All-Weather Racing

[sportform]

With the news that the BHA has added more all-weather racing to the calendar and given Newcastle 37 fixtures, I thought I would see what people's impressions of all-weather racing is.

Do you go to all-weather racing? Do you like all-weather racing? What are you views, ideas for all-weather racing? Would you like to see any changes to the all-weather racing?

 

[smokethedeadbadger]

Better this than more jumps so i'm all for it

 

[Ste D]

not a fan,poor standard of racing though i am partial to an odd wager on dundalk on a wet winters night

 

[Cyclonic]

I think if you look through the average turf meeting on most week days, the class of horse going around is pretty poor. To suggest all weather scrubbers are worse than turf scrubbers is a mistake. Scrubbers are scrubbers, no matter where the race. The fact is that these course are catering to a need. That the BHA have allotted more fixtures shows that this form of racing is on the up. I don't know what's going on in the racing scene over there, but as more and more trainers are turning to all weather courses, even when the turf tracks are in great condition, indicates that they must be finding some kind of advantage in it. I think it's a progressive step taken by the BHA and as such, deserve a pat on the back.

 

[Sir Barney Chuckles]

I’ve never been to an all-weather track in my life. Personally though I haven’t got anything, at all, against this ‘branch’ of the sport and to be frank see it as a burgeoning one. Whether people like it or not all-weather racing is here to stay and its number of fixtures will only increase and increase. I think ‘All Weather Championships’ day has been a real boon for this area of the sport and have, to date, really enjoyed this and the qualification process that leads to the big day – it’s kind of like the ‘Pertemps Final’ but, I guess, without the plots! A couple of questions re the surfaces and the future must be when/if will the number of races held each year on artificial surfaces, on the Flat, be higher than on turf??? Also, will hurdling ever return to the all-weather surfaces???

My fave races on the all-weather though have to be ‘bumpers for jumpers’. They are what horses were bred for and are the most wonderful spectacle imaginable.

 

[Bostonbob]

Dreadful.

Too much racing serves bookies and the yards who are otherwise unviable operations. Mainly to the detriment of the fans of the sport and gambling addicts.

 

[Cyclonic]

Racing is a business and it has to cater to the bulk of the industry. Tens of thousands of foals are produced each year and very few of them will amount to too much, and people pay good money for these animals. If racing authorities decided to turn their back on this massive cash inflow, the sport would quickly begin to show signs of distress. Believe it nor not, the real winners here are the people who work for the owners. Then when all the ancillary services that support the industry are factored into the equation, it rapidly becomes apparent that possibly billions of pounds is being turned over on an annual basis.

 

[SwanHills]

Sure agree with you on 'scrubbers', Cyc, won't blame sandpit racing alone for poor quality horseracing. However, I am concerned about into whose pockets the greater part of these 'billions of pounds' are actually going in? I do have a fair idea.

 

[Cyclonic]

According to the British Horse Industry Confederation, racing has an economic impact of 3.7 billion pounds per annum and employs 48,000 workers. They even raised 1.8 billion for charity. Just about all of this comes on the back of so called second rate horse flesh.

 

[beeforsalmon]

Dreadful.

Too much racing serves bookies and the yards who are otherwise unviable operations. Mainly to the detriment of the fans of the sport and gambling addicts.

This. It's purely a means for bookies to have wall to wall racing on in their shops to accompany the virtual racing. Doesn't help or enhance the game at all. Too much racing = diluted quality

 

[QuarterMoonII]

I will start with my usual complaint: somebody should bring a prosecution under the Trade’s Description Act because “all weather” racing is nothing of the sort. In January and February 2014, all meetings at Southwell were cancelled because the track was flooded. Plus, there will eventually be a situation one winter when one of the tracks is raceable but all the roads are impassable due to snow and ice, so there will still be no racing.

I have never been to any meeting where there has been racing on artificial surfaces, except when I went to Deauville the last couple of times and they had the first two races (both two year old events) on their artificial track that is inside the turf course. This made sense on those occasions because rain had made the turf course very soft, so using the fibresand course did save the turf for the feature races.

We all say that the standard of racing is poor and the meetings do just seem to exist for the bookies and trainers with yards full of poor quality horses that have no prospect of winning a decent race on the turf. I think that what attracts trainers with poor quality beasts to run at these meetings is that the artificial surfaces only seem to have two types of ‘going’, so if your horse ran well on “standard” at one track it should do the same at another track; whereas the ground for turf racing is influenced by different types of soil (e.g. clay, chalk). As Cyc quite rightly points out, there are plenty of midweek turf course meetings of similarly poor quality.

I generally choose to ignore the non-turf racing and leave it to those who are desperate for a bet. I also ignore much of the poor quality turf racing. When it comes to the form, I will write off anything that I see racing on turf for which the balance of its good form was not achieved on turf. It seems to be quite rare that a horse runs up a sequence on artificial surfaces and then continues that form switched to turf.

 

[stick]

Many disparaging comments surrounding all weather racing here including the assertion that it is bookmaker driven to keep revenues flowing. Well it is also trainer driven to keep yards going too.
Many owners would not be living the dream if it were not for all weather racing and many yards would go out of business without it.
I would also like to point out that the fare at Kempton is of very good quality. The prize money on offer for races like the Winter Derby and the London Mile ensures some decent animals have AW campaigns these days. The Goldolphin outfit certainly don't mind starting some very decent animals on it.
One other observation, you never get false ground so that eliminates half of your excuses for not picking the winner and if you have an animal returning from injury it is one of the safest places you can run them!
Plenty of positives from me.

 

[PNkt]

From my chats with folk in the know, Southwell won't be with us as an AW track for long. The track is in poor condition and apparently the insurance company are now refusing to insure it. I think jumping is safe there for the time being, but don't be surprised if the AW track is shut down in the not too distant future.

The individuals I know that are involved with the AW tracks are a good bunch, they genuinely do care about the sport and want to do what is best for racing. Unfortunately the powers that be (at ARC in particular) are only interested in maximising profit and would run class 6 sellers/handicaps for £2,000 all day long if they could get away with it.

 

[Bluesky9]

I agree with you Stick and have posted about the various tracks before, Kempton is the best surface, fairest course due to the cut away and is rewarded by more runners and better trainers. My favourite all weather fixture is Wednesday evening at Kempton during the winter. You can come home from work and enjoy a decent meeting during the winter evenings, knowing you are more likely avoid the hard luck stories of the other tracks from which you can put in some study time, find the right horse only to be beaten by draw, kick back or lack of room, things that rarely happen at Kempton. In my view Chelmsford should simply have copied Kempton's Surface. They have a great location so near to Newmarket a decent home straight for fairness but laid a dog of a surface and are now paying the price.

 

[Ron]

I think if you look through the average turf meeting on most week days, the class of horse going around is pretty poor. To suggest all weather scrubbers are worse than turf scrubbers is a mistake. Scrubbers are scrubbers, no matter where the race. The fact is that these course are catering to a need. That the BHA have allotted more fixtures shows that this form of racing is on the up. I don't know what's going on in the racing scene over there, but as more and more trainers are turning to all weather courses, even when the turf tracks are in great condition, indicates that they must be finding some kind of advantage in it. I think it's a progressive step taken by the BHA and as such, deserve a pat on the back.

Many disparaging comments surrounding all weather racing here including the assertion that it is bookmaker driven to keep revenues flowing. Well it is also trainer driven to keep yards going too.
Many owners would not be living the dream if it were not for all weather racing and many yards would go out of business without it.
I would also like to point out that the fare at Kempton is of very good quality. The prize money on offer for races like the Winter Derby and the London Mile ensures some decent animals have AW campaigns these days. The Goldolphin outfit certainly don't mind starting some very decent animals on it.
One other observation, you never get false ground so that eliminates half of your excuses for not picking the winner and if you have an animal returning from injury it is one of the safest places you can run them!
Plenty of positives from me.

Agree with both the above. I see QM's point about the term "All Weather". I think that is an outdated term introduced when the non turf tracks were first introduced. Should scrap the term and use the terms that actually describe the surface (Tapeta, Polytrack etc). The "all weather" surfaces are being researched and improved all the time, the aim being to replicate turf. When it is perfected it will probably replace most turf tracks. I imagine there will be fewer staying races with emphasis more on speed. As indicated above, the quality is creeping into theses non turf tracks and with the added attraction of evening races, increasing prize money, there is only one way flat racing can go. How long it will take is another matter that will depend entirely on investment