Dont let it be a dire day on the 25th Anniversary of All Weather Horse Racing!

On every front, the events of the week to date have been pretty miserable. While recharging the batteries in readiness for the onslaught of the All Weather Horse Racing season proper, to receive the news that a close family friend 10 years my junior had passed away. To then arrive back to the UK after enjoying the summer temperatures of the Rambla de Oria to pouring rain yesterday was perhaps to be expected.

I was hopeful that after the extraordinary bad luck we suffered on Tuesday evening at Wolverhampton would all be put to rest at Kempton Park. Most notably, the narrow defeat of Pimm Street (8-1) who I was convinced had won! and 2 point selection Lyfka who was almost bought down in the straight and never able to recover to mount a challenge.

Unfortunately all we achieved was to rack up more placed horses: Sabre Rock (3rd 8-1), Amood (2nd 5-1), Footstepsintherain (3rd 10-1), Tabjeel (2nd 85-40) and Set The Trend (2nd 3-1). Perhaps we are paying for the earlier great successes of October and given the narrow margins of defeat of several selections over the past 2 days I feel not adding to the tally over the last couple of days in Octiber would be an injustice.

More of a tragedy would be if we can’t remember such an auspicious day, as we celebrate 25 years of All Weather Horse Racing, (and I am old enough to remember that first All Weather meeting back in October 1989) by rowing in with some nice priced winners.

To put the growth of All Weather Horse Racing in to perspective, it now accounts for 20% of British racing. We have also seen the quality of horse racing on artificial surfaces improving dramatically with Group races now taking place and the likes of Aidan O’Brien using Southwell and Lingfield Park to test Giant’s Causeway, Galileo, Hawk Wing and Rock of Gibraltar.

While the UK public still stigmatise racing on an artificial surface, some of the best races in the world, in Dubai and America are run on the all-weather and nearly ALL trainers work their horses on the surface.

Like it or loathe it, all-weather is here to stay.