This is exactly the way to go. A Championship event to lead the 3 year olds into open company and finally the prestige handed back to the King George event. The 3 yeasr old pecking order would be established via Derby/Guineas/Royal Ascot, and that then would enable us to see the older horses take them on. Royal Ascot has the 10f Prince Of Wales stakes so no real need for a 10f event at a King George meeting- connections should be encouraged to send their horses into the mile and a half division and really find out if they stay. That's part of the intrigue. This end of season nonsense is ridiculous. Another year of very testing ground, no actual Champions showing up, and the Breeders Cup around the corner. British Champions Day is a great idea placed at the wrong time of the season.
They hit lucky with the first 2 years. In 2011 the weather was phenomenal and you had Frankel, Dancing Rain, Cirrus Des Aigles, So You Think etc etc.. In 2012 you had the Frankel CdA match up. Last year was a bit of a non event and this year threatens to be worse. Not the greatest idea of all time...
The clerk of the course at Ascot is adamant that Saturday’s meeting will go ahead – despite the forecast for significant rain falling on the heavy ground on Wednesday. Presumably if he abandons the meeting on Saturday morning once some of us have set off for the 440-mile round trip he will be reimbursing our petrol money and train fares. The idea that in future they are going to cover nearly three miles of racecourse with some sort of tarpaulin to prevent extremely soft ground is completely laughable. They cannot admit that just four years in they have scheduled a meeting at the wrong time in the calendar and now that the Irish have created their Champions Weekend in September they have no option to move it. In Years One and Two they had Frankel as the star attraction and in Year Three there was a reasonably good card and the sponsors won one of the big races. Year Four looks like nothing but a debacle. In his blog on Sunday, The Guardian’s Greg Wood made the following observations: “Without Australia it starts to look more like a consolation event for horses that were not quite good enough for the Arc or the United States (or, in the case of the gelding Cirrus Des Aigles, barred from running in Paris through no fault of his own).” “The ground can often come up soft at Longchamp too, of course, but the Arc has nothing to prove to anyone. And if you plan for the Arc, you can run there and still go to the Breeders’ Cup in California. Ascot, stuck in the middle, is an all-or-nothing option.” “But to stand any hope of even approaching the significance of Arc day or the Breeders’ Cup main card at Santa Anita, the main Champions Day needed to be given every chance to do so. British racing wanted a grand finale but its leaders did not have the vision or backbone to get it into the early September date it needed.” Not often I find myself agreeing with The Garuniad.
Hi guys, real shame about Saturdays horses pulling out, but I have a question regarding the rule 4. If I bet Anti-post on Cirrus Des Aigles now, and on Saturday Free Eagle pulls out because of the ground. Does that mean I keep my odds because I have bet anti-post and that the rule 4 does not apply to me?
As long as you bet antepost you will get the price that you have taken. If you bet early prices (normally day before) you may get rule4s.
Probably. I was told by a reporter for a French newspaper that CDA was 80% fit when at Longchamps (he spoke to trainer post race but didn't report it)... and that he would be the one to beat.
I've just spent a wonderful weekend in Malaga (not that wonderful) and Granada (very wonderful). The splendour of the Alhambra is truely magnificent and it warms me greatly that we (Spanish Passport mode) chased the ghastly Arabs out of Spain from there. Oh,wouldn't it be great if the BHA could do the same thing...contextually.
This has to be the worst meeting of the year. Surprised it hasn't been reported to the trades description act. Does anyone actually follow or talk about the British Champion Series during the season? (Apart from the media obliged mentions)? Interesting article in the Racing Post today with Rod Street trying to defend Chumpions Day and the Champions Series' £6m debt. A Tapeta course at Ascot would be interesting from an international standpoint. Image attracting the top US horses for the Prince of Wales's Stakes run over 10f on a Tapeta surface. The BHA have really messed up the racing calendar at this time of year though. Chumpions Day just seems to be a shiny bit of wallpaper Rod Street and co put up to cover the enormous cracks in British racing. And some people fall for it. I think pretty much most comments/ forums I read on Chumpions Day are negative. For the reasons stated above. For me British racing already has it's championship meeting at Royal Ascot. The trouble is it is too early in the season. Move Royal Ascot to say Late August and you are on to a winner.
Agreed. It seems Rod Street, the BHA and co have no concept of the international racing calendar. Champions Day is basically chucking good money down the drain which could be spent better building up other races throughout the season. Maybe look at getting more international horses, US and Japenese, to run in the middle distance races at Ascot and York? Maybe rejuvenate the Triple Crown with bonuses for winning all three races and /or the best performance across the classics.
The only trouble with this is that it is not long after the July Cup and too close to the Sussex Stakes. I would go the other way and say the King George would be a fine addition to Glorious Goodwood. I would have four five day festivals throughout the flat season and shorten the flat season to mid-October ie this weekend and forget about a 'Chumpions Day. I would end the season this week with a five day festival at Newmarket (the home of racing) celebrating flat racing and have a festival for proper racegoers rather than trying to attract snobs and yobs from London to by £6 pints. Ascot could still have its day at the end of September with the QEII Stakes, Diadem Stakes, Fillies Mile, Royal Lodge, Cumberland Stakes, International Handicap etc Newmarket would have a five day festival, with the trainers and jockeys titles up for grabs over 30 races, including valuable handicaps and sales races plus top races like the Champions Stakes, Sun Chariot, Pride Stakes, Jockey Club Cup, Dewhurst, Rockfel, Cambridgeshire, Cesarewitch, Challenge Stakes, Darley Stakes etc
"Rod Street is Chief Executive of Racing Enterprises Limited, Racing for Change and British Champions Series Limited. He was formerly Group Managing Director of Northern Racing PLC—helping to build the business from one to nine racecourses to become the UK’s second largest racecourse operator—and led the company to its flotation on AIM in 2003. He has served on the boards of the broadcaster At the Races, the Racecourse Association, Racing Enterprises Limited and numerous racing industry bodies and was Chairman of the Professional Jockeys Association until April 2011." Sounds good doesn't it - to some I often wonder how some people get their positions
Like most of sport, its who you know rather than what you know. Not that I am Bittar or anything. *sorry*
There is very little prospect of tempting the top Japanese horses over here during the summer months as the prize money at home is quite substantial and travelling their horses half way around the planet for one race takes a considerable chunk out of their season. Plus they have their own Coolmore-type owners for whom victories in Europe would not really enhance their stallion values back home. The Americans have very few top quality grass horses and I could not see them introducing a dirt track at Ascot just to attract their top horses when it would be such a huge disadvantage to the home team. They would have to do away with their National Hunt fixtures to have two circuits. I am not sure how much of a temptation a Triple Crown bonus would actually be to many owners and trainers. Winning the St Leger virtually guarantees a horse a place in the Cup races the following season or a career as a National Hunt stallion. Most breeders these days seem to be solely interest in mile or ten furlong horses.
This awful rain's really making a right balls up of so called 'Champions Day'. On ground that's going to be practically unraceable the class horses have no chance. Instead of crowning the champions it's a case of crowning the mud machines. Shame.
