Racing For Change

Forgot about Sandown - don't see why they can't race at Haydock, you know what you're going to get at the course, the conditions etc. and it's not a situation that arises every year, would be once every 5 or 6. There aren't stacks of opportunities for soft ground horses at the top level either with most of the British Group 1 races being run at the height of summer.

The July course is a decent idea though not sure what it'll be like in Mid-October.
 
Gamla Stan said:
Fair point, didn't really think of that!

Forget it doesn't handle rain as well as the Rowley.
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I didn't necessarily mean the track itself - the lawn, the betting ring, the paddock are all entirely grass with no hard standing and would be horrendous. When Westlife played there last month and it rained heavily the place turned into a mudbath and they had to put straw down all over the public areas the next morning just to make them safe for the racegoers.
 
Why do Pythonesque scenes spring to mind?

"You Eengleesh peegs, alwayz zis messing weeth the feextures - we speet on you, you 'orrible rosbifs!"

"Carry on, Cholmondeley-Smythe. Don't think anyone was going for the Arc, anyway. But don't know what the blasted froggies are on about. After all, they burnt the poor girl, didn't they? Convenient memories an' all that, what-what?"
 
Racing For Change on a kamikaze mission to ruin British racing - nothing will stop them.

I always thought the plan was to move the race to the end of September, according to the RP this meeting will effectively be the same day as the current Champions Day but at Ascot instead. Seems that the sole reason for moving it is that Ascot is now recognised worldwide and can on occassion attract the best horses from around the world (Hard Buck, Choisir, Miss Andretti, Noble's Promise etc.) so they really want to maximise the use of the track and the shiny new grandstand and Hong Kong-esque walkway back to the paddock.
 
I suspect you're right, Martin - they've got to pay back the multi-million deficit left by Erskine-Crumb's complete balls-up. I'm not sure what the total loss was, I've heard as high as £20m and beyond, but perhaps someone has the final accounting? Whatever, the revenue lost during the wreck - er, renovations - was probably a good million or so, then the cost of renovations which was to come in at around £20m, then the undoing of all of the track and relaying it, and more lost revenue... God knows where it ended. But no doubt this is a cynical ploy to help reverse some of the course's ruination. It's now left gutted of charisma and soulless, so, in the words of one advert for the soulless supermarket it now resembles, "every little helps"!
 
I don't subscribe to the RP Members Club so can someone explain how the BHA propose to snub France Galop's objections?

I can only assume that they are going to publish the fixture list and be damned . My understanding is that without the EPC's consent they cannot move the QEII though they can move the course at which Champions Day is staged they cannot move its date.

It remains an idiotic idea and upsetting the French is hardly likely to assist . There is a simpler way surely of improving Champions Day - getting the European Pattern Committee to agree to upgrade the Challenge and the Rockfel to G1 status.

What is particularly irksome is the fact that things have just been floated - the new proposed programme has not been put out for public comment . So no doubt we will all have to lump it no matter how idiotic it turns out.
 
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As I've posted its probably not worth reading but I#m always willing to help out tight people.

THE leaders of Racing For Change and the BHA were on Tuesday night leaning towards ignoring French concerns about British racing's proposed new Champions Day, by announcing the fixture will take place at Ascot on its intended October 15 date next year.

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With the 2011 fixture list now set to be revealed on Friday, senior figures, including BHA chairman Paul Roy, were on Tuesday involved in lengthy discussions about how to react to a France Galop statement that threatened to put a spanner in the works of what has been billed as a glittering new end to the British Flat season. Under the plan, a cornerstone of the RFC agenda, Ascot would stage a star-studded card on October 15, highlighted by the Group 1 Champion Stakes, which would move from Newmarket but nevertheless be staged on its traditional date. In addition, Ascot could switch the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes from its September festival to the new card.
While Newmarket would lose its autumn highlight, it would very likely gain Ascot's Group 1 Fillies' Mile, with the race to be staged on October 8, alongside the Dewhurst Stakes, whose revised timing would position it just six days after France's premier juvenile race, the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere.
Responding to the British plan, France Galop said in a statement on Monday that its board wanted "to emphasise the importance of a minimum delay of three weeks between the future meeting and the weekend of the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe".
In theory, that recommendation to the European Pattern Committee would be enough to prevent the BHA from approving the Ascot meeting. However, British racing's rulers, understood to be "outraged" at the French announcement, are now favouring pressing on with the plan regardless of external concerns.
Also pushing for a Champions Day decision are Fontwell and its owners Northern Racing, whose head of development Jim Allen said: "We're due to race on Thursday, September 22, just before Ascot's three-day meeting, but if Newmarket and Ascot do a swap in October, we'll move to Friday, September 30, into a slot left by Newmarket. If that doesn't happen, we'll stay where we are."
 
Something needs to be done about this - they are making a complete mess of the pattern.

What about all the Arc horses who turn up year after year, adding serious lustre to the Champion Stakes? What about the horses that run in both the Jean Luc Lagadere and the Dewhurst (Horatio Nelson, Rio de la Plata) - those horses will now be out of the reckoning for the Dewhurst.

Paul Roy. Superstar.
 
Elsewhere in the RP:

The statement from France Galop read: "To ensure the success of this new initiative in the European calendar, the board of France Galop wants to emphasise the importance of a minimum delay of three weeks between the future meeting and the weekend of the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
"From our perspective, two solutions can be envisaged. Put back the new British Champions Day by a week [or] bring forward the weekend of the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe by a week.
"This last hypothesis would have several impacts on the European Pattern programme and we cannot envisage this change in 2011 without a major consultation to evaluate all the consequences.
"France Galop has communicated this decision to the European Pattern Committee."
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At first sight no person claiming to be outraged by the French reaction deserves to be taken seriously.
 
Why for crying out loud move the Fillies Mile ??? Why not upgrade the Rockfel - what will happen to that race - this appears to be a blueprint for how not to do it . Buffoons.
 
This is where you would expect a strong editorial from the Industry newspaper, to confront an idea so ludicrous is is the only thing everyone on this board has agreed on in years. Oh, wait...
 
Yes the industry press want to be seen as onboard and supportive of the initiative. Unfortunately those that are running the show are (as Ardross suggests) found wanting...
 
From the RP online:

By Andrew Scutts 6:02PM 23 SEP 2010
NEXT year's fixture list is set to include the richest meeting in British racing history, it was announced on Friday.
The creation of a new-look Champions Day, which will offer more than £3 million in prize-money, is the most significant fixture move in a list of 1,480 meetings for 2011, down 23 on this year.
Publication of the list was delayed by two months due to funding issues, and not all of next year's fixtures will receive Levy Board prize-money. Contributions from the board will be allocated to 1,298 fixtures, down 164 on this year.
Champions Day is due to be held at Ascot on October 15, despite the previous reservations of French racing's ruling body France-Galop - and the protestations of those who reckon moving the Champion Stakes from Newmarket will completely devalue the history of the Group 1 race.
A poll on racingpost.com which asked ‘Are you in favour of the Champion Stakes moving to Ascot from Newmarket?' resulted in 85 per cent answering ‘no'.
Despite that, the Racing For Change-inspired Champions Day got the go-ahead, as did requests from York and Newmarket to push back their Ebor and July festivals to finish on a Saturday.
There will next year be 898 Flat and 582 jump fixtures (913 and 590 in 2010), with Flat made up of 598 turf fixtures and 300 all-weather (611 and 302 this year). There are 1,111 afternoon fixtures, 273 evening fixtures, and 96 twilight fixtures.
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BHA chief executive Nic Coward
PICTURE: Edward Whitaker
Nic Coward, chief executive of the BHA, said: "I said at the British Horseracing Conference in February that a vital task for this year was getting the fixture list for 2011 in the best possible shape, in challenging circumstances.
"That meant drawing together and implementing the Strategic Review of the Fixture List, Racing for Change and addressing what has become an ever worsening levy yield.
"We have changed the approach to the fixture list, and the race programme and the funding structure behind it. We have made significant progress in creating a differentiation of our fixtures and races. As well as British Champions' Series and British Champions' Day, we will be highlighting our premier fixtures at weekends in addition to the festivals which generate so much international and national interest.
"In creating the premier structure, efforts have been made to strengthen Saturdays, including for instance the move of both the Ebor at York and the July Cup at Newmarket to Saturdays.
"We challenged the industry to adopt a new approach to the fixture list and its funding, so that we will have in 2011 the smallest number of centrally funded fixtures for many years. We have led the new process through which horsemen and racecourses have for the first time negotiated and agreed fixtures and their prize- money.
"In creating the fixture list, we have had to look hard at the interests of racecourses and their importance to local communities, and the present levy returns, which have been forced down by betting operators exploiting every available loophole. At the same time, we have confidence that in the coming months racing will see a scheme to apply from April 2011 that will deliver the right return so that courses and horsemen can see a sustainable future.
"Racing is losing out on money it currently should be getting through the existing levy scheme. These failings must be addressed if we are to be able to provide our key customers - racegoers and punters - with the product we believe they deserve, and ensure racing'speople achieve a fair return for all that goes into putting the show on the road."
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Ruth Quinn: director of racing
PICTURE: Edward Whitaker
Ruth Quinn, director of racing for the BHA, said: "Constructing the 2011 fixture list has been a lengthy and, at times, very trying process. The outcome, though, is generally a positive one, especially bearing in mind the backdrop of the decimated central funding.
"There are still many aspirations for change that we would have for 2012 and beyond to produce a framework that best suits the long term health of this sport. That work starts here."
 
What's also been announced via an e-mailing is that Jockey Club Estates courses will be awarded increased fixtures next year, due to their commitment to increase prize money from their own purses. So the premiership league appears to be off and running...
 
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