Forum Replies Created
- Posts
Missisabella,
I am retired. I have never worked for Redrow, the government nor the Jockey Club. I am a racing fan. My favourite racecourse is York, followed the Goodwood. These racecourses are progressive with facilties and prize money increasing every year. I also like places like Ripon where they always provide a variety of racing
I used to like Kempton Park as it had the one of the best turf tracks in the country and it provided a variety of good racing which was worth following. Then they dug up this amazing turf and replaced it with an all-weather course. Interesting racing was replaced by mundane rubbish – low grade handicaps race after race; all designed to fill bookmakers’ satchels.
So I love racing, but not the fare currently provided by Kempton Park. The sooner it goes, the better as far as I am concerned
After a mere two days high attendance at Kempton Park, the Racing Post is at it again moaning about the Jockey Club and demanding why the Jockey Club allowed Redrow to have an option to buy the place.
The answer should be obvious. Building houses thereby creating jobs while developing a new environmentally friendly comnunity is a far better use of land compared to a place where moderate horses race day after day for poor prize money. Land should be used effectively all year round, not just for two days a year.
Thanks to our cock-eyed education system we are not training enough plumbers, bricklayers, electricians, plasterers, metal workers and carpenters etc. I hope Redrow will increase apprenticeships when they formally buy the land.
I am afraid we suffer from corporate greed. I used to regularly go to the Cheltenham Festival March meeting in the 1960’s. I was there when Arkle won
In those days prices were high but reasonable and there was room to move. You could get a bet on with the bookmakers and retreat to the stand. Now the prices are sky high and you cannot move. like Moehat I will not be going back.
These television commentators continue to amaze me. They say things that are completely illogical. At Newcastle today there was a 5 runner horse race. The betting opened 1/1, 5/2, 11/2 and long odds the two outsiders. They backed the favourite down to 8/11,the 6/1 down to 5/1, then down to 4/1 with the second favouite taking a walk to 7/2. The third favourite was the form horse having won its previous race. The horse it beat won irs next race.
So,in my view,the only question was whether the form horse could beat the favourite. If you thought the favourite would win then obviuosly you would not back the form horse. Alternatively, if you thought the favourite could get beat then backing the form horse at 4/1 was a knocking bet.
The commentator said, “I think the form horse will win. I would have backed it at 5/1, but not at 4/1.”
As it happened the favourite won at 4/5 very easily and the form horse was second.
Lee Motterhead is having a laugh. Since when is Kempton Park one of the most profitable racecourses? It has 2 decent days at Christmas, but after that it is a load of dross. At many of their almost daily all-weather meetings apart from owners, trainers and their staff there is hardly anyone there.
If these fixtures were lost the overall racing programme would look much better.Those running Kempton Park lost the plot the day they dug up their superb flat racing turf course. This was about as stupid as Brexit.
Bryony should be heartily congratulated for taking on an obnoxious bully. Some men take a delight in embarrassing and humiliating women.
As an accountant, I was in charge of a site which included an office made up of mainly young women. A male outside my office kept asking each women in turn if they would sleep with him. The women complained to me and I told him to stop. I told him the next time would result in a verbal warning, followed by three written warnings if necessary. A day later he was at it again. This time my employee said ‘Fine, where are you going to take me’. We never saw him again.
It takes a lot of courage for women to stand up for themselves. The response Bryony got from the weighing room in the UK was disgraceful. I am pleased she is doing so well in France.
If only horses could talk? Bobsled Time probably felt unwell in this last two races, but felt well in his third race. All punters know that horses make a fool of us all.
You make a good point. All jockeys will ride to get the best possible place, but there is no point in flogging a dead horse. So, if beaten, no jockey will risk exceeding the number of whip hits allowed. Common sense has to be applied.
If you analyse any company with multi-divisions, in this case racecourses, then the key is investment. Over the last few years there has been very little, if any, investment in Kempton Park, a sure sign it is on the way out.
It is very difficult to justify keeping a racecourse when it only has one decent race in a year, especially if it sits on valuable land. That one race needs to go to a right-handed track.
That was 20 years ago. With so much technolgy today it is much more difficult to cheat. Besides the vast number of jockeys don’t want to cheat. It must be remembered that horses have a mind of their own and do some funny things. When they lose their money some punters believe erroneously they have been robbed.
A few years ago a chempion jockey was accused of deliberately stopping horses. One case for the prosecution was that a favourite lost six lengths at the start, caused by the jockey, failing to mention it won the race by six lengths in fact, around 30% of the horses being stopped actually won. The whole case was a farce which was swiftly stopped by the judge who in effect said that in his time he had never come across such a ridiculous prosecution.
If you lose, the answer is the horse is not good enough. Jockey error is rare.
In my view it is certain Kempton Park will close within 5 years. A good thing in my view. I remember the days when this course had one of the best turf tracks in the country, but they dug it up build an all-weather track. Now apart from the Boxing Day card, they serve up a menu of dross, more dross and even more dross. Attend any one of their dross meetings and stop anyone at random. The odds for who you have stopped at randon: 10/11 syndicate owner, 6/4 trainer and 5/2 ordinary racegoer. The point I am making is that ordinary racegoers are just not interested. The course is very tired; there is little evidence of any money being spent on it. There cannot be a future.
Sorry I forgot about the Oaks. But this race does not stir the imagination. I agree that the prices charged on Derby day are much too high given the overall content of the card.
Over the years I have witnessed interest in the Derby going down and down. Forty years ago roads leading to Tattenham Corner would be jammed at 10-00am in the morning. Nowadays you can drive there one hour before the start of the meeting, no problem.
Compare this with the Prix de L’arc de Triomphe where interest has grown over the years. The Derby meeting used to be over 4 days (Wednesday to Saturday), now it is down to 2. To make the Derby special why not abandon Friday and have the three Group 1’s on the Saturday and add 2 group/listed races together with 2 high class handicaps. Then for exitement it would get close to Arc day.
Re Admin Matron,
I developed a method to retain sanity many years ago. This is to treat anything read in the Daily Telegraph or Daily Mail with a massive pinch of salt. Regrettably our press has never been the same after a certian editor (DJ) realised that he sold more copies if he invented the news, rather than reporting it.
In the days when sensible people ran racing, it was known that punters needed at least one high quality race on each racecard for punters to get their teeth into. Moving the Coronation Cup to Saturday will leave the Friday card threadbare.
Anyone responsible for organising horse racing should follow what happens at York. For the vast majority of racing there is a highlighted race on each card. At Epsom, there is interest in their April trials meeting and on Derby day. As for the rest of their meetings it is mainly dross.
The most important part of this story in my view is that Bryony’s father had a moderate horse that won little in the UK, but collected over €10,000 in prize money in France.
She is happy racing for decent money in France.
The rule is: enjoy what commentators are saying, but never back a horse based on this. They will always tell you which horse is the best turned out (if only beauty equated to speed) and will tell you why the favourite or second favourite will win. But if this were the case the bookmakers would be poor and they are not!
If you keep records of what we are told to back, you will find you will lose money over tine. Do your own research.
