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I went once or twice when I lived in Norway. I only went because we worked across the road from the course in Oekern, Oslo.
It really was dull to watch. But the best (?) part of it was that each week the Norwegian form of the Scoop6 was based on trotting so one could gamble in some form or another. I think it was called something like V6.
But it used to be whether Ulf Thorosen was riding or not. If he were then back it. Then one year he was crowned by the Norwegians as the world’s best jockey. And you thought that Britain is insular!
<br>Malc Smith writes:<br>“I would certainly like a layman’s psychobabble-free explanation of this point. If he would so please.â€ÂÂ
Alan’s last message says basically, that, oops, the Cartel now knows that he’s cracked the code and they’ve come up with a new code. So that means then that there won’t be any proofing possible.
I still would like Alan to explain how the bookies in the know can, whilst standing on their upturned box at their pitch, can decrypt their code in seconds.
I have also asked Alan to clarify that if all this happens in the last couple of minutes, or less, how the course bookie sorts out the liabilities already gathered on the horse?
I would certainly like a layman’s psychobabble-free explanation of this point. If he would so please.
– Malc
If Dettori was ‘up and coming’ then every housewife in Britain wouldn’t have known what the chap on the BBC News was on about that evening.
Neither would the bookies have been hammered by the punters. Dettori was already a firm favourite with the public before Royal Ascot.
I wish that I could make things not happen or not be by the simple device of not remembering things. Otherwise I wouldn’t be up before the beak for that inebriated sheep interference incident.
– Malc
If you get a club badge then it’s fun to wander into the centre of a chase and then you can move between two fences in the middle as the beasts leap over them.
I like Fontwell, it’s a nice little course and has a nice genteel atmosphere. Have fun there.
Page 66. "The human mind is like a sponge with its ability to soak up every sensory input available, and is one of the reasons why humans have such vivid, highly detailed dreams."
I’ll say.
Is this man for real? I am struggling through the Prologue now. It just needs Frankie Howerd to read it aloud to complete the farce.
I’ve just read about the first of the ‘Magnificent Seven’. So, Dettori was then an "up and coming jockey"? I thought that he’d upped and arrived by then.
And the bit about the "live market only active for a handful of minutes before the ‘off’" is absurd. This isn’t a cold wet wintry Tuesday at Wolverhampton where the bookmakers outnumber the sole punter; but this is Royal Ascot where the betting market becomes live as soon as the previous race has weighed in and even before the payout of the same has been completed.
And I can’t believe that in a market of the liquidity of Royal Ascot that Frankie’s horse moves from 5/2 to 7/4. To 9/4 maybe but that’s a hell of an assumption that it came in by over half a point.
So the bookmaker in the cheaper ring at Royal Ascot is standing there with a fag in his mouth and one minute before the off at Ascot when all hell is breaking loose with every punter wanting to get on on the first race and he’s got to stop in mid-mayhem, find the results of the Catford 1.58 and then, via some Masonic and Illuminatian mathematics, work out what is going to happen at Ascot. And all in his head.
I somehow think not.
One slight problem is that something always going wrong at various racecourses and dog tracks. The trap won’t open, a horse throws a plate, the dog has bitten the handler or ran off with the rabbit or there could be a delay because it’s Sandown which has never got race race off on time since the days of Mr Man. So, relying on the codekey from another meeting arriving moments before the off here at Royal Ascot is unlikely as hundreds of thousand pounds of liability would have already gone into the books.
And, what I want to know is how do the bookmakers at Catford know what’s going to win the 2.00 at Ascot and how are they going to relay the information to the on-course bookmakers at Royal Ascot? Why don’t they just put a coded message in the personal columns of The Times as per tradition?
Okay, let’s say I decide to buy a pitch at Folkestone. So on the day I install my brand new joint when do I get slipped the brown envelope with the six winners? And by whom?
If he loses this appeal then I would imagine that’s it for him as he said that he would retire if his UK ban wasn’t overturned.
With this ban it seems that he can only ride in Dubai and in Australia and I can’t see him coming back from this. This could be a rotten end to a wonderful riding career.
There’s the Winning Post (as you approach the course from under the viaduct head past the course and it’s on your left) but I’ve never seen it open.
Other than that the area around Prestbury Park looks grim and I reckon that the nearest nice pub could well be in Shrewsbury.
I’ve constantly failed to find a decent open pub between the centre and the course though there did look as if there was an interesting one just after one passes Molineux.
The price for the seats in that Level 3 must have been significantly reduced in price over the past few years unless I was being quoted for something quite different.
Apologies about the golf stand; from what I was told and from what I could see it did look like seating.
So if the prices are ‘only’ £5 per race for the stuff in the level three then that may be the way to go. But I can assure you that I was, perhaps mistakenly, quoted significantly more than that.
The only affordable way to get seats is to become a member and then you can sit on the ‘golf stand’ which is perched on the top of the Royal Boxes.
The seats in the main stand cost an absolute fortune; I asked for the price of a ticket once for my mother and I initially thought that I was being quoted for a box not a plastic seat.
If you’re looking for comfort and a place to site at the Festival then you’re back to the sitting at home option.
Oh, there’ll still the underdressed slapper in the Best Mate enclosure with her boyfriend who will gallantly refuse to hand her his jacket.
I’m not sure what it is called this year, to be honest. But at least the Open is a lot friendlier than the Festival and one can natter to random people in the bars without the crush before the racing.
I still find the idea of freezing cold March day at Prestbury Park being given over to Ladies’ Day somewhat a strange concept. Normally these days (the ones that I have seen in the summer) all come with various tents containing strange underlinen and manicures.
My girlfriend is a bit of a point to pointer, all wax jacket and wellingtons and I would hate to think what the average Ladies Day manicurist would say when looking at her nails after she’s wrecked them pulling a few pheasants.
And I would hate to consider what the lingerie tents would sell on this day.
(Edited by Malc Smith at 11:19 pm on Oct. 18, 2006)
I’ve stopped going to the Festival as it was hopeless unless one is a member of Cheltenham and could get onto the ‘golf stand’.
The Tatts (finishing post) is too crowded and has no view, the Tatts (three furlongs) is too far away. The Best Mate enclosure buggered up the great view which it had when it was the Courage.
I suppose Gillespie had to do that because one couldn’t have the best enclosure being the cheapest. Now one can’t see a single big screen from there and for two of the days the finishing line is blocked from view by advertising hoardings.
I’m going there next month and I notice that the prices have been creeping up sufficiently that I almost baulked at the Saturday ticket.
The Festival is losing its charm and is increasingly becoming an exercise in money extraction. No doubt we’ll be seeing novice selling hurdles there soon.
Hopefully my pack will arrive this week, but since that they can’t get my address into the computer I have slim hope of it appearing at all.
