The Horse racing thread

[winsamsoon]

On a different note, i placed a bet on the winning jockey to incur a whip ban at 4/1 > i've watched the race over a few times and the jock on neptune has whipped the horse on at least 6 occassions since the last fence. How can i find out if the jockey got banned. I've checked sportinglife and theres no mention on there. Is there any site that offers this info?

[Don Johnson]

That bet caught my eye as well winsamsoon but I didn't do it. I was wondering why you were asking about the amount of lashes allowed a page or two back!

The independent bookies need the National. It is the only really busy day of the year now. Boxing Day has went to shit and Cheltenham isn't what it was.

What is the craic with the free bet on Paddy Power? Do all account holders get one or did you need to be logged on Saturday during the race?!

[Donnellys Hollow]

Give it fifteen or twenty years and it could be in real danger of the axe. Chances are NH racing will be so sanitised at that stage that no one will miss it. The demise of jump racing in Australia shows that such a prediction is not being sensational.

The British media will drive an agenda against NH racing. The whip issue is the thin edge of the wedge. The majority of the British public have no comprehension of rural life. Anyone who has lived in the middle of London all their life has probably never encountered a thoroughbred racehorse or knows anyone who has. Compare that to here where people at most are only a generation or two removed from the land. Almost everyone in Ireland would have a relation or know someone involved in horses or some other type of agriculture. There is a real grá for NH racing in Ireland that transcends both rural and urban.

Two horses were killed in the Fairyhouse National a few years back and I can't recall any big outcry. It's tough but that's the game. Horses die on the flat - three at the Dubai World Cup meeting for example, yet I don't see anyone calling for Royal Ascot or the Epsom Derby to be banned.

I personally wouldn't miss the Aintree National. It's a great spectacle but there are many races of far greater quality at the Aintree meeting and I rarely have much interest in it from a betting point of view. 40 runners over the most demanding fences in Western Europe and the greatest distance of any race in the calendar. Not only that but it's a bloody handicap so you have some gobshite weighting all the horses to try and get them to finish in a line! The bookmakers might need this race but racing does not need bookmakers. They are a cancer on the game.

[boojangles]

Give it fifteen or twenty years and it could be in real danger of the axe. Chances are NH racing will be so sanitised at that stage that no one will miss it. The demise of jump racing in Australia shows that such a prediction is not being sensational.

The British media will drive an agenda against NH racing. The whip issue is the thin edge of the wedge. The majority of the British public have no comprehension of rural life. Anyone who has lived in the middle of London all their life has probably never encountered a thoroughbred racehorse or knows anyone who has. Compare that to here where people at most are only a generation or two removed from the land. Almost everyone in Ireland would have a relation or know someone involved in horses or some other type of agriculture. There is a real grá for NH racing in Ireland that transcends both rural and urban.

Two horses were killed in the Fairyhouse National a few years back and I can't recall any big outcry. It's tough but that's the game. Horses die on the flat - three at the Dubai World Cup meeting for example, yet I don't see anyone calling for Royal Ascot or the Epsom Derby to be banned.

I personally wouldn't miss the Aintree National. It's a great spectacle but there are many races of far greater quality at the Aintree meeting and I rarely have much interest in it from a betting point of view. 40 runners over the most demanding fences in Western Europe and the greatest distance of any race in the calendar. Not only that but it's a bloody handicap so you have some gobshite weighting all the horses to try and get them to finish in a line! The bookmakers might need this race but racing does not need bookmakers. They are a cancer on the game.

Great post DH. I wouldn't be calling for banning the National either. Don't like harping on about it and I am nobody to lecture Mc Manus or any other owner but could you ever have imagined Kauto Star or Best Mate running in a Grade 3 handicap a month after winning the Gold Cup. It showed a strange lack of respect for a horse who had just won them the top prize in racing.
(PS. Please don't tell me that Best Mate ran in the National?)

[Lecale2]

The demise of jump racing in Australia

What happened in Australia?

[GAA_Talk]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2130246/Grand-National-2012-Aintree-tragedy-avoided-insist-racing-experts.html

[Hardy]

That's as putrid a collection of tripe as I've ever seen in one place. "Synchronised didn't look 'up for it'"! I wonder why he carried on after he fell and jumped five more fences on his own, then?

Look at this and the overwhelming attitude represented in the comments. The fact that nearly all of these idiots have probably never seen a horse is neither here nor there. The facts that (1) they all have votes and (2) the media are now on the campaign are why I don't think the National can survive. And they won't stop at the National. The growing unquestioning acceptance that animals have "rights", the continuing distancing of people from the realities of nature and the anthropomorphism rampant in the media - even some of the best wildlife documentaries - mean that the Bambi movement is unstoppable, I think.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Great post DH. I wouldn't be calling for banning the National either. Don't like harping on about it and I am nobody to lecture Mc Manus or any other owner but could you ever have imagined Kauto Star or Best Mate running in a Grade 3 handicap a month after winning the Gold Cup. It showed a strange lack of respect for a horse who had just won them the top prize in racing.
(PS. Please don't tell me that Best Mate ran in the National?)

In fairness to JP and Jonjo, the Aintree National was the horse's main target all season. Cheltenham was just a prep run that he happened to win. Had he finished second (like Hedgehunter did in '06 before running at Liverpool) nobody would have batted an eyelid about the horse being turned out again.

[Hardy]

Stats ratings for the Scottish National - long shots topping the list:

King Fontaine    30.72
Etxalar    30.72
Mac Aeda    30.54
Be There In Five    27.32
Any Currency    27.32
Harry The Viking    27.30
Ikorodu Road    27.30
Portrait King    27.30
Abbeybraney    27.30
Mostly Bob    27.14
Quentin Collonges    27.12
Knockara Beau    24.42
Pettifour    23.72
Auroras Encore    23.70
Merigo    23.70
Ballyfitz    20.90
Benny Be Good    20.82
Fruity O'Rooney    20.82
Galaxy Rock    20.82
Garleton    20.28
Our Island    20.12
Heez A Steel    19.70
Walkon    13.40

[Bud Wiser]

Just looking at some of the posts and was thinking back to six years ago when poor old Patrizio had the tent pulled around and took the bullet up at the Galway Races in his preperation for Cheltenham to where he was going with 0-11111 form if not six wins in a row before him. We had a right bit of craic then with a few 16/1 yokes but it all ended in tears when the syndicate had the poor horse only insured for €6000 instead of about €160,000, not enough for the months mourning and drinking that followed. Anyone remember them days?

[boojangles]

What about Quel Esprit for the Gold Cup? Why did he not run at Cheltenham?

[Donnellys Hollow]

What about Quel Esprit for the Gold Cup? Why did he not run at Cheltenham?

Didn't really travel over great. Townend cantered him on the morning of the Gold Cup and he felt the horse was a bit lifeless.

Ground at Punchestown will be tacky. Plenty of rain with good drying conditions in between. It'll take a bit of getting all week. Very disappointing cards tomorrow. Long odds on favs in two of the Grade 1s and an average at best renewal of the novice hurdle. Even both the bumpers which are normally full of top quality pedigrees look a bit light.

[bcarrier]

What about Quel Esprit for the Gold Cup? Why did he not run at Cheltenham?

Didn't really travel over great. Townend cantered him on the morning of the Gold Cup and he felt the horse was a bit lifeless.

Ground at Punchestown will be tacky. Plenty of rain with good drying conditions in between. It'll take a bit of getting all week. Very disappointing cards tomorrow. Long odds on favs in two of the Grade 1s and an average at best renewal of the novice hurdle. Even both the bumpers which are normally full of top quality pedigrees look a bit light.

Yep. I think the fact that Sizing and The Fly arent trying to double up after Cheltenham has taken a bit of an edge of the whole week. It is really hard to oppose any of favourites in Grade1s today but they wouldnt be my bet at the prices. Donn McClean put up Realt Dubh and Guavain to outrun their prices in the champion chase on his starbet site. Big Zeb wouldnt have run to his best on this ground at his peak so I get his angle. Might be a race for a forecast only bet.

Ceol Rua looks to have a right chance in the handicap hurdle and Paddy and Boyles paying 5 places. 

[Donnellys Hollow]

Not only do the feature races look weak (the Stayers Hurdle match between the two mares being the exception) but there's nothing really to get excited with amongst the novices. With the exception of Sir Des Champs who will just have a schooling session this evening, none of the novices that won at Cheltenham are running. Even Boston Bob has been scratched from tomorrow's card. The decision to extend the meeting to five days is one that may be regretted this year. You'd notice the drop in interest locally in recent days.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

What about Quel Esprit for the Gold Cup? Why did he not run at Cheltenham?

Didn't really travel over great. Townend cantered him on the morning of the Gold Cup and he felt the horse was a bit lifeless.

Ground at Punchestown will be tacky. Plenty of rain with good drying conditions in between. It'll take a bit of getting all week. Very disappointing cards tomorrow. Long odds on favs in two of the Grade 1s and an average at best renewal of the novice hurdle. Even both the bumpers which are normally full of top quality pedigrees look a bit light.

I doubt they travelled to Cheltenham with too much confidence. Townend pretty much steered punters clear of QE at the Belfast preview night describing the Irish chasers as "desperate." Perhaps they were keen to save the horse for tomorrow's realistic target. Quantativeeasing is an interesting entry.