Howard Johnson

In the interest of horses' happiness, I'm surprised they've never given Tidal Bay a lobotomy; or perhaps they have and it went wrong. Apologies in advance; I'm in tourrettes mode today. [However, must point out that, as someone who spends a fair bit of time oop north it concerns me that we might not have a top ranking stable if Johnson is banned. All eyes on Rose Dobbin..?]
 
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Hang on... the horse is hurting so you merely deaden the pain (not correct what's causing it, quite possibly aided by the impact of NH work) and carry on? That doesn't quite fit with giving away horses which presumably aren't career-worthy any more. And so what that you give away over 20 horses a year to 'good homes'? Does that mean that HJ chews up 20 horses every year which are no longer fit for purpose, Mr Wylie? Because that's one helluva big turnover in discards from one owner/trainer, that's for sure.

And, yeah, I'd kinda hope serious medications would've been administered on veterinary advice - I would hate to think what things would be like if your trainer could freely DIY anything more than Neat's Foot Oil, to be honest. And it's part of his job, not yours, to explain why the anabolics were administered, and why he kept racing horses on them in an affront to the rules of racing.

Jeez, look: the hole is already Newcastle pit size. Why dig it to Great Hole of Kimberley proportions?
 
moehat said:
In the interest of horses' happiness, I'm surprised they've never given Tidal Bay a lobotomy; or perhaps they have and it went wrong. Apologies in advance; I'm in tourrettes mode today. [However, must point out that, as someone who spends a fair bit of time oop north it concerns me that we might not have a top ranking stable if Johnson is banned. All eyes on Rose Dobbin..?]
Click to expand...
*cough* McCain *cough*
 
Hang on; I've had this conversation before in another life..north to me is north of Manchester.....the furthest south that my world goes is Birmingham...
 
Well,may as well find out what this is all about so could someone PM me please.

Not too sure about this and I'm sure someone will enlighten us,but wasn't HJ's father heavily involved in the operation at White Lea? I was told he had more say than HJ hiself?!?!
 
Crikey - how old's his Dad? 100? HJ looks well into his 60s, or is that just due to working in all weathers?
 
He is 57.

His Dad is certainly highly involved - always seems to be at the races, more so than his son in fact.
 
Any chance of a little PM please. Really disappointed to hear this about HJ. You would of thought a trainer with such a high profile, and a prominent investor would have the horses best interests at heart.
 
Ermm,interesting. Looking at the man I could believe the wee dram being there though:whistle:

Makes you wonder why they seem to have got through so many 'retained' jockeys?
 
Im baffled that wylie has all his eggs in one basket with this charmless prat..

Will he for much longer i wonder
 
I've sometimes wondered about that, too. When you've got the millions Wylie has (or had, anyway), why not spread the load around some really good trainers?

I'd love to see a racing column by you, Clivex, as an alternative to the usual sycophancy: "This charmless prat, running his wheezing lardy jumpers... " :lol: Marvellous!
 
That is what I would do too. Most of his horse cost over £100k, it seems, some much more and I couldn't tell you the last time he had a big winner. If I'd invested all that money I'd fancy spending my time at some better tracks than Hexham and Sedgefield, thank you very much.
 
I think you'd have to launch a sort of 'Viz' type racing mag, Clivex - I'm sure there'd be a market for it, though, especially for articles on how this or that was turned over/bent/stitched up. But the RP or any other racing mag? Noooo... they have their eyes too firmly on keeping their insider privileges!
 
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