British Champions Day 2015

Well we are now under a week away now, I know this day has a lot of mixed reviews but this year fingers crossed does look to be an epic meeting, Gleneagles, Solow, Muharaar, Jack Hobbs to name a few are scheduled to be there.

I shall be doing my usual Racemaking duties, so if anyone is planning to go let me know! We can meet up after racing and have a beer,

 

There is a possibility that the weather might actually present the paying public with a contest involving Solow and Gleneagles but I would not be holding my breath. I think we can be guaranteed that there will be no watering at Ascot after the un-forecast rain denied them Golden Horn in the King George.

All that would have attracted me this year would have been a guarantee that Gleneagles, Golden Horn and Solow would be racing; and we already know that one of them is staying in his box.

If it buckets down with rain, we can expect the usual fiasco as the fast ground horses drop out leaving the horses with feet like dinner plates to pick up the prizes.

Thanks to European race planning, they are stuck with a meeting at the wrong time of year and very little prospect of ever being able to rectify it. The French were already camped in September and now the Irish have added their Champions weekend so the BHA are playing third fiddle...

 

Amazingly not a drop of rain is forecast for the entire week, I am taking a very keen interest in the weather this week!

Ground for Ascot will be perfect.

 

Are we talking about the concluding contest here??? The ‘lucky last’??? The ‘Immoral Handicap’???

Roger Charlton interestingly says that he can’t see the ground changing much at all despite there being no rain forecast. He says that the presence of the ‘heavy morning dew’ will see to that.

 

I'm with Roger, and considering a chunky bet on the (currently odds against) Solow, who does begin to look an exceptional miler. Even with no rain at all this week, Ascot probably won't be any quicker than good to soft, and you do wonder if the Breeders Cup has been Plan A for Gleneagles all along.

 

I can't see Gleneagles turning up

 

I think they will call it good but good to soft will be the best it achieves. Gleneagles unlikely to be allowed out to play once again but I am very interested in seeing Elm Park run again as although he never beat anything of the likes he will take on last time out he did look to be back to his best and worth stepping up again in class. Disappointed Intalaaq has been ruled out as was very impressed with him last time out.

 

Lads, i'm looking for a bit of advice. I've read that Ascot have put a 30,000 limit on the gate. Myself and 3 mates are coming over from Ireland. Is there any danger of not getting in on the day ? I've raced all over but never had to worry about being locked out at a racecourse. We even swanned up for the Arc and got in (8 Euro) no problem ! Thanks in anticipation.

 

Can't you pre-book?

 

I think the only year they sold out was the Frankel year! The last few years they have had tickets at the gate and will this year, the gates open an hour earlier this year same as the first race this year is an hour earlier due to the Rugby World Cup so you will be fine but just come early as I reckon a lot of people are seeing who turns up etc before they make their mind up

 

Thanks for that Cyclonic & W 007. We are going over Friday morning to make a long w-end of it, so i was a bit wary of getting tickets sent in the post. I've seen now that you can actually print off tickets when you book online so i will go for that. Thanks again for the heads-up, and lets hope for some exciting racing !

 

Timeform's BCS Fillies & Mares Preview

 

Latest reports suggest that Gleneagles participation rests on Aidan O’Brien walking the course on Friday. Expect him to prevaricate, put off a decision until Saturday and then for it to be announced at 12:40 that Gleneagles is a non runner. Sounds familiar...

I am not entirely in agreement with the Timeform assessment of the Fillies And Mares. I thought that Covert Love had a hard race in the Prix de l’Opera, pushed all the way to the line by Jazzi Top, so I wonder whether she will actually turn out. If she does, she could be vulnerable to a rival that has not been on the go all season. Candarliya does not fit that description and she only won like a Group 2 horse in the Prix du Royallieu. Arabian Queen’s Juddmonte International win was definitely purely tactical and the trip is a question mark. The drop back in distance for St Leger winner Simple Verse and a long season limits her appeal. This looks a lot tougher for last year’s victor Madame Chiang but I wonder if, despite her total no show in the Arc, Tapestry is coming here with the right profile.

 

Tapestry for me QM, although 2nd last in the Arc i think it could of put her spot on for this.

 

Far from it oddy, the draw is oh so important. It can be negated at times, but it's very important for the majority of races that are round bends or have preferred sections of ground

 

Exactly, it's the role of the jockey to overcome any perceived negatives from things like the draw. As I said before the Arc, with Dettori up the draw shouldn't matter.

 

I think the connections of Elm Park have made a mistake in running him in the 1m race against Solow rather than the 10f race against Jack Hobbs - in my view 10f is the minimum for JH and a perfect distance for Elm Park where as Solow is classy and too fast for Elm Park over a mile. In the mile Belardo at 50-1 is an EW bet for fun that could easily pay a return.

 

Oddy, I quite agree with you in regards overcoming adversity, however the fact remains that we are talking about a Champions Day where the best horse in the biggest field is a horse who finished 2nd in the Derby. Its hardly appealing.

The fact of the matter is that the draw is always important in flat racing, be it to get a good early position or being drawn with the pace, and whilst the best horses can sometimes overcome it, we have seen history littered with horses beaten because of draw, in running problems and such. That is the nature of the beast, and is why horse racing has betting that goes with it. You have many variables as we all know, and they all can change the result of a race. Sometimes the best horse does not win because of them.

Champions do raise to the top, but you also get results like when Ouija Board and North Light lost in the Arc, to Bago!! Racing has always had stories where the best horses haven't won races too.

The draw can't make an awful horse win, but it can aid horses, just look at every race around Chester to see that.