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The lead-up commentary in bookies can be amusing like that. You’ll hear a lot about horses at the front and even about mug money gambles but fairly often, a well-handicapped horse that I’ve backed (and which wins)doesn’t rate a mention. Most curious!
‘This is not a game for idiots’ ~ Barry Hills.
I agree a) is the correct route PTS. Alongside careful management of racing’s own house.
Yes, where would we all be but for Scotland’s great and proud histroy of reform I wonder. I agree on that.
I wouldn’t want to get in to a row about that. Suffice to say: if that long history of reform is responsible for the social and health problems north of the border, then maybe it isn’t such an august history…
Just out of curiosity: do you think salmond’s idea of living off oil and whisky is feasible?
I’m not a jockey but it seems obvious that the whip rules can make it a good deal harder for jump jockey’s to get the more recalcitrant beasts in lower grade fare round in good order to win. I have formed this impression while watching many races. I know the pro-rules mob on here (Scotland is well represented, and it is a matter of historical fact that the Scottish have always had a taste for puritan ‘reformist’ thinking) say this doesn’t matter but I feel that it shouldn’t just be docile well-behaved horses that ‘deserve’ to win.
What the public and the pro-reform crowd need to realise is that jump racing has always been an incredibly atavistic sport – it had a bad reputation 150 years ago! – and in these grey and politically correct days it stands out even more so.
There are two roads it can take from here: either a) a firm stance that communicates to the public exactly what is going on thereby defusing hysteria and sentimentality; or b) continue the long process of reforming itself out of existence.My feeling is the National will have to be moved or abolished.
For heaven’s sake, it’s just about he who pays the piper. He’s a rich boy being bankrolled by daddy. His ride is a condition of the deal. Good luck to ’em, I say, if that’s what they want to do. Why keep a dog and let him have all the fun of barking?
yawn.. backed a loser did you?
Nope. Stayed out of it.
It wasn’t much of a race is all I’m saying.
I never bother with any of that.
Bet365 are always mailing me saying I haven’t used the complimentary bet they gave me. I think: no, I haven’t. You have placed a silly ‘play your stake or winnings three times round before you can take it out’ rule on it. I don’t want to know. That stuff is all for mugs.
I think you have to use your loaf a bit in this game, but also know what you like. I knew today’s racing was going to be good but it was obviously going to be a favourite-heavy results card. I knew Tetlami was going to win (I went through the card a couple of days ago) but I also knew that I couldn’t back it because it was too short for my taste.
So I rolled it in with Silviniaco Conti and Rock On Ruby. You win some. . .Main thing is that some races/cards scream value for those of us who like a price. Today was never going to be that. I am fully aware that if a horse is 2/1 and he should be 1/2 then that’s value but I’m a peasant: even 7/2 is kind of depressing. But it’s not a conspiracy: if you don’t like it then don’t make a wager. Tomorrow’s another day.
I have a rule (which I don’t always abide by…): don’t bother betting in races where the first prize is less than about six grand, because you’ll find yourself losing far more often than winning. This is as sure as death and taxes.
1) why did mark coton appear to ‘drop out’ of the racing scene?
2) Apart from the obvious changes brought about by time, is there anything Mark would remove from a 2012 revision of Value Betting and 100 Tips?
3) As per Radio 4’s I’m Sorry, I Haven’t a Clue, Mark Coton, you have two minutes to hold forth on Betfair, good and bad. . .
4) How long will your advisory service last if it is successful?
As far as I am concerned they are a good idea turned bad.
The nonstop prattle, FOB machine noise and promotional jingles are off-putting. Any serious form student knows that you need peace and quiet: ideally, betting shops would be a cross between a library, a decent pub and a gentleman’s club.
I’ll go in a bookies’ to place a bet if I have been unable to make the wager online, but the idea of spending an afternoon in one holds little appeal. I used to spend the odd afternoon/evening in a decent Paddy Power but the psycho gamblers (punching the screen, yelling and calling down curses on horses and jockeys who are beaten fair and square) and illegal immigrants throwing their weight about became irksome. Most town centre betting shops in greater london are blighted by the various social sub-groupings that have become ever more emboldened and arrogant over the past 10 years.
The abuse handed out to cashiers by chavs and Eastern European and Somalian migrants on a daily basis in a Corals I used to visit in south London was shocking. I used to tell the staff to call the police but they were very reluctant to. I got the feeling their ultra greedy bosses were concerned police action may have various negative effects, perhaps on licensing and profit.
I started a running joke: ‘Can I see your passports please?’ It actually did make some shut up.The commentators are perfectly OK to call a race but the constant tacit persuasion to have a bet becomes an insult to the intelligence. I remember walking in a Ladbrokes one a day a couple of years ago. All the screens were just showing digital fuzz because the system was down. ‘OK, you can’t see anything,’ he said, ‘but don’t let that stop you having a bet.’
Virtual racing: as William Haggas said: ‘It’s an insult to the intelligence.’I became friendly with the manager of a shop owned by one of the best known high street bookies. He told me that if a punter wins over a hundred pound twice in a day they have to start a ‘profile’ on him, noting his betting patterns, handwriting on a bet slip, and the type of races he is betting on. Top secret directive, he said. That gives you an idea of what these companies are really like.
Ultimately, betting shops are just about rich companies rooking the poor, just as the find-the-lady crooks did at Epsom donkeys’ years ago. I would love to find a new sort of betting shop that was more like this forum, with enthusiasts involved, no machines, a bar and no bullshit. But it ain’t going to happen. I’m happy with betfair, an online bookie and my TV set.
Quite subdued on here about this.
I suppose it is because of the years of certain people arguing there is no bentness in racing only to find this has been going on.
It wouldn’t surprise me that if the old bill are called in they end up uncovering an awful lot more in the low-level all weather scene.
Personally, I’m one of those masochists who likes a bit of night racing on the all-weather. But I treat it as almost a different sport to the Turf, one closer to going dog racing for laughs than serious punting. The mickey-taking that goes on at times is jaw dropping. I hope the sport wakes up and takes notice.
Tom Segal, Pricewise’s most prominent tipster, has a fine record and I think it was Tom who made that comment.
There’s much to be said, imo, for using your eyes for race-watching rather than form-reading.
For example, last season many pundits – Lydia Hislop in particular – would have had you believe that Menorah is a fine jumper: he often does put in an excellent jump but I looked back through videos of all his races to find that he made some awful blunders at times. That made me confident about laying him in the CH and also prompted me to oppose him at odds on for his fencing debut.
There’s much to be said for interpreting your own form although it is hellishly time-consuming.
He did say it, yes. I noticed the other week he tipped up a horse – can’t remember which one – and I was surprised as it had a poor record on the day’s going. It’s the sort of thing you might overlook if you were doing it all visually.
