This weekend marks the start of the autumn Jumps calendar, with the advent of the first Pattern event of the season, and a quality card over two days at Chepstow. Yet what an anticlimax it will feel. Despite everyone's best intentions to keep the good ship racing rolling forward, it's hard to feel any satisfaction in a sport that has been denied much of its joie de vivre through the prevention of crowds.
Chepstow normally marks the time when the leading yeards flex their muscles for the first time. Messrs Hobbs, Nicholls, King and Henderson have not exactly been idle this past month or so, but they're happy to bide their time waiting for the bigger races that punctuate every Saturday from now until the end of April. Now they will come into their own.
By all accounts, the top Jumps yards remain as full as ever, where the persuasive talents of our foremost trainers in retaining their owners and persuading them to re-invest in fresh stock have been amply illustrated in these tricky times. Yet you would have to be either deaf or insensitive not to wonder whether owners' enthusiasm might wane somewhat without the cheers from a supportive crowd that bring the craic of racing to life.
The Point-to-Point community is staunchly behind our professional counterparts. The early season fixture list is stronger than ever, with fixtures nearly every weekend between October 24 and New Year. This will stimulate early competition no end, in what will largely amount to a private racing club. Only the innovative Devon & Cornwall fixtures will broadcast their races for external consumption. These pre-Chjristmas events include the Barbiruy International, which status is unlikely to include much in the way of international competition due to travel constraints.
There have been casualties however among courses for whom racing without spectators is either contrary to the spirit of the sport, or financially unviable. Let us hope the likes of Cottenham are able to return in autumn 2021.
Sales by Goffs next month and some weeks later by Tattersalls, will gauge the strength of appetite from owners to buy fresh young stock for the amateur division. It's a testing time for everyone, with fixture organisers having to rebase their financial modelling around a new set of priorities, but with determination to see our sport maintained.
The same processes are underway on professional racecourses, where the spectre of redundancies has raised its head for those directly involved in generating spectator revenue. Several larger racecourses have already sadly shed staff now ther furlough scheme is drawing to a close.
One new aspect to our sport will test those unused to planning in advance. When spectators are finally permitted to attend some time hence, all will be required to book in advance. Keep visiting this web site to find out when that moment arrives and how you do so.
Meantime, good luck to all those competing. May you enjoy an exciting season ahead. Stand by for a season that will ber remarkable for all sorts of reasons.
This weekend marks the start of the autumn Jumps calendar, with the advent of the first Pattern event of the season, and a quality card over two days at Chepstow. Yet what an anticlimax it will feel. Despite everyone's best intentions to keep the good ship racing rolling forward, it's hard to feel any satisfaction in a sport that has been denied much of its joie de vivre through the prevention of crowds.
Chepstow normally marks the time when the leading yeards flex their muscles for the first time. Messrs Hobbs, Nicholls, King and Henderson have not exactly been idle this past month or so, but they're happy to bide their time waiting for the bigger races that punctuate every Saturday from now until the end of April. Now they will come into their own.
By all accounts, the top Jumps yards remain as full as ever, where the persuasive talents of our foremost trainers in retaining their owners and persuading them to re-invest in fresh stock have been amply illustrated in these tricky times. Yet you would have to be either deaf or insensitive not to wonder whether owners' enthusiasm might wane somewhat without the cheers from a supportive crowd that bring the craic of racing to life.
The Point-to-Point community is staunchly behind our professional counterparts. The early season fixture list is stronger than ever, with fixtures nearly every weekend between October 24 and New Year. This will stimulate early competition no end, in what will largely amount to a private racing club. Only the innovative Devon & Cornwall fixtures will broadcast their races for external consumption. These pre-Chjristmas events include the Barbiruy International, which status is unlikely to include much in the way of international competition due to travel constraints.
There have been casualties however among courses for whom racing without spectators is either contrary to the spirit of the sport, or financially unviable. Let us hope the likes of Cottenham are able to return in autumn 2021.
Sales by Goffs next month and some weeks later by Tattersalls, will gauge the strength of appetite from owners to buy fresh young stock for the amateur division. It's a testing time for everyone, with fixture organisers having to rebase their financial modelling around a new set of priorities, but with determination to see our sport maintained.
The same processes are underway on professional racecourses, where the spectre of redundancies has raised its head for those directly involved in generating spectator revenue. Several larger racecourses have already sadly shed staff now ther furlough scheme is drawing to a close.
One new aspect to our sport will test those unused to planning in advance. When spectators are finally permitted to attend some time hence, all will be required to book in advance. Keep visiting this web site to find out when that moment arrives and how you do so.
Meantime, good luck to all those competing. May you enjoy an exciting season ahead. Stand by for a season that will ber remarkable for all sorts of reasons.
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