Bruce Millington in yesterday’s ‘Racing Post’, as featured on TalkSPORT for a lot of yesterday, detailed 3 things that he believed but which he knew weren’t the opinions of almost everyone else. These being: (i) Steffi Graf is attractive, (ii) Paul Scholes was an average footballer, and (iii) He’s no time for the haka. Applied to the racing world what are your 3 beliefs, opinions or views that you acknowledge aren't shared by almost everyone else?!? Mine would be - (i) A lifesize statue of Mr Henderson should in pride of place at every UK racecourse, (ii) Binocular should have won 4 Champion Hurdles - he obliged in '10 but twice THAT man stuffed up aboard him and in '11 he was, of course, denied a run due to those 'unfortunate circumstances' and (iii) No-one, whose wealth is based on despoiling and oppressing a nation, should be allowed to run a racehorse in this Isle. Where there is doubt over an individual old boy, Jerry Corbyn, should have the casting vote. Care to add your own racing opinions which you recognise aren’t shared by the vast majority of those in the sport???
Funny, I always had a thing for Steffi Graf, must be those athletic thighs ..................... (1) The effect of the draw bias is vastly over-stated and is more often than not used as an excuse when a horse isn't good enough or connections get their tactics wrong (2) Any trainer who comes out with the statement "he failed to handle to course" should be shot for not having done their homework. This is especially irritating when you have done your dough in the old Epsom Derby, when the course even put on a "Derby Trial" a few weeks before the race, in order to allow aspirants to experience the unique undulations before the big day. (3) The value of a prep race. Sir Henry didn't fanny about sending Frankel straight to the 2000 GNS, he gave him a prep run in the Greenham to put him straight, a tried and tested method. Aiden "Listen" O'Brien seems particularly keen on sending his animals to the classics on seasonal debut which irks me no end.
(1) Nicky 'The Needle' Henderson is an average (at best) trainer whose success can be attributed to having wealthy owners - give him the string of a so called 'smaller' stable and then we can measure how great he is. (2) Binocular only won the 2010 Champion Hurdle due to a large dose of snake venom. (3) Venetia Williams is quite the fox in my opinion and yes, I definitely would!!
1. Unless injured all Group 1 winning colts must race on as a 4 year old, minimum of 3 runs. If they don't and are not injured the precious wee dears stud fee is capped at £9.97 a pop. 2. All jump racing can only take place on ground with the word 'soft' in the going. This must be verified by an independent expert so as to avoid good old Simon Claisse calling ground close to good/firm the standard good/soft he calls everything. This will reduce injuries and provide a safer surface for jockeys and horse during falls/unseats etc. 3. For jumps trainers to run a horse in a Grade 1 race they must at least run their charge once in a country which cannot be driven to, ie the best English horses travel over here and vice versa! This will help the small field problems we see in the better races and it'd be nice to some of the better English horses have an away day for once! We've good prize money over here and it would create another fascinating angle to the jumps scene outside Cheltenham.
Far too serious. Whip use: All whips to be redesigned to give the jockey a sharp electric shock, even through gloves, every time it was used. This will increase the jockey's ability to count. Any jockey holding the business end and hitting with the handle to get a life ban. Disputed results: Avoid more of these and the resultant appeals by settling matters on the day. All affected animals to take part in a re-run, over one quarter distance. Ridden by their respective trainers. Any Paul Nicholls' horse to get a 200 yard start. TV presenters: Rishi Passad forced to wear a full length bin liner and have his words spoken by an actor, Graham Cunningham to have his hands strapped down to the table and talking of tables .. it must be a proper one, leaving the previews and video clips to the technicians who are qualified to use them. Emma and Gina are ok as they are!
It was common knowledge not only in the Man Utd dressing room, but also for England that most players who played with Scholes rated him as the best they'd played/trained with. England players used to go back to there clubs and tell there team mates that they where in awe of just how good Scholes actually was. Even the Liverpool players used to go back and say that. The guy was without doubt the most technically gifted player that England has ever produced. Even when he was 36 and he came out of retirement to help a struggling Man Utd mid season, he completely transformed the whole team with the way he could run the game on his own from midfield. So to call him average has to be one of the most ridiculous opinions I've ever heard. Maybe he should learn a thing or 2 about football before he starts speaking such nonsense. Anyways on to racing. I was thinking of a few opinions that would be very unpopular, though il try and keep things clean, as I don't want to cause WW3 on here Champions day is the best days flat racing in the British calendar. Top level racing all the way through, so I'm not sure why so many complain about it, I think everyone is far to set in there traditional ways and refuses to accept change even if it's for the better. Nothing wrong with it being run on soft ground either, as that's part of racing, dealing with all different types of ground. There are plenty of horses that don't like fast ground, and they have to deal with it most of the summer. There's no rule book that says flat racing must be run on quick ground. The flat and jumps jockeys title should be decided on prize money, the same as the trainers titles. The jockey who gets to be called the champion at the end of the season should be the best jockey around, not the one who's put in the most miles on the road travelling up and down the country to ride donkey after donkey. A Derby shouldn't count the same as a seller at Wolverhampton. The Grand National should be banned, I don't really see the point in 40 handicappers charging over such dangerous fences, just for the benefit of your once a year punter. And then when a horse dies they are all up in arms about it, assuming that all horse racing is like that race, when it clearly isn't. They don't realise that it is there own fault that the race is still being run every year, as they're the ones who come out in there droves in support of the race. Couldn't they pick a less dangerous race to go crazy for, like in Australia it's a flat race the Melbourne Cup
All horses are, of course, different and some because of their constitution do need ‘prep’ runs but I always think that a large part of whether trainers gives a beast one or not depends on their confidence in their own abilities. Really in this day and age, with the advancements in technology and trainers gallops, I really can’t see how the vast majority of horses can’t be prepped at home (with perhaps a racecourse gallop included in this ‘prep’). I hate to use those terrible old rogues, the Pipe’s, as an example but old ‘Daddy’ Martin would have a fit if someone told him he couldn’t prepare one solely on his own gallops and by using his ‘special’, and I do mean ‘special’, methods. 3 more: (i) with the exception of the ‘Owners and Trainers Bar’ ban all alcohol from racecourses, (ii) increase admission prices at the Cheltenham Festival fourfold but reduce attendance at the meeting to a quarter of its current level. Also, only admit people who, at the turnstiles, are able to answer a simple racing question – nothing complicated, e.g. ‘What is Mr Henderson’s Christian name’, ‘Who trained Big Buck’s’, ‘To the nearest quarter of a mile how far is the Champion Hurdle run over’, and (iii) increase prizemoney at Royal Ascot by auctioning off 3 places each day in the 4th carriage of the Royal procession. Re the other daily seat have a nationwide lottery style draw. I would imagine this would raise about £20 million a year. And that is a conservative estimate. Bung her Majesty £2 million for the inconvience of having to associate with some possible undesirable types for a few minutes each day, me the same amount for dreaming up the brainwave and with the remaining £16 million in added prizemoney turn Royal Ascot into the richest and best meeting in the world which no star horse, anywhere on the planet, would want to miss.
Another one I'd like is for those idiots that cheer a horse falling at the last to be dragged onto the middle of the course, stripped off and have Gok Wan 'ride' them around and flog them with the old fashioned heavy whips jockeys used to carry. I'd hope this would reduce that idiotic behaviour.
-Down royal simply should be known as Down. -Gina and Emma to lick sticky jam from their fingers everytime a favourite falls in a grade one hurdle. -Graeme Cunnigham forced to wear a gimp outfit so we can't hear or see his Saturday smugness.Zip is only allowed down for his charity bet.
Actually, I have a fair bit of time for Bruce Millington’s three things. Compared to some of the rubbish that Yorkshire has to offer, Steffi Graf seems a very attractive German export – obviously Andre Agassi agrees. I bet she does an interesting haka. So, to the Racing World and three beliefs, opinions and views that are not shared by almost everyone: 1. The place to buy a decent NH horse these days is France – their slow old plodders are not quite as slow as ours. 2. Any horse that has failed to obtain an official rating after three races should be disqualified from racing and sent to a French restaurant, a dog food factory or a glue factory. 3. Jockeys should be subject to random drugs and alcohol tests – at each meeting, all jockeys present draw lots and the three short straws supply samples with severe penalties for failed tests (e.g. ride the Tour De France).
1) To spread some or the racing over across the days! Why have a Saturday with like 8 meetings on with 2 or 3 of those holding group races with good prize money! England is the only country to do this the Irish and French have some superb meetings on a Sunday- it would give us some more quality racing over more days get rid of some of that dribble class 7 nursery etc.. No one wants to see them they are a bookies benefit 2) Limit the number of horses per owner/trainer can have in the race to 2 you do not need more than that and the 3rd 4th string barely win in jumps it just causes more chaos as they are usually not up to the standard of the field and bless them they fall, bring other horses down and just muck up them also due to tactics there is no point! 3) for handicap/ weight marks to be done on a case by case mark e.g a mare running against a Gelding/Colt so Annie power vs Zarkandar at Ascot say she got a substantial allowance however she was far superior for her these marks are meant To make things fair and the horses to finish in a dead heat but this gave Zarkandar no chance !
I'm not sure wooly but I would have thought a handicap race was based purely on past form (ability) and a WFA is obviosly based age and sex. So I'm not sure where you are going with this one. Have I missed something?
Yeah not sure you can penalise a mare just because she's an exceptional mare. The geldings she's racing against should still have a physical advantage over her. She may look like a beast up against Zarkandar, but she'd need the weight allowance if she was to run in the world hurdle again, a race she was beaten in with the allowance after all. So you can't give her it one race, and then take it away the next. As that's effectively handicapping mares in graded races, depending on how good they are
The 2000G Is not a good Derby trial and no other race would possibly even be considered a trail for a different race run over half a mile further, yet each year it will be suggested as the best Derby trial. There are still way too many deaths in jump racing and we should continue to try and reduce this even if it means reducing the spectacle for racing fans. The Grand National is a rubbish race for second rate plodders and I would like to see a flat race handicap over 12f worth the same as the Melbourne cup and see the non racing nation get behind that instead of the fascination with the Grand National. oh and Steffi was gorgeous in her day - best legs in tennis.
1. I've had it up to my eyeballs with people complaining about the number or horses who've perished in racing incidents this year. They have no idea what a bonus these deaths are to racing. A vast number of hard working people are gainfully employed in the industry, all in merciful service of the termination of equine life. It's not just the high profile professionals like the veterinarians administering their lethal doses who make their presence felt here, there are also the labs that employ thousands of people in one way or another, while either discovering or manufacturing the much needed substances. Share holders in these companies have to be factored in too. And it's not just the mega investors we have to think about here, but the mums and dads who've invested their hard earned, looking to secure their children's future. Food on the table for the little ones. And what of those gentlemen who have the job of carting off the corpses? They need to employ others as well, and then there is the extra burden of the ever rising fuel costs that have to be factored in. And I can assure you, that if I was employed in such a career, I'd need a good belt from time to time. It's a sad old job and someone has to do it. An hour or two in the pisser, bolstering the publican's pockets, would be much desired. I'm not normally one for giving advice, but I feel the need now. It seems nobody else wants to do it. "Hear this you left, leaning, loony ****s. It's time to to put an end to your endless bleating about the 104 deadens. So harden the **** up!" 2. Dunno. 3. Dunno.
