Would this work ?

sunybay said:
I would run the middle park and chevelly on the same day
ad 2 weeks later run the dewhurst and fillies mile both over 7f


and would send the rockfell to the chevely and middle park day
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If we are stuck with this balls up

I agree that the Cheveley and Middle Park should stay where they are .

I would suggest the Dewhurst and Rockfel to be run two weeks later

And the Fillies Mile run at Donny on Racing Post Trophy day
 
Red Rocks and Dangerous Midge raced in their conditions over there - fast ground over 12f, there are plenty of top class horses who've been beaten in the race (Montjeu and Dancing Brave for instance) but it doesn't make it any better or worse a race IMO. It's frequently the final race of the year for most horses so the thoughts of the effects of travelling over and back are negated somewhat by a prolonged break afterwards. It's rare that we can get a horse to turn up in the Arc and in the Champion Stakes (hopefully with SYT in the Champion this will happen more frequently now) but a lot of horses will have been on the go since the end of March and the prospect of racing over 10/12f in soft/heavy ground at the start of November for 700k isn't half as appealing as racing for 300k more on a sound surface.
 
Given that the Royal Lodge is now at Newmarket over a straight mile. Doncaster really should be encouraged to run the Racing Post Trophy around a bend.
 
davidjohnson said:
Given that the Royal Lodge is now at Newmarket over a straight mile. Doncaster really should be encouraged to run the Racing Post Trophy around a bend.
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I agree and the same should apply to the May Hill which always used to be run on the round mile .
 
davidjohnson said:
Given that the Royal Lodge is now at Newmarket over a straight mile. Doncaster really should be encouraged to run the Racing Post Trophy around a bend.
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It used to be, of course. I well remember Reference Point and Celtic Swing, among others, winning on the round mile.
 
I'm beginning to see what you're up to here, Ardross: keep shuffling the deck until a few races drop in the lap of Doncaster or York. :)

Seriously, though, there is no competing with the Arc. It is a fantastic race with a huge tradition.

The Arc meeting as a whole is also a growing entity but it doesn't have everything covered. There's no big mile race, no 2yo sprint, no big handicaps, no all age 10f race.

France and the UK should be looking at providing between them a full programme of top autumn races.
 
Grey said:
The Arc meeting as a whole is also a growing entity but it doesn't have everything covered. There's no big mile race, no 2yo sprint, no big handicaps, no all age 10f race.
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I agree with this but I do think a 10f race would detract from the Arc. I'd rather them keep the Foret and have a 1m1f race on the same weekend in the UK. A European breeders Cup weekend could take the following format:

Saturday in England (York or Ascot): Dewhurst, Middle Park, Fillies Mile, Cheveley Park, Champion Stakes/QE2 (Merge them and lose one, over 9f)
Sunday in France: Arc, Foret, Opera, Cadran, Abbaye (French would lose their 2yo races, or move them)

Trials for the meeting could remain on Leger/Arc Trials weekend with the Champagne, Niel, Foy, Vermeille, Moulin, Leger etc. and the meeting could be used as a springboard to the Breeders Cup.

A geographical gap would also help dilemmas over the ground.

The Handicap idea is an interesting one, they could have a super valuable mile handicap where qualifying races are ran for it in England and France throughout the year so the handicapping is a little more straight forward than it would be at present.

I'm obviously dreaming.
 
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