Question about ground at Cheltenham

Diggy78

Have just been reading Paul Nicholls opinion on all weather jumps racing and thinking about what he said. I hadn't really thought about it but really the issue that Simon Claisse seems to always have is about having safe jumping ground, hence , 'soft' somewhere in the title. I can understand his predicament to a point as most fatalities do occur while jumping at speed on a sound surface.

Now I'm sure someone will be able to tell me why they have to water the whole of chelt to make sure that the ground is safe when jumping. Why the hell do they not just water the 20 or so metres after each jump (ten metres might suffice)? At least then horses who prefer the better going would not be disadvantaged.

I wondered if it was something to do with horses running out of one type of ground and onto another but surely that cant be it, can it?

convert

A sudden change in going, such as from good to yielding/soft, can cause a horse to break down, hence the reason why, if a racecourse decides to water the course, they have to water the whole of the course rather than the ground just on either side of the fences, though they will tend to put a bit more water immediately on the landing side of the fence to try take the 'sting' out of the ground where they'll be landing.

An Ard Ri

Cheltenham always seem to aim to have the ground 'good to soft' at the start of the festival meeting, but don't seem to water for the next three days. Personally i dont think the course should be watered at all, as it does disadvantage horses that like good ground.

corny

This is really exaggerated on Day 1. Horses wanting good quick ground in the Champion Hurdle for example are just not going to get it these days.

convert

I'd actually prefer if they didn't water the ground. Even though the watering softens the top of the ground, the shock is still in the ground and doesn't really take the sting out except for the top few centimetres, so it gives a 'false' type of going.