…so – asking from the peanut gallery – will someone please explain why?

To date during the 2020/21 racing season, we have had 12 Borrowdale Park race meetings (between the 9^th August 2020 and the 7^th March 2021).

I am sure someone will correct me if I am mistaken but I have always thought 1000m was the minimum trip (discounting juvenile races), but 1000m races are now few and far between, and some unusual distances have been introduced.  

When you add up the numbers the programme seems somewhat unbalanced – and I was surprised to see a 3000m event scheduled for March 21 – when one considers the dearth of races for stayers and the fact that we have missed a couple of meetings and training has sometimes been disrupted by the heavy rains.

These are the figures for races during this period. Let’s see if anyone agrees:

1000m – 4 races – 3 on August 9, and 1 on November 14.

1100m – 11 races including the Hachiman Sprint.

1200m – 14 races including the Jacaranda Free and the National Foods Gold Cup.

1260m – 7 races including the Sable Flyers.

1450m – 6 races including the Breeders Sprint on August 28.

1500m – 2 races including an Allowance Plate on October 30 and a Graduation Plate on January 3.

1600m – 20 races, including the Zimbabwe Challenge, Breeders Fillies Mile, Tote Free, the Fillies Classic and the Ipi Tombe Stakes.

1700m – 7 races.

1800m – 9 races including the National Foods Cup and the Champion Fillies Stakes.

1900m – 2 races – a Pinnacle Plate 100 on December 20 and an MR 70 Handicap on March 7.

2000m – 2 races – MR 85 on December 11 and MR 80 on February 24.

2200m – 1 race – MR 70 on November 28.

2400m – 0 races.

2700m – 0 races.

Horses have been nominated for the meeting on Sunday March 21 and the races include the 1600m Zimbabwe Guineas, and two 1600m events (MR90 and MR65); an 1100m Graduation Plate and a 1200m MR 80 Handicap;  a Maiden Plate over 1800m and a 3000m race.

WATCH THIS SITE – THE CENTAURIAN IS GEARING UP TO EXPRESS HIS VIEWS ON RACE DISTANCES.

Photograph by Gavin MacLeod: Tandava (Deon Sampson), trained by Gokhan Terzi and based in his Borrowdale satellite yard, won the 1000m Borrowdale Handicap way back when, beating Twilight Trip (Arries), Coastal Torrent (Samuel) and Butchie Boy (Moodley) to the line.