1000 Guineas
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andyfuller
- Posts: 4619
- Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:23 pm
I thought Lydia and RUK were an utter disgrace in their coverage of the incident.
Lydia loves to moan but give no solutions. If you compared the coverage of the incident between RUK and Channel 4 it was different gravy.
The difference? Hands on horse experience.
John Francome knew what was happening and explained it very well - Lydia stood their ranting that someone should be explaining what is likely to be happening....how about you do it as it is your job?
As for the horse staying relaxed, because it was frozen in place, that just shows how little she knows about actually working with horses!
Why don't these presenters go out and get hands on experience, do their NVQ's, go work in yards and studs. They would improve their presenting quality massively!
Rant over
Lydia loves to moan but give no solutions. If you compared the coverage of the incident between RUK and Channel 4 it was different gravy.
The difference? Hands on horse experience.
John Francome knew what was happening and explained it very well - Lydia stood their ranting that someone should be explaining what is likely to be happening....how about you do it as it is your job?
As for the horse staying relaxed, because it was frozen in place, that just shows how little she knows about actually working with horses!
Why don't these presenters go out and get hands on experience, do their NVQ's, go work in yards and studs. They would improve their presenting quality massively!
Rant over
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superfrank
- Posts: 2762
- Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2009 8:28 pm
i think Lydia is one of the better presenters and very articulate. yeah she did come across a bit self-righteous when moaning about the bha/course but she had a point.
all it required was an announcement to say that that the horse had been hurt at the start and was being attended to and that there would be a delay.
we often see horses trying to get under the stalls - just an idea but if the gates a little longer, so that the gap at the bottom was smaller, maybe horses wouldn't try to get under?
all it required was an announcement to say that that the horse had been hurt at the start and was being attended to and that there would be a delay.
we often see horses trying to get under the stalls - just an idea but if the gates a little longer, so that the gap at the bottom was smaller, maybe horses wouldn't try to get under?
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andyfuller
- Posts: 4619
- Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:23 pm
I agreed with her that an announcement should have been made on course. Much like you suggest but she seemed to me to be indicating that they should be explaining what would likely to be happening over the PA as well.superfrank wrote:all it required was an announcement to say that that the horse had been hurt at the start and was being attended to and that there would be a delay.
we often see horses trying to get under the stalls - just an idea but if the gates a little longer, so that the gap at the bottom was smaller, maybe horses wouldn't try to get under?
Problem with the stalls is that if it were much longer the handlers would probably struggle to get out the front. They have those flaps to try and create the impression of a longer stall door.
One solution, but expensive would be to go down the route of the Americans where each horse has its own handler that stays in the stall.
But who pays for it?
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superfrank
- Posts: 2762
- Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2009 8:28 pm
i agree that would be too expensive.
out of interest, in French and US races i always just see horses walking in calmly without a care in the world. it's probably just my perception i know, but is it possible there's something about the stalls here that some horses just don't like?
out of interest, in French and US races i always just see horses walking in calmly without a care in the world. it's probably just my perception i know, but is it possible there's something about the stalls here that some horses just don't like?
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andyfuller
- Posts: 4619
- Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:23 pm
I haven't spent any time in France or really watching French racing so can't really comment on there.
In the US things are done very differently. Firstly the horses live and work at the track that they are racing at usually. So they are already used to the place. They are ponied to the start and then handed straight to a handler that stays with them until they are released from the stalls. They go straight in the stalls once they get to the start, no 5 minutes of hanging around.
In the UK they only go to the track to race, canter down on their own and then get picked up by a handler, put in the stalls and left.
I think form memory the US stalls are wider than UK stalls.
Also in the US is a horse misbehaves loading, they long whip is soon out and a crack given around the back legs - they are much less forgiving over there. I don't recall a horse 'refusing to load' in all the races I have watched.
In Oz things are very different again, horses from memory have to pass a barrier test before they are allowed to enter a trial which they must complete before going in a race. (It has been a while since I was working in Oz so that may not be 100% accurate but isn't far from it).
In the UK there is no need for a stalls test unless persistent bad behaviour at the stalls happens. Many trainers have stalls at home and say walk their horses through them on the way out and back from the gallops. Many other trainers though don't have them to practice with.
In the US things are done very differently. Firstly the horses live and work at the track that they are racing at usually. So they are already used to the place. They are ponied to the start and then handed straight to a handler that stays with them until they are released from the stalls. They go straight in the stalls once they get to the start, no 5 minutes of hanging around.
In the UK they only go to the track to race, canter down on their own and then get picked up by a handler, put in the stalls and left.
I think form memory the US stalls are wider than UK stalls.
Also in the US is a horse misbehaves loading, they long whip is soon out and a crack given around the back legs - they are much less forgiving over there. I don't recall a horse 'refusing to load' in all the races I have watched.
In Oz things are very different again, horses from memory have to pass a barrier test before they are allowed to enter a trial which they must complete before going in a race. (It has been a while since I was working in Oz so that may not be 100% accurate but isn't far from it).
In the UK there is no need for a stalls test unless persistent bad behaviour at the stalls happens. Many trainers have stalls at home and say walk their horses through them on the way out and back from the gallops. Many other trainers though don't have them to practice with.
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andyfuller
- Posts: 4619
- Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:23 pm
Some other points are that I understand the number of stalls handlers has been cut back due to cost cutting and also I agree with Richard Hoiles recent comments about to much allowance being given to horses that are reluctant to load at the expense of those that load fine.