Right, thank you.
I've seen the horses slip on good ground on the cross country course.
Especially those raised bits.

It's carnage in the carparks, according to horsey chums - towing people on and off with tractors.🚜

Quote: Lazzard @ 15th March 2024, 9:32 AM

It's carnage in the carparks, according to horsey chums - towing people on and off with tractors.🚜

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The last time I plucked up the courage to go to the Cheltenham Festival (as it wasn't called then) was 1975. It was the third and final day of the - then - 3 day meeting, it was bog-like underfoot and it was snowing. They ran the Gold Cup (won by Ten Up), which was the third of the six races on the card. They then abandoned the rest of the card because of the conditions. It took me two hours to get out of the car park during which time somebody ran into the back of my car. We weren't going at any great speed of course so it would have done little damage to my - hardly pristine anyway - Morris Oxford and, in view of the weather and the state of the ground, I didn't even bother getting out of the car to investigate,

I vowed then not to venture back. And I haven't.

It was carnage in the beer tents too.
Mass drunken fighting breaking out all over.

Even on none specific gender day.

Spring: The time of year when a young man's fancy turns to the new flat season...

🙂 Do you get it delivered every Friday, Billy. Excellent. I miss papers being delivered. Well, The Beano anyway.🙂

I know little about horse racing or the seasons but am intrigued now as to why The Grand National (3 weeks away) which I'm a big fan of is run during the flat season. ?

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 23rd March 2024, 8:16 AM

🙂 Do you get it delivered every Friday, Billy. Excellent. I miss papers being delivered. Well, The Beano anyway.🙂

I know little about horse racing or the seasons but am intrigued now as to why The Grand National (3 weeks away) which I'm a big fan of is run during the flat season. ?

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I used to buy it as and when (weekends, big meetings, etc and obviously when I went racing) pre-lockdown. Probably averaging about 4 times a week. Used to enjoy poring over it in the local coffee shop. When racing came back after its hiatus (without spectators), I wasn't sure how easy it would be to get hold of a copy (still queuing to get into shops then) and the coffee shops weren't open anyway so I subscribed on-line. Cheaper in the long run - I last paid £399 for the year (equating to £7.67pw) which will take me through to July 2025 - although it has since gone up to £499 for new subscribers - whereas the paper now costs £4.95 Sun-Fri & £5.20 Saturdays (they always increase it with effect from Cheltenham week). And it becomes available on-line shortly after 9pm the previous evening (hence my posting an image of today's paper last night). There are other benefits to subscribers too - videos of races, articles, a tracker of where horses are entered, access to form, etc. As well as horse racing the Racing Post covers football quite well too and has a pull-out supplement on Fridays and extensive pre-season (and also pre-tournament) previews.

Traditionally the flat season ran from the end of March to the beginning of November. That is still the case for turf meetings. Traditionally the jump season ran from August to the beginning of June. So there has always been an overlap in the spring and the autumn. The lines have been blurred a little now with all-weather flat racing all year round and with the introduction of "summer jump racing". Like new potatoes and strawberries nothing adheres to its proper seasons any more.

Well I'm glad it's still got a circulation, it's certainly a much loved publication. I recall having a peep at a copy once and my head was spinning with all the data that meant nothing to me, but am trying to learn now, as a supplement to the holy trinity I know more about. But as a stats fan I'm finding this new sport very interesting reading, whether it'll help me in my punting or not, so far it hasn't. 😟

I once had the pleasure of knowing two people who worked in the Dickinson yard out Harrogate way.
Michael Dickinson has long since moved to America but in his early days as a trainer - and before he became well known, the solid tips came aplenty.
I remember being given the nod one Christmas that every horse he was running is likely to go in. I won a fortune.
He trained the first 5 in the Cheltenham gold cup one year.

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 23rd March 2024, 10:34 AM

Well I'm glad it's still got a circulation, it's certainly a much loved publication.

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Of course, back in the day, the Sporting Life was the publication for the racing fraternity (always popular for a quick rub-down too). Or, to a lesser extent, the Sporting Chronicle, which was cheaper. And, when I was at school, the mid-day editions of the evening papers used to have extensive racing coverage.

I wrote the TV commercial that launched the Racing post.
I think it might have been the first one I managed to ger made.

Now that Cheltenham & Aintree have been and gone, off to Newmarket this week to see some proper racing.