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He takes a quite different approach to the way i like to follow racing (Mellish is much more my cup of tea) but i find JW offers nice food for thought and is intelligent and entertaining enough. Can sometimes try a bit too hard to be ironic at times
Some of the slating on this thread a bit harsh IMO
You can’t please everyone in this little goldfish bowl world that is Horse Racing journalism – in fact if a racing journalist can please some of the people some of the time then they are probably doing pretty well, all things considered.
I don’t read James Willoughy’s articles to get his tips and I don’t care much whether he wins or loses with his punting. What matters in my book is that he often writes something interesting. I’d rather read a racing article a bit out of leftfield and think "bollocks", than fall asleep reading some coma-inducing collateral form book analysis.
Each to their own though I guess….
I like Willoughby, whether you agree with him or not, I usually find that he is interesting to read/listen to. He looks at factors which aren’t readily priced into the markets, rather the standard collateral form angles which I find extremely bland. His opinions are thought-provoking which is a big plus in my book.
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Willoughby very intelligent
Bad enough that more than half of the front page of today’s Post was taken up with Pricewise tipping another Cheltenham duffer we had a large heading ‘James Willoughby voices his concerns about the Champion Hurdle favourite’. Did the Racing Post editorial imagine all Binocular backers immediately setting fire to their ante-post vouchers? Thankfully, Mr Leftfield rarely makes any television appearances these days but surely someone is finally going to rumble the fact that for all the long-winded analysis he appears completely clueless when it comes to tipping winners.
Anyone that continues to read James Willoughby’s articles and want or expect a tip at the end of it is equally clueless imo.
I think I’m right in saying that Willoughby has admitted in the past that he doesn’t like or follow jumps racing and only cares about the flat. Sounds like his column today doesn’t betray that fact.
When I used to have the time to bet seriously, I concentrated on sprint handicaps and swore by his unadjusted speed ratings. The problem with him was that he attempted to adjust them presumably to make the horse he fancied have the best speed figure.
The unadjusted figures were an absolute goldmine IMHO.
It was coming up to the end of The Young Apprentice’s first year in the Hollow. He knew that the time was near – the day when he’d get taken down to the massage parlour. That’s where they all went when they earned their stripes.
What to expect he couldn’t say. There’d been that hazy weekend in Amsterdam but they obviously did things differently in West Yorkshire.
Donning the black mac he waited for in the lobby for his tutor, expecting a walk to the seedier side of town. Instead it was to the basement he was led. In the corner sat a Dickensian figure huddled over a ledger who ushered him over.
"Look at this" he whispered. "What am I looking for?" asked the Apprentice.
Ledger Man pointed to the name of a horse, the unexposed favourite for the Ebor, that had horses with higher numbers all around it: "Bit of a problem don’t you think?".
"I’ll show you how we ‘erase’ problems here". With that he pointed to the correction fluid and the quill.
Five minutes later they were lieing back, sparking up cigarettes. Satisfaction at a job well done.
The Apprentice’s initiation ceremony was complete.
Steve Mellish gave us a 10/1 (BFSP) winner on the radio this afternoon. Is there a better pundit than Steve Mellish?
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Steve Mellish gave us a 10/1 (BFSP) winner on the radio this afternoon. Is there a better pundit than Steve Mellish?
He’s in a league of his own, Paul.
Yes, very many.
He is not a tipster (hardly a crime) but is often very interesting and sometimes a very illuminating writer.
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