I agree.

First season trainers will probably be at a disadvantage in understanding how to balance their stable BUT we can sticky a post that gives new trainers a 'heads up' on how to prepare their new stable. After that first season they will be all over it.

Heads up post is great

However this doesn't solve the problem of bad uploads. I will solve the problem easily by just scrapping 2yos ( other older trainers will do something similar ) but newer trainers won't make such choices and will have problems in their stables. We need to help new trainers. If they make a few mistakes then max entries of 20 but stable size of 25 will be more forgiving

Don't you all think this just getting a little bit daft.

It is the first season of SO7. We waited a long time for at and for the most part it has been very successful. Lots of new trainers coming in and doing well … and not being afraid to chip in on the forums.

Lots of old trainers from seasons prior to SO6 coming back and saying the league is far better now than in the old days … and apparently more of them to come next season.

So lets just take a breath here and a step back.

Major surgery is not required.

Little tweaks are required as always. Anything that is successful has to adapt and develop as it continues. That is what we need to do.

Everyone has an opinion and there will always be differences in those opinions but lets not forget most of this works.

All the problems kicked off in Royal Ascot week. In my opinion that is down to the transfer window as bad horses are replaced with better ones thus meaning the middle to high bracket gets crowded and the weaker horses get cut. I believe we have agreed to move the window to the week after Ascot next season which makes sense to me. Although personally I think the window should be scrapped altogether and you have to go with what you started with.

Also when looking at schedules we could compare with real races. For example I won the Victoria Cup at Ascot early in the season. In reality that race is a good handicap with almost group race horses in it and a field of 30. I think there were about 8 in it because there were too many other races for 7/8f horses. These are the things that need looking at.

I know some of you probably think that Doug, Stu and me like to voice our opinions a bit too much but we probably see and notice a lot more than some because of doing the commentating. Between us we see pretty much every race and we talk to each other every day. Now Doug does the handicapping he sees them all. I am sure some people only watch their own horses.

I have no objection to big fields and horses getting stuck wide or boxed in. It happens in racing and that's just tough luck and makes the racing more exciting and realistic in my opinion. In the last 3 weeks I have had the same horse disqualified from winning twice. Am I moaning about having disqualifications taken away. No because it is part of the game, part of the fun. Dougs commentary when I got thrown out had me laughing when I could have been throwing my wine at the TV. It's supposed to be fun guys.

What I do have an issue with is horses racing outside the rails and using inappropriate tracks like the AW and Chester. Yes Chester and AW should be used but not as much. The May meeting at Chester is their only big meeting. We shouldn't go there again after that, and we don't need so many AW races. Also we need to be careful we don't over egg the pudding. Too many races each week will put to much pressure on race runners and we will end up with more mistakes.

Also there is the time factor. By the time I have done my commentating and some weeks the previews as well Thursday is pretty much the only non SO7 day I have. Doing my entries on a Friday takes ages as it is. If I have got to keep an eye on whether I am hitting the limit or having to decide which ones not to run it is going to take even longer. Remember it is easy for you G! guys to do your entries. Us lot in the cheap seats have to study handicap bandings and try and work out which races we have the best chanced of wining in. If I had to work out which 20 of my 25 to run as well it would take forever. Personally I don't mind whether we stick at 25 or drop to 20 or even 22 as a compromise but limited entries is not something I would embrace.

Racing is not all about G1s.

There are two weeks to go. We have just had the GN and no one except Paul is posting about the races we have just had. Enjoy it now and have these discussions in 2 weeks rather than all disappear as son as the season ends as usual.

Bottom line is that there is not much wrong at the moment so we need to be careful we don't ruin things.

Yep, what Mart said.

Yes i agree, its meant to be fun.

I think we are having too many fall outs, well this season all right!

As i said this needs to be dwelt with for next season.

Ive seen some of the newbies like me that just didnt come back after the first week etc, some of them kept coming last but entering there horses in the wrong races (yes im talking about me too)

So i think that needs to be looked into.

Martin i have the Video done for you, what will i send it to you on?

Either put it in a zip and email it to the address on here or if you have ben given access to dropbox put it in there. Or you can onedrive it to me

sent on onedrive.

have you received it?

Couldn't agree with this more. I think these things always seem to grow arms an legs on the forums in discussions. Which isn't anyone's fault, it's just naturally seems to be how it goes with differing opinions in life now, never mind just the forums. The issue here does seem very small, and it does seem to fall around the balance of races in the league. My opinion for what it counts, would be to address the weekly balance of races for next season and see how it goes. THEN if it's still not quite right, start looking at stable sizes, or runner restrictions. That seems a sensible progression to improvement, rather than thinking one big drastic move will fix everything. It will never be perfect

Just my opinion sorry, I know I've not been around as much as others, but sometimes an outside eye can help

I lean heavily in this direction.
Perhaps the answer is not so much to change the format but to try and recruit more League volunteers.
Especially if the amount of trainers continues to increase, which was always the goal.
"More hands make light work" and all that........

I think you Stu & Doug make suggestions that will benefit the league
A) 2 of you dont even have a stable and therefore have no hidden agenda
B) Mart I have never seen you make a suggestion that would hugely benefit yourself personally and
I think you are a very level headed person.

My worry was that were things going to go back to the days of cliques where decisions where made
outside of the forum if you were not "one of the lads" you were left out in the cold things were discussed
& decided outside of the forum but knowing the 3 of you that would never happen.

I Really try and put myself in other peoples shoes what could make things better for them try and think
with an open mind and not just be selfish and think of myself.

The only problem I have is when people push for changes that clearly will only benefit the few or most of
all benefit themselves. I think that would be a very unhealthy thing and I'm sure that wont happen as we
have seen over the past few weeks everything has been put in polls where the majority decide which is
exactly the correct way to do things.

I have no opinion on the stable size happy to keep it at 25 my only thought was that putting it to 20
may give opportunities to others especially lower tier trainers.

I THINK THE LEAGUE IS IN THE BEST PLACE IT HAS EVER BEEN.

I think Gray does an incredible job and as a few have said we may just need a few minor tweaks.
I have the greatest of respect for everyone on here who takes part and wish you all the best
for the remainder of this season and next season.

Agree with this, i think that small changes in the schedule should be the first thing tried just as an example in the last 4,5 weeks i have noticed plenty of 2 year old races with only 5 ish runners in, im sure there is other examples of races that can be changed.

I personally would rather keep the 25 horses just as it allows for a few horses that i want to try in the league but dont feel are good enough, however the final decision should come down to the volunteers if they feel that by us all having 25 horses each the work load is too high, then that is fair enough and should be changed to 20.

i do disagree with scrapping the transfer window i think it helps smaller trainers test out some of there newly bred horses to ensure they are on the right track for the next season. It has certainly helped me see which distances i am still weak at.

martin have sent it on dropbox too if you cant open the other one.

Are you cool to do hunt calls as well as flat?