37 Newcastle AW racing meetings announced!

[BillyHills]

NEWCASTLE has been granted 37 all-weather cards next year after ripping up its turf track, the 2016 fixture list published on Thursday will reveal, as the number of races run on a synthetic surface in Britain rises to its highest level in seven years. Arena Racing Company’s decision to remove Gosforth Park's widely acclaimed surface – the venue will continue to stage jump meetings – was controversial, but the reality of the all-weather era will hit home with the publication of next year’s programme, more than two months earlier than in 2014. The proportion of all-weather racing in Britain is set to increase to its highest level since 2009, with 21.3 per cent of fixtures on artificial surfaces compared to 20.9 per cent this year.

I think we have too many AW fixtures already and although i feel the North did need something to balance things up i just think this is going too far down a slippery path. At this rate we will end up like the States. Many trainers have spoken about the good surface that Newcastle provides and yet no-one could could up with a decent alternative to save it. I don't think those actually involved in the day to day running of racing has a say anymore. Who listens to owners, trainers or jockeys? At the end of the day it will just provide more outlets for bad horses and more events for bookies to make money on, do you think its a good thing or bad thing that the UK seem to be encouraging more AW Racing. Your thoughts?

[Trotter]

I specialised in the all weather racing for several years and it was my most profitable period of betting but even so........there's too damn much of it ! As opposed to most people I don't actually mind it in the summer because it's easy to ignore and more or less just runs alongside the turf flat racing. There's far too much flat racing in the summer anyway so an extra AW meeting is neither here nor there. It's during the winter that I want less of it........I was thinking of going back to it for the coming winter season but I don't want 3 meetings a day ! One meeting a day is really sufficient........if you can't find a bet at a 7 race card then have a day off ! By the way.......I'm speaking solely as a punter who wants a relatively small sub-group of the horse population to follow and specialise in......winter all weather flat horses ought to be that, a few hundred horses that you can get to know and keep some grasp of the form in your head I'm not really bothered about owners, trainers etc......it seems to me that owners and trainers and jockeys want more opportunities for lower grade horses because inevitably there are a lot more of them than there are good ones. It must be much easier to get owners into your yard if they can buy a horse for 5K and have plenty of races to run it in

[robertob]

It's positive to have a track finally in the north as it seems to be badly needed. That must be a positive move not only for bookies, but particularly for owners and trainers in the north. There are plenty of bad horses in training, and to have enough fixtures to cater for them is fine with me. No one has to bet on them. The problem with those races is the prize money, or the lack of it, which means those races are even less competitive than they could be as only a handful are going to try. But that's a different problem. Personally I'm a fan of the All-Weather. Nonetheless flat racing should be held on turf predominantly. All-Weather is a nice add-on to have, something different, for times when the weather permits racing on turf - for example in Ireland, Dundalk is blessing. That says the more diversity we have in terms of tracks, the better. Newcastle seems to be clearly different to what we already we have. I like that (1m straight). That's the strengths and beauty of British racing. However does this mean we need more AW fixtures? No, I don't think so. We have enough. Instead of diluting the fixture list, why not distribute those already existing AW fixtures fairly among the tracks? Yes, that may mean less fixtures for the Lingfields and Wolverhamptons than what they have now, but it would keep the balance of the fixture list. The more AW racing you introduce, the more it will take away the focus from turf. That's what I am concerned about, saying that as an AW fan.