The Horse racing thread

Started by maddog, December 19, 2006, 03:02:32 PM

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Hound

Quote from: Rich Ricci on March 02, 2021, 03:55:26 PM
Don't think O'Leary would switch after coming out so swiftly to defend him yesterday. They haven't got any real leading contenders in the graded races at the festival so might not be that concerned. (Not sure on the handicaps)

Also the timing of the Tiger Roll announcement is no coincidence IMO. Clear deflection tactic which nobody has really got too worked up over because it was obvious Tiger Roll couldn't win the national given his recent runs

Hard to see where all this ends up for Elliot. The social media brigade won't rest until he's gone completely. The photo is horrible but should one moment of poor judgement ruin a lifetimes work? Would a ban say 3-6 months and hefty fine be sufficient? I think so....Also there are a lot of stable staff working at Elliots who lose out it he goes under. They are probably the forgotten people in this.
The Tiger Roll announcement also stated that he would be running at Cheltenham, so they'll have to move him if they want that to happen. A trainer re-registration has to happen 10 days before the race apparently, so that would be by this weekend.

Whatever the Irish decide, there's no chance the BHA will allow him at Cheltenham.

The IHRB move very slowly. Not meeting until Friday, so there'll be a full week of social media overload. Lots of rumours of more to come.

It was horrible to see, very crude, distasteful, etc. My initial reaction was that it was so cruel on the animal. But of course when you consider for a moment, there is no cruelty. For me, it would be lower on the scale compared to  drugging a horse (whether to go faster or slower). So IMO 2 or 3 month ban would be plenty. And this would allow Elliott to accept without going to appeal, so they can all move on.



SHEEDY

Video on social media of amateur jockey Rob James jumping and messing about on a dead horse. Not good and just adds more fuel to the fire.
nil satis nisi optimum

Look-Up!

#9677
Quote from: Hound on March 02, 2021, 03:25:50 PM
Quote from: Rich Ricci on March 02, 2021, 01:14:47 PM
Cheveley Park have pulled their horses and will be split between Henry De Bromhead and Willie Mullins. Losing Envoi Allen a massive blow.
8 horses altogether, 4 of which are Cheltenham bound (3 to Henry, 1 to Willie).
They've said they have a preference to keep the same jockeys onboard, which in interesting and from what I heard it's non-negotiable re Envoi Allen, it must be ridden by either Davy Russell or Jack Kennedy.

But it's a permanent switch and Cheveley Park are cutting all ties with Elliott.

Be very interesting to see what Gigginstown do now. Elliott is definitely not going to be allowed have his name on the racecards for Cheltenham, but I presume the O'Learys still want their horses to race. So maybe a temporary switch of yards?

They've pulled Tiger Roll from the Grand National. They've said it's weight related, not GE related. He won his second off 159 and they say a rating of 166 is at least 7 pounds too high given he's not running as well now as he was then. So they're not going to put him through that. Pity.
Some blow to Elliott and some headache for Cheveley Park this close to Cheltenham.

It's massive disruption for Envoi Allen, these are creatures of habit and it's the last thing any owner would want. I suppose keeping Kennedy on him, they are hoping it will at least keep some thing routine for the animal. Still and all, I'm sure Rachel Blackmore's heart skipped a beat when she heard the news. Don't think the yard had any other involvement in that particular race.
I'd say it done W Mullins chances of a win no harm at all, not that he's a stranger to winning!

Regarding Gigginstown, many believe MOL was the financial clout behing GE from day one and may well own quite a bit of the setup.

Armagh18

Quote from: Hound on March 02, 2021, 03:25:50 PM
Quote from: Rich Ricci on March 02, 2021, 01:14:47 PM
Cheveley Park have pulled their horses and will be split between Henry De Bromhead and Willie Mullins. Losing Envoi Allen a massive blow.
8 horses altogether, 4 of which are Cheltenham bound (3 to Henry, 1 to Willie).
They've said they have a preference to keep the same jockeys onboard, which in interesting and from what I heard it's non-negotiable re Envoi Allen, it must be ridden by either Davy Russell or Jack Kennedy.

But it's a permanent switch and Cheveley Park are cutting all ties with Elliott.

Be very interesting to see what Gigginstown do now. Elliott is definitely not going to be allowed have his name on the racecards for Cheltenham, but I presume the O'Learys still want their horses to race. So maybe a temporary switch of yards?

They've pulled Tiger Roll from the Grand National. They've said it's weight related, not GE related. He won his second off 159 and they say a rating of 166 is at least 7 pounds too high given he's not running as well now as he was then. So they're not going to put him through that. Pity.
Hope everyone who is cutting ties have all their horses finish as low as possible.

Hound

Quote from: Armagh18 on March 03, 2021, 07:10:17 AM
Quote from: Hound on March 02, 2021, 03:25:50 PM
Quote from: Rich Ricci on March 02, 2021, 01:14:47 PM
Cheveley Park have pulled their horses and will be split between Henry De Bromhead and Willie Mullins. Losing Envoi Allen a massive blow.
8 horses altogether, 4 of which are Cheltenham bound (3 to Henry, 1 to Willie).
They've said they have a preference to keep the same jockeys onboard, which in interesting and from what I heard it's non-negotiable re Envoi Allen, it must be ridden by either Davy Russell or Jack Kennedy.

But it's a permanent switch and Cheveley Park are cutting all ties with Elliott.

Be very interesting to see what Gigginstown do now. Elliott is definitely not going to be allowed have his name on the racecards for Cheltenham, but I presume the O'Learys still want their horses to race. So maybe a temporary switch of yards?

They've pulled Tiger Roll from the Grand National. They've said it's weight related, not GE related. He won his second off 159 and they say a rating of 166 is at least 7 pounds too high given he's not running as well now as he was then. So they're not going to put him through that. Pity.
Hope everyone who is cutting ties have all their horses finish as low as possible.
I wouldn't blame them. If they want their horses at Cheltenham, they have to move them. No matter what the IHRB say (will probably be a ban anyway), there's just no way the BHA allow Elliott at Cheltenham.

The fact that GE is a bit of an ignorant ballix didn't matter at all up to this, because he's great at his job. But it's coming back to bite a bit now. There's very few out there saying 'Gordon is a great guy, this is completely out of character for him'.

seafoid

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/racing/brian-o-connor-elliott-revelations-leave-racing-s-good-name-in-state-of-disrepute-1.4499281
Irish racing will get €76.8 million in public funding this year, the latest instalment in two decades of State support through the Horse & Greyhound Fund.
It reflects how no other country has more wrapped up in racing, whether in terms of thousands of rural jobs, €2 billion of turnover per year, or the status that sustained success of Irish horses worldwide supplies.
Maintaining its reputation, and being seen to do everything to do so, is in the sector's own self-interest. Underpinning everything is trust and in return for State cash the public is entitled to expect nothing but the best.
"f**k it, just score"- Donaghy   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbxG2WwVRjU

seafoid

An interesting view from England


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/racing/2021/03/02/investigation-launched-new-dead-horse-video-emerges-social-media/
An issue of stupidity rather than welfare
By Marcus Armytage, Racing Correspondent

After the photo and now the video there will be a lot of people from the outside looking in at racing thinking that abusing dead horses is a cultural problem in the sport. And, quite honestly, who can blame them for thinking this sort of behaviour is endemic?

James Corrigan: Why I will not be watching Cheltenham or Aintree
But it is not the racing I know, having worked and ridden out until I quit race-riding in 2000 and having visited innumerable yards since. I believe, essentially, we are dealing with a stupidity issue here rather than a welfare one.

Indeed, of all the criticisms of Gordon Elliott, including my own on Monday, no one has questioned the wellbeing of his horses in the care of him and his staff.

If, however, the enormity of his mistake had not hit home it will have done on Tuesday lunchtime as the first cracks began to appear in the edifice he has built from Meath mud.

That was when he saw the sleek bay backside of Envoi Allen, the seven-year-old he has nurtured to an 11 race unbeaten record and a possible future Gold Cup winner, disappearing up the ramp of horsebox bound for a new home, the Waterford yard of Henry de Bromhead.

Are there any positives for racing to take from this? Well, one thing is that one within the sport no one is remotely attempting to sweep this under the carpet; there has been as much outrage within the racing industry as without and I have never seen trainers, who are all individual operators, so united in their disgust, upset and feeling of betrayal.

To its credit the British Horseracing Authority has never been more on the front-foot on an issue and if ever it sent someone a gold embossed dis-invitation to Cheltenham it was its 'interim' measure to ban Elliott trained horses from Britain until the sometimes ponderous Irish Horserace Regulatory Board have held their referral meeting on Friday.

This may have been in part to chivvy along the process in Ireland and in part to apply some pressure to the IHRB to act firmly.

However even if the IHRB do decide that it warrants a ban for bringing racing into disrepute, Elliott would normally have two week's grace before that kicks in – technically allowing him to have runners at Cheltenham.

But, clearly, not if the BHA has its way.

The mobile phone camera and social media is one of the great toxic combinations of the modern era – something I keep trying to warn my children about. Everything is snapped and most of it shared on one platform or another.

And while Elliott and the amateur rider Rob James, whose apology came across so much better and more genuine than the trainer's, have paid a heavy price for learning that incontrovertible truth, that very same combination must also, in a perverse way, be regarded as something of a safeguard.

It is difficult to get away with anything now and if this behaviour truly was endemic within racing one presumes the internet would be awash with such images not just one from 2016 and another from 2019.

But the brutal consequence for racing is that those two images will now adorn the sport's business card for the foreseeable future and a million pictures of stable staff cuddling, petting and pampering the horses they look after will never redress the balance on those lop-sided scales.

Born and brought up in a racing stable horses have always been a part of my life. The recurring argument with my wife is 'can we have another?'

One of the abiding memories of my early teenage years was the day when a good horse at home called Straight Jocelyn, a 17 hand gentle giant, died of a heart attack underneath my father, who had ridden him out every day of his life, trotting off the end of the gallop. My father was so cut up no-one could speak to him for the rest of the day.

When my mother was brought down in one of the very first ladies' races in the 1970s, breaking her thigh which was to leave her with a permanent limp, the initial distress was not so much about her injury but the fatal injury suffered by the horse.

Horses give us great highs but for the vast majority of people who work with them and look after them, coming home with an empty bridle, whether that was once filled by multiple winner or an old plodder, remains the most painful experience, the one downside to a sport with so many upsides.
"f**k it, just score"- Donaghy   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbxG2WwVRjU

sid waddell

It looks like Elliott is pretty much finished

That's libertarian capitalism for ya

trailer

It's kind of easy to forget the feeling against this in the UK. To a point we're insulated here in Ireland. They're a country of animal lovers and they just don't accept that sort of behaviour. Blood sports are long banned. Export of live animals is extremely difficult and usually there is lots of protesters. Lots of animal rights groups are questioning what else is going on in his yard. I don't think the guy needs to lose his livelihood over the head of one picture but he's up against it to save his career in the UK.

Hereiam

Hearing it was Elliotts G.F that leaked the picture after she caught him with another filly at the stable bar. Yep seems the stables had a fully kitted out bar.
Horse walks into the bar,
Barman says "why the long face"

I'll get my coat.

mouview

Has he resigned yet...er... from something?

quit yo jibbajabba

Quote from: Hereiam on March 03, 2021, 10:31:17 AM
Hearing it was Elliotts G.F that leaked the picture after she caught him with another filly at the stable bar. Yep seems the stables had a fully kitted out bar.
Horse walks into the bar,
Barman says "why the long face"

I'll get my coat.

"Girlfriend walks into the bar. WHY THE STIFF C*CK*

ill get my coat too...

Hound

Quote from: Hereiam on March 03, 2021, 10:31:17 AM
Hearing it was Elliotts G.F that leaked the picture after she caught him with another filly at the stable bar. Yep seems the stables had a fully kitted out bar.
Horse walks into the bar,
Barman says "why the long face"

I'll get my coat.
It's not the ex. It someone else with a grudge, but using stuff about the ex.

Latest rumour is that Elliott (along with a leading amateur jockey) bought a horse for one of his owners. Agreed a price of 180k with the seller, but told the owner it was 520k, and pocketed the difference. Like anything on the internet to be taken with a large pinch of salt!

Look-Up!

Apparently the whole thing is taking a very heavy toll on him, can't be easy seeing all around you crumble away.

Unfortunately that's the way social media is and whenever the angry mob have the pitchforks out, sponsors and corporate suits will go running and leave you to burn. They can be pretty selective though, if he had a few more quid in the HR kitty, he could have kidnapped his daughter and locked her away for years with little knowledge of her wellbeing, and it would be business as usual.

Hopefully when this story spins itself out, and gets properly investigated, more common sense will prevail. I very much doubt there is any question of animals being mistreated in his yard and he is a great trainer, so although his future career in UK may never fully recover (assuming he will eventually be allowed to race there), there are plenty of owners here only too happy to have someone like him training their stock. Plus the O'Leary's will still use him so he should still have a decent business to run although the cabinet mightn't be as prestigious.



Rich Ricci

Gordon Elliot has been given a 12 month suspension. 6 of them suspended and a €15,000 fine.