henry30 37 Report post Posted October 18, 2020 Watched the race and saw the idiot on the track but did anyone else spot the stray golf ball almost hit the horses and riders on the first round. About 2min13sec into the race...could have been a bloody disaster. Maximus 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gruff 2,790 Report post Posted October 18, 2020 How the course could be open to play during the steeples races is beyond belief, absolute Dickhead Dissident 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crow 228 Report post Posted October 19, 2020 17 hours ago, henry30 said: Watched the race and saw the idiot on the track but did anyone else spot the stray golf ball almost hit the horses and riders on the first round. About 2min13sec into the race...could have been a bloody disaster. If you watch the race closely on the first round through there and you will see, as they get to big screen, you will see the golf ball bouncing on the track so in fact the dickhead had hit the ball as the horse were going past. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Rum 1,833 Report post Posted October 19, 2020 31 minutes ago, Crow said: If you watch the race closely on the first round through there and you will see, as they get to big screen, you will see the golf ball bouncing on the track so in fact the dickhead had hit the ball as the horse were going past. I am not an expert on horses hooves smacking down on a golf ball but my gut instinct is it might be not good if unlucky , must be something in it as Sandown in UK have a small team walk around track pre meeting to check if a stray ball has gone on course and it appears a sensible thing to do , I've never seen anyone playing during the meeting , it seems madness it's allowed . Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stodge 1,940 Report post Posted October 19, 2020 17 hours ago, Red Rum said: I am not an expert on horses hooves smacking down on a golf ball but my gut instinct is it might be not good if unlucky , must be something in it as Sandown in UK have a small team walk around track pre meeting to check if a stray ball has gone on course and it appears a sensible thing to do , I've never seen anyone playing during the meeting , it seems madness it's allowed . I don't believe they allow the golf to happen at Sandown during a race meeting but you're right - they do check for any stray golf balls down the far side. I've seen golfers at one or two venues during races in Ireland. I watched the Great Northern - like the reference to the Everest from the commentator - and delighted to see horses, jockeys and golfers all coming home unscathed. I find that Ellerslie track curious - the hill is steeper than anything you'll find on a UK track and I like how the double isn't jumped on the first circuit but it is on the second. it'd be nice to have a few more runners. One final thing... Starting stalls - for a 6400m steeplechase - seriously?? Red Rum 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Rum 1,833 Report post Posted October 19, 2020 25 minutes ago, stodge said: I don't believe they allow the golf to happen at Sandown during a race meeting but you're right - they do check for any stray golf balls down the far side. I've seen golfers at one or two venues during races in Ireland. I watched the Great Northern - like the reference to the Everest from the commentator - and delighted to see horses, jockeys and golfers all coming home unscathed. I find that Ellerslie track curious - the hill is steeper than anything you'll find on a UK track and I like how the double isn't jumped on the first circuit but it is on the second. it'd be nice to have a few more runners. One final thing... Starting stalls - for a 6400m steeplechase - seriously?? Took me a while to get my head round it over the sticks , is the inside draw an advantage from the 6400 start , will have to check the draw bias stats ? . Been Sandown more times than I remember , never seen golf played during a meeting , never crossed my mind it would ever be allowed . Sadly they didn't all come home unscathed , Perry Mason was euthanased . Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tasman man 11 979 Report post Posted October 22, 2020 On 10/20/2020 at 9:48 AM, stodge said: I don't believe they allow the golf to happen at Sandown during a race meeting but you're right - they do check for any stray golf balls down the far side. I've seen golfers at one or two venues during races in Ireland. I watched the Great Northern - like the reference to the Everest from the commentator - and delighted to see horses, jockeys and golfers all coming home unscathed. I find that Ellerslie track curious - the hill is steeper than anything you'll find on a UK track and I like how the double isn't jumped on the first circuit but it is on the second. it'd be nice to have a few more runners. One final thing... Starting stalls - for a 6400m steeplechase - seriously?? Jumping races have been struggling for numbers for a few years now ,but they tried to keep stakes OK to keep it going as Kiwis bet little on them and often small fields. Of course Covid made things worse this year and South Island was ruled out completely....no Grand National. But once we got into October the tracks firmed and the race held on firmer ground than usual. The time of 7min 42 one of fastest ever , with only 10 of last 60 years going under 8 mins. Probably contributed to carnage. Odd to see the 4 x casualties too as fallers rare in the great race......this year there seemed to be a faster pace earlier and a couple faltered on first round at water jump and 3 x went out 2 x jumps later. The race is great to watch , the sheer resilience of horse and rider tested beyond anything else in NZ......three times over the hill....about 6400m or 4 miles. Flag starts in NZ are rare. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stodge 1,940 Report post Posted October 22, 2020 7 hours ago, tasman man 11 said: Jumping races have been struggling for numbers for a few years now ,but they tried to keep stakes OK to keep it going as Kiwis bet little on them and often small fields. Of course Covid made things worse this year and South Island was ruled out completely....no Grand National. But once we got into October the tracks firmed and the race held on firmer ground than usual. The time of 7min 42 one of fastest ever , with only 10 of last 60 years going under 8 mins. Probably contributed to carnage. Odd to see the 4 x casualties too as fallers rare in the great race......this year there seemed to be a faster pace earlier and a couple faltered on first round at water jump and 3 x went out 2 x jumps later. The race is great to watch , the sheer resilience of horse and rider tested beyond anything else in NZ......three times over the hill....about 6400m or 4 miles. Flag starts in NZ are rare. I don't know why jumping is such a poor relation in NZ - you have everything to be a huge player. I'd have thought in June and July the ground would be ideal for jumpers. Over here, we get jumpers as late 3-y-o (in France they are jumping fences as 3-y-o) so the first juvenile hurdles are in August and September. The 3-y-o become 4-y-o on January 1st and have the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham as their championship race. Increasingly, we see young French-bred types jumping fences as 4-y-o and they get a big weight concession from the older horses. The best novice hurdlers are the Flat-bred horses who go 2000m on the grass - the slower tempo of jump races allows them to see out 3200m and on decent ground many thrive on the jumps game. The other way in is through Bumpers - National Hunt Flat races which are run from 2400m to 3200m for the 3-y-o and 4-y-o who never ran on the flat and gives them some racing experience without the jumping. Treat, Pam Robson and Aaron Bidlake 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scanman 38 Report post Posted October 23, 2020 Check out this video from Sandow Park (UK). Guess the grounds crew miss that one. The video is halfway down in the article: https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2016/09/09/golf-ball-interrupts-horse-race-hits-jockey-in-helmet/ . Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam Robson 1,547 Report post Posted October 23, 2020 11 hours ago, stodge said: I don't know why jumping is such a poor relation in NZ - you have everything to be a huge player. I'd have thought in June and July the ground would be ideal for jumpers. Over here, we get jumpers as late 3-y-o (in France they are jumping fences as 3-y-o) so the first juvenile hurdles are in August and September. The 3-y-o become 4-y-o on January 1st and have the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham as their championship race. Increasingly, we see young French-bred types jumping fences as 4-y-o and they get a big weight concession from the older horses. The best novice hurdlers are the Flat-bred horses who go 2000m on the grass - the slower tempo of jump races allows them to see out 3200m and on decent ground many thrive on the jumps game. The other way in is through Bumpers - National Hunt Flat races which are run from 2400m to 3200m for the 3-y-o and 4-y-o who never ran on the flat and gives them some racing experience without the jumping. If only..... Treat 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gruff 2,790 Report post Posted October 23, 2020 On 10/22/2020 at 10:40 PM, tasman man 11 said: Jumping races have been struggling for numbers for a few years now ,but they tried to keep stakes OK to keep it going as Kiwis bet little on them and often small fields. Of course Covid made things worse this year and South Island was ruled out completely....no Grand National. But once we got into October the tracks firmed and the race held on firmer ground than usual. The time of 7min 42 one of fastest ever , with only 10 of last 60 years going under 8 mins. Probably contributed to carnage. Odd to see the 4 x casualties too as fallers rare in the great race......this year there seemed to be a faster pace earlier and a couple faltered on first round at water jump and 3 x went out 2 x jumps later. The race is great to watch , the sheer resilience of horse and rider tested beyond anything else in NZ......three times over the hill....about 6400m or 4 miles. Flag starts in NZ are rare. What Covid? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...