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I came across this on youtube ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPoFiDbDSaw, not sure when it’s from might have been discussed on here before.
I’ve never been the biggest fan of Ruby Walsh and having watch that I like him even less very arrogant man, but thats another matter the main point, I’d pick up on is at one point McCririck say’s without the punters Walsh wouldn’t have a job, Walsh replies I don’t agree. Surely thats nonesense?
I think it would survive but not in the way it is now. Point to Point would continue without gambling.
Racing would easily survive without betting but it would be unrecognisable from what’s on offer now.
Gone will be the bloated fixture list and low grade BAGS style racing.
There would still be racing at the highest level.
It would be lovely if it happened but unfortunately it is a pipe dream.
There would be a lot more running to form lower down the scale…….that much is certain
Imagine what racing would look like without the funding from the Levy and betting operator sponsorship, and imagine the atmosphere at racecourses (and crowds) without bookmakers or a Tote and there you have your answer.
Racecourses would be deserted bar the entourages of the owners, trainers and jockeys plus a handful of racing purists.
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"duplicated in error
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Imagine what would look like without the funding from the Levy and betting operator sponsorship, and imagine the atmosphere at racecourses (and crowds) with bookmakers or a Tote and there you have your answer.
Racecourses would be deserted bar the entourages of the owners, trainers and jockeys plus a handful of racing purists.
And your problem is?
Sounds idyllic to me
Get real how many people apart from a few owners ( and there would be precious few of them) would want to watch a load horses running around a field without any betting.Where would the multi million breeding industry and the upkeep of the tracks be without a sufficient following of punters to fund it all not to mention their contribution to prize money
Irritating to watch is big Macs tactless style of delivering a possibly interesting question.
Let’s look at this in an abstract manner for one quick moment, by removing Ruby Walsh from the argument and replacing this position with anyone of us. Then implying ownership over the individual and likening that individual to some piece of public property……… yes you are going to get very annoyed very quickly.
Not a great way to structure a question that could have been the beginning of a very interesting debate. Most definitely a cheap and very blatant way of rubbing someone up the wrong way.
“Would horse racing exist without gambling?” Sure it could. It already does exist now, doesn’t it? Like out there in Dubai? Correct me if I am wrong but I believe betting is not allowed in Dubai, and yet they can stage some great racing there especially during the Dubai Carnival which culminates in the fabulous Dubai World Cup night. The racing is high class, well supported and always competitive. So even without gambling, Dubai’s racing not only survives but is in a positively healthy state.
Now whether racing would exist without gambling in Great Britain is a different matter. I’d say not a chance, as already pointed out by fellow posters above, British racing needs gamblers, or should I say losing gamblers, in order to survive. The difference between Dubai and British racing is that, unlike the Middle East, in Britain we don’t have vast reserves of oil to fall back on! I might be talking a load of rubbish and totally wrong but that is my perception and humble opinion.
If Big Mac said that the pope was Catholic or that Bears wee in the woods, Ruby would disagree.
Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
Racecourses would be deserted bar the entourages of the owners, trainers and jockeys plus a handful of racing purists.
And your problem is?
Sounds idyllic to me
Except there’d be no racecourses, owners, trainers or jockeys!
“Would horse racing exist without gambling?”
Dubai’s racing may be funded by the Sheikh’s loopy kleptocracy, but apart from that I can’t think of any country where racing exists in any meaningful sense without gambling.
So no is the answer.
Mike
Except there’d be no racecourses, owners, trainers or jockeys!
Mike
Incorrect Mike – there would be FEWER racecourses, owners, trainers and jockeys but that would be no bad thing.
What remained would be a leaner, trimmer sport which would be far superior, more competitive and, generally, better quality.
Of course it will never happen because the cancer of betting has eaten too far into the sport to the extent the bookmakers are now the de facto administrators of the sport.
There be no studbook and there would be no formbook, farmers and the children running around a field on the and backs of horses would receive little public interest and probably end up resembling something like Polo, which only those who play would know about. However what the jockey says in regards to the punter having some sort of ownership over the rider is quite correct.
It would be far more like pointing – people doing it for the love of the competition and sport.
That is on the decline and there are few bookmakers on course who’ll lay a fair bet (hence our horse went from 7/2 to 4/5 in a Maiden a couple of years ago when trying to get circa £4,000 on it).
Prize money would be poor (£200-400) first prize and the courses would be forced to sell land as no money in it – they’d end up racing around fields like at Langholm and Hawick up in Scotland.
Martin
Incorrect Mike – there would be FEWER racecourses, owners, trainers and jockeys but that would be no bad thing.
What remained would be a leaner, trimmer sport which would be far superior, more competitive and, generally, better quality.
I very much doubt it!
The first thing that would happen would be all media coverage would end overnight, taking all advertising and sponsorship revenue with it. No racing on telly, no racing in the papers.
With no coverage, nobody would attend any race meetings. Maybe one or two racecourses would use their facilities still for racing but who would pay for all the maintenance, health-and-safety work, security etc? I would guess all racecourses would either sell their land, re-invent themselves as other leisure facilities or just shut down.
As Irish Stamp points out, jumps racing would become point-to-point with owner-funded prize money and races in a field. Within a decade, flat racing would have reverted to the 16th century with match races for private stakes. Wider interest would be non-existent.
Mike
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