Looking ahead to the NH season 2015/2016 proper

Apart from coming across as a smug, supercilious, toss-pot with a fawning attitude, and an excruciatingly over-the-top delivery-style that is almost as irritating as Alastair Down, I've absolutely nothing against him.
 
Grasshopper said:
Apart from coming across as a smug, supercilious, toss-pot with a fawning attitude, and an excruciatingly over-the-top delivery-style that is almost as irritating as Alastair Down, I've absolutely nothing against him.
Click to expand...

That's just class :whistle:
 
EC1 said:
spoke to him at Donny last year..sound bloke
Click to expand...

I'm sure he's absolutely fine when he isn't playing the part of Nick Luck - TV Star, kissing trainer's ar*ses, or trying to convince me that a Sedgefield novice hurdle they're just going over to, is a race to get really excited about
 
it is his job though Grass to be like that..he is a pretty good presenter as far as we are trained to view presenters..he has a very relaxed style that i personally like

one way i judge people..is if they are approachable..that means such a lot to me..same as Ken Pitterson..he is like Nick...no edge on him..no airs and graces..just very friendly people who are very good at what they are paid for..thats enough for me. The first time I approach someone and they have no time for me..then i view them in a different light..and there are some of these people who are not approachable

i've no issue with people really if they are approachable..obviously if i don't think they are very good at their job its a different game..i'll take that into account

i wonder if you actually like anyone:)..you are getting like Clive:D..he don't even like himself

thats not what you want:D
 
Last edited:
There's truth in that, EC1.....in that he is playing a part to a degree......but I find his presenting-style irritating in the extreme.

If one of Nicholls wins a maiden hurdle at Plumpton, someone like Mellish will call it as he sees it. Luck would spout-off about it being a manifestation of the overall strength of "Team Ditcheat", and start prattling-on about things which bear no relevance to the race just run.

Luck's delivery, in my view, is over-the-top, and unneccesarily flowery. He wants to be seen as loquacious, when it's not really necessary for a role talking about horse-racing. This was equally evident in Alastair Down, before he descended into a parody of himself.

I should add that I was a fan of Luck when he first broke through......and of Down too.......but both irritate the bejaysus out of me these days.
 
Last edited:
ah..you don't like the team stuff..fair comment..not a massive fan mesen

i know what you mean..its a bit ott and flowery..a bit marmitey i suppose

i thought he was a bit that way to start..but got used to it
 
Luck sees his future as a mainstream presenter and to be fair they are all dicks. So im sure he will do well. Im probably the only person that likes Graham Cunningham! Steedman is also a good lad - but only coz he bought me shots in 21Club.
 
RP Stable tours start this week:

Mon - David Pipe
Tues - Alan King
Wed - Gordon Elliot
Thurs - Harry Fry
Fri - Oliver Sherwood

I'll be buying the rag this week just for these, so let me know if you want any info
 
LUKE said:
Steedman comes across as slimy.I have a lot of time for Cunningham.
Click to expand...

I met Steedman at the Festival a few years back, when Rory D was working for Timeform Radio.

He was absolutely sound, though he did confirm that he was also a puddle-drinking Jambo from the wrong side of the Roseburn Bar, and therefore qualifies as a wa*nker regardless.
 
I'm facing a bit of a dilemma this year. I've now been punting horses for around 20 years and during that time I've always been a huge national hunt racing fan. I think in the main this has been for similar reasons to most with the fact that the stars of the sport are around a lot longer and you get to know the horses inside and out and in some cases become a little bit emotionally attached to your favourite stars and characters of the sport (sometimes not a good thing from a betting perspective) . The other reason I've tended to love it has been purely financial whilst I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm a winner in the long term but I've certainly held my own through the majority of Jump seasons and had 1 or 2 where I've really done well. Last year however I did terribly and it knocked the stuffing out of me a bit . Even the Cheltenham festival which has always been kind to me down the years betting wise things didn't really work out I suffered a bit from bad luck but even so it capped a disappointing season. I had a few distractions in my personal life last year and I could I suppose put some of it down to that but I think I'd be clutching at straws really to excuse a poor performance.

Anyway aside from that as its not really the main problem, being that way inclined and loving Jump racing as I do I'd always dreaded the flat season coming and from the moment the they crossed the line in the Lincoln each year a feeling of dread would wash over me. Loving a bet as I do I'd still make an attempt at it though but very rarely would see the entire season through generally because half way through I'd be sick of doing my nuts but also because I never really felt I'd got a grip of the form and couldn't get my head around why I couldn't work out handicaps with the same ease as I could over jumps. At least when I was wrong in jump racing I could look back and understand the results and realise mistakes I'd made but when trying to do this on the flat 9 times out of 10 I found results unfathomable. This season on the flat has been completely different although somehow I've still done my spuds in the main more down to staking like a complete fruitcake than poor selections. I felt for the first time I'd actually developed a good understanding of what's going on in races. I've learnt more this season than I have in 19 others and at one point through the summer I felt so connected to the sprint form it was like magic. I've developed a good understanding of pace and that I feel has been the most important factor of anything I've learned. The problem being with that though is that the more I've come to understand flat racing the more I've come to understand why most speed rating flat judges don't bother with the jumps. I've started to understand how farcical the majority of the jumps races are with there jog and sprint type paces. Trying to separate the abilities of horses who only really start racing from a couple of furlongs out after running over 2-3 miles seems an impossible task. The other thing I've struggled with is I really am a visual punter I watch a hell of a lot of replays and work most of my bets from official handicap ratings and making my own judgments visually on where I think horses have something in hand of their marks and under what conditions, also which horses I feel have been unfairly treated and face difficult tasks for the foreseeable. I read an article, unfortunately I can't remember the guys name to give him credit for the piece but It was basically general common sense punting advice much of which I'd seen before and was pretty standard. The one piece I took from it though was his comments on watching replays which was basically pointing out to watch races in there entirety as a lot of punters focus on this finish of races and what happens in the last few furlongs. His point was that the majority do this, so everybody notices it but there are a lot of things that can happen in the earlier stages of a race which go unnoticed by most and can have just as big an effect on the outcome of a race. I took it on board and although its only common sense really I really found it useful. Most of my time has been dedicated to races between 5F and 1m so that's fine with sprint races taking less than a minute not a problem. The problem came when trying to start to change codes this week. I started catching up on some jumps replays from last season to try to refresh my memory and after watching just 3-3mile chases from start to finish (20 minutes gone) it was touch and go whether I was going to dip my head in my coffee cup to burn my eyes out of their sockets to save me from anymore of this horrendous suffering. So where that leaves me going into the season ahead I do not know.

I'm also a great lover of the Cheltenham Festival and I'm in the camp that it truly is the greatest show on turf for me Its like the World cup is to a football fanatic. The only problem being its completely over shadowing the rest of the sport . I can only liken it to Christmas which is alright as a day, family,food,presents, and a dirty great big tree in your living room, what's not to like ? Well basically the fact I was wolfing down a bit of scran and a couple of pints yesterday in my local hungry horse in the middle of October to Christmas Carols pretty much sums it up,by the time Christmas eventually arrives I'll be sick of it. The same with the festival even before the Jumps season kicks off (its getting earlier and earlier each year) people are conversing on where the Mullins hotpots will be going and what's being aimed at what. The Old Roan goes off on Sunday a race I love but I await the moment the jockey crosses the line and the first question asked is about his Festival target and the ridiculous price quotes for the Ryan Air. Not only this but the likes of yesterdays Listed contest at Kempton a race worth 17k won by a half fit the New one at odds of 2/11 against a couple of 130 something boats. Is this what we have to look forward to for the entire season ? Surely to Christ with people moaning about prize money and the fact that come the festival Mullins and Nicholls and co have so much firepower smaller yards can't really compete. O.k the odd special one creeps through I.e Coneygree but in the main its baffling to me why smaller yards don't change the game and lay out there best horses for the start of the season when the bigger yards are just gearing up their stars for bigger prizes ahead. Surely someone somewhere in the land had a horse rated 140 -150 they could have geared up for a crack at that race yesterday ?

I've gone off track a bit and I'm waffling as I was supposed to be concentrating with my fears ahead for punting this tripe. It comes to something when a life long National hunt fan is having to consider an All weather campaign which in days gone by I'd have seen as utter sacrilege.

I suppose some might say enjoy the racing without punting it which is fair comment the problem being that how many races of high quality is NH racing offering up that are competitive and a decent spectacle to watch ? One or two decent handicaps on a Saturday ?

I usually try to stay positive about racing but I fear NH racing Festival aside, is on its knees :(
 
Last edited:
Colin Phillips said:
Excellent post, Danny............it will be too long for some on here.
Click to expand...

Thats a little rude Colin! :p

I've read it. Punting on NH always seems to be much more straight forward to flat racing for me. The form tends to stack up more, the horses arent stopped (as much), and the best horse does tend to win more.

But i'm no more than a social punter. I watch NH because even 5 slow boats jumping round 3m4 at Carlisle will always bring me more pleasure than half a dozen skinny whippets kicking up sand at "Chelmsford". I have no problem with NH being driven toward a championship meeting - that is the norm for almost all sports. But there are still many many top race meeting in between, so the sport it not ALL about cheltenham.

If you are really fed up with NH racing then I'd suggest getting wrapped up in a few layers and getting your back side along to Hexham, and stand there in the wind and rain. Nothing like it!

:lol:
 
I'm with digger. I go NH racing up to 30 times a year but happlily stick to one or two bets at many meetings. If you are looking to NH cards to be the source of plenty of continued betting opportunity, then look elsewhere.

I also reckon that that if you can abosrb the game as a sport first and watch the horses rather than stare at the befair exchanges looking for an angle, you will be far more likely to prosper. Seeing the sport live is always more resonant too
 
Colin Phillips said:
Excellent post, Danny............it will be too long for some on here.
Click to expand...

Apologies if some are offended by waffling I just figure they can choose whether to read or not to read. As it goes when I do post I always struggle and worry about my grammar as I'm not really very well educated. Before I joined OHR as Broadsword I joined earlier under another username which I forgot so I re-joined after a couple of years under my new name. There used to be a girl who posted on there under the name of Ali Gupter who absolutely berated me for my lack of punctuation and general ability not to be able to construct a sentence ( she was bloody cruel for a girl ). It wasn't by design I just really struggled . I've tried to improve as much as possible since then but I still find it hard to write as well as some others I've seen online and I still sometimes struggle to get my points across as effectively as I'd like.

I did notice amongst the members names at the bottom that there is an Ali Gupter residing amongst your members I'm guessing it must be the same one with such an unusal user name I'm figuring if I have so far avoided her wrath then I must have improved a little and I'm doing alright :ninja:
 
Last edited:
Back
Top