Johnr's 2018 racing thread

[nmrfox]

Only 2 dead horses today. Enjoy your betting tomorrow .

[jwdd27]

I'm wishing it wasn't a three day festival, not had a winner in the first two days.

I dislike Aintree intensely. Horses that proved themselves poor at Cheltenham suddenly turn it round and win and vice versa, to an extent - only Pentland Hills has managed the double so far.
A feature of the first two days is horses winning who I, and quite a few pundits, had assumed were a busted flush - Kalashnikov, Supasundae, Lostintranslation, Min...

I once had a colleague who also worked in a bookies at the weekend, and he told of his regular punters coming in on National day accompanied on this one day by their wives, and them going through a charade of pretending they weren't quite sure how to place a bet, asking my colleague how the slip should be filled out etc

Heart and head both say Tiger Roll tomorrow, plus Ramses de Teillee, Monbeg Notorious and Regal Encore for places.

[Southport Zeb]

A friend of mine worked in a bookies (in Liverpool) during university. He despised National day as it was much busier than normal, and the average transaction time was much longer because the non-regulars needed to be talked through how to make a bet.

[Paul S]

Britain at the bookies tomorrow, but I wonder how many people realise it's a three day festival and not just the National !

[Paul S]

Only two weeks ago until it all starts and I'm beginning to get excited!

[Paul S]

Just as I was hoping this outbreak was over and I wake up to this. Not good and I am now fearing for the Cheltenham festival. Last week Paddy power were offering initial odds of 13-2 of the festival not starting and if I put £25 on I would have covered the cost of hotel and train tickets. By the time I looked to put the bet on on Saturday morning, the odds had dropped to 2-1 so I didn't bother.

I think there was also a case of equine flu in Somerset at a private school.

[George]

Four new cases confirmed this evening in Newmarket at Simon Crisford's yard. This is after several hundred negative results coming back with the only positive new cases being at Rebecca Menzies place up in County Durham.
Newmarket is surrounded by some of the biggest stud farms in the business, which also contain much of the best TB bloodstock on the planet. Considering what was said earlier about young foals being vulnerable, this news will arguably worry the authorities more than the NH geldings <rubs fore fingers and thumb together>.

[Janik]

Three more cases diagnosed, but all at the original stables. However one more elsewhere suspected, and if that proves to be the case...

Just checking that this isn't a really a particularly dangerous condition for horses, right? It's simply that a horse with flu will have it's athletic performance degraded until the infection is beaten?

[Gangster Octopus]

Covering season traditionally starts on Valentine's Day

Bless...

[George]

Cheshire - Where McCain is based - isn't a major training centre (seven trainers listed in the county) so hopefully that helps in containing it. Michael Owen's/Tom Dascombe's place is just down the road though. Flat boys but a substantial operation.

[jwdd27]

My Cheltenham Tuesday tickets also arrived today, so let's try to be positive, especially as our train tickets and hotel room are non-refundable.

My understanding is that McCain's 3 horses that tested positive were ones that have not been out racing recently, and so not the ones he sent out to Wolverhampton, Ludlow and Ayr.
Best case scenario those horses are OK so no contamination with other yards, it's a dodgy batch of vaccine or an incompetent vet or yard manager, and we go again from next Weds.

Don't want to think about anything worse than that, if it drags on horses will miss warm up races and the Irish will start to get cold feet about sending their lot over.

There have been murmurings from trainers in the past few weeks about dirty boxes at some courses, with old food on the floor etc. With the amount of movement of theses horses and jockeys, it's amazing there are aren't more outbreaks - the fact this sort of thing is quite rare is a tribute to the standard of veterinary care the horses receive.

In Australia all the horses were unvaccinated, and the authorities were slow to react. The BHA have admirably put aside their clown outfits for the day and have acted swiftly and decisively.

[Paul S]

I was wondering about the breeding season as well, as February is indeed when it all happens. Gestation in a mare takes 11-12 month and mares come into use about 9 days after foaling. They'll be on heat for (roughly) 6 days, 15 days off and then back into use again for six days or so and that is when they hope to get her covered by a male. That means there are a lot of mares travelling about the country right now and a lot of newly born foals.

Add to that my Cheltenham Gold Cup ticket turned up this morning, just my luck!

[George]

It's probably not unreasonable to speculate that the rest of the National Hunt season could be abandoned, although it all depends on how successfully they isolate the known cases and stop it from spreading to the wider horse population. Healthy adult horses should survive equine flu but it seems young foals are vulnerable, which is worrying news given foaling season has just begun for thoroughbreds in Northern Hemisphere countries. If travel restrictions and quarantines are put into action it won't just affect racing but also the breeding industry, as it won't be possible for outside mares to visit stallions. Covering season traditionally starts on Valentine's Day

[johnr]

No horse racing until next Wednesday following the outbreak of equine flu yesterday. This is potentially very serious, a similar outbreak in Australia in 2007 led to no racing in NSW and Queensland for three months. Given that Cheltenham is only just round the corner, I hope this doesn't lead to a similar break in racing.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/horse-racing/47161779

Off until the 13th Feb, at least. https://twitter.com/itvnews/status/1093548442478096384

Ah, just realised that the 13th is, indeed, next Wednesday.
As you were.

[Gangster Octopus]

Kill the badgers!

[Paul S]

No horse racing until next Wednesday following the outbreak of equine flu yesterday. This is potentially very serious, a similar outbreak in Australia in 2007 led to no racing in NSW and Queensland for three months. Given that Cheltenham is only just round the corner, I hope this doesn't lead to a similar break in racing.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/horse-racing/47161779

[Hot Pepsi]

I think it should be banned. Anything involving the buying and selling of animals ultimately leads to cruelty.

[ursus arctos]

Also peak Kentucky

https://twitter.com/nycjim/status/1059131445288075267?s=19

[George]

The Turf was a great race and Enable is a remarkable horse.

I'd be surprised if anything happens to Soumillon. "We" are just less protective of horses over here. That said, I would hope that display makes the trainer and owner think twice about him going forward.

You couldn't get a better day to host racing in Kentucky, btw.

The US is traditionally much more lenient on excessive whip use so I wouldn't expect much. I seem to remember Victor Espinoza giving American Pharoah a right thrashing in at least one his triple crown races, and although there was objections in some quarters it was generally muted. Some of the 'horsemanship' you see at smaller US gaff tracks can be truly breathtaking, and not for the right reasons.

The lovely weather on Saturday made up for it being overcast and sporadically pissing it down in the previous days. I have enjoyed being able to watch Live coverage of the horses working publicly in the mornings throughout the week though. It's definitely something US racing does right compared to the Europeans. Over here it's a case of hiding in some buses next to Newmarket's well manicured gallops.

[George]

<Repost of the earlier post which deleted itself>

The statistical hoodoo of no Arc winner ever taking the Breeders' Cup Turf in the same season as finally ended after Enable's homestretch duel with the Ballydoyle filly Magical.

The Classic ran afterwards was less sublime, and displayed one of the worst visual aspects of US dirt racing with horses running on fumes and coming home slower than staying chasers. The real talking point however was Belgium jockey Christophe Soumillon shellacking of poor old Thunder Snow on the home straight. It's the type of action which gives ammunition to opponents of the sport, and in European jurisdictions would earn a significant fine and racing ban. It'll be interesting to see what the US authorities do about it since Soumillon is French based and any ban could have little effect.

[ursus arctos]

The Turf was a great race and Enable is a remarkable horse.

I'd be surprised if anything happens to Soumillon. "We" are just less protective of horses over here. That said, I would hope that display makes the trainer and owner think twice about him going forward.

You couldn't get a better day to host racing in Kentucky, btw.

[George]

Aside from ownership of Leicester City, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was also heavily invested in the horses and had close to 60 of them in training with a variety of handlers, but mainly Andrew Balding (brother of Clare, son of Mill Reef trainer Ian). His most notable runners have been Beat The Bank (last years Sussex Stakes winner at Goodwood) and the sprinter Donjuan Triumphant. Several million had been spent at the yearling auctions in recent years as well, especially on offspring of Frankel and to be honest there has been little success to show for it to date. The most expensive purchase, a 2yo filly name King Power (£2.5 Million price tag) actually made her debut earlier on Saturday - finishing a dissapointing fifth in a Newbury maiden.

[jwdd27]

I have also made a comprehensive losing return to jumps. My Richard Johnson aversion has cost me dear.

[George]

The National Hunt season doesn't start proper until Gordon Elliott has several Gigginstown horses running in some Irish gaff track handicap.

[johnr]

Well, I'm back in for the jump season. And lost, resoundingly.