Saturday Afternoons - Flat V Jumps

[mowgli77]

I think this was mentioned in the Weekender last Wednesday but throughout the jumps season there seems to be a top class race to get excited about every weekend. We've just had the PP Gold Cup and then straight away we have the Haydock Chase, quickly followed by the Hennessy and the Tingle Creek and then in december we have the King George. When it's the flat season the top class races seem to be few and far between, many aimed specifically at the classics or Royal Ascot but we don't always get a quality top class race every weekend. Do you think the flat would be more exciting if Saturday afternoons saw more top class races or do you prefer it as it is? We often have so many good races through the week such as the Dante meeting, the Ebor meeting, Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood etc. Would top class races be better spread out over the season or would it not suit the flat calendar? I'd also like to see some decent Sunday cards. They seem to have group races every weekend in France yet we are often left with class 5 and class 6 trash. Enjoying the start of the jumps season and will probably miss a few of the away games at footy now and opt for the racing instead. :ok

[TheRat]

Re: Saturday Afternoons - Flat V Jumps There is usually top action most Sundays in Ireland though. I know that isn't much good if you don't live there for going but still. I think sometimes punters ignore the Irish stuff, but on a Sunday it is usually worth watching, plus plenty of other days of course! The thing with the jumps is you have 2 disciplines in Hurdles and Chases and similar amount if different distances too so I think there is more scope for bigger races on the Saturdays. Even so, during the flat season there is always a big race on a Saturday whever it be a group race or a big handicap. As you point out there are more 'festivals' during the flat season with loads of top races over several days where as everything really is leading to March for the jumps and as a result one off big races are easy to spread over the calender.