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<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>steeplechasing wrote:</div>
They missed Lanark, possibly the longest surviving of all tracks. The Lanark Silver Bell was reportedly first run in the 12 century. The track closed in 1977, though I watched some local horsemen race there last summer as part of the Lanimer celebrationsCan you see much of the old Lanark racecourse and where about is it?
I know that C4 have had presenters at the site of Bogside on a couple of Scottish National days but that’s the other side of the country for me.
Lanark racecourse was just to the south of the town out past Lanark Loch. It is very much still in existence and fairly easy to see where the racing line was. Last time I saw any pictures of the course were on Richard Hoiles’ Twitter account who had taken a jaunt over there one day when he was on evening calling duty at Hamilton.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BNxQg7eCEAAFLdo.jpg:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BNxXLtYCQAQy5Ag.jpg:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BNxXuaxCUAA9z02.jpg:largeThe information board is apparently listed so cannot be removed.
Hope this helps
Just remembered another but surely made up Norfolk ‘N’ Chance
On a similar note, colourful owner Hugh O’Donnell from Airdrie way managed to get Finmental and Hesfinmentaltoo past the naming department.
The less rude Crazee Mental also owned by him managed to finish a short head second at 50/1 in the 1997 Queen Mary less than a week after winning a Hamilton maiden. Happy days!!
As for the two Zimbabwe’s mentioned up thread, I’m sure one of them, not sure which, got loose from it’s stable and disappeared. No trace of the poor beast was ever found.
Given I spend most days of my life listening to these guys as I earn my crust at Ladbrokes, I feel I’m well able to pass comment on their abilities (or otherwise which is of course personal opinion)
Simon Holt – top drawer, articulate, accurate and witty.
Richard Hoiles – dead heat with Simon for best on the circuit.
Gareth Topham – the natural successor to the top two, needs to lose a few cliches.
Malcolm Tomlinson – vastly under rated. Delighted to hear him at any time. Deserves bigger meetings.
Darren Owen – also under rated in my book. Capable of calling any meeting.
David Fitzgerald – started off brilliantly, seems to have stood still over last year or so.
Martin Harris – my personal favourite, could listen to him all day. Subtle, witty and extremely accurate.
Ian Bartlett – voice grates with me towards the end of races, bit shouty.
John Hunt – toned it down big time since the early days, much better caller now who can actually be a bit too laid back.
Stewart Machin – cliche city, too old school for modern day in my book (though not quite Jeremy Branfoot yet LOL)
Mark Slater – accurate without ever being a star. One for the Southwell and Wolverhamptons!!
John Blance – oh dear, he has improved, but is still so laboured in his delivery.
Alan Howes – clearly capable and deserves better opportunities. Suffers in that respect for being part of the SIS stable I think
Tony Ennis – accurate, but not as good as Howes in my opinion
Derek Thompson – unique is the best way to describe him, more likely to repeat the same facts and what racecourse he is at in every call than any other caller!!
Mark Johnson – I understand people like his style but wind it in a bit man, it’s a Hamilton seller with half of Linda Perratt’s stable running, not the Kentucky Derby!
Mike Cattermole – sorry Mike thanks for all you’ve done in the past but it’s time to move on. Too many errors.
Dessie Scahill – one decade too many! Cannot get himself motivated for the mundane stuff. Calling Hurricane Fly at Leopardstown still gets him going though.
Jerry Hannon – brilliantly accurate commentator, puts real enthusiasm into every call.
Peter O’Hehir – monotone is the best description.
Richard Pugh – why does he not get more gigs?? I’d give him and Hannon the bulk of the Irish cards.Hope I have not forgotten anybody, probably have, and no offence is meant. Just my opinions which I have quite enjoyed typing out!!
Broken a hind leg. Thanks to the open ditch in combination with the low sun.
Rest in Peace Oscar!I’m afraid the sun played no part in the accident as it is clearly behind the runners on C4 pictures at that time.
Sorry I`m behind the times but wanted to commend the camera work for the meeting shown on ATR. Visibility was very poor and mobile cameras were deployed to bring the parts of the action that could be picked up. I thought it provided a level of viewing engagement and beauty not normally seen on TV racing these days
Totally agree. The hastily arranged mobile cameras gave us superb action shots from a meeting which would no doubt have been covered from distance with a bare minimum of cameras as the vast majority of Irish meetings are. A very welcome and enjoyable change, with the shaky camera work actually enhancing my enjoyment of the card.
Now I would not have a clue how to even begin calling a race, and these chaps are very skilled at what they do. However I have to agree that Mike Cattermole has lost a wee bit over the last couple of years and I am surprised he is still getting the festival calls.
On the eight race card at Donny yesterday (Thurs) he shared the calls with Gareth Topham and to be honest the youngster was much the better caller. That lad will go far in that game.
I fail to understand why the race requires to be made void, denying punters of their cash, owners, trainers and jockeys their share of the winnings and the levy board their much needed income.
Surely it would be a better solution for the rules to allow, in this case, Taurus Twins, to be declared a non runner/withdrawn with all stakes refunded on him and all other bets to stand subject to any applicable Rule 4 depending on the price of the horse which has caused the false start.
That way nobody loses out and it is fair on everybody. Seems so logical I cannot understand why it does not happen.
2 fatalities at Cartmel this afternoon both looked to have suffered broken necks.
Alaplee’s fall has to be one of the worst I’ve seen in a long time.
RIP Galley Slave & AlapleeSpeculating here so sincere apologies if wrong, however I don’t think Galley Slave was a broken neck given that they took around 40 minutes to clear the track delaying the racing. I have a feeling they were treating him for possibly a back injury and trying to save him but were unable to.
As I say, speculation only based on the aftermath of a broken neck usually being dealt with very quickly.Yes well we are famous for getting things wrong.
Only this week 2000+ shops were ordered to throw out our Goal Rush coupons for this midweek aster they managed to prints tomorrows world cup semi final as Costa Rica v Argentina.Shocking waste. Shocking carelessness.
Thanks Meerkat for your input,may I say that I have NEVER put a board price to a slip and presented it at the tills.In this instance I asked for an early price and the assistant at the tills duly brought the prices up on screen and entered the 33/1 on the slip.
After the ensuing "discussion" about the shortfall in my returns she gave me a printout of the settled bet which I still have in my possession.To me it proved nothing one way or another but it does have as a heading "Results for Slip 5603955".Can the actual time that the bet was struck and the drop in price be verified from this.thanks ed.stewart
Yes it can. I am working tomorrow and can use that slip number to trace your bet. Can you just confirm to me
by private message please
which branch you placed your bet in.
Thanks
Afternoon folks, Ladbrokes shop manager here just wanting to clarify our system and how these things work.
Firstly, when a customer wants a price marked on their slip thay have to ask us for it. If a customer writes a price on their slip it will not be honoured unless circled and signed by the staff member. The price you get is the price displayed on the screen at the time of asking, not the time of processing through our BS2000 system.
Now there are odd occasions where I have been asked for 7/2 and as I put the bet on it drifts to 4/1. If this is noticed by myself or pointed out to me by the customer I will honour the bet at 4/1 and reprocess the slip. It is after all a customer service industry.
Similarly if the selection has drifted in to 3/1 in those few seconds then the customer is on at 7/2 as that was the price agreed on looking at the screens. It’s a wee bit of a win win situation for the customer and I dont mind that in this case.Secondly once accepted we then "capture" the bet. Capturing is basically the staff telling the system what the bet is so that it can be automatically settled. So I tell the computer that the bet is £10 win the selection is Desert Orchid and the customer has asked for and been given 7/2. When I confirm this to the system, the system will tell me that 7/2 was not the correct price and how long ago that price was available, if ever. In the main these messages are ignored as the time since available is usually a few seconds at most, and indeed I would only ever do anything about one of these messages if it was clear there had been a "palpable error". For example giving 12/1 about a 2/1 shot where its a clear staff error.
Now to try to answer the OP’s question. I can only guess that one of two things may have happened.
The OP has marked 33/1 on his slip himself and not asked the staff member to check and sign it and as such it has not been honoured.
Or, the staff member has captured the bet and a wrong price message has popped up and the time difference has been so great that it was not possible to honour the 33/1. It would be interesting to see the original slip to try and form an opinion but I don’t think that will be possible now.Couple of other points. It is entirely possible for shop staff to check what price a horse was at any time through our BS2000 system. The problem is, and without wishing to insult any of my colleagues, I think a lot of staff are unaware how to do it. If the OP was able to give us the EXACT time they placed the bet I would be more than happy to post up a price history for Salutation on that day.
Finally, I noticed someone mention football coupons. If a customer uses one of our marksense coupons, then when we process it a list of price changes appears on our screen and we are required to discuss all changes with the customer before accepting the bet. There is no excuse at all for a customer being given a receipt with changed prices and no notification.Sorry for long post and hope that helps.
If there’s been an obvious fatality in a race, there’s no way I can feel happy about the winner. And it feels wrong that the commentator has to still get excited over the finish, when I’m sure they’re cringing like the rest of us.
I will never forget the day Ei Ei died at Market Rasen. Iain Mackenzie was doing the call and the whole crowd and Iain were on a high after watching the bold front running Ei Ei spreadeagle a pretty moderate field, when disaster struck at the last. The place turned silent and you could hear the emotion in Iain’s voice as he called home the winner almost in hushed tones.
An absolutely dreadful day. I loved that bold jumping wee horse.
Not overly emotional but it is always sad when a horse is put to sleep as a result of performing for our entertainment.
Strangely I usually hang around if the incident is visible, not from some sick pervertion I hasten to add, but just in the hope that all may be well.
It’s hugely depressing though to see a stricken animal on the ground.
The sight of the green screens further adds to the lowering of the atmosphere as we wait in hope that the beast is only winded.
Then we usually see the lad or lass sprinting down the track to get to their charge, lead up reins in their hands. I would hate to feel what they are going through.
The professionalism of the vets though must be admired. Whatever action is necessary is usually carried out as soon as possible. The track is cleared and we all move on leaving owner and trainer to their own private thoughts.It is a horrible side to the sport we all enjoy, but it will never be possible to eradicate the risk completely.
66% of the 12 not playing the machines…encouraging perhaps?
Almost certainly only because shops are limited to 4 machines by law.
I’m a 30+ year manager with Ladbrokes. The job has changed beyond all recognition. We are now expected to be on the shop floor interacting (ie annoying the hell out of) our customers.
In years gone by it was illegal to encourage gambling now they want us to be sales people. I am so uncomfortable with this, I mean we have had one staff member murdered already.Ladbrokes don’t want managers any more. They have introduced a new grade called Marketplace Manager who is in charge of four or five shops. It is the worst job imaginable. Grief from above grief from below. They now want less expensive staff to run the shops, and you know what when things go wrong it’s us guys who have seen it all before that are called in to sort out the mess. My deputy (called a CSM) has had a pay rise of more than £1.50 per hour (not promotion just rises) in the last three years. I have had 10p in five years and have been told it is unlikely that I will receive any until my wages are at the same level as the CSM rate. My job will then disappear and I will be retitled as a CSM. I reckon that will take another 10 years. Doubt I will be there to see it.
What a way to treat long serving loyal staff.
And Mr Osborne’s increase in the FOBT tax rate today is seriously bad news for Ladbrokes given the Companies dreadful end of year figures announced in February.
Ladbrokes used to be the best bookie on the high street to work for, I wish somebody could get us back there.
R.I.P. Akdam
We were extremel lucky to have YOU as the only fatality today. I have rarely witnessed such ugly falls at a Cheltenham Festival. It´s great that some many horses got away with their lives, but this isn`t a enjoyable sport any longer. Cheltenham Racecourse made some very intelligent modofications over the past years, but the decision not water this year is a very poor and cruel one. I don`t givea s**T if I win or not not. The pocket counts here the least. It`s the animals and jockeys that have to get home in one piece.
If you allow horses over two miles to smash the track records by 3-4 seconds then you must be dealing with some mental problems of your own. The fact the champion hurdle winner was about 3-4 seconds faster than Istabraq is some cause for concern. The best proof for that was the fatal fall of Our Connor in the same race.
What is the point in having ground as fast as lightning and bone crunching falls?
The "sport" is starting to sell itself very bad at the moment. I never thought that I would hate watching the Cheltenham Festival, but that`s the case right now.In all fairness to Cheltenham the reason the course records are being smashed is due to a new method of timing races. Previously the time was taken from the moment the starter "dropped the flag", now the time is taken from when the horses pass the tape point. This has resulted in much faster times being recorded as the time taken from drop of the flag until the field to pass the starting point is now ignored.
And RIP Akdam, I always feel it is the worst way to lose a horse when it has been brought down through sheer bad luck.
Such a horrific accident and those poor horses and jockeys, this shouldn’t be happening on the flat.
Can’t bear to watch a re-run but does anyone think it was jockey error that caused it, I read that Joe Fanning has a ban for careless riding in the race at Hamilton where Paul Mulrennan was thrown to the ground in the closing stages of the race.
I’m worried that jockeys are getting more daring in trying to stop an improving horse as several high profile incidents of cutting across have resulted in victories when objections should have been sustained.
Poor Silvercombe RIP
hope the other horses come through this ok and of course the jockeys. So sad a dreadful day. Absolutely not a jockey error that caused the Kempton incident. It’s clear watching the video that Silvercombe suffered a broken front leg and came down and the other two horses had nowhere to go.
I also think that Joe Fanningmight
have been hard done by at Hamilton. It was such a tightly packed field even though there were only five runners and it all happened so very very fast, that in my mind there is reasonable doubt as to his guilt.
