Ludlow racecourse
may not host festival racing and may not draw crowds of 20,000+ on a regular
basis, but to assume that it does not possess great character of its own nature
would be a horrible misjudgement. Being fairly local, I have been fortunate
enough to visit this quaint little course on a number of occasions and have yet
to return home without thoroughly enjoying myself. This sharp, right handed
course is somewhat intriguing on arrival (there is a golf course in the middle
of the racecourse) but most importantly it seems to drain well, as on my most
recent visit just 2 days ago (with nearly every jump racing meeting abandoned
through waterlogging!), even the disgusting English weather could not put a
dampener (metaphorically at least) on the day and racing went ahead as hoped!
As a guest of a friend who has Racing UK, an excellent racing-dedicated
satellite television channel, we were fortunate enough to enter on Monday free
of charge on one of the RUK Club Days that the channel offer to their
subscribers. This super initiative not only benefits racing-obsessed
individuals such as myself, but is also a great way to introduce new race goers
to courses across the country. The idea is that RUK negotiate certain race days
at certain courses and subscribers can apply for a free ticket for both them
and a guest to attend on that particular meeting. The concept benefits all as
the customer receives a free day out and is able to enjoy racing at new venues;
RUK add another string to their marketing bow as it is a brilliant incentive to
become a subscriber of the channel; and although the customers are entering the
racecourse for free, they will no doubt spend a fair amount whilst there, and
on the assumption that they enjoy the day, they are more likely to return to
the course again in the future.
Once inside
the course, we were also guests in the RUK marquee for the day and able to take
advantage of free tea/coffee (much needed in Monday’s arctic conditions!) and
the vast knowledge of Andy Richmond, an RUK pundit who gave a brief run through
of the day’s card before hanging around all day to talk racing (and other
sports) with anyone who wished. Having not met Andy before, and with him being
relatively new to the channel, I was unaware of the depth of his knowledge
regarding not only racing, but almost every sport. A true gent, he was more
than happy to talk to us about racing, NFL (his website www.nflinsight.com is impressive) and football throughout the afternoon and even tipped up
a 3/1 winner at Ludlow in his pre-racing discussion! For any racing enthusiasts
amongst you that don’t already subscribe to RUK, I seriously recommend you
consider doing so as the presenters and pundits, such as Andy, are second to
none with their analysis and interpretation of racing and can be invaluable
when attempting to dissect a card, whether that is a Gr1 littered Saturday card
at Newbury or a low class midweek card at a smaller track. I look forward to the
next RUK Club Day (which happens to be the first day of the Hennessy meeting at
Newbury this coming Thursday) and hope we have as enjoyable a time as we did on
Monday.
Looping back
to Ludlow as a racecourse, it can often be assumed that with smaller, lesser
known tracks, there is a void of quality racehorses and that to see any of the
elite racing stars one must shell out big money to visit the likes of
Cheltenham and Ascot. Alas, this is not the case! Back at Ludlow in March I
witnessed what I believe could turn out to be one of the most competitive NH
Flat races of last season in which the Nicky Henderson trained Tistory narrowly
beat Evan Williams’ previous course winner Court Minstrel. To highlight the
quality of these 2 horses, who ran on a fairly moderate card compared to the
bigger courses, the 2nd went on to win easily again next time out
back at Ludlow before closing his season with a more than respectable 4th
in a hot race at Aintree. Court Minstrel has reappeared this season with an
impressive win on his first hurdling start in a decent little race at
Cheltenham, before running extremely well a very competitive race back there a
few weeks later when just making a mistake turning for home. Tistory has not
yet reappeared this season, but I would seriously advise keeping on the right
side of this one when he does make his hurdling bow as the form already looks
smart and he is reportedly held in the highest regard by a trainer who
certainly knows what he’s doing! This shows that although not necessarily
regarded as one of the elite racecourses in the country, Ludlow is by all means
worth visiting and their relatively decent prize money (compared with certain
similar sized courses) helps ensure that the course puts on a lovely day out
for all who visit. If you’ve never been before, try and make it to Ludlow
sometime as I’m sure you’ll have a great time at a course where everything is
very accessible. The weighing room,
parade ring, bookmakers and catering outlets are all located in the same area and
are just a walk across the home straight from the main grandstand, meaning you
won’t miss out on anything during your visit.
Hopefully
you’ve found this article interesting or helpful and will continue to follow
the blog as I will be regularly posting from now on. I’m off to Alan King’s
yard for a stable tour on Thursday morning and then spending 3 days in Newbury
for the Winter Festival meeting (starring the Hennessy Gold Cup on Saturday!)
this weekend so will look forward to both and update you when I’m back. Before
that I’ll be putting up my views on the races for those 3 days and hopefully
pick out the odd winner or 2 to pay for my trip!
Happy Days!
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