Ralph Beckett

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What if the horse bled on the gallops or something? Horse might be "healthy and well now" but something like that may only re-surface on the track.

I have alot of sympathy with Andrews view, if this was O'Brien or Stoute or one of the big trainers I suspect many would take a tougher line. But because it is a nice smaller trainer...
 
This is nothing like the Bolger business Andrew. Surely not. Ante post punters may feel a bit frustrated (its annoyed me, because its effectively seized up the market)but the situation has been consistent. They havent been put away, intentionally or not

But i dislike any view that indicates that "this is none of the publics business". Its crap and has no place in a sport which cannot take the punters pound for granted any more. One instance of that wont bring the sport to it knees of course, but its a seeping image problem. A backer of a football or cricket team isnt going to find that Essiens or Sidebottoms injury is "non eof the publics business" are they?

Ive always though he was one of the more open trainers so it is a suprise but Galileo, Stoute is hardly regularly expansive and doesnt get much of a hard time for it on forums. Maybe because thats what we have come to expect
 
Lets revisit what he said than.

"What I can tell you is that she is fit and very well."

It is irrelevant what did or didn't happen to her after that statement. Any horse can burst, get a stone bruise or a touch of colic etc at any point. They have fulfilled their obligation to the punter.

It's nonsense to suggest that a bigger stable would get a hard time over this. Ap has half fit horses on the track every day of the week and will usually tell us that such and such is a "lovely horse thank God" rather than divulge an opinion of worth, Stoute steadfastly refused to say which one of his was the better one before the Derby and had a good old laugh about it with the interviewer.No one takes them on. The issue with Beckett is not a case of double standards between the big guy and the small (?) guy.
 
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Fair point Sheikh about the actual injury and good one about the larger stables
 
I think there are probably a few reasons why the media decided to go to town on Bolger.

(a) There was a legitimate gripe.
(b) He doesn't come accross as a cuddly Grandad type (like Stoute and others)
(c) Most importantly in my opinion, the perception is that he is pretty much a one man band and having a go at him won't annoy a big organisation behind him or have any long term consequences.
 
I agree that the easy option would have been to make something innocuous up- noone would have been any the wiser, no harm done.
 
carvillshill said:
I agree that the easy option would have been to make something innocuous up- noone would have been any the wiser, no harm done.
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Yes,I'd say the next time he has a horse that people are interested in that gets a bump he'll spare us all the commotion and make some shit up..
 
Stoute steadfastly refused to say which one of his was the better one before the Derby and had a good old laugh about it with the interviewer.No one takes them on.
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Good point until you remember who the interviewer was.
 
Rishi Persad. Although I just tried to think of any other racing interviewer who's not called Lydia Hislop who'd dare ask a difficult question and came up with nowt.
 
Andrew:
I know quite few trainers and owners and have been involved in a few yards myself. I can assure you that in 90% of cases, if an owner requested that certain information was to be kept confidential, and the trainer then spoke to the press, the horses would be moved. This is the reality, whether punters like it or not. Horses are private property for better or worse and owners expect their requests in respect of them to be obeyed.

Alan King very nearly lost Penzance a few months before the Triumph Hurdle, for talking to the press about him - in particular telling them he'd had an antepost bet at 40/1 just after he'd won a prep race - and Elite told him if he ever committed such an indiscretion again [ie telling the press! not placing the bet, which was for the yard party] they would remove the horse. He was summoned to HO to be raked over the coals, and he told me the story himself a fortnight later at Huntingdon
 
Alan King very nearly lost Penzance a few months before the Triumph Hurdle, for talking to the press about him - in particular telling them he'd had an antepost bet at 40/1 just after he'd won a prep race - and Elite told him if he ever committed such an indiscretion again [ie telling the press! not placing the bet, which was for the yard party] they would remove the horse. He was summoned to HO to be raked over the coals, and he told me the story himself a fortnight later at Huntingdon
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Will you ask him what he thinks of 'your amount'.....:p
 
Sheikh said:
I actually find your viewpoint genuinely ridiculous.If I pay someone to do a job and advise them that my business is confidential,I expect them to keep their trap shut.
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His business is a public sport, funded in part by the betting public.

If you & (more importantly) the powers that be, think there is no obligation to keep the betting/racing public informed of matters such as these, then racing doesn't stand a chance in this country.

I actually think this is worse for the image of racing that the Ballydoyle pacemaker affair.

On a side issue, do you think notice of Breathing operations should be made public?
 
Andrew Hurley said:
HS,

A trainer's obligation to the owner extends to training a horse, looking after it, and entering it in appropriate races.

An owner has no right to tell a trainer what he can and can't say to the public.
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I would consider information concerning a horse to be the owner's property. In most cases the owners are happy for the trainer to pass on this information on their behalf. Maybe the solution here was to say "you need to talk to the owner about that" and let him take the flak for the non-divulgence.
 
Some of the posts on this thread seems to be encouraging Mr. Beckett to lie?!

As far as I can see, he has been totally honest, if not totally forthcoming.

But he has caused a devil of a lot of intrigue, hasn't he?
 
If you & (more importantly) the powers that be, think there is no obligation to keep the betting/racing public informed of matters such as these, then racing doesn't stand a chance in this country.
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Your conveniently ignoring his statement.

"What I can tell you is that she is fit and very well."
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On a side issue, do you think notice of Breathing operations should be made public
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Yes I do, if your talking about a horse that has been running poorly because of a wind problem.

If your talking about a horse that had been running well developed a wind problem on the gallops and had a successful operation to remedy the problem than no.(which could be the case with this one)
 
Sheikh,

His statement doesn't explain the injury, so no, I wouldn't say I'm ignoring it.
 
How much information do you feel your entitled to about another persons property. The horse is
fit and very well
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If you where going to buy her, your Vet could have a look and give you the low down on her medical history and the trainer would give you an insight into her personality but if your just having a punt, she's
fit and very well
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It is not a guarantee that the horse will not run badly. If she were to run a stinker, related to "the incident" or otherwise punters would have every right to feel aggrieved and Mr Beckett would be in deep do do.
 
Sheikh,

Legally, perhaps you're right, and we could go around in circles all day long.

You feel a statement that she is fit and well now is all that should matter, and the horse is not my property, and hence i have no right to further information.

I feel this is the wrong attitude for anyone in racing to have; the race-going and betting public put a lot into racing (especially financially), and deserve to have access to information such as the injury to Look Here.

See Clive's point about racing's ever decreasing share of the betting market. It needs to review certain aspects of its operation, imo.
 
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