Can you have too much racing?

mike65

In Britian and Ireland this week (if including the abandoned Thursday Killarney card) there will be

Sunday 35 (5 cards)
Monday 31 (5 cards)
Tuesday 26 (5 cards)
Wednesday 38 (6 cards)
Thurdsay 44 (7 cards)
Friday 47 (7 cards)
Saturday 53 (8 cards!)

a total of 282 races, I've haven't actually added up the number of entries but if I assume 8 horses per race average thats 2256. Is it any wonder finding a winner is so hard!?

Knobs

have to agree, sum days theyrs more cards for evening than during day

convert

Less than 5% of horses that run win a race, so regardless of numbers of horses running we still have a 95% chance of picking a loser!

And with the number of horses in training and running here, we kinda need the high number of races!

smartaform

Bumper cards in the coming weeks.

There generally has to be that many races though to cater for everyone.
I do feel there isn't enough racing in Ireland though to cater for all the horses.
I saw an article in the Irish field a few weeks back and the focus was on an owner who couldn't get a run in Ireland for 6 weeks! He wasn't the only one of course, but it just shows how badly we need to have more meetings to sustain trainer, owner and staff numbers.

mike65

At the risk of contradicting my own post, Dundalk a/w is woefully under-used.

convert

mike65 wrote: »

At the risk of contradicting my own post, Dundalk a/w is woefully under-used.

I agree with you, but apparently they're only allocated a certain number of meetings per year by HRI. They have held some schooling bumpers there, but they could hold more as I think there's a demand for it from both owners and trainers.

With owners and trainers having such problems getting a run into their horses, it's small wonder that so many horses are running in point-to-points. You know the races available and fixtures months in advance and are pretty much guaranteed a run if you turn up on the day.

smartaform

It is a shame about the lack of meetings on at Dundalk, really 1-2 meetings a week is needed.
AW surface, not hard on the legs... WE HAVE THE FACILITIES WHY DON'T WE USE THEM? Or do HRI want another 50 million euro building?

I have already got quotes for this NH season for my horses to travel over and back for races in the north of England..
At least i have fixtures and definite race programs of them and barring it being a big race you are guarenteed a run...(provided they prove they are worth travelling with that is!:rolleyes:)

convert

smartaform wrote: »

AW surface, not hard on the legs...

It shouldn't be, but I've seen a lot of horses break down on AW because it had become uneven (i.e. suddenly changing from firm to soft) where the tyres from the machinery harrowing the surface had compacted it. That said, if managed properly, it should be an invaluable resource.

Btw, do you mind me asking what you were quoted for travelling your horses to England?

hiscan

[QUOTE=convert;

Btw, do you mind me asking what you were quoted for travelling your horses to England?[/QUOTE]

I think it costs between 300 and 500 euro,depends on what part of England you go to i suppose

convert

hiscan wrote: »

I think it costs between 300 and 500 euro,depends on what part of England you go to i suppose

Thanks.

smartaform

Thanks hiscan....

Yes convert the max. was 500 euro... I was looking at maybe spending a month or so over there with 2 of them, just to go for a few races??

UrbanSea

I dont think the selection of racing was great today,especially for a sunday,usually has much better racing.
A good few yesterday,pity they didnt have better evening racing,just bath and market rasen

mike65

Only two cards tomorrow. :eek:

convert

smartaform wrote: »

Thanks hiscan....

Yes convert the max. was 500 euro... I was looking at maybe spending a month or so over there with 2 of them, just to go for a few races??

You might as well. At least over there you're much more likely to get a run...

Are your horses NH?

redorblack

Way too many bad horses in Ireland, the amount we have currently in training? theres no chance they will all get to race. When the next HRI cut comes into effect they will have to cut prizemoney, and it wont be at the top end, thats for sure.

smartaform

You might as well. At least over there you're much more likely to get a run...

Are your horses NH?


Yes mate NH... thats all i can have the time being..


Race preizemoney will be cut and then they will complain about how hard it is to attract new owners to the sport. Lack of opportunity for horses and sky high bills to trainers really do make it difficult.

Why can't we look at other countries racing models and LEARN?????
USA racing mostly is rubbish away from the big tracks BUT the prizemoney is there - WHY i hear you ask a non-greedy industry setup (i'm sure the poker machines help pay for things as well) but also the Governments realisation that thousands of jobs (i'm 100,000's of jobs) rely on the industry.

mike65

UK bank holliday blow out tomorrow 8 cards plus Galway. Bet I don't find a winner.

convert

smartaform wrote: »

Yes mate NH... thats all i can have the time being..


Race preizemoney will be cut and then they will complain about how hard it is to attract new owners to the sport. Lack of opportunity for horses and sky high bills to trainers really do make it difficult.

I read over the weekend that the prizemoney for some of the big races is being reduced. Some of the bigger trainers say that it's not going to impact on the quality of the races or on the number of horses entering (it's pretty small anyway, so it can't really reduce much further), but with the way things are going here, it'll probably be difficult to ensure that are best horses are kept here rather than being sent abroad like they used to be in the past.

And it's the bigger trainers who'll be able to survive better than the smaller trainers because they have the name and everyone wants to be able to say that their horse is in training with X because they've a good reputation and have so many horses in training. And with the increase in costs of insurance, feed, travel expenses, etc. it's the smaller trainer who'll be left struggling again. And to top that owners will start to get fed up when their horses doesn't get a run because of the balloting system.

It's a small wonder that you're bringing your horses to England to get a run if you've owners who are happy to do that (if they aren't your own horses). I heard on the grapevine that Gordon Elliot does it quite a bit and has had a few good runners over there.

nlm1980

The balloting system here is a f**k up, but what would u expect from the all knowledgable folk in the turf club. They dont seem to know about the practicalities of having a horse right for the day, especially mares. Only to not get in and then what. U get in up in Downpatrick 2 weeks later only to be gone off the boil, and have very cranky owners to boot.

smartaform

Gordon has a brilliant strike rate with his raids in the UK.... Especially with those Scottish tracks.

convert wrote: »

I read over the weekend that the prizemoney for some of the big races is being reduced. Some of the bigger trainers say that it's not going to impact on the quality of the races or on the number of horses entering (it's pretty small anyway, so it can't really reduce much further), but with the way things are going here, it'll probably be difficult to ensure that are best horses are kept here rather than being sent abroad like they used to be in the past.

And it's the bigger trainers who'll be able to survive better than the smaller trainers because they have the name and everyone wants to be able to say that their horse is in training with X because they've a good reputation and have so many horses in training. And with the increase in costs of insurance, feed, travel expenses, etc. it's the smaller trainer who'll be left struggling again. And to top that owners will start to get fed up when their horses doesn't get a run because of the balloting system.

It's a small wonder that you're bringing your horses to England to get a run if you've owners who are happy to do that (if they aren't your own horses). I heard on the grapevine that Gordon Elliot does it quite a bit and has had a few good runners over there.

surely something has to change in this industry over here....

Rynaldo

Theres never too much racing.