I'll tell you something else that has got up my goat recently - over-watering. The amount of races I've seen where the ground looks desperate is growing like Joseph Fritzl's beard.
Take Newmarket for instance; beautiful ground on the Friday, then by Saturday it's like watching a load of old chasers at Kelso. I know it's been an incredibly dry autumn but it's as if the courses have left the tracks unattended and then the day before the race they've thought 'oh, it's quite hard out here. Taps on, Geoffrey!'
The result? Ground described as good to firm yet kicks up like Worcester on a good day. The top is very loose because of all the water put on it but it hasn't had time to penetrate the ground o underneath the grass it's rock 'ard.
As you may guess, the turf is then slippy and the amount of horses who have been close to falling on the flat has increased.
So what can you do? It's too loose for the fat ground horses but still firm for the mud lovers. Leave it alone until some rain comes. Or go to Wolverhampton.
PS, I'm tempted to lay Yeats today. I know it goes against sentimentality but the old boy's always underperformed in this event and at 4/1, I'd oppose him. But lump on Dick Turpin and rob those bookies!
Take Newmarket for instance; beautiful ground on the Friday, then by Saturday it's like watching a load of old chasers at Kelso. I know it's been an incredibly dry autumn but it's as if the courses have left the tracks unattended and then the day before the race they've thought 'oh, it's quite hard out here. Taps on, Geoffrey!'
The result? Ground described as good to firm yet kicks up like Worcester on a good day. The top is very loose because of all the water put on it but it hasn't had time to penetrate the ground o underneath the grass it's rock 'ard.
As you may guess, the turf is then slippy and the amount of horses who have been close to falling on the flat has increased.
So what can you do? It's too loose for the fat ground horses but still firm for the mud lovers. Leave it alone until some rain comes. Or go to Wolverhampton.
PS, I'm tempted to lay Yeats today. I know it goes against sentimentality but the old boy's always underperformed in this event and at 4/1, I'd oppose him. But lump on Dick Turpin and rob those bookies!
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