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Was only thinking the other day of Move Off as the "Tan, Red Sleeves" of the Barker family made an appearance at the Ebor Meeting this year and brought back some memories.
Nice horse that won a few big handicaps in the mid-70’s.
A very nice horse indeed, PPG, if a touch on the small side. He actually won the Ebor itself the following year, 1977, getting up ("led last stride") by a short-head from Lighter who was disqualified for causing interference and placed third. Jimmy Bleasdale rode Move Off that day, claiming 5lbs.
Sir Montagu – no "e" – was a chesnut son of Connaught. He ran twice at two, finishing 9th of 19 first time out in the Convivial Maiden at the 1975 Ebor Meeting over 6f and 4th of 13 over 7f in an Ascot "maidens at closing" over 7f in October.
The following year he ran 6th of 19 first time out in an 11f maiden at the Newbury Spring meeting then went off favourite for a 10f event at Lingfield on Derby Trial day but was beaten a neck into second by Leventis (Willie Carson/Clive Brittain) with the third twenty lengths away. He broke his duck next time out at Sandown on June 1, winning a 10f maiden by six lengths as 5/4 fav. He then went off at odds-on for a Newbury handicap nine days later but was beaten three lengths into second by Caribbean (Willie Carson/Dick Hern). On June 23, Sir Montagu won the 12f Bibury Cup handicap at Salisbury by three lengths as 5/6 fav and followed this up with a six length win at 11/4 in a 12f Ascot handicap the day before the King George in July. Willie Carson rode him there for the first time, Brian Taylor having had the mount previously. Taylor was back on the horse at Glorious Goodwood and he won the 12f handicap for three-year-olds by five lengths at 8/11 under a 4lb penalty.
Then followed his Ebor romp under 8-0, including a 7lb penalty. Ridden by Carson as Taylor couldn’t do the weight, he went off 11/4 fav and won by eight lengths from Alverton, Shangamuzo and Move Off. Alverton was the only one of those who wasn’t a three-year-old, by the way. The Form Book comment for Sir Montagu in the Ebor was as follows: "looked well, always going well, second straight, led three and a half furlongs out, soon clear, very easily."
He didn’t run in the Leger. Instead, he went for the French equivalent, the Prix Royal-Oak over 15.5f and finished a creditable four lengths 2nd of 7 to a real top-notcher in Exceller, a Nelson Bunker Hunt horse trained by Francois Mathet.
Sir Montagu didn’t run again as far as I’m aware.
While this overall increase will no doubt please the track’s executive, I personally believe the very average attendance on Saturday should be a warning to those that believe that shifting the midweek festivals to the weekend will have the crowds flocking in huge numbers
Well said, Drone. The attendance figures are very illuminating.
The other high-profile move to Saturday was, of course, the Newmarket July Meeting. Stephen Wallis, Newmarket MD, made selective use of statistics after the meeting finished and was quoted as follows in the Post: "our crowds were 8% up over three days, 16% up yesterday [Saturday]." What stood out like a sore thumb, but went completely unmentioned, was the fact that the total three-day attendance this year was 34592, just 503 more than attended in 2005, the last time it was a Tuesday-Thursday meeting. There was some waffle about global television coverage but when the move to Saturday became a fait accompli in 2009 all the talk was of boosting the attendance figures and there was none whatsoever in relation to media coverage.
I cut my racing teeth on a 3-day Ebor Meeting (and certainly not on the Welcome to Yorkshire Ebor Festival). My first day’s racing ever was the Tuesday in 1976. I used to book three days off each year and attend Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday without fail. Similarly, from the early-nineties until 2005 I used to take three days off in early July and head down south for all three days of the July meeting. Again, without fail. This year I attended one day at Newmarket and one day at York. I feel totally alienated by the way my views and the views of people like me – proper racing fans, I’d venture to suggest – have been ridden over roughshod by these racecourses.
Alastair Down was a cheerleader on C4 in 2009 when Wallis was floating the idea of Newmarket moving to Saturday but he seems to be repenting now, judged by his words in the Post last week: "What has been surprising this week has been heat and passion that continues to be generated by the slow slide of big racedays to Saturday. It is almost a no-brainer that if you move a major race from a midweek date to the Saturday that more people will be able to attend, watch it on TV and bet. Yet it is among the very people who might be forced to take a day off during the week in order to go racing that the greatest opposition to the new weekend obsession lies. I wonder whether our rulers are making assumptions about what the public wants that are not ringing true."
There is little point to a thread like this. Just decends in to a Flat V Jumps rubbish. Both codes are great for different reasons so will both have their fans. Does not mean one is "better" than the other.
Well said. Unfortunately, any number of these threads appear each year. They’re tedious.
Got an email today from RUK offering two for the price of one on Gordon enclosure tickets for all five days.
So a friend and I will be going to see Frankel after all…
AP
Credit to Goodwood for a very good offer. £18.50 per ticket against £37 per ticket makes a huge difference and I’ve booked today for the Tuesday and Wednesday. Market forces, indeed.
I went last year for the first time and attended from Tuesday to Friday inclusive. There was definitely a concession in the early part of the week in that it was something like £33 the first two days and £36 the rest. This year it looks like it’s £37 per day all week.
I enjoyed myself but these prices are definitely over the top. £185 for the five days compares very unfavourably with a three-day Grandstand ticket for this week’s July Meeting at Newmarket for £54 and a four-day Grandstand ticket for York’s Ebor Meeting for £78. Goodwood’s a special racecourse but not that special.
What do others think? Am I deluded or is Skyelaw just another on the (busy) conveyor belt of disgruntled punters who can’t accept personal responsibility for backing losers?
I backed Telwaar and it never even crossed my mind that there was anything wrong with the ride.
I should have mentioned that Christy Roche rode the winner who was, of course, trained by David O’Brien.
The race was run at Leopardstown on September 18, 1982. Assert went off the 1/4 favourite and won by three lengths from Kind Of Hush (B Hills/S Cauthen). Punctilio (M V O’Brien/P Eddery) was a length and a half further away in third. Stanerra was fourth.
Gatepost’s form was let down horribly today, twice. No RPR in for Mezmaar yet but he’s run a little too close to the meeting for my liking.
Hamza, beaten 2.5 lengths by Gatepost at York, was a length behind the winner at Beverley. Rio Grande was beaten 1.5 lengths at Newmarket whereas Gatepost gave him 5lbs and an 8 length beating at York. I think "horribly" is overstating it a tad.
I’m also reluctant to accept that the timing of Mezmaar’s run is a negative as far as his Coventry prospects are concerned. He didn’t have a hard race on Friday and the gap between the two races is 18 days – can’t see a problem, myself.
Yes, thanks for drawing attention to this, DJ. It’s an elegant put-down.
The "you’ve never ridden a horse" line is trotted out with amazing regularity, isn’t it?
Submission’s trainer, Luca Cumani, says in today’s Stable Tour in the Post that "the race didn’t pan out for her and she didn’t have the best of rides".
Just to be clear, I’m not for one minute suggesting the filly was "not off", as the saying goes. My view is that after meeting trouble in running – it was a rough race – the jockey accepted far too early that Submission’s chance had gone. Everything he did in the last couple of furlongs reflected that. Not only did he not pick up his stick, he didn’t even push her out properly with hands and heels. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that she could have got third place and that each-way backers were therefore "robbed".
Punters look to the stewards and the BHA to protect their interests and on this occasion that just didn’t happen. My main concern, as suggested by the title of this thread, is the unaccountable failure even to hold an enquiry.
This thread has the potential to get TRF in a lot of trouble.
I would suggest removing it.
No, it doesn’t but thanks for your contribution.
I wonder of those who think Carberry should be be banned for months also believe that EVERYONE who makes a mistake at work should be suspended without pay for months with no recourse to tribunals etc, etc.
It depends on what the mistake is and who makes it. If you’re a shelf stacker in a supermarket and you drop a tin of beans then I wouldn’t have thought suspension is the answer.
If you’re a jockey and you’ve gone into that career with your eyes open, holding yourself out to the betting public as competent and professional enough to familiarise yourself with the course you’re riding on any given day and knowing that thousands of pounds ride upon you getting that right then suspension without pay may well be the answer although it won’t be "for months".
We all make mistakes, including at work. If I make one, I’m liable to be sued by my client for negligence. If a jockey makes a mistake, why shouldn’t it have serious consequences?
I’ve no problem at all with people booing in these circumstances but I’d draw the line at a "baying mob".
It was obviously a genuine mistake by Carberry but he thoroughly deserves the lengthy ban that’s on its way.
As I’ve pointed out before, at one time a ban wasn’t always automatic in these cases. To my cost, Willie Carson eased Cherry Hill down at York in 1984 – Form Book comment: fifth straight, soon hard driven, stayed on to lead inside final furlong, eased close home, caught final stride – and was fined £500 with no ban at all.
