Point North / Windsor 5.10

[Anonymous]

Drifted out to 9/4 from an opening 11/8, but won going away having shown few of the signs of awkwardness evident at Windsor.

I wonder why that could be?

[Coggy]

Agree totally AJ – won going away and didnt seem unruly, awkward or a difficult ride on this occaision.
Makes you think, mmm

[Burrough Hill Lad]

Ran as straight as a gun barrel and picked up nicely in his own time after getting slightly outpaced two out to win going away … shame on all concerned for the Windsor tactics and/or instructions

[Anonymous]

Maybe one of the TRF lynch mob would care to explain how connections benefitted from supposedly pulling the horse on his last outing? It clearly wasn’t to get a good mark, and it’s plain that it wasn’t to land a betting coup, so why would trainer and jockey, who’ve both been round the block a few times, risk their livelihood pulling such an amateurish stroke.
It just does not make sense, imo.

[Anonymous]

I would hazard a guess that Point North hasn’t been awarded a mark

because

of his Windsor performance, reet, so it’s impossible to rule that out as a motive. In any case, does there need to be an immediately obvious reason? Is it as simple as just ‘pulled to profit’ or ‘pulled for a rating’?

Take Striking Priorite at Wolverhampton a week or so ago.

He was ridden from a poor draw to hold a prominent early position at Kempton on debut and quickened off the heels of the leader over a furlong out to win comfortably under William Buick. At Wolverhampton though, Pat Dobbs restrained the horse having broken well from a reasonable draw and proceeded to bring him so wide in to the turn that, even if he’d been in front at the bend, he’d have had little chance of winning.

Striking Priorite drifted from 2/1 to 4/1 in the 10 minutes before the latter race.

Now, a mark of 70 seemed entirely fair given the manner of the horse’s previous victory and Roger Charlton doesn’t strike me as the sort of person who spends his free time larking about on Betfair. So, what reason could there be for stopping the horse?

Nothing obvious, that’s for sure, but there’s no doubting that Dobbs deliberately rode an entirely different race to Buick on a horse that had doubled in price in the moments leading up to the off.

And if that argument doesn’t suit, take early-season maidens involving two or more Ballydoyle runners. How is that the supposed second and third strings win so often? O’Brien and Murtagh aren’t stupid, so surely know how the horses rank relative to each other, and it’s not as though Tabor and Magnier need to secure a couple of grand arsing around on the exchanges. So, what’s the motive?

Sometimes it’s just not clear-cut, reet.

[The Ante-Post King]

TAPK 1 v BHA 0. I see as many Non triers as anyone,thats racing but this one needed pointing out, so well done to Burrough Hill Lad for spotting it and AJ for acknowledging it. Yet again it only confirms that the stewarding at British race courses is a mirror image of the rule book they themselves abide by…

[Burrough Hill Lad]

Maybe one of the TRF lynch mob would care to explain how connections benefitted from supposedly pulling the horse on his last outing? It clearly wasn’t to get a good mark, and it’s plain that it wasn’t to land a betting coup, so why would trainer and jockey, who’ve both been round the block a few times, risk their livelihood pulling such an amateurish stroke.
It just does not make sense, imo.

Can’t disagree with your reasoning, Reet … on the surface, there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to it from such a high profile owner/trainer/jockey combination … all I know is, after over 40 years of watching racing I like to think I’m a pretty good judge of what I’m seeing even if I can’t claim to have ever ridden professionally in my life and, in my opinion, at Windsor, they had no intention of putting this horse into the race at the business end … only they know the reasons for it and we’ll sure as hell never find out

[Anonymous]

I hear what you’re saying, AJ, and I recognise there’s a lot wrong in racing but I’m also aware it’s quite easy to cry wolf when there isn’t one, and, in this specific instance, it just doesn’t add up, imo.
The owner is nigh unimpeachable, the trainer is shrewd and highly experienced and has landed any number of gambles but never, certainly within my recall, had to resort to such obvious tactics, and the jockey – who admittedly isn’t as high profile as he once was – has ridden enough winners and losers to know full well how to give a horse a quiet run, without putting his whole career in jeopardy in such a blatant manner.
The horses connections are all experienced and professional, and, had they wanted to stop the horse without others knowing, running and riding him the way they did would probably be the last way they would have chosen.
Imo, of course.

ps I take your point about the Charlton horse, but that is a question that is just never asked – regardless of trainer – though it certainly should be.

[Author]

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