- This topic has 13 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 4 months ago by
.
- Posts
As some of you know, I used to be a regular in these parts, but a number of things (including repeatedly misplacing my password) has meant I am but an infrequent visitor these days.
Nonetheless, I was flattered to discover that I had been shortlisted for "Journalist of The Year" as part of the TRF Awards which I helped to establish several years ago.
I am aware that some of you will be unfamiliar with my work, while those of you who are familiar with it will have been unable to post comments/corrections on any of my blogs for some time now due to a website redesign.
So I thought I would post the following links to three of my blogs in recent months, as illustration, and in case anyone wants to comment belatedly on the issues raised therein.
Hoping to swing round here more often again in future.
WETHERBY
<!– m –>https://www.timeform.com/Racing/Article … _follow-up<!– m –>
SPRC
<!– m –>https://www.timeform.com/Racing/Article … c_part_two<!– m –>
Kingman and Sectionals
<!– m –>https://www.timeform.com/Racing/Article … ot_day_one<!– m –>
Welcome back Mr R ….I 100 per cent disagree with your philosophy ,the numbers game is rubbish for me , but a shed load of people would disagree with me …
Nice of you to share the blogs , happy Christmas to ya
The numbers people would maintain that they need some non-numbers people to feed off, and the non-numbers people would claim the opposite. It is a broad church (atheists also welcome).
Good to see you back, Simon, and nice work on the blogs. On the BHA side, I think you might find Nick Rust shares your belief that openness is the best way, and you will see some changes. I must add the disclaimer, that I haven’t spoken to Nick about this, although I know him pretty well. It’s my knowledge of the way he works that leads me to my conclusions.
On SPs, well, what to do? The system’s main problem, imo, is that the most effective change won’t be allowed for fear of the perception, much promoted by McCririck, that the foxes will be running the coop.
Almost every betting shop in the UK has EPOS tills, logging bets as soon as they are entered by staff. It would take no great technological leap for all those bets to be registered into a ‘near live’ market giving the industry a version of the stock exchange for SP players.
The chickens would decide the SP; they’d just be doing it by entering the fox’s den.
But I applaud you on an article from which you cannot win. It will either be condemned as a promotional argument for Betfair or, if taken seriously and the necessary changes made, will weaken Betfair’s offering.
Happy Christmas
Thanks, Joe.
I don’t see the SP as a no-win situation. The existing SP, and the FIFA-like management of it by the SPRC, is bringing the sport into disrepute. That can’t be in the best interests of anyone whose fortunes are tied closely to those of racing. Incidentally, while Betfair own Timeform, they have hardly ever tried to stick their oar in about such matters.
I am pleased to hear another recommendation of Nick Rust. I find it difficult to believe that he would be greatly in favour of the many causes I hold close, given his lack of comment on them before now, but I certainly intend to give him a fair crack of the whip.
Festive cheer.
SDR
Mr R …if your manual sectionals are true , then its a bloody disgrace that they were not freely available at Ascot
I am a known non believer for this stuff , but blimey if your findings are anywhere near true , then we would never have known how good this horse IS , and that’s just wrong , plain wrong …question is how far wrong could you have got , Im sure you checked it plenty !!!
Shame on you Ascot
First greeting – "I 100% disagree with you.."
We’ve not gone soft in your absence you’ll be pleased to see.
Judged by ricky’s subsequent post, the tide is turning. I’ll have him picketing High Holborn demanding free sectionals for all by the end of the week.
Mr R …if your manual sectionals are true , then its a bloody disgrace that they were not freely available at Ascot
I am a known non believer for this stuff , but blimey if your findings are anywhere near true , then we would never have known how good this horse IS , and that’s just wrong , plain wrong …question is how far wrong could you have got , Im sure you checked it plenty !!!
Shame on you Ascot
Although I don’t know whether Simon actually got a mention Ricky; if I remember correctly Channel 4 and RUK (quite rightly) couldn’t get enough of "times expert says Kingman……." all Royal Ascot week. So it was well documented. However… it was the sort of thing you usually like to dimiss without a moment’s thought.
Value Is EverythingThis is a worn-out drum of mine but, at least as a first step, all SPs should be calibrated to allow for a fixed % take, set by legislation, dependent on field size. Simple as that.
Corm ….you mean the same as Pmu dontcha
seriously Simon , some good blogs and keep coming back
I was also banging on about the SP system fifteen or more years ago and posed this question both in writing (in Odds On) and to Big Mac face to face – but I never got a good answer.
If punters believe that having an SP is crucial to protect them from the big bookies, how come not one single person has ever suggested that there should be an official SP for a football match, or a golf tournament, or tennis, or cricket, etc, etc?
Apologies for delay in replying: the site did not like my password while I was abroad.
I happen to think that an SP for other sports would be useful. When I consider a game between e.g. Man Utd and Spurs from 6 months ago I would like to know what the expectation of a win/draw/lose had been. Betting syndicates will be capturing this (and other pricing) information, for sure.
However, in terms of the immediate settling of bets, there is one very clear difference between horseracing and football, and that is price variance.
Horses can easily double or halve in odds, due to the uncertainty in establishing the initial price (and sometimes other –
– factors), whereas football teams do not. Anyone taking a price on a footballing outcome knows that that price will be close to the prevailing price at the off (with a very few exceptions).I wouldn’t say that punters "believe that having an SP is crucial to protect them from the big bookies". I suggest punters (on horseracing) believe that an SP is desirable, and they should be protected from the big bookies with that SP.
The evidence is that the SP is doing nothing of the sort, with the body in charge of it turning a blind eye. Quite a different thing.
SDR
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.