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These days trainers can easily recoup losses incurred in entering a horse in a race, transportation costs an so on by simply laying the animal.
1. Errm, Trainers would lose their license if they were found to be laying their horses.
2. Trainers don’t pay for entry fees, their Owners do.
3. Trainers don’t pay for transportation costs, their Owners do.
That’s 0 out of 3 so far. Any more gems of wisdom that you can pass on to this Forum?
Oh for god’s sake stop complaining. Few if any trainers in the country would be as bold as Nicholls, to have his predictions each Saturday shot down when they didn’t meet the punters’ expectations?
Can you imagine Henderson or Pipe having the balls to do it? Give the guy some credit.
Sam is an immensely likeable young man, but I fear has been promoted to a position beyond his (current) ability. He needs to tidy up his finishing, all elbows and knees flapping about, often giving the impression that he’s panicking.
Contrast that with Nick Scholfield’s ride today on Irving, coolness and calmness personified and so polished in the finish. If I had a horse at Ditcheat, I know who I would want to ride it.
How anyone can bet on the outcome of tennis matches is totally beyond my comprehension.
Anyway, what odds you offer on Rafa eventually passing Roger’s total of 17 Slams? Only four to go!
I’m told that the BHA is giving each owner £500 compensation. Better than nothing I suppose, but it means that the balance of the prize-money (£7K) will be retained by Ludlow as reward for their incompetence.
Luckily I didn’t bet in the race but feel sorry for anybody who did, and am surprised the jockeys didn’t raise merry hell on course.
The punters get their stake money back, no need to feel sorry for them. The jockeys couldn’t care less, they get their fee. It costs each owner £500 on average to have a runner on a Sunday — a combination of the entry fee, the horse transport, overtime for the travelling head lad and the groom, and the riding fee. No, it’s the owners who should be raising merry hell.
It will be an utter travesty if Ludlow are allowed to pocket the £12000 prize-money. If the BHA have any sense of decency, they must direct that this is apportioned equally among the ten owners as compensation for this sorry debacle.
He got quite a bump after the last didn’t he? Only saw it side on once, though.
The head-on clearly showed that it was Zarkandar who bumped into Melodic Rendezvous. Jacob had his whip in the wrong hand and I was surprised he didn’t receive a caution at least.
Personally I think that Fehily is as good as anyone riding at the moment, and if anyone gets the job I hope that it is him.
First of all, Noel is very happy where he is, thank you.
Secondly, would Nicholls want to appoint someone, no matter how good he is, who is approaching the end of his career? I would imagine he would want something like a 10-year association with his first jockey.
If and when DJ is replaced, my money would be on Nick Scholfield who is held in high regard not just by PN, but by his landlord Paul Barber and his major owners. They will certainly have a say in the matter.
For some bizarre reason Empiracle is prominent in the ante-post betting for the Supreme Novices. He won’t be going to Cheltenham or anywhere else this season, unfortunately.
If only they would drop Mick Fitzgerald it would be very good indeed.
Having set the precedent of showing all 6 races (well done C4), they’ve surely now GOT to do the same at the Cheltenham Festival?
Funny how many people who originally rubbished Rishi Persad are now being won over by him. I’ve been a fan since I first saw him (on other sports of course): bright, bubbly, personable and knowledgable. And yes, that last adjective also applies to racing, whether the curmudgeons on here like it or not.
I take the point about inconsistencies in Stewards’ decisions….that certainly remains an issue. I’ve watched the replay of this race several times and there is no doubt to my eyes that the rider of the runner-up was prevented from using his whip in the last 50 yards because he was being leant on by the "winner". He was then only beaten a head. Surely under these circumstances 9 out of 10 Stewards Panels would have reversed the placings? Kim Bailey in this morning’s blog said that, on dismounting, Nick was adamant that he would have won.
Wasn’t aware of the long odds against reversal. Perhaps they were compiled before the head-on view was available,
So I suppose you were both present during the Stewards Enquiry when the "wily pro" out-talked the shy, retiring Samantha (who is anything but and also happens to be a professional)?
The reality is that Scholfield (note the spelling) was prevented from riding a finish and imo would have certainly won had he been able to do so. The fact that he was only beaten a head made the reversal of the placings inevitable.
Really really disappointed . He’s the owner so ultimately selling is his perogative but I think rightly or wrongly irrespective of his his effusive praise at the time for Hunt Ball when he repeatedly and with many interviewers stated that the horse had helped to make up for a bad winter at his dairy , persons might be forgiven for thinking that the horse was a cashpoint which wasn’t paying readily enough . He was very VERY fortunate to have come across such a good horse and for many of us whose horse loving roots started in primary school it would be equivalent to selling a child .
Think that’s going too far. Racehorses aren’t meant to be pets and this case isn’t any different to the many owners who have sold their "horse of a lifetime" to McManus, Hales, O’Leary, etc.. Yes it’s a shame that Huntball won’t be racing in the UK, but who can blame Knott (who probably needed the money after his gambling losses last season) for taking the best offer available?
It’s the worst of the worst, just from an aesthetic perspective. Winners are relatively easy to find, but where’s the excitement? It’s painful to watch.
Except when they stage a Bumpers for Jumpers card. Incredible to think that we’re having one of these in late March, but well done to the BHA for giving good-ground horses with nowhere to go a chance to pick up some prize-money.
Meanwhile, I find that this initiative from Towcester tells us much about the BHA’s lack of control over the sport, when one small racecourse can declare UDI in such an important area of jurisdiction. I for one will be astounded if the BHA feel they can afford to let this happen, unaltered, after the course’s failure to consult with them first.
I don’t think there’s any way in the world that The BHA will allow this to happen, and I’m sure they’re less than amused by another publicity-seeking stunt by the noble Lord Hesketh.
A much more laudable attempt to declare UDI by the equally eccentric Sam Morshead, who a couple of years ago wanted to introduce EasyFix hurdles at Perth, was summarily dismissed by the authorities. At least Sam’s idea had the virtue of being genuinely beneficial to equine welfare, unlike Towcester’s attempt simply to curry favour with the "general public".
