• REGISTER NOW!! Why? Because you can't do much without having been registered!

    At the moment you have limited access to view all discussions - and most importantly, you haven't joined our community. What are you waiting for? Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join Join Talking Horses here!

Backing Venetia Williams' Chasers In November with Andrew Mount

Well yards go in and out of form as we all know. We expect Venetia's to hit form as soon as it rains but possibly they are more behind for whatever reason. I'd never give up on her - the lady is a class trainer and I for one will retain my faith in her.
 
jinnyj said:
Well yards go in and out of form as we all know. We expect Venetia's to hit form as soon as it rains but possibly they are more behind for whatever reason. I'd never give up on her - the lady is a class trainer and I for one will retain my faith in her.
Click to expand...
Not doubting her ability for one second. Just not happening this season so far.
 
Yes I agree but sometimes trainers have slow seasons. She may have had a bug in the yard which she has chosen not to disclose and so they are behind where they would normally be. She's pretty hard on her horses fitness wise compared to most trainers.
 
Parallel Universe Timelines....

In the TTFiverse - VW puts the racing world on notice as Jeu D'Opale and Bucksey Des Epeires give her a Lingfield Park double today. This is an omen for Boxing Day when Djelo, Kara Sacre, Ramo, Nez Vert, Jungle Boogie, Epinephrine and Supervisor give VW a "Magnificent Seven(timer)" before Tanganyika lands the Welsh National for good measure the next day. Hordes of VW believers can be heard on the Chepstow terraces chanting: "Can you hear the Euro sing? No, no! Can you hear the Euro sing? No, no! Can't you hear the Euro sing? I can't hear a f*****g thing! No, no, no!"

In the Euroverse - Jeu D'Opale and Bucksey Des Epeires are never travelling and both finish last at Lingfield Park today. On Boxing Day two of her seven do manage to beat one other horse but they still trail in tailed off and then Tanganyika is pulled up at Chepstow. After the race, a tight-lipped VW has to be escorted off the racecourse as hordes of Scandinavian metal fans surround the unsaddling enclosure, chanting: "You're getting sacked in the morning! Sacked in the morning, you're getting sacked in the morning!"

Which path will our reality take?

Can't wait to find out!
 
Dear oh dear, a little lapse in form and a trainer who has won nearly £6m in prize money over the last five years and her chosen jockey who has won just over £5m aren't good enough any more?

Will the two of you now be stepping them in to show them how it's done?
 
She would be delighted if her horses showed the tactical speed of the winner of this one at Cheltenham in 1988. At the moment most are stopping some way from the finish. I found this race, wanted to know a bit more about the winning trainer, and you must have put this up as it's linked to point-to-points in the West. There's a race for the Harry and John Dufosee Cup at Wincanton on Boxing Day, but Venetia hasn't got anything entered for it.


John Dufosee ("Duf") started riding in races when he was just 14 years old and in the following 25 years rode 79 winners. He also finished second on Bantry Bay (winner of two consecutive Horse & Hound Cups) in the 1964 Liverpool Foxhunters and rode the famed Stalbridge Colonist, one of the few horses to beat Arkle, in his final racecourse appearance. These were two of many generations of good horses bred by his grandfather, Harry Dufosee. After retiring from the saddle, John trained hundreds of winners – 37 in his single most successful season from Nyland Farm. Straightforward and always helpful, he was the sport’s greatest ambassador, always tempting new people in – even the urban-based. And having persuaded them to have a horse, he would then lobby them even harder to ride it themselves – encouraging and nurturing the slightest talent. John died aged 66 on 27 May 2010.
Header
This Trophy is awarded to the Wessex Area's Leading Owner-Rider, the sort of competitor that John did so much to encourage. First awarded in 2011, it is presented By Mrs Teresa Dufosee at the Wessex Area Awards Evening.
 
He was just slightly before my time but we do still award his trophy at the Awards evening every July (thankfully I have handed over the baton to someone else having organised it single handed for the last 6 years). Teresa thought about retiring the trophy as there was a real shortage of owner/riders within the sport but last season it was shared between Hugh Lillingston and Jack Veysey which is a positive sign. Mrs D is a formidable lady and I would have done as I was told!! But she was really pleased that there seem to be more owner/riders about now.
 
jinnyj said:
Will the two of you now be stepping them in to show them how it's done?
Click to expand...
As a punter she's just not a trainer you can rely on and this comment isn't worthy of you. Too many of her horses put up complete no shows on a regular basis. And her handling of l'Homme Presse (running him at Kempton when he was clearly a much better horse going left handed) was very poor when you consider how much of an ideal track Leopardstown would have been.
 
As someone who worked their butt off (against a female prejudice at the time) to actually get a trainer's licence, it's entirely worthy of me!

So this is often how conversations used to go:
"Hi, I am thinking of running XXXX at such and such a racecourse a week on Saturday"
"Oh no, my that's my wife's birthday so we don't want him to run then."
"OK - there's another race the following Tuesday at XXX"
"No that's no good for us either, we are going on a cruise that week, it will have to be in a month's time when we get back"
"Mmmm - well the horse really is bouncing at home and a run fairly soon would be good"
"No we want to be there when he runs as we pay the bills so we will run at (insert totally inappropriate course and race) - that is what we want.

Obviously the bigger the trainer you are the more respect you should have from your owners but don't think it is 100% the decision of the trainer where the horse ends up.

It is an incredibly frustrating profession to be involved in mainly because so many "casual" watchers and punters simply have zero idea of what actually goes into training a horse. Even the stable staff do not realise the immense pressure trainers are under. I didn't until I actually took out a licence. Sure there are trainers who should not actually hold a licence and I have horror stories aplenty but Venetia Williams is a good trainer. Her horses are just out of form atm.
 
Euronymous said:
As a punter she's just not a trainer you can rely on
Click to expand...
People post on this forum coming at the game from a variety of angles and using a variety of language.

I wouldn't use the language Euronymous sometimes uses, but I get where he is coming from, even if I don't always agree with him.

To him, any trainer is probably a walking set of betting-related statistics which build an ongoing picture of whether it's profitable or not to back their runners.

Euronymous seems to have formed a negative impression of Venetia Williams - that's fair enough, he's entitled to his opinion, he's betting with his money, so if he wants to "give up on a trainer" (ie not bet on their runners) that's up to him.

The gender of this particular trainer has got nothing to do with what is essentially a betting thread - Euronymous hasn't criticised her record because she's female, but because he believes her horses don't run with consistency.

As a punter, how much prize money she has ever won, or the challenges she may face behind the scenes, are irrelevant - he's looking at the bottom line of how profitable or otherwise it is to back her runners.

Others, who maybe don't bet or, if they do, only bet for fun, may assess it differently.

It's blindingly obvious - or should be - that the two camps are talking at cross purposes, analysing this using different criteria, which both are entitled to do, viewing the game through differing prisms, so there's really nothing to see here.
 
Last edited:

Recent Blog Posts

Back
Top