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Interesting times ahead for sure.
Anyone know when or if the Tote’s exclusive rights on pool betting in this country ends?
I don’t know specifics about what Betfair (Malta) are up to (have heard anecdotes), but the very concept of it seems completely at odds with Betfair’s original boasts. Didn’t they walk through the City Of London with a coffin shouting "Death to the Traditional Bookmaker" (Or was that just a dream??)
Have we now come full circle?
Ricky – If you actually read my original post, I also hinted at a decline in the off course bookies offering on Horse Racing + have suggested in the past (in print in the Racing Post in fact) that bookmakers have gone too far in restricting successful horse racing customers over the last few years.
But hey, don’t let the facts get in the way…
.Predictable response Ricky. I’m not peddling some ‘industry line’, more just offering an opinion as to why betting on Horse Racing appears to be in quite a serious decline…
Let’s debate the actual points rather than making ill-informed assumptions…
Why is it the case that fewer and fewer individuals are willing to offer liquidity on Horse Racing on the exchanges in the morning?
Greg wood touches on this issue…
The on course market is very weak, most off course bookmakers are less willing than ever to lay a bet on the sport, the levy is under immense pressure – and now, if these figures can be believed, the exchanges appears to be almost consuming itself.
The reason you seeing these declining figures across the industry, especially in the early markets, is simple imo. Insiders are, in my opinion, now winning more than ever on the exchanges and the recreational and formbook punters are either waiting longer to bet,reducing their stakes or just giving up betting on the sport completely.
Yes, the sport has always had insiders, it has always been "bent" to an extent – but never have people privy to inside information been able to profit like they can now.
Pity The Big Chief isn’t around these days – he was one of the few people who foresaw this problem back in the exchanges’ "golden era".
Dave Yates On Harry Findlay, Some relatively ‘edgy’ racing journalism for a change….
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Trip was a major doubt today – think he is basically a 5f horse so 6.5 on rain softened ground was a significant negative.
We don’t give horses a rating e.g. Harbinger after the King George and then change it a few hours later after an adverse press reaction. We take the time to think it through first
Put those claws away, Phil
Thanks for answering the questions…
, although I must admit I’m disappointed by your response to my question…
They key is not that the BHA would provide a "set in stone" rating – it would be advertised as a provisional rating.
Take the King George – say you had come up with 140 immediately after the race – and that figure had been discussed on TV and put into context with former KG winners and former champions like Sea The Stars. Suddenly, (with a bit of help from the TV presenters) you would have provided a context for thousands of people who probably have no knowledge of handicapping or ratings. The message to newcomers/non experts would have been
"You have potentially just seen the best horse of the last 20 years"
Can you not appreciate the power of that in terms of stimulating interest in the sport??
Yes – the rating would be "debatable" and indeed subject to revision (plenty of experts wildly disagree about the rating now, weeks after the event). But that just isn’t the point….
Greg Wood’s article was bang on the money imo – and I don’t how see his views contradict your emotions at seeing the few genuine legends that were in action today.
I find it hard to see how CB can be flattered by the winning distance if the sectionals say he has gone off (significantly) too fast.
That is the paradox here.
In fairness to PS, when he agreed to this Q+A, he probably didn’t realise there would be quite so many, how shall I put it, "tricky" questions thrown at him.
I’d be very interested in his responses to some of the questions, but I also think he would entitled to refrain from answering some of the others.
RH – Isn’t Mr Rowlands providing fairly concrete evidence that that wasn’t the case with Cape Blanco on Saturday?? (i.e he didn’t run an "efficient" race from the front that might flatter him relative to the others)
I have to admit, when I was watching the race I thought Cape Blanco had gone off way too fast and was almost being used as a sacrifical lamb for RVW.
The sectionals seem to back that up that theory to a certain extent – BUT – Cape Blanco was able to keep going well enough and the others couldn’t get near him….
A very hard race to analyse…
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