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“I do have bets during quiet midweeks when I think opportunities arise, but most of my turnover is at weekends and at bigger meetings nowadays and it’s not hard to see why.”
That is the way I am heading. My three favourite meetings of the year are Cheltenham, Aintree and Royal Ascot. I usually make a profit at all three of them.
I am getting more and more wary of the midweek fare, especially the handicaps. I might back something in a maiden or a novice hurdle if I am fairly sure it is the best horse and is not long odds on. But I think punters are right to tread carefully with these sort of meetings.
It is difficult because I recognise prize money is poor and landing a punt is perhaps a necessity rather than just a bit of fun. But yesterday’s incident looks terrible and will only reinforce some people’s opinion that racing is bent.
Couldn’t agree more.
Low prize money at the bottom is the price we pay for not having to endure the tedium of a Tote monopoly and I, for one, consider it a price well worth paying.
But that doesn’t mean I have to bet on the low-integrity fayre that it’s a recipe for as small yards have to be gambling yards to make ends meet.
I freely admit I have my cake and eat it – I enjoy betting with bookmakers (those I can organise getting on with, anyway) and on the exchange and avoid the potentially-low-integrity racing it creates like the plague.
The market moves suggest someone trousered a nice few quid aggressively laying this horse before the race – it was almost as if they knew it wasn’t going to win!
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"At no point in running did Hillsin trade below 10/1. In a straight race, what price would he have been jumping the last?
A VERY astute observation from you, Joe.
Most of the social media focus has been on Dylan Kitts – he’s just a kid and very possibly a naive, daft, one.
I think both the owner and the trainer have questions to answer.
And the BHA need to find out who was laying a horse at 10/1 which surely would have gone odds on in any other scenario, so well did it appear to be travelling.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Re: the “made a noise” thing I have known a few smart-a** horses who learn to make respiratory noises or even feign lameness once they realize this gets them out of work. This is up there with the dirty stopper (a horse that stops hard at a fence with the express intention of sending its rider tumbling over) in terms of vices that get a racehorse instantly kicked out of the yard but nevertheless cause consternation for bettors when they make their appearance!
Just seen this on Facebook:
Chris Honour Racing at Higher Whiddon Farm
2h ·
Worester & Hilsin
We would like to express our disappointment with the result of yesterday’s race despite the horse running well. To all of our supporters please be aware that the owner has been asked to remove the horses from our yard at their earliest convenience with the horses welfare prioritised.
There will be a full investigation into the race and how the horse was ridden which we support. Any allegations of a rule breach on our part will be strongly denied as Chris Honour complied fully with the rules of racing.
We always strive to train winners here, enabling horses to perform at their very best. It is not in our interests to do anything other than this.
Thank you to those of you who have reached out to us expressing kindness and to our wonderful team here. It has really helped us in dealing with those that have chosen not to be so kind.I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I crawled on six crooked highwaysI was right with him all the way to “reached out.”
Use of that expression alone ought to carry some sort of a sanction.
Joking aside, the inference here looks clear enough to me.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"My issue (which I am not sure if it has even been touched on) is that if according to the jockey the horse actually made a respiratory noise down the back then why the hell didn’t he pull the horse up?
Considering the stink that is made about horse welfare these days surely the Stewards should have asked that question of the jockey?
For me if what the jockey said was true (and not an excuse to try to mitigate what was to come) that is a far more egregious act than not riding a finish on a horse.
The evidence from Betfair has to be a huge concern.
Honour was interviewed by Nick Luck on his daily podcast. He was clearly very upset. If he was faking it, then he is a good actor.
Honour said it was the first time Kitts has ridden for him and it was at the owner’s insistence.
If the horse did ‘make a noise’, I suspect it was just saying ‘Not yet, not yet’. And then ‘What the hell are you doing?’
A friend of mine tells me that Hillsin was never shorter than 13 (12/1 minus commission) in-running and that you could have had £100 on at those odds all the way up the run in.
Astonishing when you watch all the others working away and Dylan Kitts motionless.
I don’t know Chris Honour, but I know someone who does, this person is anything but naive and they are adamant this is not Honour’s style at all.
Honour says the owner wanted Kitts on board and the owner’s horses have now left the yard.
As stated, Kitts is a kid – if I was at the BHA, the people I would be most keen to talk to would be the owner and the person(s) willing to lay 12/1 Hillsin all the way to the line.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"As I’ve got literally nothing better to do with myself – no change there – I’ve been reading up on the tremendous career of Breffniboy who was in the same ownership as Hillsin.
To summarise my personal highlights of this truly ripping yarn, Breffniboy, trained by Johnny Farrelly at the time, after three unplaced runs in maiden and novice hurdles, made his handicap debut off 109.
He finished 14 lengths sixth at 14/1.
He was then dropped to 108.
He finished 46 lengths ninth at 25/1.
He was then dropped to 104.
He finished 36 lengths ninth at 33/1.
But the subsequent drop to 100 seemed to work the oracle somewhat.
Starting a heavily-backed 3/1 favourite this time, he bolted in by 11 lengths.
He subsequently in the next two months won off 109, 109, 116 and 122, the latter in a 16-runner event at Cheltenham.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"
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