Going at Badminton

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sw123

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Is apparently causing some very heated debates with a lot of riders threatening to withdraw.

In my opinion it would actualy be good if they would not threaten but actually do it as it may well give organisers an even bigger kick up the bum to do somethign about it....

From my experience if its not anywhere near good now it isn't going to be by tomorrow morning??? Will be interesting to see how they resolve this one.
 
Interesting.... read that Zara may not run Toytown....
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Shame for all the people that have bought tickets to watch their favourites but it is a huge track and if the ground is wrong it could have serious repucussions.....
 
Definite shame in that sense, but i think if i was competing the public would be my last worry!! Interesting to see what happens, i don't think they'll have "the guts" - thats the wrong phrase but "the..." to all withdraw though
 
As a spectator i would be livid to find a lot of withdrawals, thats cos us £45 for 2 ppl to go and WATCH tomorrow!
As a rider, i too would be annoyed as not only does it cost a fair bit to enter (let alone qualify) to find the ground hard.
Its not only badminton who have had ground problems, think of all the other events.

It would be a disaster if many did withdraw, mainly because of the media coverage. Only last night the BBC advert of Badminton highlighting Zara as world and european champion - this is just what the sport needs!!!
 
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So....the answer is do more to the ground.......

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The difficulty is that us Brits have the europeans this year, where as the likes of USA and AUS can run without worrying about keeping their one and only best horse sound and fit for the championships.

But havent they been watering all week?
 
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As a spectator i would be livid to find a lot of withdrawals, thats cos us £45 for 2 ppl to go and WATCH tomorrow!
As a rider, i too would be annoyed as not only does it cost a fair bit to enter (let alone qualify) to find the ground hard.
Its not only badminton who have had ground problems, think of all the other events.

It would be a disaster if many did withdraw, mainly because of the media coverage. Only last night the BBC advert of Badminton highlighting Zara as world and european champion - this is just what the sport needs!!!

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This is bound to be giving all involved a lot of heartache. On one hand, you can understand the disappointment of spectators, owners, sponsors (inc. tv coverage) and riders at having to withdraw before XC at such a prestigious event.

However, on the other hand, imagine the furore (especially with all the comments regarding AT over the last week) if a rider were to run a horse which then suffered an injury or problem due to the ground conditions? No doubt there'd also be plenty people upset if this were a GB team horse and meant they were a doubt for future international competition.

I desperately hope that the ground is suitable enough for as many as possible to run tomorrow and I do believe that Hugh Thomas and his team will have done everything possible to get the best ground conditions (the response to some of the "leaving it til the last minute" criticism was that in March the ground was so wet you couldn't drive on it, the past month has been the opposite and there's not much more they could have done. Although this year may prompt them to consider irrigation measures like they have at Burghley).

Would be a major blow to lose even more big names, especially Zara (as I'm sure her involvement is a major factor in the press and tv coverage!) but I think deep down, we would all rather see the horses' (and their legs!) come first.

Fingers crossed for not too many withdrawals tomorrow morning.
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Amazing an event like Badminton hasn't got the ground right - would have imagined they would have been watering like mad for the last few weeks.

Agree with the point above - I would be gutted if I had qualified a horse for badminton (OK, I can dream) and the ground was too bad to run!!
 
Just to throw something in its not necessarily what i believe but Badminton is more prestigious than the Euros. It has a wider appeal more people know who won, more photos, bigger sponsorship and public recognition. It is also worth more - Olympic qualification. The only reason the Euros is worth something is lottery funding. The team has to perform to get it. At the same time I do believe Badminton has cocked the ground up and should have worked a lot harder - Burghley does.
Thoughts??
 
Im beginning to get a little cross that HT and his team are being made out to be inept at ground preparation. You cannot just chuck millions of gallons of water over 4 miles of grass and make everything alright.

Its a complicated business and relies on in depth knowledge of not only the weather (and thats not just if its going to rain or not) but the soil and plant type, depth of turf and a miriad of other things.

I have great faith that they will be doing absolutely everything (as they have been doing for weeks) to ensure the going is acceptable to the majority.
 
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Im beginning to get a little cross that HT and his team are being made out to be inept at ground preparation. You cannot just chuck millions of gallons of water over 4 miles of grass and make everything alright.

Its a complicated business and relies on in depth knowledge of not only the weather (and thats not just if its going to rain or not) but the soil and plant type, depth of turf and a miriad of other things.

I have great faith that they will be doing absolutely everything (as they have been doing for weeks) to ensure the going is acceptable to the majority.

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Good point Spaniel, I heard that the forecast gave heavy rain for this week, in which case watering would of been disasterous! As Andrew Nicholson said the ground was a bit firm, but the Austrailian and American horses would run on that ground at home? Are we now saying that our British event horses are far too precious to go on anything but perfect ground?
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agree with you fatarse

AN said he'd ridden on far worse at Olympic games for example. Wasn't there a huge fuss over the Athens ground at one point? Or was it Jerez for the WEG - was definately a place which has more sun than we do.

Think it also depends on the horse as well - look how Brit skipped around that course? Take Supreme Rock as a complete opposite - he loved the mud and went at his best in wet, muddy going so probably wouldn't have enjoyed today (if he was still competing etc)

Be interesting to see what the results board looks like tomorrow morning
 
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