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Anyone been to a Boxing Day horse racing event ?

12 replies

ESGdance · 06/12/2021 09:53

Any tips or recommendations? We live in Bucks so could get to a few venues - don’t want to spend £££ on hospitality just a few hours out doors on Boxing Day

OP posts:
campion · 06/12/2021 10:06

Fontwell Park in Sussex may be a bit too far? It's a really nice racecourse in a lovely setting. The big meeting is at Kempton Park with the King George Chase, which is nearer for you. It's not as nice a place and will be busy ...but it's the one to be at if you're into NH racing.
If you're not, then a quieter place might suit better. Wincanton in Somerset is also a very attractive course.

thickthighs73 · 06/12/2021 10:12

A cruel sport, surely there is someone better to do Boxing Day

LindaEllen · 06/12/2021 10:37

@thickthighs73

A cruel sport, surely there is someone better to do Boxing Day
There's always one.
CorrBlimeyGG · 06/12/2021 10:39

I'll make it two. Surely you can find something better to do? Something that doesn't cause unnecessary suffering to animals perhaps.

Slowchimes · 06/12/2021 10:41

I was going to suggest Fontwell or Huntingdon (but latter is flooded I think).

Like pp said, all the crowds will be at Kempton so I would avoid that, although all Boxing Day events tend to get booked up in advance.

How about Wolverhampton?

www.wolverhampton-racecourse.co.uk/whats-on/boxing-day-raceday

I've never been there myself but it looks as though it has a lot going on on Boxing Day.

If none of the above suit, how about a local point to point? They can be a fun, relaxed day out, and there are usually quite a few over the Christmas period. Have a look here:

www.pointtopoint.co.uk

There should be quite a few going on near Aylesbury, Banbury, Northampton during the Christmas period.

Hope you have a good day out!

Slowchimes · 06/12/2021 11:37

@CorrBlimeyGG

I'll make it two. Surely you can find something better to do? Something that doesn't cause unnecessary suffering to animals perhaps.
I should know better but I will bite.

Nothing wrong imho with an animal which is all about movement and speed doing what it is bred to do. Welfare standards in racing are improving all the time. And training methods have improved massively in the past 15 years. Many people work very, very hard in the racing industry, 24/7 in all weathers, to provide excellent of their horses. As in all industries, there are a few bad apples which need turfing out.
If you don't want beautiful thoroughbreds to exist then ban racing, because people will find it very hard economically to keep them for fun. I have a heavy horse and these amazing ancient breeds are dying out because they no longer have a job to do and people can't afford to keep them as pets. The Suffolk Punch for example, is rarer than the giant panda.

For those really concerned about horse welfare, and "unnecessary suffering" go and poke around in a few fields in the home counties, where abandoned and outgrown laminitic hairy ponies are kept in the flat same boring small field, day in and day out, with no environmental enrichment, and very little activity, and are rarely visited by their owners, a farrier or a vet, with constant foot and digestive issues because they don't get enough exercise.

Horses have evolved and have been semi domesticated for centuries to live alongside man. That means that all types and breeds are best served to do the activities they were bred for or similar/equivalent. People have a strange notion that herds living in the wild have a brilliant life which they don't necessarily. Most herds need a minimal intervention from man to keep healthy so they are rounded up twice a year and immunised, treated for worms, have their feet looked at etc. I've seen wild herds in S. America where horses are half starved, limping along with terrible injuries, flea bitten and thin. It's not as simple as wild and no job = good. Domestication & in work = bad.

Anyway a thoroughbred is built for racing. Some thoroughbred horses absolutely love galloping, they love going to race meets, they enjoy the atmosphere, they love the speed and it's difficult to stop them once they have started . Some absolutely hate it. All horses are individuals just like humans. (My horse rushes up in to the horse box and loves going out!). It's hard to get a 500 kg animal to cooperate if they really don't want to do it. Look up the story of Mad Moose!

And lastly, adult people are allowed to make their own judgements and hold different views on (legal) activities to others. The last time I looked, the UK is a free and democratic country. That means tolerating people who do things you don't approve of and don't want to do yourself. I feel the same way about motor cross churning up woodlands and scaring the wildlife, but I wouldn't go on here and admonish someone who asked about motorcross meets this Christmas.

tearinghairout · 06/12/2021 12:08

Yes, it's so frustrating when people mention animal cruelty in relation to e.g. the racing industry, isn't it? So very inconvenient that we have to be reminded of it.

Make that three.

Slowchimes · 06/12/2021 12:34

@tearinghairout

Yes, it's so frustrating when people mention animal cruelty in relation to e.g. the racing industry, isn't it? So very inconvenient that we have to be reminded of it.

Make that three.

I didn't say it was frustrating. It's unbalanced. There is no acknowledgement of all the good work being done either.
ClawedButler · 06/12/2021 12:38

Make it four. Over 90% of elite performance horses suffer with very painful gastric ulcers.

I don't care if they get a rub down and a nice saddle, it's the commodification of animals and submitting them to pain and enforced behaviour for "entertainment".

What about a boxing day football match instead?

Shannith · 06/12/2021 12:46

What @slowchimes said times a million.

I'm horsey and have even owned a couple of racehorses. It is not a cruel sport. Everyone who works in racing is obsessed with horses. You have to be!

Ride an ex racer at full gallop and feel their absolute joy in speed and you'd realise that the horses are doing what they have been bred to do for thousands of years.

I also think you might enjoy a local point to point. Kempton will be rammed and perhaps not as much fun - depends if you actual want to watch any racing. Fontwell is a nice course and at Wincanton you'll see some decent horses running, I if that's your thing).

Slowchimes · 06/12/2021 12:46

I think you'll find many stable kept horses suffer from gastric ulcers full stop because they are not being fed frequently enough. Horses are designed to graze 24/7. At least horses in racing are fed very frequently with ready access to good quality hay. Many stabled horses owned by joe public are only fed in the morning before work, and after work at night, and no one feeds them at lunch time, which also leads to gastric ulcers. Forty per cent of young foals are sadly thought to have gastric ulcers too and they are not racing yet.

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