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And that is what it is , the Grandstand at Epsom Downs Racecourse - home of the Derby . Come June this place will be heaving with people here to watch the races .
The first race at Epsom Downs was recorded in 1661 and the predominantly flat course was mentioned in the diary of Samuel Pepys. Similarly, Charles II was said to be a regular attender of races. Epsom houses the third largest racehorse training facility in the country and the course featured heavily in the 1952 film ‘Derby Day’. Epsom Downs is situated on the largest remaining public space south of London, and as it is a public area people can watch the Derby for free – a race that used to be the most attended sporting event of the year.
With an overall course capacity of 120,000, Epsom also opened a new Duchess’s stand in 2009, which holds 11,000 people and cost a total of £23.5 million to build. Just a few minutes down the road from Epsom town centre, Epsom Downs is extremely easy to get to by car, accessible by coming off Junction 9 of the M25.
During the racing season AA signs direct racegoers from the motorway to the course. If travelling by train, there are three stations all with very good access to the track. Epsom train station is just a ten-minute taxi or bus ride away, with a shuttle bus service available on Derby day. Epsom station is well served by services from London Waterloo and London Victoria. Alternatively, Tattenham Corner station is a half mile walk from the course, with Epsom Downs station slightly further away.
The grade 1 course at Epsom Downs is one of the best in the country as you would expect of a track that hosts two Classics. Shaped like a horseshoe and measuring 1m4f in circumference, Epsom hosts flat racing only.
The grandstand is positioned to the left of the open end of the left-handed horseshoe which is stiff and undulating in nature. Although the home straight at Epsom is 3½f in length, a chute coming off Tattenham Corner allows for 5f straight races to take place. There are two other chutes that allow for six and seven furlong contests with a slight left bend prior to the reasonably sharp left turn onto the home stretch. There is a minor elevation on the right hand side but the hint of bias is largely cancelled out by the slightly better ground usually being on this side of the course.
Horses at Epsom have to deal with the difficult undulations, with a rise of 105ft in the first 5f of the course alone. The second last turn goes into an incredibly steep downhill, with a 92ft decline spread out over 3½f. This makes the final part of the course exceptionally fast paced with the result being exceptionally exciting finishes in tightly contested events.
An absences of long distance races means that this is far from an uncommon sight either. As there’s no complete circuit at Epsom, the course cannot hold races greater than a mile and a half.
Five Furlongs at a Rapid Pace
The straight 5f course at Epsom is virtually downhill all the way, bar the final 100 yards, making it the fastest of its kind anywhere in the world. The high-standing of the course also allows it to attract some very talented sprinters, ensuring some rapid times are posted for minimum distance races.
In 2012, this was something officially recognised in the Guinness World Records as Stone of Folca won the Epsom Dash in an incredible time of 53.69s. Some still believe that the course record belongs to Indigenous though, who clocked 53.60s in June 1960 but this was prior to the introduction of electronic timing. Stone of Folca was a 50/1 outsider when storming to a record-breaking win. He started from stall number two, trailed by Desert Law and Catfish who began out in gates 16 and 15 respectively.
There aren’t a huge number of contests over the minimum distance. A lack of five furlong races means it’s hard to get a real sense if there’s any bias but from the little info we do have, a spot away from the middle appears to be preferable.
This didn’t always used to be the case as research published in 1983 found that for the preceding seven years, there were three times as many winners from the top four stalls than the bottom four stalls. Whether the drainage has trained or this was just a statistical anomaly is unclear but for now there isn’t much bias over the straight five furlong course.
In terms of races over six to eight furlongs, once again there is little in the way of bias. Whilst there is a left-handed turn to contend with, there have been a number of wins for horses with high draws, suggesting the vagaries of the going tend to equal things out.
An Ultimate Thoroughbred Test
When looking at shape, distance and undulations, Epsom has certain similarities with Brighton but there’s nothing else that really compares with the test the Surrey course offers. Its turns, hills and cambers mean that horses must work every muscle when competing here. A fine sense of balance is an absolutely essential trait too, as is plenty of raw speed in the shorter races as those setting the early pace often end up being difficult to catch on the downhill finish.
The stiffness of the test produces shocks here and there (see 50/1 Qualify in the 2014 Oaks) but, ultimately, Epsom is a course that continues to identify some of the best colts and fillies around. A long list of truly great names have claimed glory on the switchback course and this will continue to be the case.
The biggest race every year at Epsom is without doubt the Epsom Derby. Scheduled to run each June, the Derby was first contested in 1780 and runs over a distance of 1m4f. Widely known as Britain’s richest race, the Derby is the most prestigious of the five ‘Classics’, and is the middle leg of the Triple Crown.
Trainer Aidan O’Brien has seen his horses win the previous three, becoming the first person to train three consecutive winners at the Derby (2012-2014). Two other famous races also run at Epsom every June are the Epsom Oaks and the Coronation Cup. The Oaks was established in 1779 and measures 1m4f, whilst the Coronation cup wasn’t run until 1902, and measures the same distance.
HTT Folks
I enjoyed the course, I met some really lovely people.
I wanted to learn more about filters and I did ... but this shot is soft and I really wanted it to be sharp.
(I know most of my shot are soft !)
Any advice would be gratefully received :)
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Y es que es imposible visitar Bilbao y no hacerle una, o dos, o mil fotos al susodicho museo.
Museo Guggenheim y Torre Iberdrola (Bilbao), 23/02/2014 12:10
Cámara NIKON D5100
Objetivo NIKKOR AF-S DX 18–55mm F3.5–5.6G VR
Filtro polarizador HOYA PL-CIR
Dist. focal: 18mm (x1.5 en 35mm.)
ISO 100 --- f/5.6 --- 1/125s
A spectacular trio of merging galaxies in the constellation Boötes takes center stage in this image from the Hubble Space Telescope. These three galaxies are on a collision course and will eventually merge into a single larger galaxy, distorting one another’s spiral structure through mutual gravitational interaction in the process. An unrelated foreground galaxy appears to float serenely alongside the collision, and the smudged shapes of much more distant galaxies are visible in the background.
This colliding trio — known to astronomers as SDSSCGB 10189 — is a relatively rare combination of three large star-forming galaxies lying within only 50 000 light-years of one another. While that might sound like a safe distance, for galaxies this makes them extremely close neighbors!
This observation was designed to help astronomers understand the origin of the largest, most massive galaxies in the universe. These galactic behemoths are called Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) and — as the name suggests — are defined as the brightest galaxies in any given galaxy cluster. Astronomers suspect that BCGs form through the merger of large, gas-rich galaxies like the ones in this image.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Sun
For more information, visit: esahubble.org/images/potw2307a/
There is so much going on across this ancient fortress high over Dorset. The huge peaks and troughs of land, forged by bygone civilisations out of the natural hillside, providing an imposing defense from would-be attackers.
Then there are the smaller ripples in the earth formed simply by gravity gradually pulling the earth down in waves, and finally the more recently added hurdle fencing, intended presumably to prevent too much land slippage.
And then of course the much smaller, seemingly random holes dug by a certain little dog while waiting for the photographer to do his stuff.
Vista from the golf course of the Golf Club Karwendel in Wallgau.
Wallgau is a town in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria, Germany.
After some beautiful weeks in September and beginning of October we have now a change in the weather. Temperature felt from 26°C to 15°C in only one day - maybe we'll get the first snow in the mountains until tomorrow.
I used a great freeware tool to align my photos to create an HDR out of three photos:
HDR Alignment Tool. It's from the flickr member Eggy Boil!
Blick vom Golfplatz Karwendel in Richtung Wallgau und Wetterstein.
Wallgau ist eine Gemeinde im oberbayerischen Landkreis Garmisch-Partenkirchen und liegt in der Region Oberland etwa zehn Kilometer nördlich von Mittenwald. Wallgau gehört zum Werdenfelser Land und ist zugleich der westliche Zugang zum Isarwinkel.
300 AL-ATTIYAH Nasser (qat) BAUMEL Matthieu (fra) MINI action during the Dakar 2016 Argentina - Bolivia, Etape 12 / Stage 12, San Juan - Villa Carlos Paz on January 15, 2016 in Villa Carlos Paz, Argentina - Photo A.Lavadinho / A.Vialatte / @World / ASO
PENTAX K-1 • FF Mode • 800 ISO • Pentax FA 35mm F2 AL
Langoustines, Pumpkin Puree, Coconut Espuma and Rice
Langoustines, Purée de Potiron, Espuma de Noix de Coco et Riz
Highland Park Golf Course is a public golf course in Birmingham, Alabama. Established in 1903 as the Country Club of Birmingham, it is the oldest golf course in the state of Alabama.
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He started off toward the reeds on the other shore but reconsidered, I guess, when he saw some paddlers in his path and wound up almost right where he started. Least Bittern in California bulrushes on Horsepen Bayou.
Standing at the far side of Prestwick Golf course, yesterday, admiring another wonderful day!
Stay Safe Everyone!
Thanks to everyone who views this photo, adds a note, leaves a comment and of course BIG thanks to anyone who chooses to favourite my photo .... Thanks to you all!
Ahh such a painful morning. 3 hours of sleep and a day of class/meetings.
Well here are the daffodils that I stole :P
La classique Course de Canot à Glace du Carnaval de Québec, édition 2017 / The 2017 edition of Québec's Winter Carnaval Ice Canoe Race
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