Equinties - Ascot on the ice (b)rink

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Gm Equinauts 

Riiiiight, things to talk about, things to talk about... well, this vid has been doing the rounds on racing twitter:

Imagine loving racing so much (and having the piggy bank, obviously) you make having a baby with you partner about fucking horse racing lol. Guy needs therapy but tbf I rate it a lot. 

Anyone else do some digging to find out if it was a genuine horse race? I mean,  the AW is that bent...

Talking of which, the jumps need to come back asap. The AW sucks and is as bent as that 'gender reveal' race. I haven't had a bet for days, I'm literally shaking...with excitement, not addiction, defo not addiction.

On a serious note, I think the only edge in AW racing is info and that's really not a lot of betting boxes ticked compared to something like a 2m NH race in the slop where not all horses will stay, try, jump well enough etc. Just a view, not my bag but if over the last few days you've found you've been giving bank back on the AW, it's because you don't have the connections to make it pay. Leave it.

Now, let's dive in.

Headline Roundup

No place for missed days 

The BHA announced on Monday that the recent cancelled fixtures are set to not be rescheduled despite Ireland’s choice to re-stage Sunday’s Punchestown card for later this month.

The Grade 2 International Hurdle, Grade 2 December Novices’ Chase, Summit Juvenile Hurdle, and December Gold Cup will not be rearranged for another day due to the potential impact on existing races in the current programme. 

Thinking logically, this could actually be a fortunate move by the BHA. 

Horses like EPATANTE, NUSRET, and GENTLEMAN AT ARMS will be forced to find a race elsewhere that wasn't previously on their radar, potentially bolstering the field sizes and competitiveness of the races (which is apparently what people want... I don't, I want the best chance to win a bet and that means less runners. For me 5 or 6 runner fields is perfect but then again I'm not your typical racing enthusiast).

Anyway, if over the next few weeks we see this happen, then it'll be glaringly obvious the BHA needs a reduced racing calendar. We don’t want to sound like Kevin Blake (yuk) but it's not fucking rocket science. 

More: 

A festive John Durkan

Contrary to what we were just saying in the above, Sunday’s cancelled John Durkan meeting at Punchestown has been rescheduled for Monday, December 19th, HRI confirmed on Monday.

The feature Grade 1 2m4f contest was set to see the return of GALOPIN DES CHAMPS and FAKIR D’OUDAIRIES, but as did most meetings across Britain and Ireland this weekend, the day was abandoned due to weather conditions.

Fresh entries for the day, which includes a Listed Mares’ Hurdle and a nice beginners chase that APPRECIATE IT was originally declared for, are set to close on Wednesday at 10am.

More: 

DundAWKWARD 

Adding to the woes of this week, Dundalk’s Monday afternoon meet was forced into abandonment after one race due to heavy fog. 

Ciaran Murphy’s LA TULIPE NOIRE won the opening race of the day at 14/1, however, jockey Declan McDonogh told Racing TV that “it’s very hard to see here” and the meeting was shortly called off. 

“Lads were giving out that they didn’t see much,” he continued. “They couldn’t see anything. I was in front most of the way but the boys in behind couldn’t see a thing. It wasn’t great”. 

More: 

AllaNO GO? (I think this works)

Is there a chance that the two-time Ryanair successor could be out for longer than expected? 

This could turn into nothing, but both Paddy Power and Betfair have pushed ALLAHO’s price out to 2/1 on their sportsbook, whereas Sky Bet are still firm at 6/4 and the Betfair Exchange is still at 2.76.

This comes just a month after the eight-year-old was ruled out of this year’s King George at Kempton by his trainer Willie Mullins. 

Bearish or bullish from the bookmakers - what do you make of it?

AscON or AscOFF? (Okay, this doesn't work)

This weekend’s Grade 1 Long Walk Hurdle meeting at Ascot is under pressure as snow and freezing temperatures continue to plague British Racing. 

Frost covers have been on since last week but areas of the course are still frozen, giving the two-day event a high possibility of not going ahead. 

The racecourse has ruled out a potential switch of days to Sunday in order to race in higher temperatures, an interesting decision from the track. Bastards. Bastards. 

That said, there'll be many reasons why they can't just shift it all to Sunday, namely ROI. Ascot needs to be careful with their purse strings , I've checked last year's financials. Ouch. 

A spokesperson said: "It's possible the temperature may not drop quite so low on Friday night through to Saturday morning and we are doing all we can to give the meeting every possible chance. The next 24 to 48 hours will tell us more."

Another victim:

The clerk of the course for Haydock, Kirkland Tellwright, is “not hopeful” for their Saturday racing either.

THIS WEATHER IS BEAUTIFUL AND SO CHRISTMASSY BUT EQUALLY FUCKING BULLSHIT!

More: 

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