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Hey, Horse:
All the Johnston runners today (2 at Haydock, 3 at Newbury and 1 at Epsom) have been backed overnight.
Could be a bonanza – or a blank. (I’ll try a few low-stake doubles and trebles.)
Our contemporaries over at Betfair are turning even more purple with rage. Keep ’em guessing, Mark.This is an interesting question posed by the instigator of the thread.
The logistics of the Johnston operation are staggering when you look at the number of runners he has all over the country on most days. With that number of horses to train and transport, there is little room for the manipulation some posters here and on Betfair imply.
I think it’s just a matter of training horses in batches and letting them find their races for themselves.
I’m sure his motto (Always Trying) is quite correct, and it is very unlikely that Tartan Jura would be tailed off so he could win a £2000 race at Catterick next time out. The course and conditions were ideal today, and anyway, how many times do jockeys need to be told not to let Joe Fanning get away from them on a front-runner?
As for Overstep, I had a tiny each-way on him just because I was loafing around with the TV on. My reasons, for what they’re worth, was it looked like a dirty day with the ground softening and Overstep had had a couple of races on firm ground when he was outpaced. Uphill at Hamilton in the soft, Fanning out on his own, why shouldn’t he make it awkward for the less experienced two-year-olds?
Johnston’s blunderbuss approach adds hugely to the tapestry of the sport, even if some his results do make me laugh out loud.
But as for the aspersions, he would need ten brains to set up tuppeny-h’apenny coups in an operation of such complexity.
Having said all that, I like to keep an eye on the market with him; some of his employees obviously know which batch is in the mood.Steeplechasing, I’m interested in what perception people have of Barney Curley.
If we take the case of Sommersturm as an example, Curley bought a horse rated 85 and brought him down to 48 before he won with him. He won only once while in the Curley stable, and ran umpteen times.
Since the horse moved to Dave Evans, he has won three times in a few months, and his rating is now 75.
Even allowing for the gambling element, what are we to make of Sommersturm’s time at Newmarket?
Barney Curley is without doubt a good man (witness his work in Africa) but was he a good trainer?
I agree with your summary of John McCririck though.That’s even more curious, Paul. Your on-the-spot assessment of how he looked and moved makes it quite unfathomable. But thanks for the information.
Rob, my day of disaster was Grand National day in 1968.
The night before I had written out my usual three each-way doubles and a treble:
Alpine (Atty Corbett) in the sprint which used to open the National card.
Drumikill (Ken Oliver) in the handicap hurdle, race two.
Red Alligator (Denys Smith) in the National.
The next morning I had an idle morning at work and started looking at the card again.
I kept Alpine (won 9-1) but substituted Early To Rise (Bob Turnell) for Drumikill, and Highland Wedding (Toby Balding) for Red Alligator.
The original bet would have returned about £500 and would have paid off my car loan (which was killing me). I ended up with nothing except a 9-1 winner that got away.
Drumikill won at 100-8 and Red Alligator at about the same price.
These horses, as Queen Mary said, are engraved on my heart.Absolute disaster – my worst Cheltenham in 40 years.
Over the four days I lost 61 points, and had only one winner, Same Difference.
I had a couple of seconds and thirds, but generally I was never near the mark.
My major bet, Overturn, ran a stinker on Day One and that kind of set me up for the week.
I thought the handicaps this year were particularly fiendish, and even my old friend Hugh Taylor went through all four days without returning a bean.
Thanks, Rob, for the extra information. I saw the race only once (live) and hadn’t realised the horse had jinked.
Still think it should have been noted by the BHA website, along with all the missing injections, and horses that swerve at Lingfield.Harshthakor, whenever these lists are compiled, I always wait for my old favourite to appear, but she never does.
Park Top was a filly who developed so late that she was never entered for a classic, but her later record suggests she might well have won her Oaks.
I well remember seeing her win her first race, a maiden, very comfortably in the Windsor Monday night twilight, under Russ Maddock. Nobody realised what a star she would become.
Interesting reply, Wilson. I must say I also gravitate towards the idea of some sort of sabotage, for I’m sure the site framework of such a wealthy company would not crash under load.
I repaid Blue Square’s generosity by putting my free bet on Climaxfortackle today.
You can’t be kind to some people.
Andy, I can see what you’re getting at with St. Nicholas Abbey.
I too was surprised to see the lack of urgency from SNA until Frankel was level with him, and I re-ran the race a couple of times to confirm it.
I think what you’re saying is that on a confirmed stayer, it would have been as well to go for home to try to stretch Frankel in his extra two furlongs.
Not that it would have made any difference to the result, I’m sure, but it would have been interesting to see.This is a strange tale indeed, Ivanjica, and it’s one I think about often as I watch Rose struggling for a winner.
She and Tony are married now, and the idyllic set-up must feel bitter-sweet the more time goes by.
I’m sure the Dobbins have moved Heaven and Earth to try to discover what is going wrong, but sometimes these things remain a mystery forever.
I know some small trainers who turn out winners year after year from little more than a ploughed field, which makes the Dobbins’ problem even more of an enigma.
Ivor Herbert used to say training is a knack, and if you find you don’t have it you should cash in your chips as soon as you can.
I hope that’s not the case here, and I’m sure we wish them well, and a run of success sooner rather than later.
Richard Fahey has a vacancy now Hanagan has moved on, and whoever he appoints will have a good leg-up towwards the jockey title.
I would offer William Carson the job – now there’s a lad on the way up.
(Trapper John, I share your good opinion of Freddie Tylicki, but he’s unlikey to get the number of rides to be champion unless he lands a good retainer.)
Arazi, I was jumping up and down when Binocular won so easily on Saturday, but don’t you think that Celestial Halo might not have been quite himself in the light of the news from Ditcheat?
I didn’t think it was realistic, Miss Woodford. I thought the language sounded bogus and contrived.
We don’t use such words in our house (quite an achievement, I think, having brought up five children) but I have heard plenty in the course of my work.
Living in Scotland, and having worked in racing for over 40 years, I know what realistic bad language sounds like, believe me!
Surprisingly realistic and entertaining, but the endless f-words spoiled the thing. Hope it’s not going to turn into The Sopranos.
Plot was a bit impenetrable too. Sack the sound man – it was hard to know what most of them were saying.
Well that answers my question, so thanks very much for posting that, Pajo.
Looks as if there is a move afoot to ban tubing, but it is surely a more humane solution to breathing problems than the other horrors Mark talks about.
I read all the available issues of the Klarion on that page. He certainly has some interesting views.
