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<br>Or it could just be that at this time of year, after paying for Xmas and putting down the deposit for the summer package tour, most punters haven’t got the funds in the bank to play with.
Can’t say I’ve noticed much difference or had any problems getting on in the last week, but most of my trading is in the last 5 minutes anyway.
AP
<br>Nore,
My answer would be age – no 10-y-old has ever won the Tingle Creek since it became a non handicap in 1994.
Five winners have been 7-y-olds like Azertyuiop.
If any horse is going to break the mould, Moscow Flyer has the best prospects, as his win last year was the first by a 9-y-old.
But you can’t stop the effects of time and it’s impossible to avoid the truth that horses of his age lose the cutting edge of speed that wins top class 2M chases.
To go back a little further, Desert Orchid won this under 12st as a 9-y-old when it was a handicap. The following year, he couldn’t repeat the feat.
AP
<br>Hell of a performance, especially if you believe Henrietta Knight.
She says the going is heavy and if it stays the same, Best Mate won’t run in ‘his’ race in three weeks time.
You have to go a long way back to find a chaser winning a handicap from a mark of 174, let alone doing it so easily.
AP
<br>Adrian,
Your point about the popularity of Countryside days at racecourse is absolutely valid, but there are negatives as well.
When Whitbread withdrew from the exclusive sponsorship of the Cheltenham three day November meeting, they cited their need to appeal to a younger market as the reason.
But I was told at the time that the C4 pictures of a pack of hounds being hunted down the run-in past Whitbread advertising banners, accompanied by a raucous cheer from the Countryside crowd, was a major factor in their disappearance from NH sponsorship.
Racing’s support for hunting is understandable, given the overlap in their followers, but commercially it’s potentially suicidal.
If the hunt protestors move on to racing and adopt the policies of those who are trying to close down Huntingdon Life Sciences, how many sponsors will feel inclined to resist that sort of pressure?
AP
<br>Runandskip,
Would you also support the Maktoums if they opted to bar all horses with English names from the Dubai metings?
Or does your pathetic prejudice only operate in one direction?
AP
<br>I’ve never quite worked out how ‘self-opinionated’ qualifies an an insult (as Hoofski clearly intends).
I mean if you don’t put forward your own opinion, what’s the point in being on a forum in the first place.
Does it suggest that the world would be a better place if people were only allowed to spout someone else’s opinion?
Or that nobody should have any opinions of their own at all?
AP (self opinionated, pedantic anorak)
<br>Presumably those that support the claims of Hawk Wing as horse of the year will also be voting for Fulham as the winners of the 2003/04 Premiership.
After all they did win 3-1 at Old Trafford and clearly we should overlook their other results and salute the brilliance they showed that day.
AP
Quote: from PAULCS on 3:28 pm on Jan. 5, 2004[br]contests.
Why is the all-weather just constantly used for a lot of run of the mill stuff???
Paul,
You mean run of the mill, as in the two £12,000 handicaps tomorrow, or the card at Wolverhampton on Friday that includes a £15,000 0-100 handicap and a £12,000 conditions race.
Or the run of the mill ‘trash’ (to quote another friend of the AW) being staged at Lingfield on March 20th. That card includes two £75,000 races, one worth £30,000, one worth £25,000 and another worth £20,000.
Not to mention the £25,000 handicaps being run at Lingfield every Saturday from Jan 31st to the end of February, or the £35,000 Lincoln Trial at Wolverhampton.
Just the sort of run of the mill racing that Catterick and Folkestone deliver every week on turf.
The problem with so many AW knockers is that they are still using the same arguments against it that they did in 1994 and haven’t noticed that it’s changed.
AP
<br>PR,
That’s 400 paying customers. The crowd would include annual members, owners and pre paid admissions for boxes and restaurants.
There are plenty of NH tracks that would regard 400 paying customers as acceptable for a new meeting. And it’s more than Wolverhampton get on a Monday afternoon.
BTW, this ‘trash’ (why is it that the anti-AW brigade feel the need to use such emotional language?) seems to be OK with punters.
According to their Ceefax report on page 678, the best backed horse today with Hills was Larkys Lob at Southwell.
Still, why let the facts get in the way of a satisfying emotional outburst?
AP
<br>Sorry about that – just wanted to add that the transport figure of £800 quoted by Dave Nevison in yesterdays Post was bizarre.
My trainer reckons he must be sending his horses to Southwell in a Bentley if he’s being charged that much.
Yes it’s low prize money, but if I had a horse qualified to run at this level, I’d take the view that some money is beter than no prize money for finishing down the field in a better race.
AP
<br>A very personal choice that I wont be bothering to nominate officially.
Charlottown – I saw him win the Solario Stakes at Sandown by 8 lengths and announced he would win the Derby next June. When he did, my father accepted that I might have a chance of making racing pay and stopped giving me the ‘never saw a poor bookie’ speech.
Little Earwig – won a 1m 5f handicap at Alexandra Palace in the spring of 1969 (?), rewarding a mad loss chasing bet of £100/30 and allowing me to return the money I’d taken from the house deposit fund shared with my then fiancee.
Va Utu – the sixth winner on the Lingfield card on Friday March 19th 1993 and the final leg of a Tote Jackpot that paid me £39k and gave me the breathing space to continue as a full time punter.
Life changing horses aren’t always the stars, and I’d be going round in circles trying to nominate three from the many great athletes I’ve been privileged to see from Nijinsky to Falbrav or Arkle to Baracouda.
AP
Quote: from guskennedy on 5:50 pm on Dec. 14
good call regarding the likely lack of pace and the resulting sprint finish but wouldn’t the thing to do in those circumstances be to lay those at the front of the market rather than make it a no-bet race? Where there’s no pace my view is that a race becomes little more than a lottery.
Gus,
I suspect this is going to sound daft, but after a number of losing Saturdays, I’ve opted out of the laying business on days when there are so many meetings going on. With the races coming up continuously, it just seems more difficult to keep abreast of what’s happening in the BF markets, as well as watch all the races.
How those BF players who operate before the race, then trade in running, and still find time to air conspiracy theories on the forum, manage their time is a mystery to me. ÂÂÂ
AP<br>
<br>I’ve had a long look at the Bula Hurdle and I can’t see any prospect of a genuine pace. In a sprint from the top of the hill, I don’t see RB or the mare being totally effective as both have produced their very best in races with a strong pace.
Definitely a no bet race for me purely because of the pace concern.
AP
<br>I’m sure the ‘low class’, ‘high class’ line is the one to pursue.
If a Sadlers Wells horse wins a maiden, the ground conditions probably aren’t significant, but those races are all included in any stats. It’s more likely that it won because it’s top class and racing against moderate opposition.
There’s not much doubt that they win on any ground at group level and if there’s a bias towards soft in the overall stats, it’s probably because his offspring need 7F+, so mainly appear in maidens in the autumn.
As for worrying about what acts on heavy – when was the last meeting on heavy going in the UK?
AP
<br>Nobody is ever likely to improve on Louis Freedman, who named one of his home bred fillys as follows –
Lowawatha b f Dancing Brave – Shorthouse
AP
<br>Doncaster is up for sale and the only bidders are Northern Racing and Arena Leisure.
As today’s news from Northern Racing (sale of media rights to bookies) indicates, it’s the tracks the bookies don’t want that will be most likely to close.
I would fear for those independent tracks that aren’t part of one of the three main groupings, such as Cartmel, Fakenham, Taunton, Ludlow, Hexham.
I’ve been to all but three tracks in the UK and the one I’d miss least is Worcester. Definitely the worst run course in the country with an apparent contempt for it’s customers.
Brighton used to be dire, but has made big strides since Northern Racing took over. Stan Clarke may not be everybody’s cup of tea and certainly isn’t mine, but he does ensure that the people running the tracks are enthusiastic and fully committed to customer care.
AP
