Johnr's 2018 racing thread

[jwdd27]

Shocked, primarily because I thought Curley had passed away some years ago, but perhaps he had just announced his retirement from betting.

I enjoyed reading Nick Townsend's "The Sure Thing", which details the Yellow Sam coup of 1975 as well as rehashing most of the autobiography Townsend wrote with Curley.

An interesting life, and a remarkable character, and him making McCririck squirm is golden.

Along with his coups, he was also an excellent judge of a horse and a fine trainer, and was involved with the extraordinary success of the Dickinson stable in the early 80s, and despite his occasional prickliness he was (as the clip intimates) a generous supporter of others in the industry, including sponsoring jockeys like Tom Queally and Shane Kelly - Kelly repaid Curley by riding two of the four horses in Curley's 2014 coup, which was done the modern way, where horses linked to a trainer (but who have moved on to minor yards) are suddenly all racing on the same day, at long odds because they're trying a new distance or are coming off a break or trying new ground. There seems to be one a month attempted, but very few are successful and the bookies are on to them like a flash - blocking the phone lines to the course no longer being an option.

RIP

[George]

A life well lived indeed. Dedicated himself to charity work in Africa after retiring from the sport as well.

[jwdd27]

Nice bit of karma from the Derby today. Adam Kirby had had to give up his intended ride, John Leeper, when Dettori became available after AP O'Brien's unexpected decision to scratch all but one of his entries.

Kirby instead rode the Godolphin 3rd string, Adayar, which stormed home to give him his first Classic win. Dettori nowhere.

Not such good news for Oisin Murphy, who got jocked off by Kirby, but his diminished status is his fault for "having sex with a woman who is an occasional cocaine user".

Another bad day for the pundits, not sure I saw Adayar even get a mention in the previews, and even Appleby had to be ordered by Sheikh Mohammed to run it in the Derby. Nobody knows anything.

[steveeeeeeeee]

Ascot then. An 50p ew on Accidental Agent at 66/1 for the Queen Anne seems inviting, but not much getting me excited in terms of betting today.

[steveeeeeeeee]

Ah well.

[steveeeeeeeee]

Wahey, £1 on Berkshire Shadow at 12/1 pays for the rest of the week!

[jwdd27]

I had Juan Elcano, which along with a smattering of each way pennies meant that I won back exactly what I'd staked across the day, to the penny.

Some big handicaps with huge fields tomorrow, so hoping to get lucky backing some big outsiders for various reasons (name resonance, jockey, trainer, previously bet on), little point going on form.

All good fun (although not as much fun as the proper racing over jumps, obvs.)

[jwdd27]

Racing's latest wheeze is underway at Musselburgh - Sunday evening racing! Or the "Sunday Series" as it has underwhelmingly been branded.
At first glance it might seem like just more work for already stretched jockeys, trainers and staff, just to keep the bookies and punters happy.

But that's only partially true - last Summer's post-lockdown catching up led to some high quality Sunday meetings which ITV4 covered with impressive viewing figures. So they are on board for this, which has boosted the prize money to very attractive levels, especially for the 3rd and 4th division horses and trainers who are taking part. Today's card is worth £200,000 in total prize money, way ahead of the standard 40 grand Sunday minor track card. I think the scheduling is a good idea, in the early Sunday evening dead zone, although the Premier League's return might dent the viewing figures.

And racing can easily afford to lose a bit of the weekday dross, with tiny fields racing for peanuts.

[diggedy derek]

Curious if there’s been any reaction to the tremendously disturbing ongoing revelations about Sheikh Mohammed and his intimidation and spying of his own family members.

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/CBCAlerts/status/1467939447371149322?s=20

[Paul S]

What a fantastic win in the King George VI stakes for Tornado Flyer today. Not won a race for over two years, 28-1 and up against two times winner Clan Des Obeaux. This is what I enjoy about horse racing, the outsider winning against the favourite, with Mullins getting his first King George winner for 20 years.

[jwdd27]

My horse (Asterion "fucking" Forlonge) fell late on when decently placed for the second race in a row, so it wasn't that great, but it shows how unpredictable the sport is, as did most of the 75 other races today.

Good win for Danny Mullins, too - he's a better jockey than he gets credit for, he doesn't just pick up his Uncle's spare rides, he deserves his place at the top.
Bryony Frost is a worse jockey than she gets credit for, her one tactic of leading and hoping the rest drop off not suited to heavy ground but it's seemingly all she knows. Blackmore knows better than to follow her and ruin Minella's chance but that's a spring horse anyway.

Welsh National tomorrow for fans of slow horses. Potter's Corner and Hill Sixteen look interesting at the bottom of the handicap, which has been skewed by Native River's appearance, carrying 10lb more than the second top weight.

[jwdd27]

Shishkin v Enurgumene was well hyped, and it totally lived up to expectations, a hugely exciting finish, with Shishkin just prevailing with both horses all out.
Also a good result for the handicappers, with Shishkin (172) beating Energumene (171) by the exact length that he should according to those ratings.

Round 2 in the Champion Chase at Cheltenham should be a cracker as well, I've got a feeling placings could be reversed, Mullins is used to getting his lot at their absolute peak for March. The bookies agree, and I could see them both going off at near enough evens.

Booked our Cheltenham tickets tonight, but for our usual Tuesday so we won't see the above, but this year's Supreme is going to be an absolute cracker so I'm excited to be there for that. Oxford is this year's town which is close enough to get there, but far enough away not to be paying £500 for a room (actually staying with friends so it's a really good deal).

[BallochSonsFan]

Just over 3 weeks to go until Cheltenham. Might get the odd horse with a last prep run for one of the Cheltenham handicaps, but the big horses won't be seen again until the festival starts. Really open Gold Cup this year. I don't like Minella Indo as a horse. A Plus Tard was beaten by Galvin. Are we overlooking Al Boum Photo just because we don't see it anywhere other than Tramore on new years day? Some very good match ups expected, but I think the champion hurdle is pretty much Honeysuckle's race to lose.

[jwdd27]

Yes, the Cheltmas countdown is on, as you say the big guns are done, but there a few handicappers who need another run to get a mark or to actually qualify for their target race.

It looks an open Gold Cup, it's nowhere near my favourite race of the festival, I prefer the sprints and the novice and juvie races, and by Friday nervous exhaustion has set in, but this year's looks more interesting.

Minella Indo's second behind Conflated in the Irish GC looked a very good run, especially compared to his King George debacle, and he is known as a spring horse, so I've had a few quid on.
A Plus Tard and Galvin both deserve their places at the top of the betting, and the latter has a great chance - Davy Russell is performing like a more likeable Tom Brady this year (I'd consider backing anything he's on), and Gordon Elliott is fired up after his shaming and suspension last year.

In contrast De Bromhead's lot have been flat all year, whatever was in their hay last year is lacking this, which makes me lukewarm on his big guns A Plus Tard and Bob Olinger. Not Honeysuckle though, I could train her to win the Champion Hurdle, finding something to run into a place is the task there, Quilixios is my answer.

[Paul S]

Wow, what a ride that was from Sam Waley-Cohen, an amateur in his last ever race and he gets the big one. He announced his retirement from horse racing only a few days ago and his father owns the racehorse which is a magnificent story for horse racing and for punters. A 50-1 winner although to be fair I had placed three bets at a meagre £2 on the favourite, a 30-1 shot and a 100-1 shot just for laughs.

[jwdd27]

Yes, good stuff from SWC, he's always been up there with the pros in terms of ability and he plotted a perfect course today (hold up at the back and then track through on the inside).
His retirement (to concentrate on being a millionaire dental practice mogul) is however marred by a 9 day ban for holding the whip incorrectly.

Being an expert I'd confidently put a line through Noble Yeats, as 7 year olds NEVER win the National (not since 1940). And I then sat back confidently to watch two of my four picks exit the race at the first fucking fence. Stupid race.

[Tony C]

Only fifteen out of the forty starters actually finished the race, one faller was put down and the winning jockey was fined for excess use of the whip.

[nmrfox]

And a second horse put to sleep following the 'race'.

[ursus arctos]

Quite the finish at Churchill Downs

https://twitter.com/edsbs/status/1523109254831349760?t=kIg8spVWAnuZ1wXG98Rn2g&s=19

[caja-dglh]

Was easily available at 80/1 and hit 99/1 at a point. Bought for a pittance and considered a done horse.

[elguapo4]

Went to Limerick races yesterday to celebrate my brother's 60th and my mate's 50th birthdays. On the first race, my horse bucked coming out of the stalls and lost about 15 lengths, he made up a lot of the ground but still finished last. That set the tone for the day, as I was the only one not to win a cent, not helped by the regular shrieks of joy from the hen night at the next table, who sounded like they were going to be drinking for free that night.

[ursus arctos]

Remarkable animal

https://twitter.com/breederscup/status/1589013830339891201?s=61&t=RbkFvWlzfgxz6Qchy-q80Q

[jwdd27]

It was an outstanding performance, Life is Good set a ridiculous pace, which Flightline lived with very happily and then streaked away using his extra gear, while Life Is Good (who is an outstanding horse) virtually stopped and could only walk across the line.

It was a fairly spectacular two days, and ITV made an inspired decision to take advantage of the temporary 4 hour time difference and screen it live to the UK, especially as the British and Irish (well, Godolphin and Coolmore) dominated the turf events, keeping their cool around the tight bends and then just burning the USian horses off in the home straight.
They didn't enjoy such dominance in previous years when the Americans (and the visitors) were allowed to use Lasix. Strange, that.
NBC's coverage was excellent, and rather surprisingly had less dumbing down/lowest denominator than the British, indeed some of the stats and gambling info were too much even for me. They love their stats.

As for Flightline, he's by far the best of his generation in his discipline (i.e.on the dirt), but Secretariat did it for longer, and on turf as well as dirt so is still the GOAT.
Flightline's owners or "ownership syndicate" are more businessmen than sportsmen, and have promptly retired him, not wanting to risk depreciation of their $70m asset by testing him further. You can buy 2.5% of him tomorrow, as a share of his is being auctioned, including an online Metaverse experience (a what now?).

[Paul S]

At the weekend I had a guided tour of the National Stud at Newmarket. It was a fascinating 90 minute tour of what they do, the covering area, the paddocks, horses what they are and how they do it. It cost £15 a head for the tour and both me and my father who is 77 enjoyed it immensely. Thoroughly recommended for anyone with even the slightest interest in horse racing.