The Racing Calendar - Change needed?

granger

granger

Senior Jockey
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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]A piece from Ruby's Examiner column this week gone - any thoughts?
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Should we consider changing the racing calendar?

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]I don’t think we’re having that untypical a dry autumn, I think it has been the case for the last few years. I think our autumns are dryer and our springs wetter, and I wonder should HRI or the Turf Club do a meteorological study and see would there be merit in delaying the start of the Flat season, when the ground is typically softer, and extending the end of the season.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]And the same, of course, for the jumps.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]A lot of the National Hunt horses haven’t gone to the track this season, yet we’ll be pulling stumps with them in April. I don’t know the answer, and maybe I’m way off the mark , but with the way the climate has changed, should we be looking at changing our racing calendar?[/FONT][FONT=arial, sans-serif]
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Interesting view. You'd need a fair few years-worth of stats to be sure it was a lasting change in climate rather than a statistical blip, before making such a far-reaching change.

You could argue that a less radical way of dealing with the drier autumns would be for CoCs of jump courses to water more.
 
I was talking to a friend of mine who trains 10 pointers in Southern Ireland

He has only been able to work one of them so far and at this rate doesn't think he will have more than one ready to run before Christmas

WPM certainly doesn't rush them when the ground doesn't suit either - at this rate he will be running maidens in Grade 1's
 
Things are already evolving in that direction.

Spring is already a lot less important to flat racing than it used to be thanks to horses nowadays being peaked for the Irish Champions, Arc, British Champions and Breeders Cup weekends in the autumn. It used to start in Ireland on St Patrick's Day but now it's about two weeks later.

Meanwhile something similar is already happening with the jumps as well. Aintree and Punchestown are much bigger affairs than they used to be and in Ireland especially there are much better NH horses racing through the summer than there used to be.
 
That said Art, they are finishing the flat season up to two weeks early as well with the November handicap being run as early as october 25th.
Making way for Dundalk and having the champions at home rather than in US or Aus no doubt.
Difficult to call as ground was as heavy and sticky as usual in Listowel while the rest of the country escaped; Chronic landlord had some guy borrowing his lawnmower when he was avoiding showers at Kerry National.
 
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