no. The car is sporting a sparkly hard frost on the windows, and that was at 2.30 this afternoon. Bitter outside - yes, some of the snow's melted a bit, but there's bags of it just outside town. Couldn't believe how I left Wiltshire almost snowless yesterday after rain, and then got right into thick snow still banked up in Surrey and Sussex. Friends in Saltdean and Peacehaven were unable to get to work as late as yesterday as the smaller roads hadn't been treated.
 
We had a foot of snow outside the flats on Friday night and it had all gone by 8am Saturday morning.

We've had a bit of ice out here too - the salty air should have covered from the seafront to Preston Circus IMO but it doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

Not seen any snow since Friday night now - hopefully the rest of the country will thaw out too.
 
No, it's not going to thaw. It's going to become the world's biggest skating rink with much more ice predicted, all areas, from tomorrow on. Scotland and the northern counties will get lots more snow, too. Well, at least that's the cheery forecast from the Beeb's forecasters tonight.
 
Doncaster is most unlikely to go ahead,especially Friday. It would need a thaw of dramatic proportions to get the go ahead on Saturday really.
 
In Ireland, they are giving a decent thaw for Thursday and Friday (7-8 degrees). The issue is (1) when the snow melts, can the tracks handle it (2) will the snow melt because it is raining which would waterlog the tracks (3) will it freeze on Thursday night (expected to be cold) and take longer to thaw the snow soaked, frozen ground.

I still wouldn't be too optimistic about racing on Sat although next week looks much better.
 
Fields are going to be deccimated when racing returns. Colm has been lucky in that he hasn't missed a days work, but he reckons plenty of others won't be in the same boat. It should make betting interesting!!
 
Cantoris said:
Fields are going to be deccimated when racing returns. Colm has been lucky in that he hasn't missed a days work, but he reckons plenty of others won't be in the same boat. It should make betting interesting!!
Click to expand...

Did you see the big race at Exeter on Sunday. Llewellyns horse was the only one that seemed fit. You can work the £1500 horses on the snow but the big guns can`t work theirs.
 
Update...

Looking at the weather, any thaw may be short-lived and the cold, if it returns next week, could be with us right up to and through Christmas.

Doncaster looks certain to fall after a brutally cold night. ATR have said nothing about Lingfield's NH card on Saturday but I presume that must be very doubtful and contingency plans for an AW card must be at the forefront of Neil's mind.

Some more optimistic signs from Ireland for the weekend and perhaps Fairyhouse will finally happen though the proximity of this and Punchestown's card to Leopardstown's Xmas card must mean that this is the last chance for these meetings and if they can't race on these dates the meetings will be lost.
 
Does this not (again) raise the question of why not at least hurdle on the Polytrack? I know all about the old arguments about it being tried and not being found safe for falls - but that was on the much firmer Equitrack, years ago. If you tread on Lingfield's track, it's very giving and spongey underfoot. It's not even like walking on soft sand, which is actually pretty firm to fall on. It's much spongier and more giving.

I cannot see how it's all right to race over not just hurdles but fences on Good, Good to Firm in the height of hot summers, but considered too dangerous to do it on Polytrack. One of the arguments was 'slide' - falling horses can slide on wet or soft grass, where they don't on artificial surfaces. I think a brief glimpse through our roll of the dead so far will show they've managed to break their legs, necks and backs very efficiently even in the soggiest of conditions, so that argument's no longer valid to me.

As for jockey injuries - horses are going a lot faster at Flat speeds and when they do clip heels and come down, the jockeys are fired into the ground at a much greater speed than those on NH nags, particularly in staying races. NH jocks will break bones no matter what the surface - and G/GF grass is harder than Polytrack, yet they're happy to risk riding on that.

I haven't walked on Southwell's different surface, or Wolves' mix of Polytrack and sand, and having seen the higher kickback at both, am minded to think that they have less wax in their mixes than Lingfield, which means less clouting together of particles and, therefore, a softer surface.

Showjumpers blast around on artificial surfaces in indoors arenas at the same speeds and over some prodigious heights, as they do on outdoor grass arenas, where they compete on rock-hard summer and soggier surfaces following rain.

I don't see that the daily rate of fatal injury on grass points to any particular safety inherent in running on that surface. Arguments that it's 'natural' fall flat when you can counter-argue that no horse in its right mind would ever gallop for up to 4 miles and take on up to 30 hedgerows - there is nothing 'natural' about racing, only using a horse's basic skills and enhancing them to an artificial degree.

Bumper horses are run on Polytrack as much as grass - are they breaking down any more on that than they do on turf? I haven't seen it. Chuck 8 hurdles at them. Are they less capable of taking-off and landing than showjumpers, faced with obstacles up to two feet higher and considerably wider, and definitely in more quantity? I think we're babying the horses and I don't think we are trying hard enough - probably due to reactionary, negative responses - to enjoy all-year jumps racing. There is nothing natural about using a horse for barely half a year - it's far more beneficial to its heart and other organs to be kept regularly exercised through the year, just as it is for any other animal, humans included.

The issue was briefly touched upon on ATR some days back and the concensus was that the BHA didn't even want to think about it, let alone discuss it. That's not racing for change (without the capital letters and the absurd funding), that's just head-in-the-Tapeta!

Thoughts, folks?
 
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