Forum Replies Created
- Posts
Terrible news and your heart goes out to friends and family who will be eaten up with questioning themselves as to what they could have done.
Unfortunately, as much as some of the stigma has been taken away from mental illness in recent years there are many, many people out there that suffer and go undiagnosed for years through fear of repercussion in their private life and career … and they become extremely adept at hiding it, even from those people that are closest to them.
Very sad.
I would have thought that Harry was smart enough to recognise that the authorities would be looking for the slightest chink in his operations with which to make an example of him. Failure to do so falls into the category of either negligence or arrogance.
I certainly don’t condone what he’s done … and the "technical error" defence doesn’t really wash either … quite simply a schoolboy error from someone that I imagined to be rather more meticulous in their dealings given the size and scale of the operation.
Suggest you get yourself better backroom staff, Harry … and spend the the next six months tightening up your Standard Operating Procedures so that you eliminate the risk of getting caught out again.
Would be interested to know the forum’s view on "laying" horses in general … I know there are many on here that dabble in the "play & lay" markets … personally, since I view punting as a hobby rather than a serious money making exercise, I’ve never felt comfortable about betting on something to lose even though I recognise it’s a valid skill in assessing the merits of a horse’s chances … $64,000 dollar question of course is, do the forumites think there are more examples and more opportunity for corruption since the increased availability of "laying to lose" for the general public ? … or is it that the info is more easily available and hence more widely reported ?
Good article in the Racing Post today on Mr Hughes … comes across as a bit of a tortured soul
Wasn’t great, was it ? … and I’m sure he’ll know he should have won.
Question is, in the grand scheme of things, how much did he care ? … He might have apologised to the connections and he’ll have probably made some half-hearted excuse as regards the horse not wanting to go through with his effort.
But …. as for the punter sat in front of his screen manipulating his Betfair account … or the lonely old chap cursing him in the bookies on a Saturday night coz he’s just lost his 50p … or the pro that had 700 to 400 on the rails ………….. I’m guessing he couldn’t give a flying ****
In common with many of the jockeys that like to ride in this style, it looks great when it comes off but you don’t half look stupid when it doesn’t … at least he now knows Rapid City ain’t no Paco Boy !!
If you’re talking about ATR, it was the inimitable (well, who would want to ?) Matt Chapman … didn’t hear the reasons why the scheduled commentator was absent … personally, I found it bearable as long as you turned the sound off completely !!!!!
Inevitable element of guesswork in trying to figure out which filly will improve the most from what they’ve shown so far on a racecourse … confused and contradictory form lines not helpful.
A fascinating race nevertheless and primarily one to sit back and enjoy with minimal stakes interest only.
Was at Nottingham last October when Ceilidh House scooted up in her maiden and was mightily impressed … whether there were valid excuses for the Lingfield run remains to be seen but it wasn’t without promise and the 14/1 on offer this morning looks fair value to me … I’m guessing from her action she may have found the good to firm ground at Lingfield not quite to her liking.
Stable is in flying form as well and are 6/16 since 24th May.
OMG … just read the rabid response to the Ryan Mahon ride this afternoon … my apologies to anyone offended by my transparent praise of Mr Crowley’s ride this afternoon
For the record, yes I did back him but I was also mightily impressed with the ride of young James Rogers in the last race and I didn’t have a penny on that
Would make a difference BHL, don’t know about it being unlucky for you (sounds like one of McCriricks stats
) you must be well up to a pound level stake? Very true, Yeats, when viewed in those terms … 28/1, 16/1 and 33/1 over a 23 year period … problem with a race like the National is that you tend to pick 2 or 3 just in case you get an early casualty … never been a favourite backer … work more on the Hugh Taylor theory of looking for value.Talking of value, I have a theory about horses that finish 5th in flat races of 10 or more runners … the proviso is they cannot have the word "weakened" in the race readers analysis irrespective of the race distance ( I know this is arbitrary but it’s just my little quirk ) … as long as the description states "stayed on" or "late headway" or even "one paced closing stages" it’s incredible how many of these horses win or go very close on their next starts … and invariably, because they finished 5th, the price often provides a bit of value … can’t imagine anyone has any stats on this sort of thing but be interested to hear if anyone else has quirky little theories such as this
Personally I wouldn’t include Red Marauders, it was the dullest and most anti-climactic National I can remember.
As one of only three National winners I’ve ever backed alongside Maori Venture ’87 and Mr Frisk ’90 it was pretty memorable for me … not my luckiest race
Chuckled at the way they managed to shoehorn the comment into the article about the altercation "not being sparked by any incident during the race"
… left to draw our own conclusions
Pete, Curley ain’t no Robin Hood, he ain’t no Chris Morris and he ain’t no Albert Schweitzer.
The man is a no-good narcissist who’d have the wallet out of your jacket pocket at the drop of a hat.
Granted he polarises opinion, Maxilon, but whatever we might think of him, there are an awful lot of children in Zambia that would disagree with your analysis.
Excellent article by Sean and, I guess, brings to the fore the reality of the "victims" of today’s coup … I admit that part of me loves to read stories like this but then I’m not in the game professionally, nor do I back my judgement and risk my financial future by playing on the exchanges although I know many "amateurs" that do … I accept there are many out there today that will have been adversely affected by today’s events and it will be interesting to see, as Sean has stated, how it plays out in the coming days and weeks with the authorities, the media and the public.
It’s almost as interesting as who’s going to form our next government !!!
From the responses already it’s clear that this incident today generates a variety of emotions and polarises opinion.
Ken is right when he says that coups like this appeal to the sensationalist in us … you can imagine there’s already someone out there dreaming of book and film rights
However, the cold, hard reality is that, as many have rightly pointed out, the integrity of racing is once again brought into serious question. None of us who are regular punters and knowledgable of what goes on behind the scenes are naive enough to think that racing is 100% clean … you only have to look at some of the topics debated on here recently with regard to non-triers to know that a lot of work is still needed to convince the majority that the authorities are winning the battle.
I look forward to reading the professional journalist’s views in the racing pages tomorrow.
I think you are missing Glenn’s point BHL!
David, you are correct in that I didn’t reference Glenn’s implied concerns re the bigger picture surrounding the background to this race … doesn’t mean I didn’t understand what he was inferring.
Apologies for my one dimensional response … think I was getting carried away with the story behind the Curley coup
Are these the sort of situations that the BHA’s Integrity Department should be investigating?
Ken, you’re not wrong and I know I have rejoiced in the fact that they have pulled off the coup today … however, that doesn’t mean I can’t also recognise the implication of what took place behind the plan and the inference that a number of these horses have been "prepared" and may well have been running below their true merits at some point in the past.
Would still be interesting to know at what point in the 742 day absence of the Towcester winner did they realise that they had a horse coming back from injury that still retained it’s ability and was capable of landing the punt … seriously clever training whatever your feelings ref the damage to the integrity of racing’s public image.
) you must be well up to a pound level stake?