The Cheltenham going thread 2015

Diamond Geezer

Diamond Geezer

Gone But Not Forgotten
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From ATR

Clerk of the course Simon Claisse expressed satisfaction with the shape of all three courses ahead of the Cheltenham Festival.
Although there is rain forecast over the next two weeks, the situation is set fair for the four-day fixture, which begins on March 10.
Claisse said: "I'm pretty happy with things.
"We have a mixture of good to soft ground. The Old Course is predominantly a bit softer, while the New and Cross-Country Course are a bit quicker.
"At the moment, the long-range forecast says it will be relatively unsettled for the next 10 days and that we will receive about an inch of rain.
"We have probably had half the rainfall we did last year, but I'm pleased the way it looks, and although the grass growth is a little bit behind, things are picking up."
:D
 
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edgt said:
They will be no need to water so.
Good news for everyone.
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not sure Edgt..they said they've had half the rainfall..i hope no watering happens

first day times are key..last year it was top end of good and the times influenced watering imo..first day times will be very interesting...lets hope for just easy side of good..then they will leave it alone for day two..watering just messes everything up
 
Bad enough trying to pick horses without having to predict uk weather

Cheltenham has had snow Alverton and was abandoned for a day Ten Up because of flooding

I can only say if it pisses down it will be soft if it doesn't it will be good fast ground

Good to know it's in good nick but it's very much wait and see
 
15mm of rain forecast for coming week according to accuweather with temperature rise next weekend to 10 degrees during the day.
A milder week forecast for Raceweek with little or no rain and sunshine daily.
Set fair for a great meeting if accuweather are accurate.
 
Now Good to Soft all over. With limited rain due in the next 5 days and a decent forcast after that, 4/7 for Good to Soft on day 1 looks a banker
 
Looks a possibility DO. From the Sporting Life:
While Claisse is content with the current state of the ground, temperatures are set to rise towards the end of the week and with little rain forecast, the ground looks set to dry out."The ground on the Old Course which is used for the first two days is good to soft, soft in places and it is the same on the cross-country course," he toldRacing UK.
"The New Course is slightly quicker and is good to soft.
"We are forecast some heavy showers for the next two days, some wintry but only two to three millimetres in total and then it is due to get significantly warmer towards the end of the week.
"The forecast says it could be 6C or 7C overnight and double figures through the day but there is no sign of any more rain beyond Wednesday.
"It's looking like Festival week will be warm and dry with chilly nights, but there are currently no signs we'll see the frost covers.
"Watering through the week is a possibility. We aim to start with ground on the slow side of good, it is difficult to know how fast the ground will dry out, though, so we may need to water through the week which we have done five or six times in the last 14 years."
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Latest:

Report Date

<tbody>
[TD="width: 53%"] Tuesday 3rd March; 3:45 pm [/TD]

[TD="width: 24%"] Going [/TD]
[TD="width: 53%"] Old: Good to Soft (Soft in places), New: Good to Soft (Soft in places), Cross Country: Good to Soft (Soft in places) [/TD]

[TD="width: 24%"] GoingStick [/TD]
[TD="width: 53%"] Old: 6.2, New: 6.5, Cross Country: 6.1

 Weather Forecast Mostly dry and getting milder.
 [/TD]

</tbody>
 
I read there were 4mm of rain the other day/night, which I welcomed. I think Claisse is a bit quick to apply water. It annoys me that fast ground horses are disadvantaged in the biggest meeting of the year. The soft ground horses have £50+k races to go for week in week out all winter. Fast ground ones are limited to one or two during the summer.
 
the problem i have with his assessments is that they are trainer friendly..last year he called it G/S good in places just to satisfy trainers imo..it was a lot quicker than any year this century..he will never call it what it actually is..last year could easily have been called Good..g/f in places and wouldn't have been far off the mark.

i take all his reports with a pinch of salt..it keeps trainers happy..which is the purpose of it
 
Desert Orchid said:
The going stick readings suggest the soft side of good.
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thats the tool that if you check at each course in isolation you will see a variety of readings with no consistency...have you checked the historic readings at courses DO?..one day 6.0 is soft..then another day 6.0 is good..one day 8.0 is G/F..then its G/S etc...these are readings at the same course..they don't actually tell you anything except its somewhere between soft and G/f..and could be either

if you were COC and on monday night you think the ground is fast end of Good..not Good/Firm..just top end of Good...would you say it was that or would you say Good..G/S in places?

the going is always going to be called softer than it actually is to keep all the trainers happy
 
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here you go

Cheltenham

[TABLE="class: tablecol"]
<tbody>[TR]
[TD]25-Jan-14 Heavy (Soft in places) 6.3

18-Nov-12 Soft 5.5

14-Dec-12 C&H: Soft 7.1

[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]

Just using those 3 readings tells you how much use they are..7.1 is apparently Soft..and yet so is 5.5..whilst heavy is in between???

completely misleading

why would anyone use them as any accurate way of judging the ground..they aren't even close to being consistent?

in a game where people tend to want exact information once given any kind of evidence of anything..but then to accept something like these readings as being relevant is a bit odd imo
 
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I was just reading the Champion Hurdle book and in 1967 the going changed from soft to good virtually overnight as the runner up was rueing the fact that Ch was run on day 2 and not day 1.
I do hope they do not water as there is little enough by way of grass growth yet though the weekend could change that.
A foggy night would be enough to ease the going this time of year.
 
Crowd records are set to fall at Cheltenham next week. Ian Renton, the managing director, said yesterday that the four-day attendance is now certain to break 240,000, with the opening day drawing more than 60,000 for the first time.

The Festival also seems sure to start on watered ground. Simon Claisse, the director of racing, revealed that “selective watering” is planned to commence tomorrow unless there is significant change in a forecast for predominantly dry, warm weather.
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the forecast has changed a little bit too. looks like a bit of rain sunday and tuesday (6 days off though so hard to take it too seriously).
 
Isn't the description of the ground still at the discretion of the Clerk and therefore not linked to the going stick reading (If they decide otherwise)? If so that might explain the lack of consistency and would also mean the stick reading is at least a consistent, objective measure. I could be wrong though.
 
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I've got a certain amount of sympathy. When we had all those fatalities a few years back he was effectively ordered to produce ground on the easy side of good for the first day and the forecast is simply not showing enough rain to guarantee that.
 
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