Badminton - sore feet

Orangehorse

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25 November 2005
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Well I am very tired after all day at Badminton. But overall I enjoyed going on cross country day again.

Have to praise the traffic management, we drove right on with no stops and straight out with no stops, despite there being long lines of cars.

Lovely day, not too hot and the water stations a very good idea.

Despite arriving early we didn't even manage to get to all the Trade Stands nor even the whole course. I am definitely slowing down.

We enjoyed the Shetland Grand National (so its considered suitable entertainment to see children being flung to the ground from small ponies?)

We saw a good number of competitors going round but when there were long delays we didn't hear any comments on the loud speakers.

I was rather concerned walking past the scoreboard on my way back to the car to see how many retired and eliminated there were as a percentage of the starters.

There were thousands and thousands of people there paying a high ticket price to see a top class competition and basically be entertained. The runners were well spaced out so I got a tiny feeling that they were a bit short of competitors and overall quality.

I saw some great rounds including William FP but the score board was a bit of a shock.
 

teapot

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16 December 2005
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Roughly 50% strike rate may look bad but only one horse fall recorded so actually a good day on paper for the sport!

As for short changed - original entries were in the 80s, it’s an Olympic year, things change, horses will be horses, plus the weather and subsequent prep won’t have helped either. While on the low side 65 ish starters matches with Burghley last year. I posted after Burghley that 5* entries have been on the decline over the last few years.
 
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