Arse Cup

Anyone else find it difficult to read Ferdy 'Kenyon Confronts' Murphy mouthing off about what is wrong with racing?

Has he ever considered that more levy might be generated if punters had faith that every horse they back is running on its merits?
 
What was he saying was wrong with racing, Relks? Is that in the paper RP or wot?

It's very difficult for anyone to know just what's going on with any horse. We had a 'surprise' winner at Plumpton last meeting, Neil Mulholland's JUST THE JOB, form of 069-P70 in a conditional jockeys' handicap hurdle. It won at extreme odds (I've forgotton what, but big double figures). I muttered to a trainer standing next to me (it turned out to be Gerald Ham) that it must've surprised a lot of people, and he pointed to the card's notes and said, "not when you look at that" with a wry look. The notes began "Not knocked about when showing some promise first 2 starts over hurdles, but no impact on handicap debut last month... ". So, in other phrasing, tenderly handled until November 1st, when whoops! In he goes, easy-peasy, beating off the likes of Ham's BRIGADORE and 10 others. It doesn't make any sense to me, let alone 'outsiders' how this can happen without an inquiry as to how the horse improved so much from two 'quiet' runs. Even if there was one, and I don't think there was, it'll be down to some miracle of schooling or 'more suited' by the ground/track/left/right/Mars in the ascendant.

It would be fair to see the horse do better, if he had any talent, and improve to a placing, perhaps. But to go from six no-shows and quiet riding to a win is asking credibility to be a bit stretched. I've no idea if the Mulholland yard is a big gambling one, like some, but that shouldn't mean that punters have no chance against yard coups. (Not that I'm suggesting this was the case here, although one could be forgiven for thinking it.)
 
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Nomination for Paul Kealy who seems to be under the impression that Long Run's placing in a G3 handicap was his career best performance (better than the Grade 1 Hurdle win, either of his two Grade 1 chase wins and his Cheltenham Festival Grade 1 placing).
 
I wouldn't argue the toss over the French form (not in a hurry to disagree with RP man) but a third off 158 and well clear of the rest is definitely imo better than finishing alongside Burton Port in the RSA.
 
Just caught a glimpse of the popularity of this topic - it's 30 lengths ahead of the rest of the field! We sure love a good gripe!
 
Jim McGrath - "Brian Hughes giving a rundown to Howard Johnson". JHJ is nowhere to be seen, but Hughes is actually talking to Graham Wylie.
 
Was posting just the same on the other thread,he really is a liability who needs pensioning off (amongst others).
 
Dave Smith can no longer argue a case for why he has been dumped after a shocking afternoon commentating at Southwell yesterday.
Sleepy Blue Oceans colours are nothing like Rio Sands,although as always in these scenarios it's always worth a wry smile at the in running ppl who think the commentator is right.
Oooops.

Not that Aussie Jim can escape,how did he not spot that Sacrilige had pulled up/refused before the two fallers came down?

Who'd have thought we'd see the day when Thommo was the best of the three commentators on the day,that's how bad the other two were.
 
Ardross said:
Cattermole was execrable at the Open Meeting - his continued use at top meetings is quite baffling.
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"I'm not sure if 'X' jumped that one particularly well" becoming one of his favourite lines. It's presumably an improvement on "'X' made a blunder at that" when X had in fact pinged the obstacle in question. His assertion that Aegean Dawn had jumped the last fairly awkwardly when winning at Cheltenham recently was typical.
 
Arkwright said:
Dave Smith can no longer argue a case for why he has been dumped after a shocking afternoon commentating at Southwell yesterday.
Sleepy Blue Oceans colours are nothing like Rio Sands,although as always in these scenarios it's always worth a wry smile at the in running ppl who think the commentator is right.
Oooops.
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This of course came after Bonnie Prince Charlie and not Bonnie Prince Blue had won the 6f handicap there.
 
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Ardross said:
Cattermole was execrable at the Open Meeting - his continued use at top meetings is quite baffling.
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I agree. He regularly omits to mention horses obviously taking or about to take a hand in the finish. He did this with Devil To Pay in the last on the Saturday of the Open Meeting.
 
Racing For Change are missing a trick, I reckon.

There is surely a place for a 'Fanzone' type commentary on a big Saturday afternoon handicap chase on either the Beeb or C4? I'm happy to trial this on their behalf, and reckon I can knock Hale & Pace into a cocked-hat, with my tried-and-trusted "Good Boy, Usless Bastard" technique.

:cool:
 
My colleague and I stayed to watch LINGFIELD BOUND who, after a promising beginning, had dropped form rather badly. We felt loyalty bound to see how he did again at his 'own' track. Aussie Jim called almost every horse in the race until the last 10 strides when he suddenly woke up and realised that LB had been making speedy headway and omigod, there he was! "It's LINGFIELD BOUND!" Yes, it was, but he wasn't any of the three or four horses you'd been obsessing about during the last two furlongs. Aaarggghh!
 
He did similar earlier on in the card when Everymanforhimself nipped through on the inside and he was still referring to the horses on the outside.
 
rorydelargy said:
"I'm not sure if 'X' jumped that one particularly well" becoming one of his favourite lines. It's presumably an improvement on "'X' made a blunder at that" when X had in fact pinged the obstacle in question. His assertion that Aegean Dawn had jumped the last fairly awkwardly when winning at Cheltenham recently was typical.
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Or Ay- gee -anne Dawn as he pronounced it !

His failure to notice or mention significant race moves is indeed a particular issue with his commentaries - he is blithering on about the eighth and ninth as the sixth has cruised through to lead .
 
Robert Cooper, in Snooze Mode, in the ATR studio this morning. Reading out the runners for the Fighting Fifth, unable to realise there was a misprint: "... and BYGONES OF BIRD... ". Oh, ffs, man, WAKE UP! Later, attributing the breeding of one horse to David Carey, corrected quickly by Double-Dee to David Casey. Another misprint, perhaps? No actual knowledge without the 'help' of misspelled cue cards?
 
:lol:The Arse Cup goes to whoever coined it 'All weather racing'.

IIRC we have had abandonments for fog,snow,frost & waterlogging.

Safety comes first of course;)
 
The Clerk at Wolverhampton should've told trainers how bad his going was - it was anything but standard. If anyone watched it last night, the kickback was going up some 10, 12 feet in the air - and great clods of it, too. FASHIONABLE GAL, who pitched on leaving the stalls and dumped Stevie Donohoe tonight, ran loose at the front of the field and pitched twice very badly again on the turn, so much so that I thought she'd bust a leg. Fortunately, that wasn't the case, but the ridiculous height of the kickback and the huge lumps of balled-up the Polytrack/mix they have were clearly dangerous. While 'all weather' is a misnomer, I do feel that the mix is wrong at Wolves this week.
 
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Times suggest yetserday's meeting at Wolverhampton was indeed standard. The kickback did look worse but plenty of horses that were held up came through to run their race so I don't think it was putting anything at a significant disadvantage.
 
I think it's the jockeys who don't want to take it on, DJ, and while the times might be okay, the going isn't 'standard' when clodded lumps are flying through the air. Who wants to be dinged by those? It'll be interesting if you find what was run tonight produced standard times, because jockeys were complaining of the surface balling in the horses' feet, which surely can't mean they're running to true times? If they are, and nobody fell over or stumbled, slipped, couldn't get a grip because of the surface, then it looks like a storm in the teacup. But I assume you saw last night's racing? You didn't think the height of the kickback extraordinary? You expect it to be chest-height at Wolves, face height at Southwell, knee height at Lingfield. I've never seen it at room height before!
 
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