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Thought his comments (CL) on one of the days he hosted Luck On Sunday – that stable staff shouldn’t get looked after in terms of being offered a meal by racecourses when on duty, were pretty appalling.
Other than that, in almost three decades of following racing daily, can’t remember a single memorable comment from him, or have a link to any article by him, where he had something/anything interesting to say.
Your spot on there, Ian. Aspiration is a key component of it. Otherwise, either people lose interest, or they go elsewhere to bet. As seems to be playing out at the moment, in these jurisdictions at least.
Of course bookmakers are commercial entities with an understandable profit motive. But that commercial profit/customer aspiration balance, has been lost.
Think the exchanges have significantly propped up interest in racing over the last decade, largely because they allow aspiration to still exist. But even they are making it difficult for long-standing customers these days.
Can you imagine a world without exchanges, where anyone serious about their racing had to go through a bookmaker to bet. Most would have gone elsewhere by now, well beyond the reach of the levy. Racing would be, and increasingly is, competing with football, for the acca builder ‘lad’ market.
Only one winner there.
Nobody gets what they want on with any bookmaker, but legally mandating the aspiration that profit is achievable, is a hugely more effective method of maintaining interest and engagement imo. The variance monster will always prevent the vast majority from turning that aspiration into a reality, and is a scenario that ultimately any bookmaker doing their job properly should be able to account for. It seems they want it every way though.
Take the point that the ideal bookmaker customer is betting recreationally, losing regularly, but to generally small amounts, well within affordability.
That’s very bad news for racing though, as that demographic generally bets on football these days.
Think the levy returns due at the end of March will be a real eye-opener this time around.
It’s not hard to believe at all, Ian. A simple Google will provide all the hard facts and figures you’ll need. Horseracing in terms of betting turnover, and the subsequent prizemoney that goes back into the sport is at record levels down under. They are buying our good horses!
Oddly enough, despite being legally obliged to lay a bet to a fixed liability, the UK corporate bookmakers who willingly operate down there, still manage to operate profitably in that market.
Given the current operating environment in these parts, couldn’t see how the UK/IRE market would be of any interest to an Australian bookmaker setting up an operation here.
A legally mandated, maximum liability of a few hundred quid per race, after a certain time (11am) would suffice. Don’t think there are many, if any, expecting to have unlimited amounts on the Hugh Taylor at 9am of a morning. That is unreasonable.
MBL operates well in Australia, where nobody is going bankrupt. Quite the opposite, racing and betting on it there are thriving.
In the absence of that, a legally mandated advisory placed on all sports betting markets operated by licenced betting operators here, to the tune of – “95% of customers lose money betting over the longer term, the small minority who do not, can expect some form of restriction(s) to be placed on their account. This product is for entertainment purposes only”.
Bookmakers are offering a confidence trick as things stand. They want it every way.
More power to you, Sean. Keep up the good work, and thank you.
3:05 Limerick probably the worst maiden hurdle run in Ireland since partition. Fav finished way above its price at Punchestown last time, and was as short as 3/1 last night. The winner cost 58 grand and went off 7/1 on debut in a Fairyhouse Bumper.
You’ll see worse.
A Happy and Healthy Christmas, and best wishes for the New Year to David, and all on The Racing Forum.
Have a good one folks.
Poster of the year
Flat horse of the year – Alpinista
Jumps horse of the year – Constitution Hill
Flat jockey of the year – William Buick
Jumps jockey of the year –
Flat trainer of the year – William Haggas
Jumps trainer of the year – Paul Nicholls
Hero of the year – IHRB (credit where it’s due for their more proactive approach to integrity in 2022)
Riding Performance of the year –
Broadcaster of the year – Nick Luck
One to watch 2023 –
Racecourse of the year – York
Journalist of the year – Lee Mottershead
Villain of the year –
Owner of the year – Kirsten Rausing
Commentator of the year –
Thread of the year –Is there a case for saying that many of the smaller racecourses are doing well out of media rights payments, and the expense of catering for crowds is increasingly becoming a burden they cant be arsed with anymore?
Surely places like Worcester charging £35 quid entry for five runner, midweek, 0-120 jumps racing, are aware that fee plus f&b, is a complete non starter for most people.
Agree with the ‘fair weather fans’ comments too. Understand racings need to attract a broad audience, but I think that should be balanced with the requirements of the more committed long term fan of the sport too, and increasingly that isn’t the case. It seems attending live quality racing in the UK, is becoming more of an uncomfortable experience, the experience of being a customer with many bookmakers is frequently unpleasant nowadays, the analytical side of the sport is being largely ignored by the racing media (broadcast in particular) in favour of churn, and as displayed in the recent Frost/Dunne case, there is a significant element within the sport who simply dont care what existing or potential customers think or perceive of their attitudes.
I love racing, but in terms of raceday experience, value for money, analytics, betting (ability to get a bet on in the first place, being treated like a criminal), the sport is giving less and less.
What else has it to offer after that…?
No wonder the courses are emptying.
“Helped along by the fact that Mullins knows how to game the system. The County Hurdle winner yesterday had run three times, completed twice, once in France and winning a Limerick maiden hurdle. The Irish handicapper hasn’t even allocated him a mark, but our handicappers fall for it every time. Imo, he shouldn’t have been anywhere near a Grade 3 handicap, his entry should have been declined on the grounds of insufficient evidence.”
Agree. This is happening every day of the week in the UK too though, with British trainers running their chase debutants off their hurdles mark, in those ghastly basement novice handicap chases, having being punted accordingly.
More evidence required all-round before a mark is allotted imo.
RP doing a 50% off Black Friday deal at the moment. You must pay up front, but £14.50 a month for the next 12 months is decent value imo.
Looks like Racing TV have a deal coming for Friday too, going by the race title of the 12:35 at Thurles this coming Thursday…
2m2f Racing TV Black Friday Offer Tomorrow Only Handicap Chase (4yo+ 0-116)
The Class 2 Nursery, essentially a 0-85 at Goodwood this afternoon, has attracted 5 runners.
You’d wonder why they bother at times.
Hi Alan,
Those figures would relate to all 2yos which ran to and above the TFR mentioned. Take your general point regarding the options available to such horses though. Haven’t the time or inclination right now to go through them individually, but I see Beckett’s New Mandate, who won a nursery at Sandown on race three last August off 81, went on to win the Royal Lodge a month later.
Not so sure the figures would agree with you here, Alan.
Looking at 2yo’s that ran Timeform Ratings in the high seventies (TFR 79+) on second career run, then went into a Nursery next time out, their record is quite good actually…
Since 2015 its
43-142–30.28%–A/E 1.31
2020 alone was higher still at win rate circa 33%
Both Godolphin trainers, Fahey, and Beckett, all seem quite adept at it.
As a 51 year old white, male, decades-long horseracing fan, with the testosterone rapidly draining out of me, I’m probably not in the demographic of what the organizers of the Racing League are hoping to attract from this effort, but I honestly dont understand the antipathy towards it either.
I dont and probably never will engage with horseracing as a team sport or a league, so I can easily leave that element of it aside. But I do like having an extra six competitive heats, that have a lovely shape to their markets to bet on, that I probably wouldn’t have of a normal Thursday evening. And I do acknowledge that perhaps 1.8 million quid wouldn’t have come into the game without a few bells and whistles attached, and the subsequent necessity of those involved with it to pour the sugar on.
Its investment that by all appearances is badly needed in the present prizemoney environment. I see we’ve lost Atomic Force to Hong Kong over the last few days.
Take the point about exclusivity, but that’s been robustly refuted elsewhere.
Looks permanent, David. Only condition that I can see is that it applies only to monthly recurring subscriptions that must be payed through PayPal.
