42 runners declared for 7 races at Newmarket!?. People should be not only disappointed but worried. What will those people on ITV Racing say, well if it was like a few weeks ago they'll say 'why didn't they water?'.
Well they have been and at the heart of it, it is the culture of watering over the last 50 years that has brought about the problem and disappointment we have on days like this.
When I started following racing it was common to see good to firm and firm going during the summer months, and sometimes you'd even see hard. I can't remember the last time I saw firm going. Were there good fields on that going, yes there were. But in the late '60s watering became the fashion at those courses that could afford it. Noel Murless, to me the finest of trainers, railed against. The problem with watering he said 'was that it makes grass grow up and not down'.
What has this culture produced? It has produced a breed of racehorse that is most comfortable on good to soft ground. The effect of watering has been to reward horses that only like going on the soft side of good or even softer. The effect has been self-reinforcing, because the successful colts under this regime become the sires of today and tomorrow. When I started following breeding it was the opposite. If the ground became heavy then I'd scour the pedigrees of runners for names like Counsel or his son Privy Councillor, as I knew their produce would be mudlarks and some nice long shot bets were landed. It is almost the opposite today.
The problem with firm ground for horses is that if they have poor conformation or poor actions then they don't act properly on firm ground, and sometimes they get jarred up or get sore shins. In reality they are not what the breed wants, as you want good horses with good confirmations and good actions. Instead weaknesses were bred into horses as the testing ground (literally) was being manipulated. To me the racehorse of 50 years ago was far tougher. Look at a horse like Busted, who could win the Eclipse one Saturday and the next Saturday win the King George, both on good to firm ground.
Murless's argument was not only against tampering with the ground but really against the other effect of watering that it produces false ground, that is kicked up by the horses. Watering late does this. It's the same as having a shower on a firm cricket wicket and seeing the top come off as the seamers dig in. As well as they can water, a watered track often introduces draw bias. Some parts get more water than others. We see it happen and we moan about it but put up with it.
I am not stupid enough to say ban watering. What I am saying is that the ground staff at racecourses should seek to produce good ground (the clue is in the word). But that watering should not take place after say 3-4 days before a meeting, and definitely not during a meeting.
It's probably too late for the breed, the damage is done. But what we'll get is 'Days like This'.
