Forum Replies Created
- Posts
A lot of saloon bar mythology about Ciaran, imo.
He spells it "Kieren", btw, but I suppose several here will gleefully claim that it doesn’t matter anyway, as the man can neither read nor write, and they know that must be true because they saw it on the betfair forum – the modern day fount of all knowledge and font of all wisdom.
"Finnish" ( nap) 1.01. Fact. etc.
Kwai Chang Caine –
Maybe in the Old American West you heard about or saw that great test of horse control at speed known as " Barrel Racing"?
What struck me was the skill and speed achieved and not a whip to be seen! The quarter horse is much faster than the thoroughbred, but the good old boys seem to manage just fine.
I’m not sure how true this story is,but if it is, we have two of the best men in the game getting back together!
They were a powerful combination before.
I would not have thought that Ballydoyle would want to lose Fallon altogether, so we’ll have to wait and see.
I still have an open mind on the subject, as I am not yet sure about the purpose and effect of the whip.
For years, I thought it was something that would make a horse " go faster", as Ginger seems to believe. Having seen some unwhipped animals go zooming past others that are being flogged for their lives, I’m not really convinced that the whip is the true gas pedal of acceleration.
Other times, at show jumping, I’ve often seen an animal held stationary as it receives three or four " sharp reminders". The intention here would not appear to me to make the thing run faster.
I can’t help feeling that whipping is a throw back to times gone by. Rather like the circus with the ringmaster cracking away while the lions sit on their seats and roar and the ponies trot round and round.
So, at present, I am tending to favour more the view of Blackheath, though I won’t be voting as I find most redundant things ban themselves eventually.
Btw, Blackheath, I’m sorry the old fella didn’t go out with a win yesterday, but I trust he’ll have a pleasant retirement!
Perhaps we should remember that it is not only the AW that may be in trouble.
According to a newspaper article, Newbury Racecourse may be under threat of a takeover bid from potential developers. Very hard to believe, and, I’d say id that one falls, then it really is the beginning of the end.Not sure what can be done about it. Revenue from the levy is said to be down by millions of pounds.
I’m glad you had a nice day at Lingfield, btw, Paul.
Just to say that when Paul says he saw an "odd pair"at Wolver, I was the one in the middle! I make no claim to sanity.
Lets be brutally frank about it: the bulk of the people at the course are getting paid to be there. I wish I was too, but, realistically, I wouldn’t think that many of the heavily mortgaged, young, working population of the country would even consider spending a cold and grey mid-week day at wet and windy Wolver. Why would they? It’s different for a silly old duffer like myself. I shall always be in the minority.
Whatever else it may be, polytrack isn’t intrinsically dangerous; the horses that breakdown on it do so because of, either, a weakness in the horse, or, because of jockey error when bunching and clipping heels.
Some people think that AW means low-class, so any old animal will do. The truth is an animal has to be fit on the sand. It’s quite hard work.
Many of the gallops in UK have been put under polytrack, so a considerable number of NH horses are well used to it nowadays.Yes, cheers, FOF.
I think I’d avoid bad stables if I could. How long does a horse have to be on course before the race nowadays? Is it an hour?
I regret to say that I’ve seen more than enough stables to last me a lifetime! The lack of fresh air was the main problem. I thought that most of those old things had gone by now. Terrible old places.
Yes, fair enough, Wallace.
I suppose a lack of funds is a major problem; a lot of the infrastructure is probably out-dated nowadays.
I think you’d better call in Ginger and his table of tables, if adding up the AW tracks in GB is such a prob!
The one thing Paul is wrong about is that these are NOT all flat ovals.
Wolver is the one that is. This is because it was originally built for trotting racing. A flat oval is best for those carts.
Through, what some call rather devious means, the place was wrested from the hands of the trotters and the AW racing commenced.There was always hostility from the rulers, and they deliberately made a point of suppressing quality; they limited the class of racing.
Even now, when protests are made to Arena L, they claim that it is BHA policy to " dumb down" and generally run poor stuff on the AW.
Imo, it is an awful waste of an opportunity. I really do beileve that they could have established a " centre of excellence" for sand racing in Europe, if they had made – or been allowed to make – the effort to upgrade the thing.
Instead, they chose to go the other way with the introduction of that heinous bandit crap. This was particularly bad at the time of those horrendous "twilight meetings".I am ashamed to say that I was a regular attender of such dire fare, and, despite them cutting right back on it, the devastating effect of it has left permanent damage.
This coupled with the disaster of fast-tracking unlicensed layers via the Exchanges and then compounded by the SP changes, pitch changes, shopbingo rackets, and now, the economic recession, has just about put the kybosh on the game.
Finally, I cannot totally accept Paul’s opinion on the lack of atmosphere at the AW. For the hardy regulars who turn out paddock-side, there is often some pretty good fun and sport, despite all the adversity.
In fact, I’d go as far as to say that those Southwell regulars really are an astute and knowledgible lot. They know their stuff. Perhaps that’s why they enjoy it.It sounds like things are much worse up north, so. Only last week I saw N. Henderson saddling up a winner in the stables at Ludlow. He was immaculately dressed as ever, with expensive low shoes ( not wellies or dublins).
Some of the landed gentry there had enough tweed and fur on them to nearly match the value of all that money that FOF said he lost down the back of his couch! I didn’t hear them complaining about conditions.
In fact, I seem to remember Venetia was wearing high heels when she saddled her winner.I think we may be talking at cross-purposes: I call the stable cubicles "boxes", but what I’m saying is why didn’t they do what they needed to do in their own, clean, motorised transport box ( ie the lorry)?
One time at Epsom, I remember seeing S bin Suroor saddling up under a tree, and not going into the stable at all. In fact, I’ve seen that sort of thing many times.
Anyway, what chemicals were in the lass’s bag? The authorities seem to have come down very hard.
Yes, I read the quote, Fist Fantasy.
The question remains, why didn’t they treat the cut in their lorry – off racecourse premises, if needs be?
It seems strange to risk and incur a £1000 fine for breaking the rules by bringing in illegal substances, just to treat a cut.
Regarding urine samples, I think these are only taken from the winner and/or any horse that has orders to be routinely tested. Most of the "dope pens" are kept reasonably clean, imo.
Racing people, like farmers, are not usually afraid of a bit of piss and **** or even blood, in my experience. This is especially true of NH, where many are quite used to hunting across rough country with all that that entails.
When the foot and mouth restrictions were on, the disinfecting measures seemed way over the top to me, and it’s not as though horses can get F&M.
I would agree with Ferdy when he complains of his charges picking up respiratory infections from the racecourse. Trouble is, there’s not much that can be done about the passing of airborne disease when animals are in close proximity.
I don’t think I quite understand.
Why didn’t they treat the cut on board their lorry?
Many outfits wash their runners down outside before setting off for home. I can’t see the need to go back into a "dirty, wet" stable at the course.
What were the chemicals in the bag, btw? Perhaps someone thought they were drugs.
Just as a matter of interest, does anyone know if these form cycles alter with age?
I would imagine that they flatten out to a perpetual hovering the lowest point, eventually.
I was watching a bit of racing today, and, quite frankly, I didn’t see much evidence of the ticklestick whip being used to control veering horses.
In most cases , it was used as a prelude to making a challenge when riding a finish. At the critical stage, I noticed that the whipping was ceased, and the heelwork kicked in with gusto. That’s always been the way the best jockeys get them home, in my experience.
So, two positives for the modern-day ticklestick of a whip are
that it keeps the horse’s mind on the job
and
it stops a horse from wandering onto the M6?I have witnessed some bad pile-ups and injuries at Wolverhampton , but I hadn’t thought about the purpose of the whip being as stated above.
Does anyone else have any other politics-free view on the subject?
There seems little point in discussing the banning of something, if we don’t even know what is its purpose or its effect.
