Monday 14 January 2013

MONDAY JANUARY 14th RACNG POST 2013. RUNNERS AT KELSO STRUGGLE THROUGH A SNOWSTORM YESTERDAY. TALK OF THE TRACKS. AS RACING STARTS TO FEEL THE CHILL BROUGH SCOTT (EQUUS ZONE) LOOKS BACK 50 YEARS (1963)



RACING POST MONDAY JANUARY 14th 2013
WEEK MONDAY JANUARY14th to SUNDAY JANUARY 20th 2013


 
 
 
PREVIEW TODAY'S CARDS
http://www.racingpost.com/news/live.sd



50 YEARS (1963) SINCE THE BIG FREEZE

Brough Scott recalls the harsh winter of 1963 when racing was forced to shut up shop.

Britain was an alpine paradise – which was fine if all you wanted to do was ski”
 
“EVERY time you hear yourself moaning about the weather, think of 1963. Rivers frozen, blizzards raging, roads blocked, ice in the sea and only one British race meeting from Boxing Day to the weekend before the Cheltenham Festival. It would probably finish us now. It nearly finished us then.
 
“The snow drifts were often 20 feet deep and the average temperature for January and February was -7C’ It was not until March 4 that the thaw started and by March 8 racing, was on’….
 "In the towns betting shops either closed or existed on a thin gruel of afternoon greyhounds, bingo and dodgy card games among their punters.
 
"In the country much af the time was spent digging out or defrosting pipes. In most stables the only way to exercise the horses was to tr0t round a ring bedded down with soiled straw.
 
"No-one really saw it coming. Apparently there had been reports of some 30 villages being cut off by blizzards  in Itally's Abruzzi mountains, but the worst that happened on Saturday, December 22 was thick fog, forcing the cancellation of the last two races from Uttoxeter. Terry Biddlecombe had won the first two, while what was to be the final event before freeze - up, the 3.15 at Fontwell, was won by Fred Winter for Findon trainer Ryan Price.
 
The big race of the day, Fontwell's Ovaltine Hurdle, worth all of £1,536 8s, was won by Antiar, saddled, like three other winners, by the royal trainer Peter Cazalet, who in doing so nudged Middleham's Nevil Crump off the top of the trainers' table as well as giving Peter's chef Albert Roux something to cook for that night back at Fairlawne, near Tonbridge. ......
AND what a chef to have, Albert Roux. Why not try your own little historic horseracing adventure, look on the internet to find info on Albert Roux (Superstar Chef), Peter Cazalet (Equus Zone Pioneering Superstar Royal Trainer), Nevil Crump (Equus Zone Pioneering  Superstar Trainer), "Ryan Price (Equus Zone Pioneering Superstar Trainer), Fred Winter (Equus Zone Pioneering Superstar Handler Rider Horseman ) Terry Biddlecombe (Equus Zone Pioneering Superstar Handler Rider Horseman) you may be surprised in what you find, key EQUUS ZONE pionering gold dust information.

 
   
 
 



 

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