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Thread: Weekend weather

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    Senior Member Desert Orchid's Avatar
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    Weekend weather

    Some decent stuff due this weekend at Sandown, Musselburgh and Leopardstown.

    Any chance of the weather hitting any of the cards?

    The BBC made it look like the Sandown area might be affected by snow this week.

    I think it might be snowing at Musselburgh today and it's supposed to come and go for the rest of the week.
    Illegitimi non carborundum


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    Leopardstown;
    Press Release as of 29-Jan-19 at 09:27 Issued by Racecourse... The going is currently good to yielding (hurdle/bumper course) and good (chase course). Rain clearing this morning to give a mostly dry day. Remaining cold and dry for remainder of today and tomorrow. Rain, sleet and possibly snow moving across the county on Thursday. Clearing on Thursday evening and remaining cold and mostly dry for Friday and the weekend.
    The older I get the better I was.

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    It's rare I'd say there's too much racing but selfishly ignoring the impact it will have on yards, from a viewing/punting perspective it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if Sandown were to be called off.

    I've little interest in seeing Buveur D'air hack round at 1/16 again in the Contenders and there's plenty of top quality racing at the DRF and Musselbrough this weekend.
    Last edited by wilsonl; 29th January 2019 at 11:59 AM.
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    Weekend weather

    Disagree. It would be a shame if we lost the Scilly Isles chase and a couple of the other Sandown races look decent also


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    Last edited by viking; 29th January 2019 at 12:00 PM.

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    The movement to a single weekend for the DRF has the impact that bad weather could seriously impact on attendance. If they had the meeting spread out over 2 or 3 Sundays they would at least have the risk reduced somewhat.

    Obviously even moreso if the track was unraceable

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    They tried that for years but crowds kept falling except for Gold Cup day.
    Festival has to be in the name for people to attend bar Thyestes day .
    Was hurdle or chase delayed for a day or two before ? I have memory of a mid week hurdle or chase but was not there.

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    Hurdle day was postponed in 1991 due to high winds iirc.

    Carvills Hill shouldered 12-2 in heavy ground to win the rescheduled Leopardstown Chase on the same card the following week.
    He then got turned over 7 days later in the Irish Gold Cup by Nick The Brief.

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    The Sweeps/Ladbroke/Pierse hurdle card was always a top class betting heat, and well attended until recent years.

    The 4yo bumper at the end of the card was also a fierce betting heat prior to the advent of 4yo points. Ned Kelly, Beechcourt and Kicking King all memorable winners.

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    Senior Member Tout Seul's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by redundant pal View Post
    The Sweeps/Ladbroke/Pierse hurdle card was always a top class betting heat, and well attended until recent years.

    The 4yo bumper at the end of the card was also a fierce betting heat prior to the advent of 4yo points. Ned Kelly, Beechcourt and Kicking King all memorable winners.
    Mentioning the Sweeps you reminded of my childhood. I often heard about the Irish Sweeps Hurdle on whatever radio station my parents listened to in the evenings, Iirc there were several films in black and white that referenced having a ticket for the Sweeps and the winning ticket numbers were announced on National radio. I have the impression, possibly from the films, that the Sweeps was big in the US.
    Was it akin to the Grand National in the general public attention it got and what happened to stop it being so publicised?

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    The Irish Hospitals Sweepstakes used to be a big deal. At a time when lotteries were illegal in the US and UK, the Sweep had big sales in both countries. There used to be four sweeps a year, I think, based on the Grand National, Irish Derby, Cambridgeshire and Sweeps Hurdle at Leopardstown. Nurses in starched uniforms would draw the winning tickets. To be in contention for one one the big prizes you had to draw a horse in the race and the size of prize you won depended on where it finished. A market developed where people in contention for a big prize would sell their ticket before the race to bookmakers like Terry Rogers or Sean Graham in order to have a guaranteed return, rather like selling your position nowadays on Deal Or No Deal.

    It all died a death in the 70s when sales outside Ireland declined. There was also something of a scandal about how much the people running the Sweep were paying themselves to run it. Joe McGrath was the main man. He was big in racing and Seamus McGrath, trainer of Levmoss, Ballymoss and many other good horses was his son. Pat Eddery started off with him at Glencairn, which was down the road from Leopardstown. The Joe McGrath Stakes was a Gr3 race run at Leopardstown which was transferred to Phoenix Park in the early 80s and renamed the Irish Champion Stakes. When that track closed the race returned to Leopardstown.

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    Senior Member Tout Seul's Avatar
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    Thanks Grey.
    A comprehensive and relevant answer with both the factual detail and the additional colour that gives a true sense of what it was/ meant.
    Redundant Pal’s post triggered my memory to the extent that I am now recalling Radio Luxembourg and the Horace Bachelor advert together with the ‘Sing Something Simple ‘ intro. Listened to the radio because even when we got a ‘telly’ it rarely worked unless someone was holding the indoor aerial and then only for a short time before it became a jumble of ‘interference’.
    The good old days were not what they are cracked up to be.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tout Seul View Post
    Thanks Grey.
    A comprehensive and relevant answer with both the factual detail and the additional colour that gives a true sense of what it was/ meant.
    Redundant Pal’s post triggered my memory to the extent that I am now recalling Radio Luxembourg and the Horace Bachelor advert together with the ‘Sing Something Simple ‘ intro. Listened to the radio because even when we got a ‘telly’ it rarely worked unless someone was holding the indoor aerial and then only for a short time before it became a jumble of ‘interference’.
    The good old days were not what they are cracked up to be.
    This could be worth a thread all on its own.

    I do recall my mother talking about the Irish Sweeps when I was very young. I think someone her cousin living in America knew won a bit on it/them.

    Wasn't Sing Something Simple (with the Mike Samm Singers) on Radio 2 on a Sunday evening? Was that the same programme?

    And we still joke about the antics with the TV aerial only ours was in the loft so every so often one of us was 'puntied' up the loft to move it about - 'Up a wee bit!' 'Down a wee bit!' 'Left a wee bit!' 'Back a wee bit!' etc
    Illegitimi non carborundum


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    Super Moderator Diamond Geezer's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tout Seul View Post
    Thanks Grey.
    A comprehensive and relevant answer with both the factual detail and the additional colour that gives a true sense of what it was/ meant.
    Redundant Pal’s post triggered my memory to the extent that I am now recalling Radio Luxembourg and the Horace Bachelor advert together with the ‘Sing Something Simple ‘ intro. Listened to the radio because even when we got a ‘telly’ it rarely worked unless someone was holding the indoor aerial and then only for a short time before it became a jumble of ‘interference’.
    The good old days were not what they are cracked up to be.
    Don't forget the Ovaltineys

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    I seem to recall that Hennessy Sunday was called off (waterlogged) in 2011 with the meeting going ahead the following Saturday.
    The older I get the better I was.

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    Was cold last night in Dublin (-2) but the sun is shining brightly right now
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    "The Greatest Bleeding Heart Racket In The World " by Damian Corless tells the story of the Irish Sweeps.
    When Joe McGrath went to America to set up his ticket selling network he had to encounter some less than ethical individuals.
    He was introduced as "the man who drove the English out of Ireland " so business was done.
    In T P Burns' biography by Guy Williams , T P tells of a day he finished second to a McGrath horse at The Curragh. The stewards ( of good Anglo Irish stock )more or less told T P to object so he did, the result was amended so T P never rode a McGrath horse in his long career.
    Tough men for tough times!

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    Did the Irish sweepstakes come as a book of raffle tickets? I vaguely remember it.
    And 'sing something simple' and Round the Horn.?

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    Senior Member an capall's Avatar
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    Couldn't be done these days. The nurses are always on strike.
    "And still they gazed and still the wonder grew. That one small head could carry all he knew.

    And that small head knew that Impaire Et Passe would win the Champion Hurdle."

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    Quote Originally Posted by Outsider View Post
    Did the Irish sweepstakes come as a book of raffle tickets? I vaguely remember it.
    And 'sing something simple' and Round the Horn.?
    - I never realised you were that old! (I remember them too)

    My vague memory is of a race I thought was to do with the Irish sweepstake & poss the fav was ridden by Jimmy Lindley?

    Could even have been Linden Tree!?
    Last edited by 2017diary; 30th January 2019 at 3:39 PM.

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    Senior Member Desert Orchid's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 2017diary View Post
    - I never realised you were that old! (I remember them too)

    My vague memory is of a race I thought was to do with the Irish sweepstake & poss the fav was ridden by Jimmy Lindley?
    I'm pretty sure for long enough after I started punting the Lincoln's official name was 'The Irish Sweeps Lincoln'.
    Illegitimi non carborundum


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