The Cheltenham Going

The Pillock is going to start watering because the ground is currently soft (we have had a dry week and have another predominantly dry week next week) and they want the ground on the easy side of good. Since when was genuinely good ground a problem?

What about the horses who need good/faster ground?

GRRRRRRR! (Sorry, that was a redhead moment.)
 
Redhead, if we started on "genuinely Good ground" on the Tuesday, we would probably end-up with Good-to-Firm on the Friday..............which would doubtless be advertised as "Good to Soft all round" anyway, to avoid accusations of complete and utter boobery on the part of the CoC.
 
Grasshopper said:
...to avoid accusations of complete and utter boobery on the part of the CoC.
Click to expand...

He's made enough CoC ups already, what difference does one more make?:p

I'm aware of the need for consideration of 4 days' progression, Grasshopper, but the water table is so high here at the moment that a shower (of which a few are forecast) is enough to change the ground.

I wouldn't mind so much if the man was able to assess the ground correctly, though. "Easy side of good" was his aim last season while he was watering during a week of heavy rainshowers, and look how the ground kicked off - soft - which he gave out as good/good-to-soft.

Think I'd better stop now, I'm turning into Shadow Leader!!:D

(No offence, Shadow!)
 
All he should be doing is keeping the surface in tip-top condition. I'd rather have naturally good ground with a good covering of well-rolled grass to cushion the impact for those with a preference for give.

When we had those conditions a few years ago records were being smashed right left and centre by horses that were proven in soft ground.

The guy Claisse is an utter tube.
 
I'm with the consensus re Claisse. However all NH courses water with the intention of producing going on the easy side of good - slightly to the right-hand side of the scale. Flat courses aim at producing Good ground slap in the middle of the scale.

Whether they achieve this or not is of course often another matter.
 
Last edited:
Utterly depressing to hear them talk about watering the ground already. After all the snow and frost you would imagine "false precipitation" would be the last thing that grass or ground would want.

Good ground is fine, the course seems to rate good ground as the same as good to firm. The ground last year was very disappointing.
 
Colin Phillips said:
Gal, there is mention on another forum that he has had a rethink, as some natural precipitation has been forecast.
Click to expand...

With the dry weather materialising as forecast, the going on the chase and hurdle courses has dried out to good to soft, good in places but the cross country remains soft, heavy in places. We are geared up and ready to water should the ground dry to good and the outlook be mainly dry, but with more confidence about rain in the early part of next week following a predicted dry week-end, a decision to water now would be premature. The forecast is monitored daily and as things currently stand it is looking a lot less likely than it was at the beginning of the week that watering will be necessary.

From the latest blog entry linked in the first post;)
 
GROUND conditions on the two main courses at Cheltenham dried on Sunday to good, good to soft in places, from the previous day's good to soft, good in places.

Clerk of the course Simon Claisse told racingpost.com that he will consider on Monday whether to start watering the new course, which is marginally the quicker of the two, and used for the final two days of the meeting.

"We've had another dry day, and although rain is forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday we're likely to get between 11mm and 16mm which is rather less than originally expected," he added. "I'll study the latest forecast on Monday before making a decision about watering the new course."

Ground on the cross country course is good to soft, soft in places.

Source: RP
 
crazy if they water with the weather we been having this year anything can happen, leave it be and have "good ground" for the 1st day and on the fast side of good for the gold cup.
 
Course Cheltenham Next Race Tuesday 10th March Report Date Monday 2nd March; 8:45 am Going Old Course: Good (Good to Soft in places), New Course: Good (Good to Soft in places), Cross Country Course: Good to Soft (Soft in places) GoingStick Old: 7.5, New: 7.7, at 1pm Sunday Additional Information Selective watering (5mm) on Monday
 
Seems it's a bit more likely that if they water it will be the New Course for the tail-end of the week rather than the Old Course. So those worrying about overwatering on the first day perhaps shouldn't worry too much. By all accounts the going is just about perfect at the moment... it should be relatively easy this year to keep it that way.
 
They seem to be a bit paranoid about the ground since 9 horses were lost a couple of years ago.

The water table round here is still so high that a shower or two will be enough to turn it. We have wintry showers forecast for this week and if he waters it will probably rain all of next week!

I seem to remember that my first post last year was that he was watering while it was raining.
 
Selective watering has been employed on Cheltenham's New Course, which will be used for the second half of next week's four-day Festival.
Although rain is expected within the next couple of days, it is virtually a dry forecast for the following nine to 10 days.
"We are doing some selective watering today of between five to six millimetres on the New Course,'' confirmed clerk of the course Simon Claisse on Monday.
"The quantities of rainfall we are forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday have perhaps come down a little.
"They were saying 12mm to 16mm yesterday, now they are talking more like 10mm to 14mm.
"The watering is only on the New Course and only in places.
"If we were racing yesterday or today, the ground would be ideal."
The going on the chase and hurdle tracks on the Old and New Courses is good, good to soft in places.
The cross country course is good to soft, soft in places.
 
As we figured. This shouldn't do too much harm and the good ground horses should still be okay for the start of the week (on the old course) - unless the actual rain comes early.
 
SteveM said:
As we figured. This shouldn't do too much harm and the good ground horses should still be okay for the start of the week (on the old course) - unless the actual rain comes early.
Click to expand...

Still plenty of time for him to panic and water later in the week!!
 
Back
Top