Weekend weather

Desert Orchid

Desert Orchid

Senior Jockey
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Aug 2, 2005
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Some decent stuff due this weekend at Sandown, Musselburgh and Leopardstown.

Any chance of the weather hitting any of the cards?

The BBC made it look like the Sandown area might be affected by snow this week.

I think it might be snowing at Musselburgh today and it's supposed to come and go for the rest of the week.
 
Leopardstown;
[FONT=&quot]Press Release as of 29-Jan-19 at 09:27[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Issued by Racecourse... The going is currently good to yielding (hurdle/bumper course) and good (chase course). Rain clearing this morning to give a mostly dry day. Remaining cold and dry for remainder of today and tomorrow. Rain, sleet and possibly snow moving across the county on Thursday. Clearing on Thursday evening and remaining cold and mostly dry for Friday and the weekend.[/FONT]
 
It's rare I'd say there's too much racing but selfishly ignoring the impact it will have on yards, from a viewing/punting perspective it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if Sandown were to be called off.

I've little interest in seeing Buveur D'air hack round at 1/16 again in the Contenders and there's plenty of top quality racing at the DRF and Musselbrough this weekend.
 
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Disagree. It would be a shame if we lost the Scilly Isles chase and a couple of the other Sandown races look decent also


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The movement to a single weekend for the DRF has the impact that bad weather could seriously impact on attendance. If they had the meeting spread out over 2 or 3 Sundays they would at least have the risk reduced somewhat.

Obviously even moreso if the track was unraceable

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They tried that for years but crowds kept falling except for Gold Cup day.
Festival has to be in the name for people to attend bar Thyestes day .
Was hurdle or chase delayed for a day or two before ? I have memory of a mid week hurdle or chase but was not there.
 
Hurdle day was postponed in 1991 due to high winds iirc.

Carvills Hill shouldered 12-2 in heavy ground to win the rescheduled Leopardstown Chase on the same card the following week.
He then got turned over 7 days later in the Irish Gold Cup by Nick The Brief.
 
The Sweeps/Ladbroke/Pierse hurdle card was always a top class betting heat, and well attended until recent years.

The 4yo bumper at the end of the card was also a fierce betting heat prior to the advent of 4yo points. Ned Kelly, Beechcourt and Kicking King all memorable winners.
 
redundant pal said:
The Sweeps/Ladbroke/Pierse hurdle card was always a top class betting heat, and well attended until recent years.

The 4yo bumper at the end of the card was also a fierce betting heat prior to the advent of 4yo points. Ned Kelly, Beechcourt and Kicking King all memorable winners.
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Mentioning the Sweeps you reminded of my childhood. I often heard about the Irish Sweeps Hurdle on whatever radio station my parents listened to in the evenings, Iirc there were several films in black and white that referenced having a ticket for the Sweeps and the winning ticket numbers were announced on National radio. I have the impression, possibly from the films, that the Sweeps was big in the US.
Was it akin to the Grand National in the general public attention it got and what happened to stop it being so publicised?
 
The Irish Hospitals Sweepstakes used to be a big deal. At a time when lotteries were illegal in the US and UK, the Sweep had big sales in both countries. There used to be four sweeps a year, I think, based on the Grand National, Irish Derby, Cambridgeshire and Sweeps Hurdle at Leopardstown. Nurses in starched uniforms would draw the winning tickets. To be in contention for one one the big prizes you had to draw a horse in the race and the size of prize you won depended on where it finished. A market developed where people in contention for a big prize would sell their ticket before the race to bookmakers like Terry Rogers or Sean Graham in order to have a guaranteed return, rather like selling your position nowadays on Deal Or No Deal.

It all died a death in the 70s when sales outside Ireland declined. There was also something of a scandal about how much the people running the Sweep were paying themselves to run it. Joe McGrath was the main man. He was big in racing and Seamus McGrath, trainer of Levmoss, Ballymoss and many other good horses was his son. Pat Eddery started off with him at Glencairn, which was down the road from Leopardstown. The Joe McGrath Stakes was a Gr3 race run at Leopardstown which was transferred to Phoenix Park in the early 80s and renamed the Irish Champion Stakes. When that track closed the race returned to Leopardstown.
 
Thanks Grey.
A comprehensive and relevant answer with both the factual detail and the additional colour that gives a true sense of what it was/ meant.
Redundant Pal’s post triggered my memory to the extent that I am now recalling Radio Luxembourg and the Horace Bachelor advert together with the ‘Sing Something Simple ‘ intro. Listened to the radio because even when we got a ‘telly’ it rarely worked unless someone was holding the indoor aerial and then only for a short time before it became a jumble of ‘interference’.
The good old days were not what they are cracked up to be.
 
Tout Seul said:
Thanks Grey.
A comprehensive and relevant answer with both the factual detail and the additional colour that gives a true sense of what it was/ meant.
Redundant Pal’s post triggered my memory to the extent that I am now recalling Radio Luxembourg and the Horace Bachelor advert together with the ‘Sing Something Simple ‘ intro. Listened to the radio because even when we got a ‘telly’ it rarely worked unless someone was holding the indoor aerial and then only for a short time before it became a jumble of ‘interference’.
The good old days were not what they are cracked up to be.
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This could be worth a thread all on its own.

I do recall my mother talking about the Irish Sweeps when I was very young. I think someone her cousin living in America knew won a bit on it/them.

Wasn't Sing Something Simple (with the Mike Samm Singers) on Radio 2 on a Sunday evening? Was that the same programme?

And we still joke about the antics with the TV aerial only ours was in the loft so every so often one of us was 'puntied' up the loft to move it about - 'Up a wee bit!' 'Down a wee bit!' 'Left a wee bit!' 'Back a wee bit!' etc
 
Tout Seul said:
Thanks Grey.
A comprehensive and relevant answer with both the factual detail and the additional colour that gives a true sense of what it was/ meant.
Redundant Pal’s post triggered my memory to the extent that I am now recalling Radio Luxembourg and the Horace Bachelor advert together with the ‘Sing Something Simple ‘ intro. Listened to the radio because even when we got a ‘telly’ it rarely worked unless someone was holding the indoor aerial and then only for a short time before it became a jumble of ‘interference’.
The good old days were not what they are cracked up to be.
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Don't forget the Ovaltineys
 
I seem to recall that Hennessy Sunday was called off (waterlogged) in 2011 with the meeting going ahead the following Saturday.
 
"The Greatest Bleeding Heart Racket In The World " by Damian Corless tells the story of the Irish Sweeps.
When Joe McGrath went to America to set up his ticket selling network he had to encounter some less than ethical individuals.
He was introduced as "the man who drove the English out of Ireland " so business was done.
In T P Burns' biography by Guy Williams , T P tells of a day he finished second to a McGrath horse at The Curragh. The stewards ( of good Anglo Irish stock )more or less told T P to object so he did, the result was amended so T P never rode a McGrath horse in his long career.
Tough men for tough times!
 
Did the Irish sweepstakes come as a book of raffle tickets? I vaguely remember it.
And 'sing something simple' and Round the Horn.?
 
Outsider said:
Did the Irish sweepstakes come as a book of raffle tickets? I vaguely remember it.
And 'sing something simple' and Round the Horn.?
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:blink::blink::blink: - I never realised you were that old! (I remember them too:()

My vague memory is of a race I thought was to do with the Irish sweepstake & poss the fav was ridden by Jimmy Lindley?

Could even have been Linden Tree!?
 
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2017diary said:
:blink::blink::blink: - I never realised you were that old! (I remember them too:()

My vague memory is of a race I thought was to do with the Irish sweepstake & poss the fav was ridden by Jimmy Lindley?
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I'm pretty sure for long enough after I started punting the Lincoln's official name was 'The Irish Sweeps Lincoln'.
 
Prospects for jump racing in Britain for the rest of the week, including Saturday's big meetings at Sandown, Musselburgh and Wetherby, are in the balance as freezing temperatures and snow threaten considerable disruption to the turf programme.

Today's fixtures at Leicester and Plumpton were called off due to frozen ground, while morning inspections will decide the fate of tomorrow's cards at Wincanton and Fakenham.

The likelihood of Yorkshire tracks, Catterick and Wetherby, being able to fulfil their fixtures on Friday and Saturday, appear remote barring a dramatic change in the weather forecast, while Sandown and Musselburgh are also in some doubt.

Harriet Graham, clerk of the course at Musselburgh, which stages a valuable two-day meeting over the weekend, said: "Things aren't brilliant here. We're 50-50 to race on Saturday at best.

"We've had very low temperatures overnight, and frost has got in under the covers.

"I was much more optimistic about our chances yesterday."

Wetherby, due to stage the Grade 2 William Hill Towton Novices' Chase, couldn't have raced today.

Jonjo Sanderson said: "The average temperature last night was -4C. There are some crusty bits and some hard bits.

"It's 3C at the moment, but temperatures are forecast for drop dramatically and get down to -5C overnight into Thursday.

"The next temperature rise in 48 hours time might be a bit late for us."

Andrew Cooper, clerk of the course at Sandown, is more optimistic, but conceded that the better end of the forecasts would be needed to enable racing to take place.

"We're raceable today," he said. "We got 5mm of rain and sleet last night and it got down to -2C.

"We're expecting snow on Thursday afternoon into the evening, with up to 5cm. It is going to stay cold on Friday.

"We've got several forecasts. The best forecast or even the better end of the worst forecast would give us a hope.

"I would expect we'll end up making a decision on Saturday morning."

Catterick is currently "frozen in places". Clerk of the course Fiona Needham said: "It's a gloriously sunny day, but temperatures are due to plummet tonight.

"I expect we'll have an inspection tomorrow."

Chepstow is the other scheduled jumps meeting on Friday. Libby O'Flaherty said: "We've up to 5cm of snow forecast for Thursday into Friday.

"The snow turns to rain at 5am on Friday, and temperatures are due to reach 2C by 9am.

"It's a difficult one. Fingers are firmly crossed."

Wincanton's meeting tomorrow is also under threat from the expected snow with an inspection scheduled on the morning of racing for 8am, while frost is forecast at Leopardstown where the two-day Dublin Racing Festival is scheduled for the weekend.

Wincanton clerk of the course Barry Johnson said: "Snow is going to be the main issue for us but we will take each day as it comes. It seems bad weather is on the way but we will closely monitor the forecast."


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Desert Orchid said:
I'm pretty sure for long enough after I started punting the Lincoln's official name was 'The Irish Sweeps Lincoln'.
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Indeed, the Lincoln, Grand National, Cambridgeshire were the original races, big field handicaps to maximise interest and exposure.
Then in 1962 they sponsored the Irish Derby, trebling it in value to become the most valuable pot in Europe.
1969 they introduced the Irish Sweeps hurdle Dec 27 for a Christmas draw/raffle, the race becoming a handicap in 1976 and changing to a January date in in early 1980s. Race Sponsorship ceased 1985 I think.
Joe McGrath introduced racecourse commentary, photo finish and maybe head on camera to Irish racing ahead of UK after witnessing these in USA when selling tickets.
(Effects of snow , apologies for rambling on.)
 
Knew nothing about all the shenanigans, now having gone into it a bit I’m amazed at the scale of fraud. Vast sums of money. Simply incredible!
 
edgt said:
Indeed, the Lincoln, Grand National, Cambridgeshire were the original races, big field handicaps to maximise interest and exposure.
Then in 1962 they sponsored the Irish Derby, trebling it in value to become the most valuable pot in Europe.
1969 they introduced the Irish Sweeps hurdle Dec 27 for a Christmas draw/raffle, the race becoming a handicap in 1976 and changing to a January date in in early 1980s. Race Sponsorship ceased 1985 I think.
Joe McGrath introduced racecourse commentary, photo finish and maybe head on camera to Irish racing ahead of UK after witnessing these in USA when selling tickets.
(Effects of snow , apologies for rambling on.)
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The first time I ever went to a Leopardstown jump meeting was the day Decent Fellow won it in 77. I still remember the cold. It had been won previously by the likes of Persian War, Night Nurse, Capn Christy and Comdey of Errors. Makes you nostalgic when you consider the equivalent race on Saturday has no English raiders, six entries (4 runners??) and two thirds of the field are Giggi.
 
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