What a difference a week makes. You'll have seen what it was like here last Sunday; well, today was another world altogether. Even Friday, two days ago, was dreadful: cold, windy and raining just about all day. But today - aaahhh!! Bliss. At this time of year the ground dries up quickly and we can once again walk around the yard, shirt-sleeved, in our slippers, although it will take a few days yet for the field to be anything other than really unpleasant: it's dry enough (relatively speaking) once one gets into its middle and top half, but it has a moat of muddy water along the bottom, where the water has been standing for ages on top of the soakaway drain which was laid at great expense there last summer and which appears to be of no use whatsoever. In fact, I'd say that it's been of negative use, because the ground has subsided a bit where it was dug up, which means that the moat has just been deeper. At least now the surface water is starting to disperse, leaving a moat of mud. And even that will go eventually.
Friday could have been worse, because we had Roger and Zoe Vicarage here and it did at least stay dry while Zoe rode Panto, accompanying Anis (ridden by Martha) for a hack over to racecourse side. Roger and I walked along behind them, not worrying when we were left behind, safe in the knowledge that, as the commentators would say, the leaders would come back to us. Which they did. For someone aged maybe 12 or 13, Zoe rides very well indeed and she sits on Panto with such confidence that I'm very happy to leg her aboard and let her follow the string out towards the Heath. Afterwards we repaired to Pizza Express in the High Street for lunch, where we ate very well eventually: the 'Pizza' part of the title is fair enough, but the 'Express' seems rather misleading on the evidence of our visit. Still, we weren't in a rush and so we spent a very pleasant couple of hours there amid a very good clientele: the Fordham family were having a school-holidays feed there too, and Mark McStay was chairing a meeting of bloodstock identities. In fact, that's probably why our service was so slow - and I must point out that the manager was very apologetic about it, and effected unasked a large discount to the bill to prove his sincerity - because the job of rolling out the red carpet for McStay would have meant that the staff didn't have much time for the other customers.
Roger has lent me a really good book, a history of Goodwood racecourse written c.1975 by David Hunn. It's an outstandingly researched project, but written so entertainingly that, for all that it is very heavily laden with information and detail, it isn't at all dry. It would make fascinating reading for anyone interested in racing history, social history or the history of Sussex - or even the history of cricket, which sport seems to have its roots very deeply embedded in that area. I'm taking my time over it because there's so much in there - and one wants to feel that one's taking it all on board - that one can't just rush through it. So a few pages each night makes for perfect bed-time reading. Mind you, I'm weighing up my options for tonight, as I note that Channel Four are putting on the kind of show for which they made themselves at one time so infamous: from 10.20pm onwards, we have a movie entitled 'Karma Sutra', followed by 'Madam Cyn's Home Movies', 'Blowing It' and 'Sex BC'. Ummm ... but on second thoughts I may just settle for falling asleep during Steve Coogan in the movie 'Around the world in 80 days' which precedes this sextravaganza, and then reading two or three pages of David Hunn when I do re-awake and take myself off to bed. Still, what I will have done is set the video rolling at the start of the film: as I invariably fall asleep midway through any programme which we watch in the evenings, I always tape anything that we are watching so that I can watch the second half the following day if I wish. And so perhaps then tomorrow I maybe ought, after watching the end of the film, just to cast my eye over Karma Sutra and the rest, just for research purposes, of course.
4 comments:
Apologies to all if I am going over previously discussed matters , but following on from last weeks debate on the events at yarmouth much comment was made by various parties in racing about "the prizemoney problem" , with few if any constructive proposals coming forward - basically all were agreed the prizemoney needs to be better but few say how this should be achieved (and most who did were bascially applying the rob peter to pay paul principal) .
It would seem to me that there needs to be a starting point for further debate which has to be the cost of keeping a horse in training . In my experience this figure is around the £20 k per year mark (if you have a basically sound horse)for the purposes of this blog I am going to use this figure .
In my view if you win two handicaps in a year you should cover this cost therefore a handicap has to have a minimum win value of £10k .
To win a listed race is harder and so if we achieve this our horse has to make a profit on the year therfore a listed race should have a minimum win value of £ 30k .
Group races are next up so a Group3minimum £ 50 k Group 2 £ 100k group 1 minimum £ 200 k .
That leaves us with maiden and conditions races (claimers and sellers excluded )ok we have now to look at what we wish horses to try and do which is improve through the levels to the group level (and yes I know 99.9 % cant but you need to aspire to this end) since we do not want horses campaigning endlessly in maidens i suggest a minimum win value of
£5k . If our horse wins a maiden and picks up a conditions race he will be well on the way to paying his way .
That leaves claimers/sellers which I have little time for (particularly on horse welfare grounds how would you like to go to work do your best and find you'd been moved to another company ?) and feel should be got rid off and replaced with selfhandicapping races where the weights allotted determine the entry fee paid and the race would be run for the value of those entry fees alone .
If we have figures in place like the above (or any other values ) it will be possible to determine both the cost of running a meeting to a course and the number of fixtures which the levy can afford to fund .
Glad to see I get a mention again on the site was feeling neglected........my pizza was very good and expressly delivered......prizemoney issue is very easy to fix if everyone got together and copied Ireland....mind you Christine Dunnett showed how narrow minded she was the last day....very annoying when people are trying to achieve something for the greater good....!
Hi John,
I wish I was able to draw cartoons.During the recent white out had you been unseated from your mount,I have this vision of air rescue spotting a pair of coloured wellingtons sticking out of the snow and calling Emma ,saying that they had a positive sighting!
The weather is warming up - not quite to the high summer of Goodwood but perhaps enough to ensure an excellent 3 days at Aintree.With Drombeag an unlikely participant and the plunge on Parsons Legacy somewhat ill-fated, I'm no longer sure on whom to pin my hopes.I can see Palarshan running well in the Topham and Thisthatandtother in the Foxhunters, but for the main event ....Comply or Die and Mckelvey perhaps.
The prize money problem is even trickier than selecting the National winner - too many competing interests falling over each other I suspect and/or trying to bring each other down.
The sale of copyright info might bring more revenue into the coffers, but I recall the mighty Mirabel Topham tried and failed with that one.My belief is that since the books need to balance at least, you have to generate more revenue to give more prize money.otherwise all the formulae in the world won't work.
Post a Comment