Well, I'm glad that I didn't allow myself to get too confident before Dr Darcey's trip to Huntingdon, because he posted another very tame effort. I couldn't help myself handing over 20 pounds to a bookie who had him at 33/1, but it transpired that that price, which I'd thought to be hugely over the odds, turned out to be far from generous. He compounded very rapidly once he came under pressure, so the head-scratching goes on with him, I'm afraid. Still, that disappointment aside, it was a really nice outing, thanks 
largely to the weather. We're only 12 days on from the really cold day when apparently the mercury got down to minus 16 in Newmarket, but I'd say that we must have been around plus 16 today. I heard on the radio today that the warmest February day in British history was in Cambridge in something like 1892, when they recorded (the Fahrenheit equivalent of, presumably) 19.4 degrees - and, although we wouldn't have quite got there today, we wouldn't have been far away. Truly bizarre - but very pleasant too, as the photographs of Dr Darcey cantering to post under William and walking around the parade ring suggest.The day did have a low point (beside Dr Darcey's run, that is). We fell victim to an idiotic piece of quasi-law-enforcement. There is an owners' and trainers' room on the first floor of the Cromwell Stand, to which Emma, Jason Hathorn and I repaired after our race. As it was such a lovely day and as the room was very crowded, we thought that we would take our paper cups of tea outside onto the balcony once we had removed the tea bag from them. (Sorry, I couldn't resist that last bit: one of my pet hates is ordering a cup of tea and being given a cup of hot water with a tea bag in it). It transpired that the balcony was entirely designated as an area for the disabled so, to avoid being told that we were occupying an area to which we were not entitled, we stepped down onto the south-facing top step of the 
deserted stand, sat down and enjoyed soaking up the rays while drinking our tea - until, that is, a Health and Safety enforcement officer came up and told us that Health and Safety rules prohibited the drinking of tea from paper cups in that area. She eventually wandered off to harrass someone else who was doing the same thing a bit farther along the step, only to be replaced by one of her colleagues who told us even more forcibly that Health and Safety rules prohibited the drinking of tea from paper cups in that area. For f***'s sake! This was absolutely ludicrous. When I asked this second Hitlerette what the danger was, he said that the objection was that, if we spilt some tea, it would make the area slippery and potentially dangerous for anyone who subsequently came along! He didn't see the funny side of my asking whether the whole area would be cordoned off on rainy days, which would be the obvious and logical extension of that line of thinking. Anyway, by the end of this conversation I'd finished my tea so it became academic, but the whole petty incident was just so bloody stupid. We're all agreed that racecourses ought to be making every effort to make people feel welcome, which is after all pretty much the main thrust of the Racing For Change initiative, but Huntingdon clearly hasn't got the message. Obviously there are instances of behaviour which is anti-social, and instances of behaviour which is dangerous - but no one in his right mind could consider what we were doing either anti-social or dangerous. Leaving aside the fact that jumps races were run at Huntingdon today, which are infinitely more dangerous than drinking tea out of paper cups; and leaving aside that, as Chris Cook tweeted this afternoon "Barely room to turn a horse in the winner's enclosure here at Huntingdon. Matter of time before 
someone gets kicked" which suggests that, if Huntingdon ought to be concentrating on eliminating potentially dangerous occurences, the drinking of tea from paper cups should not be at the top of the list - the whole incident, insignificant though it was, was just a classic example of making one's customers feel unwelcome. If the two Health and Safety officers who harrassed us are not deemed capable of being told to use their discretion when it comes to identifying dangerous behaviour (or if they really did deem our behaviour to be dangerous) then they should not be employed to do the job. Either way, Huntingdon should hang its head in shame. I've included a photograph of our unacceptable behaviour - and also, to end on a more positive note, a photograph which shows that, while Huntingdon's policy seemed to be to make its visitors feel as unwelcome as possible, at least Gus wasn't fazed - just as long as he can come along for the ride, he's happy.
deserted stand, sat down and enjoyed soaking up the rays while drinking our tea - until, that is, a Health and Safety enforcement officer came up and told us that Health and Safety rules prohibited the drinking of tea from paper cups in that area. She eventually wandered off to harrass someone else who was doing the same thing a bit farther along the step, only to be replaced by one of her colleagues who told us even more forcibly that Health and Safety rules prohibited the drinking of tea from paper cups in that area. For f***'s sake! This was absolutely ludicrous. When I asked this second Hitlerette what the danger was, he said that the objection was that, if we spilt some tea, it would make the area slippery and potentially dangerous for anyone who subsequently came along! He didn't see the funny side of my asking whether the whole area would be cordoned off on rainy days, which would be the obvious and logical extension of that line of thinking. Anyway, by the end of this conversation I'd finished my tea so it became academic, but the whole petty incident was just so bloody stupid. We're all agreed that racecourses ought to be making every effort to make people feel welcome, which is after all pretty much the main thrust of the Racing For Change initiative, but Huntingdon clearly hasn't got the message. Obviously there are instances of behaviour which is anti-social, and instances of behaviour which is dangerous - but no one in his right mind could consider what we were doing either anti-social or dangerous. Leaving aside the fact that jumps races were run at Huntingdon today, which are infinitely more dangerous than drinking tea out of paper cups; and leaving aside that, as Chris Cook tweeted this afternoon "Barely room to turn a horse in the winner's enclosure here at Huntingdon. Matter of time before 
someone gets kicked" which suggests that, if Huntingdon ought to be concentrating on eliminating potentially dangerous occurences, the drinking of tea from paper cups should not be at the top of the list - the whole incident, insignificant though it was, was just a classic example of making one's customers feel unwelcome. If the two Health and Safety officers who harrassed us are not deemed capable of being told to use their discretion when it comes to identifying dangerous behaviour (or if they really did deem our behaviour to be dangerous) then they should not be employed to do the job. Either way, Huntingdon should hang its head in shame. I've included a photograph of our unacceptable behaviour - and also, to end on a more positive note, a photograph which shows that, while Huntingdon's policy seemed to be to make its visitors feel as unwelcome as possible, at least Gus wasn't fazed - just as long as he can come along for the ride, he's happy.
1 comment:
I have been similarly harrassed for eating a pasty on the steps of the grandstand at Huntingdon but I sneaked back round under cover and managed to munch it safely and illegally.
THe parade ring at Huntingdon plus winners enclosure is hopeless now. Theres a sort of wooden bus shelter which obscures the view of runners and they don't walk round the little chicane by the bus stop.
The old winners enclosure was great.Huntingdon aren't the only culprits, in another customer service incident I've had a bottle of water for my daughter (then a toddler) confiscated at Bath one evening by the Northern Racing police.
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