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17 times would be far too much in my opinion too, but I would ask you to look at the ride again (free replays of RUK races on the Sporting Life site) before taking such a judgmental position. I can’t for the life of me see how the stewards counted 17 strikes.
Point 34 of the BHA decision:
34. It was also recognised that Henderson has made enormous contributions to the sport over many years both through his professional and charitable activities. It is all the more unfortunate that someone of his high reputation should be subjected to the penalties that the nature of his conduct required.
NH cheated, in a rather serious way, and goes down even further in my estimation because of the way he is now passing on the blame to others, including loyal employees.
So it devalues the form of a race if you win it at long odds, and it also devalues the merit of a win if it comes at short odds?
Look out for a horse called Divine Rhapsody who is trained by Philip Rothwell. Won his sole bumper start in the big Goffs land rover bumper at Punchestown last year in impressive style. Ran very green with lots of improvement expected. The runner up that day is as low as 20/1 for the Cheltenham bumper despite being beaten comprehensibly by the winner.The form is rock solid with the 2nd,3rd,4th,and 5th all coming out and winning their bumpers after this race. You could do alot worse than take some of the 33s at the moment!!
Had a look and although he did win nicely there are a few downsides – started at 33/1, hasn’t run since so lacks experience even if the Festival bumper is the target and he hasn’t subsequently had a setback, pretty ordinary pedigree and those who have franked the form were not doing anything that what was unexpected judged on SP’s.
I don’t understand… On the one hand you are knocking Divine Rhapsody for being too big a price on the day he wins, but also knocking the subsequent wins of the horses he beat because they were too short a price?
I noticed that too, AP, but I can’t answer your question.
Anyway thanks for putting up this link, which is a brilliant resource for all sorts of things. I’ve been lucky enough to find footage of my grandparents in the crowd at Punchestown in 1927.
Most of Jim Bolger’s seem to walk around the parade ring with their heads tucked in low, so much so that they must be encouraged to do it.
Does anyone know why?
http://www.pmu.fr/pmu/html/fr/paris/courses-etrangeres/pariez-courses-etrangeres-calendrier-pmu-2.html
Here is a list of the foreign races on which French PMU punters can bet.
Fontwell and Leopardstown are controlled by different racing authorities who are arguably competing against each other.
They have separate interests but it’s not a zero sum game and neither jurisdiction gains from avoidable clashes, especially when both meetings are being shown on the same channel.
His only previous form was last of three, how good is that?
You have been misled by a fault in the way the Racing Post presents French form. His form summary says 3rd of 3 for his only run over jumps, but click on the race and you will see that there were 13 runners.
It is generally accepted that on days where there is a crowded programme it is inevitable that clashes occur.
One way to reduce irritation levels, however, would be to schedule meetings in such a way that races on the respective racing channels are spaced as far apart as possible. That way at least if races clash they are on separate channels and one can choose to watch one’s preferred race in full.
It would also be helpful if there was some co-ordination with the Irish authorities concerning race times.
Henderson is a very lucky man and any trainer of lesser standing would have faced a far more severe penalty.
He was found to have knowingly broken the rules on more than one occasion – "the panel has no way of knowing how frequent(ly)" – and systematically covered up the fact.
The panel then accept his assurance, in the face of the above finding, that his main motive was the welfare of the horses involved rather than to improve performance. They don’t offer any argument as to why they accept this assurance (point 30).
They even take into account when deciding the penalty that the drug probably wasn’t as effective as Henderson thought it was going to be (point 31).
Then there is point 34, where they refer to Mr Henderson’s "enormous contributions to the sport".
Does he deserve such consideration? I don’t think so. If anything the more logical thing to have done was to treat him even more severely than an ordinary trainer.
Incidentally, the vet Mr Main does not come out of this well, which is a serious matter given his standing in the sport:
"He is the Senior Veterinary Surgeon at Newbury racecourse. He sits as the NTF representative on the Veterinary Committee and on the Counter Analysis Advisory Committee of the BHA. He is also the NTF’s Veterinary Advisor."
Might he be warned off?
The only obvious difference between racing on either side of the border is that Tote Ireland doesn’t operate in the North. Neither does Tote UK for that matter.
I’ve often wondered why so many pointers, winning ones even, are started off in bumpers, and then maiden hurdles, when switched to racing under rules.
