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Agree with the forumites who rate Goodwood the best of the Grade 1 tracks.
As for the smaller tracks, I’ve been to most of them (not Carlisle) and would unreservedly give my vote to PERTH as the best I’ve experienced — atmosphere, ease of viewing, scenery, quality of racing — it’s got it all. No contest, IMO.
Even if all of the £90m (an ever-diminishing figure) went towards prize money, it would still be a pitifully inadeqaute contribution from the gambling industry who IMO have been allowed to get away with murder.
Gamblers are not forced to gamble, and to hear some of them whining that their losses are in some way "subsidising" racehorse owners is so risible that I’m not sure whether to laugh or vomit.
The ROA are to introduce a Third Party Liability Insurance Scheme on January 1st which will provide cover for all members. The details have yet to be finalised but the limit is likely to be £5m minimum.
Finally members of the ROA are to receive a significant benefit from what is a fairly hefty membership fee.
So far, though, there has been no move from the BHA to compel all owners to be covered by this type of insurance.
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Madman Marz is right. This fiasco was caused by the guy in the white jacket who was waving the jocks round the inside of the hurdle. The jockeys on the inside went that way, the ones on the outside (who probably couldn’t see him) jumped the hurdle.
Now what the hell was that guy doing on the course? That’s what the Kelso executive have to answer. To disqualify jockeys for 15 days as a result of this is a total travesty IMO. I hope that they take their case to Shaftesbury Avenue and are exonerated.
It’s Kelso racecourse who should be called to account over this sorry shambles.
I think it’s inevitable that he’ll be disqualified. Grossly unfair, but inevitable. What a shambles!
Disqualification from second place was harsh in the extreme since no advantage was gained by the horse’s manoeuvre. But, if the letter of the law is being strictly applied then the decision is correct, as the horse did stray off the course by a few inches when he jumped the doll.
Sam Jones had no option but to let the horse jump the doll as he was hemmed in by the winner on his outside. It would have been outrageous for him to receive any sort of ban.
So IMO the decision to disqualify but not attach any blame to the jockey was correct if the laws are to be applied rigidly. But I think it would have been more satisfactory if the Stewards could have exercised a bit of discretion on this occasion.
It would indeed be nice to see English and Irish Gold-Cup class horses running in the Grand Prix de Paris, but it ain’t gonna happen.
After a long, hard season and with most of these horses having been aggressively campaigned, no trainer is going to entertain the idea of keeping a horse in training for an additional 2 months just to have a crack at the Paris race. Even Punchestown is usually a festival too far for the top-class chasers.
The prize money on offer in the UK and Ireland at Group 1 level now compares very favourably with France, and is boosted by initiatives like the Order of Merit. The Grand Prix de Paris is still more valuable to the winner than the CGC, but only marginally so (£243k vs.242k).
TWW, I take it you didn’t back Taranis at Sandown?
I believe the WFA allowance for 5-y-os in novice chases has now been scrapped.
The booming Irish economy has meant that most of the best Irish-bred jumpers are staying in Ireland. So in the absence of a consistently reliable British product, more French-breds are being bought to race here. This in turn has forced the price up to the extent that only the mega-rich owners such as Stewart, Hales, Johnson and Ogden can afford the good ones, leaving the dross for the rest of us.
They do mature earlier, have usually been racing as 3-y-os, so you are buying a ready-made racehorse with form in the book rather than a "store". In the main the French-breds seem to stand up to the rigours of jump racing better than the Irish and British-bred horses. This may have something to do with the fact that most of the mares are non-thoroughbred, but not being a breeding expert I can’t be certain about that.
I fear the answer to Clive’s question is Yes.
He’ll be 10, rising 11, before he can come back and there’s no way he’d be competitive at that age in Group 1 hurdle races, whatever the distance.
If he were mine he’d be retired now. He’s won his owners nearly £1m over 5 seasons, running in 30 hurdle races and giving his all each time. Isn’t that enough?
It strikes me as quite an innovative way for a struggling small trainer to supplement his income (I assume he fits that description, though I must confess I’ve never heard of him).
If he can find enough mugs to grab the bait, good luck to him!
Agreed JimJTS. Who the hell wants to know what davidbrady did or didn’t back or lay. Can I suggest that he confines his posts to the Betfair forum, where he clearly belongs. This forum, which used to be excellent, has suffered enough dumbing down in the last last few months.
As long as you post it elsewhere — I think there’s a section of the site which is dedicated to tipping, and caters for those individuals of that particular inclination — otherwise The Racing Forum is in danger of metamorphosing into the Betfair Forum. I’m sorry to say, that on the evidence of the last two or three months, that transition is already well advanced.
I have it on good authority that the circumstances surrounding this move bear no similarity to those which brought about the sudden departure of Mr. Lee ;).
