Monday's Meetings Ayr N/H 8 Races 11:50-3:20p.m. Lingfield Park N/H 7 Races 12:35-3:35p.m. Chelmsford(E) A/W 8 Races 5:00-8:30p.m. Racecards At The Races Sporting Life Racing Post Good Luck
Giving Monday a miss. Looked at 6 horses. 5 are odds on and one far too short. 3 of them will probably lose anyway
15:35 Lingfield, a Class-5 Handicap Chase over an extended 2m7f on softish ground, gives the Kap Rock gelding, Felton Bellevue, a decent chance of a good run. Harry Bannister rides for the Ben Case stable. 4/1 in all places at time of writing.
Any thoughts on the Ayr 12.20? I know it was testing but the front 2 pulled miles clear of a fairly decent yardstick in 3rd and there are some interesting form ties to Irish novices. Just noticed Phantomofthepoints is out of Swing Bowler, daughter of the wonderful mare Lady Cricket
4th - raced in rear, effort to catch-up and be in with a chance towards the last fence proved too much for FB. Shame he was so far behind early on. Oh well, that's horse racing!
Bombshell for biggest yards as BHA proposes limiting trainers to four runners in major handicaps. Hooray. Been doing this for as long as I remember in show jumping, except the limit is 3
I'd extend it to owners too. Stop JP McManus and Gigginstown having 8 or 10 runners in a race spread across 5 trainers.
It simply can't be allowed to happen and it won't. If it was English owners and trainers with the multiple entries there wouldn't be an eyelid batted. It's not like this is a new era of it happening, you don't have to go that far back to see some of the top English trainers adapting the same method. If you have the horses and are eligible to run in a race then tou are entitled to take up that opportunity. What would an owner think if this came to fruition? Less likely to buy? Would be another backwards step.
I think the “less likely to buy” observation is an important one. This is not anti-Irish but it is a statement of fact that both JP and Gigginstown have a huge amount of horses and, as more and more money has crept into NH racing, we are seeing a dominance of the major races by an ever-decreasing number of very wealthy owners. I just think it would be good for NH racing if it didn’t go the way of every other sport and be dominated by money. I got into racing at a time when a Welsh cow farmer won the Cheltenham Gold Cup with 100/1 shot Nortons Coin but something like that is unthinkable these days and I think the sport is worse for it.
It’s not unthinkable though is it? It’s still as likely as it’s ever been. I wonder if they can run it in mud in two seasons time!
McManus spread the wealth around to be fair, obviously in Ireland we have far less meetings so when the opportunity arises you will see multiple entries occur frequently. I understand the issue re the Welsh cow farmer, it is a familiar story here too, where small time breeder/owners were managing to land prestigious prizes but now they are being farmed and bought for fortunes after coming 2nd in a P2P and ending up with these "super owners". The shift happened a while ago and it is highly unlikely going to reverse anytime soon now as all the risk is being taken away from them when they can simply sell for massive amounts of money on the back of 1 good run. I don't like that aspect of it myself but I do understand the logic behind it. Again, I see no easy solution to solving that issue but limiting runners won't do anything but harm. I'd like to see the number of races comparable to runners and see how many times 4 or more actually line up through the actual season.
