I was expecting to see lots of comments re the cancellation on Sunday. I appreciate it must be a very difficult situation for the clerk of the course and the stewards and am not criticising but the final decision being taken so late was very disappointing, especially as I had overheard a number of people saying that it would go ahead but with some fences omitted. As a layman, I walked the course and was surprised at how good the ground felt. What was the actual problem?
Three quarters of the track was fine. The problem, from our perspective, was that the back straight which doesn't get much of the sun had frost in places.
I am sure that the right decision was made - just a shame that it could not have been earlier when I am sure it was obvious that the frost was not going to come out down the back straight in time - no sun and still very cold. But easy to make the comment in hindsight. A worse decision is to move the date to the 6th. March when the following week is Cottenham - a similar track. At least by having the meeting on 28th. Feb. it would have given a 2 week gap. The entries already low - fields could be extremely small. Does somebody else see the sense in that ?
We too were disappointed by the cancellation and so late in the day all things considered! The reschedule is pointless as far as we are concerned. Will just be another poor turnout. Why not cut losses and concentrate on a really good Easter Meet!
Sorry Granta but you have it totally wrong in organising your meeting, All rearranged meetings are poorly attended and the racing is always poor. I understand you need your PtP but all this does is prove we have too many meetings in East Anglia. It is time that we really study why our region has several poor meetings, the answer iis simple but no one wants to face up to the reality.We start too early and have too maany meetings. Hunts tha have two meetings are helping to destroy a great sport. These comments are posted for discussion but lets not close our eyes to the obvious.
Totally agree with this comment. The whole schedule needs to be reassessed! Too many times these meetings been cancelled due to frozen ground and not just this year. Surely it is obvious that the meetings need to be run later. Having them so early is not doing anyone any favours....despondent followers will soon look to other meetings to give their support!
Following on from previous comments re Sundays cancellation. When a meeting is rearranged why can't the races be reopened? This would give owners & trainers a chance to either withdraw their original entries or add further entries. This would then hopefully lead to less none runners/duplicate entries & better racing! As for changing the schedule, starting early brings runners from the South East & Midlands areas whose programmes start later. If the EA schedule starts later, the entries will be poor, as happens when all areas start racing. Also finishing later in the season can mean rock hard ground, again a shortage of runners! This seasons weather has caused chaos to racing all over the country, moving meetings back to May will not help if we have a drought as very few courses have adequate watering available. Reducing the number of meetings in EA sounds fine but which Hunts would be prepared to give up or share a meeting?
Having been at Higham on Sunday. It would be surprising if even the rearranged Granta meeting did not ( weather permitting ) attract a larger crowd than were there when racing was called off on Sunday. The miserable morning weather and the doubts over racing taking place meant it was a very small crowd. Good Luck to Meg and her team on the 6th March. P.S. Any chance of the Area Championships being put on the website
-- Edited by s r payne on Friday 26th of February 2010 09:00:50 PM
Good luck to all who venture out to Higham on Saturday - Personally living 3 miles from the course have doubts over the gong - still very frosty every morning with frozen ground. No doubt the Clerk of the Course will up date soon.
I don't think running meetings later would be a good idea. The weather this year has been unusually bad but in general the earlier meetings attract larger entries and and better racing whereas later meetings are often cancelled or have very sparse entries due to the dry, hard ground. Just have to hope for better weather next season.
