O'Brien off to the BHA...

Only consolation I have is that I avoided the temptation for an even bigger lay in win market.He looked fairly slow in winning and I wouldn't be afraid to take him on again.
 
British Flat Racing would be a significantly worse place if Ballydoyle decided to do an Aga Khan.
 
Hamm said:
I still don't think he did anything wrong.
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We’ll he did break the rules. But what annoys me about the BHA is that it concentrates on soft targets to get a ‘result’ against those who make no bones about what they have done and wring the last drop of blood from it.
They should be coming down hard on those who are abusing the game rather than those who are its life blood.
 
SteveM said:
We’ll he did break the rules. But what annoys me about the BHA is that it concentrates on soft targets to get a ‘result’ against those who make no bones about what they have done and wring the last drop of blood from it.
They should be coming down hard on those who are abusing the game rather than those who are its life blood.
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I agree very much with your opinion of the BHA - can't add anything else to what you said.

I think if O'Brien did break the rules, it could only have been a technicality. He did allow the vet to look at Cape Blanco, and then bandaged him up, and it was at that point they refused to trot him up and down in front of the vet, which for me, they were absolutely right - if the vet can't do his job properly in the first inspection, should they really put their horse at risk? I'm surprised O'Brien didn't fight the charge more as I think he would have, or at least could have, won.
 
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Gamla Stan said:
The point I was making is that the BHA spend nowhere near enough time on investigating "giving horses an easy" and way too much time on nonsense like this.

The public couldn't give a toss if Cape Blanco was trotted up post race or not, they do give a toss if horses are getting stopped every week. I have very little time for Ballydoyle and their moody big raceday shenanigans but the BHA currently seem to be picking on them for the sake of it.

There are much more important things for the regulatory body to tackle.
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I don't really give a toss about lots of BHA rules..but that doesn't stop the fact that they are there for a reason.

i think you AOB groupies need to accept punishment for rule breaking like men...i'm sure he will.

the rule seems odd to me..but he broke it

maybe if the rule is so wrong you should all be trying to change it..rather than scrating about it when it affects your fav trainer
 
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I'm no AOB groupie EC1 and he's far far from my favourite trainer (and certainly not Hamm's!!) as some of my other posts will prove but this is absurd. Asking them to trot a horse with a bruised foot again is ridiculous.

As I've said, my issue is with the time and resources spent looking at this when there are others exploiting the game on a incredibly regular basis and nothing is done at all about them.
 
Gamla Stan said:
I'm no AOB groupie EC1 and he's far far from my favourite trainer (and certainly not Hamm's!!) as some of my other posts will prove but this is absurd. Asking them to trot a horse with a bruised foot again is ridiculous.

As I've said, my issue is with the time and resources spent looking at this when there are others exploiting the game on a incredibly regular basis and nothing is done at all about them.
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:)

i agree about the trotting..but the rule is there.

this is similar to the Findlay job ..rules are broke..but by how much?..under what circumstances?

seems the rules are rigid..when common sense should be applied..but he still broke the rule..same as Harry

i doubt anyone would argue if it were Barney though :)
 
EC, you are making assumptions which are not true. I go against Ballydoyle horses more often than not as I think they're often priced up on factors other than form. My opinion is based on the facts, and also that they are clearly targeting O'Brien for some reason.
 
It was and still is a nonsense.

They probably spent well in excess of £10,000 bringing this charge against him and for what~? Because he refused to trot a blatantly injured horse?
 
O'Brien admitted to "acting in a manner prejudicial to the conduct of horseracing in Great Britain"

Once he admitted breaking the rule it was inevitable that he was going to be hit hard with a fine and warning of worse to come down the road if somthing like this happens again.

I could see AOB with less runners in GB next year in the non G1 races. Probably less runners in the Derby Trials and maybe run more of them in France. He was scolded in the past by the Aussie officials after the 2008 Melbourne Cup and has not had a runner in the race since then.

I would say there is a good chance he will not have a runner in the Dante next year.
 
Aragorn said:
It was and still is a nonsense.

They probably spent well in excess of £10,000 bringing this charge against him and for what~? Because he refused to trot a blatantly injured horse?
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...I could get very angry about the BHA, with the least encouragement, for a great number of things.
 
Powerscourt said:
O'Brien admitted to "acting in a manner prejudicial to the conduct of horseracing in Great Britain"

Once he admitted breaking the rule it was inevitable that he was going to be hit hard with a fine and warning of worse to come down the road if somthing like this happens again.

I could see AOB with less runners in GB next year in the non G1 races. Probably less runners in the Derby Trials and maybe run more of them in France. He was scolded in the past by the Aussie officials after the 2008 Melbourne Cup and has not had a runner in the race since then.

I would say there is a good chance he will not have a runner in the Dante next year.
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Not sure about the Derby trials and the established Group 1s but you would imagine they might not be going out of their way to support the new Champions Day.
 
I don't think it will stop Coolmore competing - They have to really for commercial reasons. That's why it was an easy target but what did it prove? That in pedantic issues which run contrary to common sense they take no shit? Well done chaps.
 
Regarding the Melbourne Cup, Coolmore (when they were negotiating the sale of So You Think) tried to withdraw him from the race just a few days before, but the co-owner was keen that he run. So they are capable of holding a grudge.
 
It wont affect the number of Ballydoyle horses here on jot. Champions day or not. This is a balance sheet organisation rather than an emotional one. i dont agree with whats happened but not everyone walks around harbouring grievances and i suspect they will rise above that.
 
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