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Racing Post Letters

Following their editorial tirade in favour of Channel Four today, is it any wonder that the letters pages were full of complaints about the BBC's Grand National coverage. At least I can recall seeing the first six crossing the line. The National Course is a massive track difficult to cover everything. Most people tuning in are not Racing Fans as such. The BBC did a reasonable job as usual. I thought Clare Balding did a good job in pulling everything together. Sue Barker was almost irrelevant. Best laugh of the week was Rishi Pershad asking a bloodied Carl Llewellyn if he remembered anything after the fall (from Bindaree), who got the answer, yes I watched the race. How he kept a straight face I don't know. Ruby Walsh sitting behind looked highly amused, despite his broken wrist. Seeing the jockeys watching the review of the race always makes me realise how important this race is to them. David Casey watching his exhilarating ride all over again. Liam Cooper feeling "sick as a pig". It is all good television. I imagine that if Channel 4 had been covering the race we may have seen Amberleigh House appear into view some time after The Elbow, then again I am biased I want to see more than just a close up of the horse in front.

Also did notice yesterday a letter criticizing Ginger McCain comments post National win regarding hoping for a horse in front of Amberleigh House to fall. To be fair to Ginger, he did point out that he should not say what he was about to say, at the time. He only said what many people would have thought in his position. What is wrong with being honest?

All-Weather

To ensure that I manage to get out of the house every morning have taken to getting the Post myself rather than having it delivered. It means that am regularly buying it from the local Sainsburys. It is quite common for the lady at the checkout to make a comment when seeing the paper. The usual one is "racing is cruel, I do not like it". Have had a couple of "My dad used to lose his wages on horses" one of which ended with "my mum used to have to meet dad outside of work on payday before he could go to the bookies". Racing is a minority sport. Partly because of the cruelty perception though also it would seem there is a lot of personal misfortune behind it from the betting perspective. From reading today's Post I gather that when the all weather track opens at Newmarket they hope to race twice a week throughout the year. When we have the other soon to open tracks such as Great Leighs, the fixture list is going to have to expand greatly to accommodate. Now that Racing is funded by Bookmakers profits, how many more kids are going to have to do without that new pair of shoes or not go on holiday to keep the show on the road. Racing is diluting itself with meaningless contests. Is this expansion really necessary? I do not think it can last.

Surely the greater the chunk that is removed from bookmaker's profits the more incentive they have to provide alternative betting opportunities. These fixed odds machines are making the big bookies somewhere in the order of three grand per machine gross each week. They will be opening shops simply to put these machines in. I have been a racing fan since I was at school. The house is full of racing books and pictures. Have to say that I am sick of wall to wall all-weather racing and the prospect of more has me wondering whether to take something else up entirely. In a few years time have no intention of going down to the shops to pay £2.00+ plus for a Racing Post in midwinter for three all weather fixtures, a racing channel or not. I take this view because I fear for Jumping's future.

Turning a Blind Eye

I will not be taking that long to sling my hook if the Post's reporting of performances such as Right To Reply's "effort" at Exeter yesterday is any guide. Yes I did back it. After all it is proven over 20f on ground as testing ground in the past. Losing money is not my complaint, what I object to is the casual way that abject performances such as this are passed over with the trite "running no sort of race". For a start they could have said that for the second race running at Exeter the jockey was not only happy to give the rest of the field a start but was choosing to run even further than the rest by taking a wide course as well. When winning at Newbury it was raced on the inside. How much effort was actually applied by the rider yesterday should have been a matter for the stewards to inquire into. Surely some explanation should have been called for. No evidence that one was requested. If Racing does not want to go the way of Showjumping it had better get its act together and quickly. In my opinion, highlighting the Ice Saints of this world does not put Racing in a bad light. It is the taking of no action whatsoever that does destroy the confidence.

The Future

The long and short of it is that Racing needs its own channel to show all racing. Any arrangements with other broadcasters should not be to the detriment of the output of said racing channel. If it means we lose pictures short term, so be it. People that want to bet substantial sums of money would be prepared to pay for pictures. The whole point of having a racing channel is that it is watched and used by active punters with Money!. If the adverts shown on Channel Four and Attheraces were any sort of guide, The demographics would suggest that the majority of viewers are pensioners or the unemployed. Financial input from companies such as Betfair should be forthcoming. It is a good thing if they start squealing now. Am paying them a small fortune in commission payments, they extract more from me than any bookmaker will be able and are taking no risk whatsoever. They must be worth a small fortune. What I do think is crazy is the possibility of over regulation of the exchanges. Bookies have been getting away with laying losers for years. No lose accounts for trainers, they did exist. Why do they ask owners of a runner to make themselves known when having a bet? Surely any arrangement would have to work both ways to be worthwhile? Now they are giving money to politicians to ask questions, Spoiling Tactics.

Other changes can be made. Take the Channel Four inspired Scoop 6 bet. Turnover on the bet has settled down to a paltry amount each week considering the publicity it gets. Why? Simply because it is difficult to win. Too many bookie friendly handicaps on Channel 4. When the jackpot has grown sufficiently large syndicates often enter in an attempt to scoop the lot. My solution would be to combine no more than three handicaps of the day with three non handicaps. The chances then of winning the Scoop6 would probably be around 20,000/1 or less. It would mean that more participants could win the Scoop6. What is wrong with that? Where I would be radical is by turning the Jackpot stage into a tricast on a 16+ runner handicap. Statistical chances of winning over 2700/1 (20 runners would actually be over 5800 to 1), the big syndicates would have to risk a fortune in the preliminary stage to have a chance of cornering the pool. A jackpot of £10 million plus (even £50m+) is possible. It could become a life altering bet and should attract huge publicity outside of racing. Just need to avoid problems with non runners, with the use of reserves most likely. Basically my argument is if one makes winning the Scoop6 a little bit easier, turnover on the bet is likely to increase many fold. The jackpot can be made huge by making the winning of that part much harder.

Schedule

Have decided to take an Easter Break away from racing. Will put up Ratings for Cheltenham and the Scottish National Meeting at Ayr regardless of whether Channel 4 pull the plug or not. After that will just concentrate on updating the ratings pages. I have been in need of an office away from home and see the current situation as an opportunity to move.

I see Timbera is well enough to run in the Irish National next Monday. It should be fresh. There has to be some logic to Direct Bearing running over inadequate trips. Xenophon appears to be harshly treated on its Chasing form but has over a stone inhad compared to its hurdling ability.