Stat filter worked well enough - 4 of 6 filling first 6 home
- and turned a reasonable profit but same-old-same-old: I ditch the
winner
Que sera sera.
Happy 2020 all.
good day for the Taffs .. part owned by a Welsh R U international, trained in Wales and ridden by a 17 year old Jack Tudor .. must be a descendant of Henry Vlll and Lizzie l lol
Sandown 3.00 As I mentioned a few months back Anthony Honeyball had this race targeted with three horses sadly one of those horses myself and Alan Dugdale were involved with suffered a career ending injury last month on his impressive comeback run at Plumpton,the other is now going for the Grand National and that leaves......... Jepeck who has been hurdle racing this season to protect his mark for today’s race
Sandown 3.00 As I mentioned a few months back Anthony Honeyball had this race targeted with three horses sadly one of those horses myself and Alan Dugdale were involved with suffered a career ending injury last month on his impressive comeback run at Plumpton,the other is now going for the Grand National and that leaves......... Jepeck who has been hurdle racing this season to protect his mark for today’s race
Sandown 3.00 As I mentioned a few months back Anthony Honeyball had this race targeted with three horses sadly one of those horses myself and Alan Dugdale were involved with suffered a career ending injury last month on his impressive comeback run at Plumpton,the other is now going for the Grand National and that leaves......... Jepeck who has been hurdle racing this season to protect his mark for today’s race
Won it well in the end, thought he was going to be taken out by the loose horse before the last fence.
Gonna chuck in an antepost thought for Cheltenham:
Supreme Novices' Hurdle - SHISHKIN @ 33/1 (Bet365, thank you Bob!). Have heard from some very well-connected and reliable friends that he looks to be a monster for Nicky Henderson this year and is on fire in the yard. He did this a few days after the Festival this year:
Gonna chuck in an antepost thought for Cheltenham:
Supreme Novices' Hurdle - SHISHKIN @ 33/1 (Bet365, thank you Bob!). Have heard from some very well-connected and reliable friends that he looks to be a monster for Nicky Henderson this year and is on fire in the yard. He did this a few days after the Festival this year:
You love to see it. Now best priced 16s for the Supreme.
No idea what's been said or done to see an even more dramatic price collapse since the 15th, as Shishkin has not run in that time, but he is now 4/1 across the board for the Supreme.
A friend with a cashout facility informs me that £10 each way (£20 total) is now available to cash out for around £85 with Bob's lot. I wouldn't recommend doing so, of course - let it ride. That's the point of antepost!
But still, very good signs. I'm also pleased to have Paisley Park for the Stayers again (albeit at - by antepost standards - a very skinny 9/4), as he has now moved odds-on.
As for another suggestion, I'm rolling with Don Poli for the Foxhunter Chase at 20/1 (Bob's lot specifically, 1/5 1-3). A grand old horse who has done well in two recent point to points, and who I can see qualifying and being entered under new ownership.
So if your mate had put £1000 ew on they would be offering £8500 cash out that right
If it's scaled like that, yes. But I assume Bet365 would offer slightly less - or any customer allowed that much (if there are any!) would have to negotiate the cashout.
Have had to use the Wayback Machine to retrieve this but:
In his latest column Kevin analyses the use of the whip and argues that the sport should educate the public on the realities of the whip.
The realities of “the whip debate”
After what seemed an endless string of PR disasters for horse racing in the years following the changes made to the whip rules in Great Britain in 2011, it had finally seemed as though the issue had settled down in the last year or so. However, the unique ability that horse racing has to make a rod for its own back was once again in evidence with the Racing Post running a front-page headline of “Why The Whip Must Be Banned”. [ED: link here - https://www.racingpost.com/news/time-for-racing-to-accept-the-inevitable-the-whip-will-have-to-go/291907 ]
The headline related to an article by the excellent Tom Kerr which made a measured argument that the whip should only be permitted for corrective action rather than encouragement in response to societal changes that in his opinion will inevitably lead to increased public intolerance of whip use in horse racing. Unfortunately for Tom, the details will be lost on many, as the focus has very much been on the suggestion made by the sensationalist, incendiary and ultimately misleading headline which it should be clarified that Kerr didn’t write.
While not everyone will have the appetite for a debate that has had more than its share of airtime in recent years, the re-emergence of it does offer the opportunity to reiterate why this debate only ever needs to be a short one and how horse racing can help itself in a world where perception is everything.
The salient point in this whole discussion, the one that the debate should start and end with, is that the modern whip is not a welfare issue in racing. It is a light, foam-filled piece of equipment that is designed to make a loud crack rather than inflict pain.
Anyone that has handled a modern whip will know this. It is next to impossible to physically hurt even the highly-sensitive hand of a human with the modern whip. Thus, to suggest that such a tool can inflict pain on a 500kg thoroughbred horse through their much more thickly-skinned and heavily-muscled hindquarters whilst adrenaline is coursing through their bodies in a race is frankly laughable.
The natural follow-on question from this is one of “well if it the horses can’t feel it, why is it needed at all?” Again, the explanation is a straightforward one. Anyone who has ridden or dealt with thoroughbred horses knows that the whip is an absolutely necessary piece of equipment to safely control them. Every horse is trained to respond to and respect it from the very early stages of their education. As well as that and as a counter to Kerr’s main point, the whip is also necessary as a means of encouragement to get the very best from the vast majority of animals.
Thoroughbreds have been selectively bred for an extremely heightened flight response for hundreds of years. For as long as the thoroughbred has been cultivated, the whip has been used as the trigger to capitalise on this response, with the motion, impact and noise of it being applied to their hindquarters playing on the horse’s natural instinct to flee as quickly as possible.
Taking away the whip as a means of encouragement would risk unintended consequences that could fundamentally change horse racing as we know it and create even bigger problems for the industry. The main concern would be that there would almost certainly be a rise in unethical training methods designed to heighten the flight instinct of horses in the absence of a whip. As well as that, such action would change the selection process that has shaped the thoroughbred breed over hundreds of years, with it leading to free-going tearaways thriving at the expense of laid-back horses that require stronger encouragement, which could only be considered a backwards step for the breed.
Considering all the above justifications for its use, it really is remarkable to me that some in the sport see a banning of the whip as inevitable. Are we really that insecure? Are we really that willing to meekly submit to the views of the uninformed?
For me at least, the road that horse racing must take on this issue is very clear and that is the path of education. Having been making the suggestion for years, it genuinely boggles my mind why the racing authorities do not engage in ongoing education of the public as to the realities of the whip. Why isn’t there a one-man information stand at every single race meeting with whip-related information and most importantly, whips that can be handled by any curious racegoer that want to make up their own mind on them? I defy anyone to handle a modern whip and come away from it with serious concerns about it.
The extent to which racing has failed to educate its own audience in this regard is illustrated by the results of a poll I ran on Twitter asking my racing-focused followers had they ever had the opportunity to hold/examine the modern whip used by jockeys in British and Irish racing. 75% of them responded that they had not. This needs to be rectified as a matter of priority.
While so many in horse racing are seemingly incurably insecure about our sport, it should be clear that horse racing has nothing to hide when it comes to the modern whip. Of course, many members of the public will never be willing to listen to the realities, preferring to retain their image of horses being cruelly lashed in the name of sport, but I frankly don’t care about their uneducated opinions. The notion that we should fundamentally alter our sport based on the uninformed views of those that don’t and never will take a meaningful interest in our sport is absurd.
If we educate those that do actually like and care about horse racing about the realities of the whip or other potentially contentious issues in the sport, those people will ultimately serve as the best ambassadors that horse racing can wish for amongst the wider public. We as lovers of horse racing must strive to be more confident, self-assured and educated about our sport, as if we don’t believe in it, how can we expect anyone else to?
Looks like Colin Tizzard has got his wish and signed Jonjo O'Neill Jnr as his main jockey (presumably when Power is otherwise engaged) .. this could prove in the longer term to be as prolific a partnership as Nicholls/Cobden and Henderson/De Boinville
Comments
Huge price (66/1) but could run for a place - definitely fit and the going suits to a tee.
Nice e/w call and my fella paid off with PP in 7th.
Triffic Welsh GN if anyone missed it. All the first 6 deserve a lot of credit - a very worthy winner.
1 Potters Corner
2 Truckers Lodge 1.75L
3 Yala Enki 2.75L
4 Prime Venture 4.25L
5 The 2 Amigos 10L
6 Elegant Escape 11L
Stat filter worked well enough - 4 of 6 filling first 6 home - and turned a reasonable profit but same-old-same-old: I ditch the winner
Que sera sera.
Happy 2020 all.
As I mentioned a few months back Anthony Honeyball had this race targeted with three horses sadly one of those horses myself and Alan Dugdale were involved with suffered a career ending injury last month on his impressive comeback run at Plumpton,the other is now going for the Grand National and that leaves.........
Jepeck who has been hurdle racing this season to protect his mark for today’s race
Know how you're feeling.
You love to see it. Now best priced 16s for the Supreme.
https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/animal-charities-and-environmental-organisations-listed-on-a-counter-terrorism-police-guide.html
But still, very good signs. I'm also pleased to have Paisley Park for the Stayers again (albeit at - by antepost standards - a very skinny 9/4), as he has now moved odds-on.
As for another suggestion, I'm rolling with Don Poli for the Foxhunter Chase at 20/1 (Bob's lot specifically, 1/5 1-3). A grand old horse who has done well in two recent point to points, and who I can see qualifying and being entered under new ownership.
https://www.racingpost.com/news/new-system-unveiled-to-provide-greater-information-on-retired-racehorses/421682
Have had to use the Wayback Machine to retrieve this but:
Its more painful getting hit by a strawberry lace than a jockey whip.
Hope you have a safe word.