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….unlikely I know since it’s so relatively trivial a subject. But what would it reveal? My guess is that it would be the true nature of relationship between racing’s rulers, the media and the bookmakers. At last we would see the size of the scam – and know the names of the beneficiaries of the bookies’ calculated largesse.
Good to see you back posting Zorro – lets hope there’s enough juicy stuff with big business and Western Governments to keep them away from the British racing then
‘TRF-leaks’
You must have a few tales to tell about the media/bookie and media/ruler relationships yourself Zorro?
My guess is that it would be the true nature of relationship between racing’s rulers, the media and the bookmakers.
You need to include politicians in that list as well.
More of a shocker would be wikileaks revealing a single aspect of racing and betting in this country that isn’t determined by greased palms and was decided upon those acting in the interest of those they purport to represent.
Look at last night’s Kempton meeting:
Why do most of the races have 14 runners carded?
Why does most of the betting on it take place with private firms who give next to nothing back to the sport?
Why are the prices most of these firms determined by three tramps with virtually no genuine customers?
Who decided on the mechanism they use and whose pay was he in?
Why, when the resulting prices are actually worse on average than those on the tote do the media still chime that the betting public prefer to take these prices as they prefer ‘competition’ and ‘shopping around’ when the prices are identical in every betting shop in the land?
Why is the meeting being held at a time when no racegoers want to attend?
Why are they running for less than the cost of the combined transport costs to get there?
Why do The Rabble keep telling us these fixtures are levy-positive when everyone knows they aren’t? Oh dear they can’t locate the actual figures again, for the tenth year in a row, but they’re sure that they’re levy positive. Look at the figures on p10 of the RP today and do the maths yourself. It’s obvious that these races produce negligible levy?
The answer to the previous question is FOBTs and evening opening. Who decided on this and continues to turn a blind eye to all the evidence that they’re a cancer?
Who lobbied for it?
It’s brown envelopes, greased palms, lucrative consultancies, special deal betting accounts and written off gambling debts all the way.
There’s not a single aspect above that was decided on its merits in the best interests of the people in power’s official constituency.
A few, Cormack. But the laws of libel….
Can anyone answer any of Glenn’s as always pertinent questions?
What I don’t understand is the absence of boatrockers even in those sections of the media not dependent on bookmaker advertising.
You won’t let this forum become dependent will you, Cormack? Free bets ffs!
One piece of racing’s political history that has always fascinated me is the part played by the then Jockey Club head honcho, Lord Rosebery, at the end of the 1950s in the run up to the legalisation of Betting Shops in 1960.
I’ve heard it said, and seen it written, that Rosebery was what would now be called a problem gambler, and used to get enhanced odds from William Hill as he was such a mug. This addiction is supposed to be the reason why he pushed so hard for a bookmaker solution rather than a tote one to the off-course problem, contrary to what most in the sport wanted at the time. I’d loved to have been a fly on the wall when he and Willie H were chatting about how he might best advise the government.
The other puzzle is, who was the "well-known bookmaker" responsible for the double doping of Pinturischio, long time hot favourite for the 1961 Derby? The name of the culprit was known at the highest levels in the sport but everyone kept very quiet indeed about it. I’d like to have heard the gist of the conversations of those involved in that cover-up, and why a vow of silence was taken.
It’s funny, isn’t it, how today bookmakers continue to be the noxious enemy within racing?
I’ve followed this wonderful sport for about 50 years since I was a boy, and the whole continuing history of racing’s political and administrative shenanigans during that period can still be summed up in six words: "Old Etonians Splay Cheeks For Bookmakers". Nothing ever seems to change, does it?
Ah but I’m sure your stories would be true Zorro and therefore they wouldn’t be libellous. In theory.
Hopefully never dependent and hopefully I’d be 6 feet under and it’d be a cold day in the devil’s parlour before any content on this site was bookmaker influenced (other than the sponsored competitions of course).
But, is it hypocritical of TRF to offer the forum up as a place for us all to identify racing’s ills while at the same time displaying ads luring customers to the very places many consider to be the temples of doom?
Great reply Cormack. Never be afraid to bite the hand that feeds you.
Venusian, I heard exactly the same story but it was Lord Willoughby de Broke (appropriate) not Lord Rosebery who sold the pass to the enemy (and I use enemy without any of the affection implied by the stupid and the apologists in ‘old enemy’).
It’s nice to be in a place now where bookies are hunted crooks of the Capone variety – albeit about as rich.
It’s nice to be in a place now where bookies are hunted crooks of the Capone variety – albeit about as rich.
Didsbury?
There’s a theory that The Enemy has provided racing’s rulers ever since. Owe them enough money and you’ll be sent to ‘represent racing’ and do their biding. How else do you explain how clueless The Rabble are about punting? How they lobbied for FOBTs? or how they stepped aside to let the bookies bid for the tote?
What are you doing these days Zorro? I’ve heard all sorts of whispers. Some say that you’re NAYLOR’s right hand man in Asia. Others claim that you’ve gone back to school and that your thesis (‘anomalies in exacta underside probabilities and
the list
, evidence that THEY know’) is about to be submitted to the Institute of Trifectlogy’s MSc programme. Then there are the rumours that a black jag, driven by Pete Postlethwaite, rolled up outside Canary Wharf just after you walked out the door and that you got in and were never seen again.
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Never mind Paul, we all want to know when the "Master Punter" and all his chanting is going to reappear from his cave again…
Hong Kong, Prufrock.
lol at Didsbury.
The Master Punter has assured me that he will offer selections for the next international G1 run at Sha Tin – if time spent with his fawning acolytes allows. Unfortunately that’s not until April.
in the public domain:
"Paul Haigh, former Racing Journalist of the Year in Britain, was for many years Chief Columnist of the Racing Post (UK). He is now working for the HKJC."
Good news then , although it could be seen as poacher turned gamekeeper…well done Zorro ….wonder if one day you will be hailed as the new chief of the much reduced BHA looking after the much reduced domain of Uk racing ……
Ricky
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