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I had a particular fondness for the old rogue, and it’s sad he didn’t have a longer retirement.
I’ll remember him for the picture the Racing Post took of him winning the Mackeson, blinkered and looking for all the world like one of the Horses of the Apocalypse.
Horrible news, he will be missed.
Paul – I think it was because he was thought to have a tendency to break blood vessels.
All racing is dependent on gambing in this country so lets not pretend that the top class jumps or flat would exoist in its current form without betting…
I agree, I think the odd special event like the Derby or the Grand National might survive as a widespread betting medium, bet on by people in much the same way that the Boat Race is now.
The all-weather seems to me to be the child of the bookmaking industry – it was originally created and its development has been directed by the big bookmaking firms’ desire to improve their bottom line.
I see the gambling industry continuing with a couple of trends that are being piloted at the moment, gaining acceptance in betting shops, namely outsourcing offshore where costs are cheaper (overseas racing) and the replacement of labour by technology (virtual racing).
Should that continue, then at some point British professional racing is going to become an extravagance they can do without, and there will be no regional racing, all-weather or otherwise.
Some names are just unfortunate. An example would be the horse who ran at Auteuil the other week named Herpes.
How about closing Cheltenham and redistributing its major fixtures across the calendar to ensure a balanced jumps season?
Interesting site here for any fellow Mordin-disciples who’d like to analyse past nominations and evictions in weird statistical manners:
That seems a little harsh, Zoz. Last year’s lot were far more annoying and far more desperate wannabees than this year’s.
It is not making as good TV, though. Yet…
How about a four mile chase for novices, and letting the NH Chase revert to its old conditions?
"Do we really want to watch a bunch of old plodders going round and round in circles for what seems like half an hour, jumping obstacles that they never see anywhere else."
Sounds not too far from a description of the National Hunt Chase!
I enjoy both races, precisely because they’re one-offs.
“I might be wrong about this, but I think he has this rating because he hasn’t yet run over fences in this country so his hurdle rating (143) cannot be amended to take a chase run into account.”
I cannot make this out.
A slight change of subject, but I was wondering whether re-siting the penultimate fence on the Old Course would be a good idea, after watching the similar falls of Latalomne and Japhet today. These were the sorts of falls that often are fatal, it’s not the first time I’ve seen that sort of fall at that fence, and I doubt it will be the last.
