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I thought Lisa Jones was excellent, if she’s been lost to the sport we should all hang our heads in shame.
Got to agree with the berry man regarding NH, Carberry is different gravy.I am hoping that Dutch Art wins imprerssively as he is the one horse in the race who has the potential to be a genuine sprint champion.
I’ve seen loads of Choisir’s this season, they have looked mostly like typical sprinters with arses like washerwomen.
The Hawk Wing’s that I’ve seen so far have looked magnificent, easily the pick every time, the best looking being Howard Johnson’s Montaquila, a winner on soft going at Newcastle.Flat – the introduction of an official clock timing all races with sectionals as in the USA.
NH – the intoduction of a 5lb allowance in all races for horses bred in the United Kingdom.Genius is a ridiculous word to use in connection with anyone involved in racing. If a real genuis was to spend his time piddling about training racehorses he ought to be shot for abusing his talents. I suggest that "expert" is a more appropriate term. Meanwhile, I would compare Prescott with Dandy Nicholls. Prescott gets well-bred horses ridiculously low handicap marks and exploits them. Good for him. Nicholls gets horses that have performed moderately and improves them – that, for me, is real expertise. Amongst his peers, Richard Fahey and John Quinn would appear to have the same knack. All credit to them.
Rob – I’m afraid you have missed my point completely. I don’t believe that Prescott is guilty of anything other than preparing very expensively-bred horses for a 3-y-o career than involves running in low-grade handicaps, when they should be competing at a more exalted level. His is a crime against no Rules of Racing, but against ambition, and from a man who delights in calling himself a sportsman. What on earth is the pleasure derived by owners of the financial stature of Kirsten Rausing in winning handicaps at Brighton?
Fact – come 3.15, I don’t think there was that much between the going on the stand side or the far side – there certainly wasn’t at 5.30 when Sanders came home alone on the far side.
I think it was Notnowcato’s injection of pace when he dashed over towards the hedge that ultimately proved the key to victory – whatever it looked like on tv, through bins, it was apparent that those on the far side never once got near to challenge once he’d quickened clear.
This leaves me with a dilemna – did Authorized run his race? I didn’t fancy approaching Frankie after the race and enquiring whether or not he felt the same horse as he did at Epsom so we must look at some clues.
Fact – I was very disappointed with the O’Brien horses in the paddock at Epsom, where they all looked very ordinary – they appeared in infinitely better shape at Esher on Saturday. This implies that Authorized merely came to hand quicker than the cream of the rest of this year’s 3-y-o crop and his dominance in the Spring reflected merely this, and not, as I’d hoped, that we had seen a true 3-y-o middle-distance champion. 21 years and still counting.NH until about three years ago when I just ground to halt amidst the French imports, the dominance of the juggernaut stables Nicholls, Hobbs, Pipe and O’Neill and their sheer numbers, 4-y-o’s getting ridiculous allowances in Novice Chases, and the effect that the above had on altering the pattern of the season that I had been steeped in for 20 years; happily this has coincided with a new zeal for Flat Racing that I haven’t posessed since the late-80’s – I was almost choked when Authorized got beaten on Saturday as I honestly travelled to Esher expecting to see a champion being crowned.
Indeed FSL.
I believe that the only reason to run a Derby winner in the St Leger nowadays would be in the hope that it fades and finishes well beaten, thus proving that it doesn’t stay and therefore must be a faster horse rather than a plodder.
Sadly, proven stamina beyond 10f for a stallion is a bit of an albatross in this day and age.
This nonsense infuriates me; it is an example of something very prevalent in Racing, namely that someone makes an assertion which enough people repeat for it to be some kind of accepted wisdom cf. Sir Mark Prescott is a genius for getting horses to run up a sequence in handicaps, Saeed bin Suroor doesn’t actually train the horses, Jim McGrath is a form expert….all total bullshit, but accepted by many as some kind of truism.
Sadler’s Wells, Montjeu and Galileo are three of the top five sires in this year’s standings as they were last year, and will no doubt continue to be (the latter pair anyway) for many years to come. All were top-class over 12f.Sandown Park has long been my favourite place to watch Racing, although it’s atmosphere has changed immeasurably since I first attended in 1991. Then it had a throbbing, vibrant buzz to it – now it has an air of pleasant tranquility. It is a credit to the place that a day’s racing is just as enjoyable now as it was then, despite this almost complete transformation in "feel".
I think Lydia Hislop is wrong in attributing this change to a rapid turnover of personnel because it is a bigger issue that has to be confronted, which Jeremy Grayson has touched upon but not fully explored. Namely, that the currently "successful" racecourses are packing themselves with bars full of people who aren’t really interested in Racing but merely in enjoying themselves and this is a trend which most people within Racing seem to bemoan regularly. The kind of Saturday crowds who pack the likes of York, Doncaster and Ascot to the rafters are not exactly welcomed with open arms by anyone in Racing outside of the courses themselves – and yet Sandown is criticised for not attracting those very folk.
Racing has to come to terms with this paradox – do we want to attract numbers, or do we want people to become genuinely interested in Racing – because the truth is, those in the latter group are dying out, literally, and are not being replaced at anything like the same rate. Dumbing down Racing, as has been the fashion for the last decade or so, will add to the former but do nothing to arrest the latter’s decline.The argument against disqualifying horses whose jockey’s have been found guilty of whip mis-use often seems to be along the lines of "Why punish the horse, he/she has done nothing wrong". I do not see any reason in this argument. Take for example, the hands and heels apprentice races that go on under Flat and NH rules. If a jockey picked up his stick and whacked his mount 7 or 8 times, while the other jocks stuck to the rules and rode with just hands and heels, then I wouldn’t think that any reasonable person would object to that horse being disqualified (In actual fact, under current Rules of Racing, it couldn’t be). Why then, should it be any different, if one horse’s rider breaks the rules regarding whip abuse in order to secure victory, especially if he has done so by such an extent that he lands a 14-day ban? It defies all logic that horses whose riders have broken the rules are allowed to keep the race.
Have Timeform learned nothing from their mistakes regarding Celtic Swing and Hawk Wing? Why do they continue to rate impressive one-off performances on bottomless ground so highly?
I have no axe to bear with my ex-employers here, I just think they repeatedly let themselves down in these situations.Quote: from lekha85 on 1:05 am on June 27, 2007[br]I can confirm all Glorious Goodwood race as follows (according to the BHB Racing Admin website):
Tues 31st July<br>2.15 1m1f The Bank Of Scotland Stakes (Summer Stakes) £50,000<br>2.50 1m4f Gordon Stakes (G3) £50,000<br>3.30 The Betfair Cup (G2) (Lennox Stakes) £150,000<br>4.05 5f Betfair Molecomb Stakes (G3) £50,000<br>4.40 1m6f Detica Summer Season Stakes (86-105) £25000<br>5.10 6f Tatler Summer Season EBF Mdn Stakes £12750<br>5.45 1m Turf Club Stakes (71-90) £15000
Wed Aug 1st<br>2.15 1m Sussex Stakes (G1) £300000<br>2.50 1m4f Bgc Stakes (0-105) £85000<br>3.30 7f Veuve Cliquot Vintage Stakes (G2) £70000<br>4.05 2m5f Goodwood Stakes (0-95) £50000<br>4.40 7f EBF Class stakes (0-95) £20000<br>5.10 1m1f Fillies Stakes (71-90) £17500<br>5.45 6f Links Of London Mdn Filies Stakes £16000
Thurs 2nd Aug<br>2.15Lillie Langtry Fillies Stakes 1m6f £50000<br>2.50 Audi stakes (King George) (G3) 5f £50000<br>3.30 Goodwood Cup (G2) 2m  £100000<br>4.05 Alphameric Vase 1m1f £100000<br>4.40 De Boer Stakes (81-100) 7f £40000<br>5.10 EBF Mdn Fillies Stakes 7f £16000<br>5.45 Audi Q7 stakes (Charlton Stakes) 5f £16000
Fri Aug 3rd<br>2.15Coutts Glorious Stakes (Listed) 1m4f £30000<br>2.50 Oak Tree Stakes (G3) 7f £50000<br>3.30 Totesport Mile 1m £150000<br>4.05 Richmond Stakes (G2) 6f £70000<br>4.40 Royal Sun Allianc Nursery Stakes 7f £17000<br>5.10 Stewards’ Sprint Stakes 6f £20000<br>5.45 Racinguk.tv Stakes (76-95) 5f £16000
Saturday Aug 4th<br>2.05 Stewards’ Cup 6f £100000<br>2.35 Nassau stakes (G1) 1m1f £200000<br>3.10 Thoroughbred Stakes (Listed) 1m £30000<br>3.45 Blue Square Stakes (71-90) 1m3 £18000<br>4.20 Nursery Stakes 6f £16500<br>4.55 EBF Mdn Stakes 7f £16000<br>5.30 Apprentice Stakes (71-90) 1m1f £15000
Hope that helps with timings etc…<br>
There’s a BHB racing admin website? And I’m forking out for the racing calendar every week like a numpty???? Grrrrrr……
Quote: from Irish Stamp on 3:57 pm on June 27, 2007[br]Cheddy – a serious question but how straight is the racing at Neuss?  Only seen it a few times and the betting patterns in one particular race I saw, fav went from 1/20 to 1/8 in one move and another came from 20/1 into 7/1 (I think) at the same time.
That was probably more indicative of me "dropping a rick" when I worked at SIS rather than a wholesale gamble.
<br>The backed horse went off like a steam train and never saw anothe horse, whilst the 1/8 shot finished on the bridle and well in second.<br>
Quote: from madman marz on 6:36 pm on June 26, 2007[br]
Quote: from Prufrock on 5:47 pm on June 26, 2007[br]You might not care whose "fudge he packs", but you do care enough to refer to him as a "shirt lifter" and to Clare Balding as a "dyke".
You seem to have some unresolved issues that are not at all relevant to the question in hand.
<br>Alright pru, I will be politically correct, Simon is a homosexual & Claire is a Lesbian.<br>
I think you mean James Sherwood – not Simon. Unless you are talking about a differnet Simon, of course.
Clare Balding and the way her voice says "You’ve got to watch this and be moved because this is amazing sport" – when a truly amazing piece of sport would in fact render such a comment superfluous. <br>I am surprised that anyone can truly take a dislike to Thommo, when surely he is at times parodying himself – as is/does McCririck. It’s the Balding’s of the world who actually believe their own publicity that make me want, occassionally, to commit venial acts whilst watching tv.
