What does it mean to be ‘warned off’?

If an individual is charged with a serious breach of the Rules of Racing, including, but not limited to, corruption, improper use of ‘inside’ information or administering a prohibitive substance, he or she is required to appear before the Disciplinary Panel of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA). After a fair, impartial hearing, the Disciplinary Panel decides if there has been a breach of the Rules of Racing and, if so, on an appropriate punishment.

If the charged individual is ‘warned off’, they are excluded from any premises licensed by the BHA, including racecourses and training establishments, and restricted from associating with other licensed or registered persons, including jockeys, trainers and owners, for a length of time stipulated by the Disciplinary Panel. In the most famous case in recent years, in May, 2013, former Godolphin trainer Mahmood Al Zarooni was warned off for eight years, with immediate effect, after admitting administering prohibited anabolic steroids to several horses in his care and acting in a manner prejudicial to the good reputation of horse racing.

Which are the highest and lowest racecourses in Britain?

Interestingly, the highest racecourses in Britain are well-publicised, but less so, or so it would appear, are the lowest. The highest racecourse in the country is, unequivocally, Exeter Racecourse, which stands 850 feet above sea level in the Haldon Hills, near the city of Exeter, in Devon, in southwest England. The second highest is Hexham Racecourse, which is situated in High Yarridge, 600 feet above the market town of Hexham, and 800 feet above sea level, in Northumberland, in northeast England. Both Exeter and Hexham exclusively stage National Hunt racing, so the honour of being the highest racecourse in the country to Flat racing goes to Bath Racecourse, which is set on the Lansdown Plateau, 780 feet above sea level, in Somerset, in southwest England.

Worcester Racecourse, in Worcester, the county town of Worcestershire, in the West Midlands of England, lies in the floodplain of the River Severn and appeared a likely candidate for the lowest racecourse in Britain, granted the frequency with which it is flooded. However, according to Ordnance Survey, Worcester Racecourse stands at an elevation of 66 feet above sea level or more than twice that of two racecourses in East Anglia, in eastern England.

Again according to Ordnance Survey, the lowest point, geographically, is Holme Fen in Cambridgeshire, which stands at an elevation of 9 feet below sea level. Huntingdon Racecourse, which is situated just under 15 miles south of Holme Fen, in the low-lying parish of Brampton, has an elevation of just 33 feet above sea level and so, too, does Great Yarmouth Racecourse, situated just over a hundred miles east of Holme Fen on the coast of Norfolk.

How can I tell if a horse is suited by soft going?

The safest way to tell if a horse is suited by soft going is to inspect its recent form. If a horse has won one or more races, or at least finished close up – inside, or maybe even just outside, the places – on soft or heavy going, it is probably safe to assume that similar underfoot conditions will pose it no problem.

However, if the horse in unraced, or has never run on soft going, the formbook may be of little or no use, but analysing the pedigree of the horse in question may provide some clues regarding its likely going preferences. The progeny, or offspring, of certain sires show definite liking for one type of going or another.

Beyond that, you really need to see the horse, preferably in motion, to assess its conformation, or physique, and its action, or manner of moving. There are no hard and fast rules, but horses with sloping, rather than upright, shoulder joints and longer pasterns – parts of the feet, between the fetlocks and hooves – may be more effective on soft going. They tend to have a higher, more rounded knee action when galloping and their feet hit the ground hard. Similarly, horses with larger ‘dinner plate’ hooves often fare best when the going becomes testing.

When was the photo-finish introduced to horse racing?

photo finishNowadays, the photo-finish is an indispensable part of horse racing but, just over a century ago, the result of horse races was called by a judge who stood at the finish line. Many observers, including pioneering English photographer Eadweard Muybridge, noted the needed for the assistance of photography in horse racing and other sports. Indeed, in 1878, Muybridge had invented and demonstrated a means of photographing a horse in motion, but, according to Scientific American, the first documented use of a photo-finish in a horse race was in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1881. However, the original horizontal shutter often favoured a horse on the outside of the track and that problem was not solved until the invention of the so-called ‘strip camera’ by Lorenzo del Riccio in 1937. In Britain, the photo-finish was introduced by the Race Finish Recording Company, which now trades as RaceTech, in 1947, following a feasibility study by the Jockey Club.

1 … 162 163 164 165 166 … 173