The Talking Horses Winter Competitions 2018/2019

Diamond Geezer · Oct 2, 2018

October so time to turn our thoughts to the Winter competitions for the 2018-2019 NH season which are the Ten To Follow Competition (TTF) administered by Diamond Geezer, the Ante-Post Competition (AP) administered by NewApproach as well as the Winter Competition (WC), the result of which is calculated using a formula devised and administered by Grey and based on the finishing positions in the TTF, combined with the most valuable pre-Festival portfolios and profitable portfolios in the AP..

We are indebted to the current sponsors of our three competitions who have once again generously agreed to offer a sum of £100, namely swedish chef for the TTF, Grasshopper for the AP and Grey for the WC. Further to this Grey has donated his £100 winnings from last year’s TTF to be split equally between the TTF and the AP competitions which means we can offer an increased prize of £150 to the winner of the TTF and AP this year.
Roddy Owen will once again be sponsoring the £50 prize for top scoring Dark Horse in the TTF whilst Perpetual has again kindly agreed to sponsor the prize of £50 for the most valuable pre-Festival portfolio in the AP. Further to this there is also a perpetual trophy, donated by Tout Seul in memory of late forum member Alan Morgan, which is also sent or presented to the winner of the AP who twelve months or so later has it engraved with the name of the next winner and forwards it to them and so on each year.

Both TTF and AP competitions are scheduled to start on November 1[SUP]st[/SUP] this season. Formats remain the same for all three competitions. It is planned to post the list of horses and rules for the TTF and rules for the AP seven to ten days before their respective starts. If you are new to the forum these are the links to last season’s competitions which will give you an idea as to how they are run and administered.

https://www.talkinghorses.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?21923-TH-Ten-To-Follow-Competition-2017-2018&highlight=Follow

http://www.talkinghorses.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?21922-TH-Ante-Post-Competition-2017-2018

Starting on Jan 1[SUP]st[/SUP] 2019 at Cheltenham the competition for the "Talking Horses Tjukurrpa Trophy " kindly sponsored once again by edgt is timed to ensure running the Semi Finals and Final over the new Leopardstown February Festival weekend (Irish Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup) on Feb 2nd and 3rd, the perpetual prize of which is a decorated and engraved hip flask for the winner. Both finalists will also be offered either a Club Enclosure ticket for one day at the 2019 Cheltenham Festival OR a ticket for the 2020 Dublin Racing Festival if they are able to attend. The competition this season has been re-vamped and will be staged using the format used in the 2018 World Cup i.e. a group stage in which 32 players are divided into 8 groups of 4 who play one match against each of the other three players in the group with the top two players in each group (16 players) going through to a to the straight knock-out stages. This will ensure all contestants play a minimum of three head to head matches rather than some just playing one using the previous format. ALL matches each week will be played at the same meeting which is to be determined by the administrator.

On the subject of sponsoring and administrating the TTF, this will be the last season that swedish chef (David) sponsors the competition, so on behalf of all Forum members would like to put on record our appreciation for his continued generosity in recent years, a sentiment which obviously applies to Grassy,Grey,Roddy and Perpetual as well. I have also been giving consideration as to whether I wish to continue running the competition so feel it is probably best if chef and I both finish after this season to give others an opportunity to make a fresh start together. If anyone fancies running the TTF next season (2019 / 2020) drop me a PM and I can give you an idea of what’s involved in the preparation, as well as the administration of the competition. As it stands now the bulk of the work actually takes place between May and October, the competition sort of runs itself once the trackers and spreadsheet(s) are set up. Alternatively of course, you could make your own rules and run it differently.

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The Talking Horses Winter Competitions 2018/2019

Diamond Geezer

Gone But Not Forgotten