New racetracks get laid about as often as new train tracks in this country, dear reader (said the author with admirable restraint, avoiding the obvious 40 year old virgin gag).
And, based on the delays to opening Great Leighs, they are about as punctual as our dearly beloved ‘rattlers’.
So it was with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation that I headed out east into the depths of Essex to see what all the fuss has been about…
Now, although Great Leighs (GL hereafter, to save my blistered digits) has opened for racing, it is not yet open to the public: yesterday was the first of six ‘test days’ to ensure the infrastructure and logistics can handle the expected East of England throng in due course.
I was lucky enough to be one of the invited few, by dint of the fact that my share in a beastie, Rapid City, was taking its chance (alongside all the other shares in the same horse, mercifully - it would not have been good if just a leg and his tail showed up, which is about the degree of my ownership!)
I got there late. I thought I might. But I didn’t realise just how deep into Essex countryside GL is. The sane way from the metropolis (should you be a fellow capital dweller) is on the previously cursed rattler out of Liverpool St. 45 minutes from there is a lot better than about an hour and a half by car.
That said, when you get to Braintree or Chelmsford, the nearest stations, you will have to conjure a taxi or hope that the hopper bus to the track has waited for you. I’m sure that, come the opening race day (on 28th May), all will be tickety-boo in this regard.
So what of the track itself? Well, blimey… It’s really quite a sight. In fact, it’s a mightily impressive site. And I think ’site’ is still the operative word, as this picture suggests…
But credit where credit is due: after a wait of eighteen months beyond the originally scheduled debut meeting (yes, they should have been racing since October 2006!), and even given the fact that there is a temporary grandstand, and just a pile of scaffolding where the permanent counterpart will come to rest, the racing was both competitive and well received.
My main interest, aside from the course itself, was to see how the equine apple of my eye, Rapid City, would cope in a true run race after the preposterous dawdle at Kempton last time out.
As it turned out, I’m still not sure, as the pace was no more than steady. That said, Rapid cruised through the race, and looked like the winner turning in. But, when push came to shove, as it inevitably does, Rapid was outpaced in the last two furlongs, and finished third of the eleven starters.
Nevertheless, he acquitted himself well, and will clearly be suited by a full on end to end gallop. He also provided a return on my - and, judging from the e-mailbag, a number of your - investments at 8/1 (available at 10’s if you were up early on Sunday).
There will be some nice races to pretend we have a chance of winning later in the season, and just a faint possibility that I may need to hire a topper and tails for a June trip to Ascot. OK, so it’s a very faint hope. But that is, after all, why people have their ickle equine interests!
As to whether GL makes the grade, only time will tell. Having been at Kempton recently for a night meeting and wondered if there was actually any racing on (there can’t have been more than a hundred people in the place), I suspect that GL will go one of two ways.
My scepticism is not shared by most other judges - many of whom are far better placed than me to comment on such matters - who reckon that GL’s location in a big untapped conurbation offers huge potential.
I hope they’re right, because I admire the developer’s entrepreneurial spirit and fearlessness in bringing this project together. Good luck to him, and you if you plan to be there on (or before) the 28th May!
One footnote from a punting perspective: there was lots of (idle) chat about best place to be, draw positions etc, which will be nothing but conjecture for at least a month, when a realistic sample of races have been run.
But I can tell you this: it’s a bloody long way home from the turn, and the surface is currently riding soft. It felt like a very deep shag carpet when I strolled across it. It really takes some getting, and there’ll be many done in the shadows of the post I fancy.
Onto despatches, and well done to you if you backed Tom Dascombe’s only runner of the day today, Savile’s Delight continuing the trainer’s almost unbelievable record with a tidy 7/2 win at Windsor tonight.
TFS also rowed in with the 1-2 in the 6.25, Silver Rime (11/4) beating Adversity (5/1), with TFS’ other horse a non-qualifier in the race (because it was 20/1: too big a price), Legislation finishing a close up fourth.
So three runners, one winner at 11/4, a 5/1 second, and an unplaced horse at Pontefract.
Speaking of TFS (as I inevitably always do!), I’ve got a special ‘unadvertised bonus’ for all current TFS guide purchasers, which I’ve just put the finishing touches to, as a way of saying thank you for your custom.
It’s a short(er) guide with the same degree of detail that features in the main TrainerFlatStats guide, but this is for the four all weather tracks (including Kempton, and excluding - obviously, I hope - Great Leighs).
I’ve called it, predictably enough, TrainerSandStats (TSS), and look out for an email from me explaining how you can download your copy.
If you want a copy of TSS, the only way to get it is by ordering the TFS guide from here.
And just to clarify, because I know some of you have seen emails suggesting I’m going to pull the TrainerFlatStats site down soon, well…. that’s true. I’ve really be gobsmacked by the response to TFS (hence the reason I’m giving you all another guide that I could have sold for £27 or thereabouts).
I am planning to leave the page up until next weekend, and then its coming down. This is obviously not marketing speak (you’ve already witnessed first hand my dodgy attempts at this, so you know I’m not telling porkies!).
As they say at Tesco’s, when its gone its gone!
Right, that reminds me, time for my weekly food shop…
Matt