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In the end we decided to swerve the Tattersalls race and enter in the Watership Down race at Ascot as it is restricted to fillies. I see there are 251 entered!
Fist of Fury – I thought you might be interested to know that we have named our filly Feet of Fury
Isn’t the key question how much you have to pay out before you get some clues as to whether she’ll be up the job?
Yes it’s a rip-off for all but the first half dozen finishers, but equally, if you aren’t in it, you can’t win it.
Check how much you get back if you pay all the fees and get eliminated – also is there a consolation race?
AP
The total entry fee is £1,400. If you are eliminated at the final stage you get £700 back. The first forfeit stage is May 6th (£450) followed by a further £400 on July 22nd and a final £100 on September 26th. It’s been framed very cleverly as most people won’t be certain of their horse’s ability by May 6th by which point you’re in for £900 so the temptation is to keep going in the hope of getting £700 back if eliminated
We don’t know the horse’s pedigree, how she looks, how she moves or how much you had to pay for her, so surely only your trainer (or anyone who has seen the horse) can offer such advice?
With no information to go by, we might as well encourage you to put them in the Guineas and Oaks too.
My question was really concerning the merits of entering generally.
If you want specifics click on the ‘horses’ tab of http://www.stratfordbardsracing.co.uk The picture was taken on 16th December and Mark (the trainer) advises she has grown a lot even since then
currently reading Beyer on Speed which was why I was interested in sectional times. He makes some interesting comments about how to make the most of them but also discusses how inaccurate they tend to be in the US for all but the leading horse as the rest are done ‘by eye’ by a race reader. I assume that the sectionals in this country are produced in this country using Turftrax’s ‘chip in the saddle’ technology?
The one thing that I shall be looking out for are AW sprinters that run fast first quarters
I can certainly confirm my experience of ownership is similar to Alan’s. We were fortunate enough to own the winning-most horse of the season and picked up just short of £20K in prizemoney. For six wins that works out at just over £3K per win which is pretty poor by anyone’s standards. In view of the paucity of prizemoney, our approach to try and help make the game pay has been to buy well bred fillies with a view to improving them and selling them on for a profit. Elopement was our first success in this respect in that we purchased her for 7,000G and sold her for 27,000G.
We’ve just bought two unraced fillies which is very much a leap in the dark but we’ve come to the conclusion that to buy fillies with the necessary breeding to have a hope of being seriously valuable as broodmares we need to take a slightly riskier line.
Might wait for a few more opinions then…Just fancied a night away with Mrs Crizzy (during half term) and whilst we have little in common, she does at least like going racing! (admittedly she would prefer a glass of champagne in the seafood bar at Goodwood, but she can’t have everything
Will consider your comments. Thank you.Crizzy
I would recommend Newbury (Excellent facilities – Fish and chips washed down with a pint of Hogsback beer a must)
Warwick has gone downhill in my estimations. They have spent £2m on redevelopment which on my most recent visit only seems to benefit the corporate entertainment or dining client. In fact I even wrote to the racecourse on one or two points and got a waffled response that more or less said what I thought – the shareholders come first and the racegoer last. However don’t let me put you off – there are worse courses to visit I’m sure!
You obviously haven’t had to spend an afternoon in one of Warwick’s single boxes. It’s like having an insight into life in a prison cell. The painted breezeblock walls are a particularly nice touch
Tuffers I have to disagree about the viewing at Warwick I think it is very good viewing.
You clearly have never been to Cartmel or Chepstow to name but 2 poor viewing tracks.
I agree with the facilities though at Warwick-not very good.
I’ve been a regular visitor to Chepstow over the years. The facilities aren’t fantastic but I’ve always liked its pre-parade ring
Am planning (depending on some of your advice!) a trip to this racecourse in Feb. Firstly, Is it a good course in terms of viewing/facilities etc and can anyone please recommend a good hotel nearby in which to stay?
Many thanks.Warwick is my local track and I can confirm the facilities are poor and the viewing not much better. In February it will also be bitingly cold as the wind seems to sweep across the course straight into your face in the stands
She hasn’t the first idea about assessing the going either. She insisted on calling the going soft, heavy patches at Warwick one day when everyone knew it was no worse than good to soft
welcome to the forum Tuffers.
Tuffers
Tell Mark to keep yours running at Scottish courses only dont need to tell you but 3-3 so far when racing north of the border!
Elopement has done ok for me as I backed it second and third time just on the thinking that its a hell of a long way to go to win modest races.Hi Seagull
Ellie was sold this morning at the Tattersalls breeding stock sale and will be off to Australia so I’m afraid you won’t see her again in this country.
We’re looking for another horse as we speak.
Tuffers
So with your mare winning six races and gross of just over £20k, you probably broke even on the year?
Anyone care to justify this?
You can only justifty it on the basis that as owners we are not in it for the money. Having said that we are looking to buy better horses as time goes on to try to compete for better prizes. £6K for winning a Class 4 handicap at Ascot is a joke and you need to be running in Class 3 handicaps and above really if you hope to have a chance of covering your training fees on a regular basis
Our mare was the only horse in training to win 6 races on turf this season and we still only won £20K in prizemoney
We did put Salute in his place at Ascot though
Food for thought
I’ve read Fooled By Randomness and my conclusion was that most people backfit theories to explain success that resulted from pure chance. IMHO anyone who has been a successful punter for a number of years is likely to have succceeded by hard work rather than by chance. Alan Potts always asked himself what his edge was and if he decided he didn’t have one he didn’t play. In essence, I think your edge is something you know that no-one else (or only a small number of others) knows which enables you to skew the odds in your favour. I’m planning on buying Beyer on Speed and seeing whether I can apply it to the all weather now that sectional times are being produced
The bloodstock section of the Racing Post site now has the stallion book online which is a pretty useful resource
On the other side of the coin, Jim McGrath (the commentator) has come out with some classics.
My personal favourite was when he was commentating on a race where the field was well strung out and after mentioning the first couple covered the rest of the field with comment "you couldn’t hit the rest with a gun"
My threepennorth would be:
Over the Jumps: Ruby on a staying chaser, McCoy on anything else
On the Flat: Spencer is quite simply a different class to any other flat jockey currently riding
I would defend Graeme Gibbons against the earlier criticism though. He’s a great judge of pace and I’d be more than happy to see him on a horse that likes to make the running
Liam Jones is an honest, hard-working young rider
Will consider your comments. Thank you.