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There are 2 local Stewards at each meeting and 2 Stipes. There will be more of each at major meetings.
The “Acting” Stipe (usually the longer serving of the two) sits on the panel which as you rightly state is always made up of three members, with the chairman having the casting vote. One of the local Stewards will be a qualified chairman who has several years’ experience and has undergone extra training to prepare them for the role. Having 2 locals and 2 Stipes means that you always have one spare person to step in if someone is unlucky with sudden illness or car trouble.
Sorry you didn’t agree with the Chepstow decision, which I thought was spot on, but it didn’t come about through a coin flip.
Plumpton are very unlikely to offer free entry for their Easter meeting, but send me a PM and I may be able to help out.
Zippy, I’m not a maths expert, but I would imagine the reason most people lose more than 2.7% of their stakes on these machines is due to the way they play them.
The ‘average player’, should make a small loss at roulette based on the 2.7% house advantage. The probability of a big win from a small stake (i.e. a sequence of correct guesses) is small. I’ve watched plenty of people play these things. They put in £20 and within a few spins have increased it to, say, £50. The law of averages suggests that if they continue to play they will make some wrong guesses and their pot will decrease. Do they take their free £30 and run? Of course not! They feel lucky and want to win more.
The same player is now £100 down. The law of averages suggests that if they continue to play, they will eventually get somewhere closer to break-even. However, if they have no money left this isn’t an option.
I got through the comments left up until about 18 months ago, when I had to stop because a) it was sad, but b) I was starting to get immune to it. Different people but the same experience, over and over.
I was working in betting shops for a small independent when these machines appeared on the scene. I saw people get deep into them – people I knew, and saw very much as ‘fun’ punters. They seem to have an extra addictive element that isn’t present in more traditional forms of gambling. I would speculate that this is because the excitement / satiation cycle happens so much faster.
The saddest comments on there? The ones railing against the machines because they are allegedly rigged. The classic loser’s mentality: refusal to accept total responsibility as part of the reason for their losses is the ‘crooked’ machine. It leaves the door open for the addicted gambler to justify continuing, because they feverishly imagine that one day they might crack the code.
The shops I was working in? Sold to a big chain. The people I was working for were racing / sports fans who enjoyed running a small business that coincided with their interests. 15 years ago they saw that betting shops were becoming unlicensed casinos and got out.
A trainer is allowed to
substitute
an incorrectly declared garment i.e. have the horse wear something else instead. In this case Haynes switched blinkers with eyeshields for ordinary blinkers.
As far as I know an announcement was made. (Edit) – We don’t have the tannoy piped into the weighing room complex, sorry, I’m not being vague on purpose.
Don’t normally post on here (just read the informative comments from you insightful lot) but I was one of the stipendiary stewards at Kempton on Saturday:
In the case of Gonebeyondrecall:
6.1 Subject to Paragraph 5.3 and 6.2*
6.1.1 if no declaration has been made under Paragraph 3 in respect of an item listed in Paragraph 3.1, the horse must not wear the item on the way to the start or during the race, and
6.1.2if it does wear the item on the way to the start, the horse may not run and will be withdrawn by the Starter.
*these paragraphs deal with special circumstances relating to tongue-straps.
In the case of Zebrano:
5.6 Where a declaration for the horse to wear any hood, blinkers, visor, eyeshield, eyecover, cheek pieces (or any combination) has been made incorrectly,
the Trainer may substitute the incorrectly declared garment but only if
5.6.1 he pays the appropriate financial penalty, and
5.6.2 there is sufficient time to weigh the Rider in accordance with the deadline specified in Rule 22.3.Andy Haynes’ representative approached us before race 2, and Zebrano ran in race 7 so obviously there was sufficient time.
* A man should stand up to greet a woman when she first arrives. There is no need, however, to jump up and down like a jack in the box every time she enters or leaves the room.
It is rather depressing and a sad reflection on society that the above actually has to be stated – for me they are all blindingly obvious.
Things that all should be second nature and not require any forethought and certainly not need reminding about.
I think your comment is harsh in relation to the ‘rule’ I’ve highlighted; it wasn’t taught at my school and in my experience it certainly isn’t expected in every social situation. I had to ‘learn’ it when I started working on racecourses. It also doesn’t have any logical basis in the way that some of the other rules do (be on time, don’t gloat etc.), unless you genuinely believe that women are the ‘fairer sex’ and should be celebrated as such.
You have it exactly right Tuffers.
The qualifying rating (from 11 or 12 days before) determines eligibility for the race.
(qualified at time of entry)
If the rating is updated in the next week’s cycle, the new rating applies for the purposes of framing the weights.
If the new rating is higher than the rating band for the race, the horse can still run but will carry a weight above the stated maximum.
Example: Dobbin is rated 75. He finishes third in a 61-75 handicap on a Saturday. On Monday morning, before the 12 noon entry deadine, he is entered for another 61-75 contest the following Saturday. On Tuesday morning at 8.30am, his new rating of 76 is published. On Tuesday morning from 9am, the weights for the following Saturday are produced and checked.
Dobbin can still run in the race, because he was qualified at time of entry. If the stated topweight is 9-7, he will carry 9-8.
The same scenario would of course apply if Dobbin had absolutely bolted up in the first race and had his rating raised from 75 to 90. He would be eligible for the second race but would have to carry 15lb above stated topweight, 10-8.
Hope that’s clear. The only bit I’ve missed out is the angry phone conversation that takes normally takes place at about 8.45am on Tuesday morning between Dobbin’s trainer and the handicapper!
DJ, Tuffers,
Mr Johnston made the same point to the BHA handicappers en masse. The concern centres on one specific issue; horses that have won their maiden or had their third qualifying run in the previous racing week. They don’t have a rating until Tuesday morning and therefore, in order to make an entry on Monday for a race on the weekend, you have to guess what the new rating will be.
The way to work around this is, of course, to phone the handicapper up but in the middle of the Flat season ‘the handicapper’ is nine different people, all of whom have very busy phone lines on a Monday morning.
It’s not perfect and as a member of the handicapping team (then) I did understand his frustration, but in typical fashion he wasn’t at all mollified when I piped up that I’d voluntarily given his secretary my personal mobile number** so that she could be sure of getting hold of me.
** no ulterior motive although I’m sure she’s very pretty …
The BHA (or their race planning / handicapping team) would only characterise races up to six and a half furlongs as ‘sprints’.
Family Fun Day = fun for one partner, while their spouse spends the day chaperoning the kids around a funfair. (Going on hearsay as I’m not married). Still, if it gets the tills ringing …
The answer to the first three questions: yes (every race), no and no. There is a general policy amongst the world racing authorities that a horse can only have one ‘official’ handicap rating, which is always the one published by the racing authority of the country in which the horse is trained. (At present, for example, you will not find handicap marks for Godolphin horses on the BHA website as they are currently trained in Dubai).
The BHA team even produce ratings for Irish bumpers so that the elimination sequences for the high-value bumpers over here are as accurate as possible.
