Monday 29th April
So, the NH season, for me, has concluded.
All in all, it’s been close to a disaster, to be honest. Firstly, the biblical amounts of rain that’s visited these Isles has been staggering with any amount of attritional conditions, abandonments non-runners. Boggy ground is ok if it comes along every now and then but every day and it’s a no. After all, there are many horses that just won’t act on it and I suppose the effects will be suffered by the punter next season, if we get a reasonable number of good or G/Sft meetings; many will come back having underperformed this term and will probably surprise many by much improved performances.
Next, I will say, as I have written on these boards before, that the NH sport seems to be in perilous danger. The anti-cruelty lobby has never been stronger and I’m guessing that there are a good few punters who leave the discipline alone on principle and stick to the flat. Public opinion being what it is, I would think that many potential sponsors would not want their products associated NH racing either.
The bookmakers seem to have won all the battles and the war itself against British racing and its governing body, the British Horseracing Association (BHA). Of course, it suits all rapacious businesses to base themselves in tax havens. As such, a company like Bet365, for instance, can afford to shirk on their contribution to British racing. Naturally, they will raise their hands in horror at such a statement, proclaiming that they support the sport enormously with their sponsorship of racing. Hmmmm…
Equally, they will, I’m sure, trumpet loudly “What we do is within the law” Yeah but hmmm….
I would imagine that racing sponsorship by betting companies comes at a cost in the number of races on cards and the distance those races are run over. It makes money-sense for them to sponsor more sprint races so that more races can be squeezed into the racing day, Hence, now the timing of races can often look like train timetables: the 3.12, the 4.28. It suits the bookies down to the ground to have an eight-race card where all the races are from.5f to 1m and no further. I suppose the eventual Nirvana for them would be an all-day card of twenty flat races all over 5f. Perfect. Rapid turnover, rapid profit. With that agenda, where do 2m to 4 ½ mile NH races fit in?
Then, we might ask where will racing prize money be generated? Let’s look at the Chepstow NH meeting last Thursday: Eight races with prize money ranging from £2,566.50 to £6,178.77.
In 2015 the Racehorse Owners Association survey had the annual cost for NH horses at a basic £16,325. That’s ten years ago and didn’t include extra payments: transport to races, racing expenses: for the stable staff and the trainer, jockey fee (2015 - £221.28), percentage of winning stakes: approx. 10% to both winning jockey and trainer, pre / out of training fees, farrier, vet, physio, dentist, gallop fees, clipping, supplements/wormer.
So, having banged on long enough on the cost/prize money ratio, you don’t have to be a genius to realise that, after, costs, the owner of even the most valuable prize on that Chepstow card will be left with precious little. If an owner (or even trainer, come to think of it) can subsidise winning a race by gambling, who could blame them? Unfortunately, for us punters, that spells more headaches. ‘Run on their merits’? Again, Hmmm.
Once again, I’ll bang my drum on the subject of Nr’s. The number of small-field races in British racing , including NH racing, is a joke. Now, I don’t know about you but I shouldn’t imagine I’m all that different to many, many thousands of ‘average’ (no offence) punters who enjoy NH racing (or flat for that matter). We like to watch the racing, bet in small stakes and enjoy ew betting a lot; it gives us a chance to try our judgement out to see if we can spot a lively outsider that may even produce a nice profit on multiples if we can get many of the selections even placed. Over the years, I’ve managed to bet small with very little damage to my pocket when enjoying my sport. Mostly that has been down to Ew betting. Over recent times, that advantage has been smashed into by smaller and smaller fields. Come on, how many times do we see 8,9,10,11,12 horse fields decimated down just 6 or 7 runners? Quite often we’ll strike our bets when the place terms are 1-2-3 but by post-time we are looking at 6 or seven runners giving an ew on only the first two. Then, even if your horse is lucky enough to win, you get hit by the R4 deduction.: rubbing your face in it. A lot of the time, the horse I fancy to get in the first three does indeed finish third but, after the Nr’s, it’s a a losing bet.
You know, I’ll stop there without even mentioning why the BHA and the government don’t levy a proportionate tax/cost on betting companies, why we don’t look to the Irish or French models of prize money, why we have summer jumps meetings, why so many racecourses.
I know this piece has been a marathon and I could quite understand why any reader might have stopped reading halfway through, but I suppose I’ve written just to see if anyone thinks like me, has the same concerns. No one in the public realm of broadcasting seems to be prepared to ask the questions, call people to account, seem even bothered. Where’s the Martin Lewis of racing?! Maybe I’m the only one who cares about such things. If so, so be it, but at least I’ve put it out there to see if anyone agrees or differs. And to vent my frustration and sadness at the current predicament British NH racing finds itself in.
Tomorrow, I swear, I’ll be back to what I usually do.
If you’ve made it to this point, thanks for reading.
So, the NH season, for me, has concluded.
All in all, it’s been close to a disaster, to be honest. Firstly, the biblical amounts of rain that’s visited these Isles has been staggering with any amount of attritional conditions, abandonments non-runners. Boggy ground is ok if it comes along every now and then but every day and it’s a no. After all, there are many horses that just won’t act on it and I suppose the effects will be suffered by the punter next season, if we get a reasonable number of good or G/Sft meetings; many will come back having underperformed this term and will probably surprise many by much improved performances.
Next, I will say, as I have written on these boards before, that the NH sport seems to be in perilous danger. The anti-cruelty lobby has never been stronger and I’m guessing that there are a good few punters who leave the discipline alone on principle and stick to the flat. Public opinion being what it is, I would think that many potential sponsors would not want their products associated NH racing either.
The bookmakers seem to have won all the battles and the war itself against British racing and its governing body, the British Horseracing Association (BHA). Of course, it suits all rapacious businesses to base themselves in tax havens. As such, a company like Bet365, for instance, can afford to shirk on their contribution to British racing. Naturally, they will raise their hands in horror at such a statement, proclaiming that they support the sport enormously with their sponsorship of racing. Hmmmm…
Equally, they will, I’m sure, trumpet loudly “What we do is within the law” Yeah but hmmm….
I would imagine that racing sponsorship by betting companies comes at a cost in the number of races on cards and the distance those races are run over. It makes money-sense for them to sponsor more sprint races so that more races can be squeezed into the racing day, Hence, now the timing of races can often look like train timetables: the 3.12, the 4.28. It suits the bookies down to the ground to have an eight-race card where all the races are from.5f to 1m and no further. I suppose the eventual Nirvana for them would be an all-day card of twenty flat races all over 5f. Perfect. Rapid turnover, rapid profit. With that agenda, where do 2m to 4 ½ mile NH races fit in?
Then, we might ask where will racing prize money be generated? Let’s look at the Chepstow NH meeting last Thursday: Eight races with prize money ranging from £2,566.50 to £6,178.77.
In 2015 the Racehorse Owners Association survey had the annual cost for NH horses at a basic £16,325. That’s ten years ago and didn’t include extra payments: transport to races, racing expenses: for the stable staff and the trainer, jockey fee (2015 - £221.28), percentage of winning stakes: approx. 10% to both winning jockey and trainer, pre / out of training fees, farrier, vet, physio, dentist, gallop fees, clipping, supplements/wormer.
So, having banged on long enough on the cost/prize money ratio, you don’t have to be a genius to realise that, after, costs, the owner of even the most valuable prize on that Chepstow card will be left with precious little. If an owner (or even trainer, come to think of it) can subsidise winning a race by gambling, who could blame them? Unfortunately, for us punters, that spells more headaches. ‘Run on their merits’? Again, Hmmm.
Once again, I’ll bang my drum on the subject of Nr’s. The number of small-field races in British racing , including NH racing, is a joke. Now, I don’t know about you but I shouldn’t imagine I’m all that different to many, many thousands of ‘average’ (no offence) punters who enjoy NH racing (or flat for that matter). We like to watch the racing, bet in small stakes and enjoy ew betting a lot; it gives us a chance to try our judgement out to see if we can spot a lively outsider that may even produce a nice profit on multiples if we can get many of the selections even placed. Over the years, I’ve managed to bet small with very little damage to my pocket when enjoying my sport. Mostly that has been down to Ew betting. Over recent times, that advantage has been smashed into by smaller and smaller fields. Come on, how many times do we see 8,9,10,11,12 horse fields decimated down just 6 or 7 runners? Quite often we’ll strike our bets when the place terms are 1-2-3 but by post-time we are looking at 6 or seven runners giving an ew on only the first two. Then, even if your horse is lucky enough to win, you get hit by the R4 deduction.: rubbing your face in it. A lot of the time, the horse I fancy to get in the first three does indeed finish third but, after the Nr’s, it’s a a losing bet.
You know, I’ll stop there without even mentioning why the BHA and the government don’t levy a proportionate tax/cost on betting companies, why we don’t look to the Irish or French models of prize money, why we have summer jumps meetings, why so many racecourses.
I know this piece has been a marathon and I could quite understand why any reader might have stopped reading halfway through, but I suppose I’ve written just to see if anyone thinks like me, has the same concerns. No one in the public realm of broadcasting seems to be prepared to ask the questions, call people to account, seem even bothered. Where’s the Martin Lewis of racing?! Maybe I’m the only one who cares about such things. If so, so be it, but at least I’ve put it out there to see if anyone agrees or differs. And to vent my frustration and sadness at the current predicament British NH racing finds itself in.
Tomorrow, I swear, I’ll be back to what I usually do.
If you’ve made it to this point, thanks for reading.
