A Flat Start To The Season?

In case you have missed it the 2011 turf flat season begins today, not with a high profile meeting at a big course, not even with Doncaster’s Lincoln meeting but at Catterick Bridge.

Now don’t get me wrong I have nothing against Catterick and I have had many a pleasant afternoon there, however I am not sure how this fits in with the much vaunted “narrative” to the season that Racing For Change has been banging on about.

Sure enough we have the new Champions Day in October but even then the flat turf season limps on for another three weeks before finally ending at Doncaster, talk about “after the Lord Mayor’s show”.

However I wonder if Rod Street and his Racing for Change friends are playing a game with us?

Are they deliberately having a low key beginning and end to the 2011 season so they can announce, with a fanfare and flourish, a new structure next year which will start with a big meeting and end with Champions Day?  

Whilst I am generally positive about the new Champions Day, certainly moving it to Ascot is inspired, I still have concerns about the timing and its proximity to Lonchamp’s meeting at the beginning of October. Having Champions Day on the first Saturday in November, as the only flat meeting of the day and the final flat meeting of the season, would be more logical in my view.

Indeed, much as I am a great fan of Ascot I would not even object if the Champions Day meeting alternated between Ascot and York giving racegoers in the north the chance to see the action live.

A big news story within racing this week has been the u-turn from the Horsemen’s Group in relation to their tariff protest.

I have to say I am not in the least bit surprised at the turn of events.

The "top operators" were never going to play . . . . they were quite happy to let the small owners play the game, especially in the National Hunt season  but when it comes to the top races no way would they would take part.

It is akin to the imbecilic generals in World War One who made stupid, ill-considered decisions from the comfort their desks, safe in the knowledge it was the foot soldiers who would pay the price. In this case the top owners are the Generals and the small owners have been the foot soldiers.

As owner David Parry rightly put it “I feel I have been shafted.”

Even the so called  "support" of big trainers is questionable. The vacuous statement from the boys in blue last week is the biggest pile of bullshit and meaningless platitudes I have read in many a long day.

Then we had the bold statement from Hannon threatening to boycott Windsor but including the "get out" clause about running horses "if the owners insist".

At the end of the day when it comes to the big races on the flat the big players are not really that interested in the prize money. The real money comes from getting black type and increasing the stud value of their horses. The prize money, even at the tariff level, is peanuts in comparison.

The tariff was never going to work . . . it makes no odds to the likes of Arena or Northern whether the tariff was in place or not it would have no impact on their bottom line and would only impact if there was 100% support and races ended up as walkovers or with no runners and that was never going to happen.

Yes prize money is terrible but the solution / causes are more fundamental than what will be solved by the tariff protest.

Rod Street of Racing For Change has kindly responded to the above comments.

“There are no games from RfC regarding Flat season! Not involved in Catterick scheduling, though agree it's odd and Donny start would be ideal.

“On subject of seasons overall my view is that 'official' starts and ends of season are for the aficionado. For occasional or new consumers milestones are more significant. In which case the promotion of premier events and finales is where the focus needs to be. Both audiences can be catered for and co-exist IMO.”

Rod has now posted a fuller response, which can be found here

The Last World Cup?

This time last year a wrote an article which was critical of the, then new, Meydan racecourse. (See http://www.ors-racing.co.uk/Beast/DesertMirage.html)

A year later we again have the sight of the “great and good” of the British racing media flocking to Dubai, filing positive glowing reports as racing once again prostitutes itself at the altar of ostentation and bling. How many of them will also be filing reports about the reality of life in Dubai?

As I stated last year, Meydan racecourse is the Dubai equivalent of the Essex chav building an ostentatious mock Tudor mansion to basically say “look at me I’m rich” to which should be added “but I have no class”.

Meydan racecourse is basically a plaything for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai. Of course it goes without saying he is the unelected leader – a country which has lived beyond its means and teetered on the verge of national bankruptcy a few months ago, no mean achievement for a state sitting on an oil well.

Yet whilst the country teetered on the brink of bankruptcy Sheikh Mohammed was still ploughing millions into his hobby. Apologists make the point that he is spending his own money. That does not hold water as his personal wealth is intrinsically linked to the financial fortune of Dubai itself.

It is interesting when Sheikh Mohammed is in the UK he has all the trappings of a head of state. At Royal Ascot he has the No 1 box with all the appropriate security which goes with it. I suspect he dines on only the best food and he lives a pretty good life. Well good luck to him.

Isn’t it a shame the underclass of workers who built his Meydan racetrack or who build all the plush hotels and buildings in Dubai do not have the same good life? Indeed they have very few freedoms at all, in many cases not even the freedom to return to their own country as they are held a, virtual slaves, paid a pittance and working in conditions where not even lip service is paid to health and safety.

If their conditions are so bad they feel the urge to strike there is the little matter of imprisonment and beatings from the police to be faced.

These modern day slaves are ignored by the locals and ex-pats who live in Dubai – after all it must be uncomfortable for them if they stop and think of the reality.

Sheikh Mohammed and his apologists would have you believe he and his family have built this wonderful metropolis, a Disneyland for adults. Like Disneyland it is all an illusion, unlike Disneyland Dubai has been built by slave labour and that includes Meydan.

There is no freedom of the press in Dubai. If I wrote and published this article in Dubai I would end up in prison. Sheikh Mohammed and his Government are paranoid about negative press. Foreign correspondents based in Dubai can be fined and deported for writing anything critical of the state or its leaders.

A journalist working for Bloomberg was detained on arrival at Dubai airport and after a two-hour grilling about his work was warned to “be careful”.

Fines up to about £100,000 can be imposed for “carrying misleading news that harms the national economy.” There are fines of up to £1m for “insulting” members of the government and the ruling family. 

Throughout the middle-east there are rebellions against these unelected dictators. Will there be a rebellion in Dubai, well as long as the money flows in there probably will not be. After all the state of Dubai looks after its own.

To quote one Emirati "This is the best place in the world to be young! The government pays for your education up to PhD level. You get given a free house when you get married. You get free healthcare, and if it's not good enough here, they pay for you to go abroad. You don't even have to pay for your phone calls. Almost everyone has a maid, a nanny, and a driver. And we never pay any taxes. Don't you wish you were Emirati?"

Most Emiratis work for the Government, their employment is secure, indeed there is even legislation in place which makes it almost impossible to sack an Emirati.

So they are not likely to revolt. Well they will not revolt as long as the gravy train trundles along.

Continuing the Disney theme, Dubai is the never-never land. A nation built on debt. It’s national debt is 107% of its GDP. Dubai had to be bailed out by neighbouring Abu-Dhabi, a nation even more conservative and repressive than Dubai.

It is also interesting to note that bankruptcy is not recognised in Dubai. If you get into debt you are thrown into prison. Unless, of course, you are the running class in which case you can put the country into as much debt as you wish with absolute impunity.

At some point the bubble is going to burst and when it does Dubai will go the same way as the other oppressive states in the area.

Much as I love my racing I have no interest in the Dubai World Cup or in any racing staged in Dubai.

Last year I asked both the Government of Dubai and the Dubai Racing Club how many workers died during the construction of Meydan. It goes without saying neither had even the common courtesy to acknowledge the question, yet alone reply.

Sheikh Mohammed reminds me of Nero but instead of fiddling when Rome burns he is playing with horses as Dubai goes bust.

In my mind the prize money on offer at these race meetings  is tainted with blood. The blood of the “workers” who have given their lives to build this mirage in the desert. Like a mirage it will disappear, leaving nothing.

Dubai is already an ecological disaster. There is no fresh water, all the water is produced from massive desalination plants. It costs more money to produce a gallon of water in Dubai than it does to produce a gallon of petrol. Move away from the plush six star resorts and you will find the sea awash with raw sewage because the infrastructure cannot cope with the amount being produced.

It is amazing what they don’t tell you in the tourist brochures.

So if you are following this year’s Dubai World Cup enjoy it. It may be the last and if it is I, for one, will be shedding no tears.   

Cheltenham Reflections

Let me begin by offering a complete, full and unreserved apology to trainer Paul Nicholls. In the immediate aftermath of the re-arranged King George I was suggesting Kauto Star should be retired . . .  how wrong was I?

Racing is a diverse sport and those who do bother to read my live reports from tracks up and down the country will be aware I am not backwards in coming forwards if I think a race is dire or terrible. Unfortunately we seem to be getting more uncompetitive races, although most racing, I hasten to add is usually enjoyable.

Occasionally you get to see something special. Something so electric you forget the wet mid-week afternoons at a bleak gaff track.

I realise I am privileged in that I do get to see some exceptional races. Even though my heart is more with national hunt than flat racing, I was privileged to be at Epsom when we first had an inkling of how good Sea The Stars may be.

I was at Longchamp the following October when, from what looked like an impossible position, Mick Kinane pressed the button on Sea The Stars and I was one of many hardened observers with tears flowing at the awesome run we had seen.

Workforce

Back to Epsom last June, not expecting too much after the previous years race, and Workforce came home a convincing winner but the cynics amongst us were asking “what had he beaten” . . . . until judge Nick Bostock came over the PA to announce he has won in a record time.

Then there was that surreal Thursday at Cheltenham. It was the day after the meeting had been lost to the high winds and we had a massive ten race card to help catch up. In the delayed Queen Mother Champion Chase we witnessed a precocious runner from the Paul Nicholls yard destroy a high class field, coming home 19 lengths clear . . . . his name . . . . Master Minded. Then just over an hour later Kasbah Bliss once again came in striking distance of his nemesis but had to play second fiddle as Inglis Drever recorded his third World Hurdle victory.

Roll forward to the 2011 Festival and even before the start of racing we had seen enough impressive performances to live in the memory.

On Tuesday Hurricane Fly showed us what we had missed over the past few years, as he finally managed to arrive at the festival without any setbacks. How many Champion Hurdles could he have won had he not had all those setbacks?  We then saw Quevega take David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle for the third year running, showing she still remains in a class of her own.

Wednesday was, arguably, a little bit flat – although connections of Sizing Europe, the new two mile champion, would disagree.

Thursday was another day for the sentimentalists. Returning winners in the Championship races are not that uncommon, to win back to back races in an ultra-competitive handicap takes some doing, so it was quite an achievement for the David Pipe team as Buena Vista took the Pertemps Final for the second year running. It was also some redemption for young claimer Conor O’Farrel who suffered the ignominy of managing to fall of his horse on the run-in when looking a certain winner at Taunton recently.

Next up the enigmatic Albertas Run retained his Ryanair crown despite some moron running onto the track with some protest, seemingly against Ryanair.

This incident produced the quote of the week from Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary who said,  "If some idiot wants to try and make some publicity for himself let him" . . . this from the King of publicity gimmicks.

The best was yet to come as Big Bucks went on to win his third consecutive World Hurdle . . .  coming home to rapturous cheers and seeing off the young pretender, but a potential star of the future, Grands Crus.

Thursday was not a good day for the handicapper though as David Pipe’s Junior made a complete mockery of the handicap, coming home 24 lengths clear in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir.

So onto Friday and the most open Gold Cup in years. It was hailed as the battle of the “big four” three previous winners and a young upstart.

To add spice there were question marks hanging over all four of them. Denman and Kauto Star were “too old”, Imperial Commander had fitness worries and Long Run had disappointed on previous Cheltenham runs.

In the end only one of the concerns seemed justified.

There was also a certain irony when watching the race. In recent years the focus has been on the rivalry between Kauto Star and Denman, yet somehow there never was the epic battle. This year, without the hype, we finally had the battle.

At the top of the hill the “big four” were all in contention. By the bottom of the hill and the turn for home Imperial Commander had proved his doubters right.

As they turned for home side by side, in front, were the pensioners Kauto Star and Denman and on their heels was the young pretender Long Run.

Two out the old boys were still locked together but by the final fence the young pretender was there and all the other two could do was watch as he pulled clear.

Long Run

Yesterday afternoon the baton was passed from the older generation to the younger generation.

The “old boys” were far from disgraced, unlike the boxer who never knows when to stop, they come out of yesterdays race with pride, with dignity and, in equine terms, their heads held high.

As to who is the better of Kauto Star and Denman . . .  who cares? Both are brave horses, both have done their connections proud. Both have bought delight to followers of the sport and they have been the best ambassadors the sport can have.

So another Cheltenham is over, as I write this on the day after the Festival I am still tired from four frenetic days.

The build-up seems to go on forever yet the four days themselves seem to fly by. It seems it was only yesterday I was at Sandown for the Imperial Cup.

Covering the Festival is hard work. In the food chain of racing journalism I am somewhere in the plankton level. This means I am “relegated” from the main Press Room at Cheltenham to the outer reaches of the Media Centre in the Guinness Village.

That is a double edged sword. By all accounts the Media Centre is less frenetic than the main Press Room. The Media Centre is also home to most of the Irish press corps and I have to say they are great fun to be with. We also seem to have more space to work down there.

The disadvantages are being in the Guinness Village it is even more difficult to move around the course. Also those of us based there have no reserved spot from which to see the racing. We have to fight for a place in the crowd or watch on TV.

Even watching on TV isn’t simple when you want to analyse a race as the pictures we receive in the Media Centre as the Channel Four shots, which tend to change angle far too frequently. Now that may be nice for the occasional viewer at home (and I have to say they are nothing like as bad as the French with their arty shots) but they are a nightmare when attempting to read a race with 20 plus runners.

The other nightmare was the problems with the wi-fi on the first two days. I have to confess I was luckier than most in I had a 3G dongle as backup – it wasn’t ideal but at least I had something, which is more than most.

On the subject of the wi-fi problems I would like to pay tribute to Cheltenham and all the IT staff who worked very long hours and when the problems were finally resolved the wi-fi was extremely impressive in terms of speed.

Putting it all into perspective the niggles were minor. They were not insurmountable and most of all I was, once again, able to say “I was there.”

It’s only 361 days to next year’s Cheltenham Festival . . .  so who do you think will beat Long Run in the Gold Cup next year?   

Focus On Binocular - Much Ado About Nothing

For the second year running Binocular has been the centre of controversy prior to the Champion Hurdle.

Last year trainer Nicky Henderson was castigated for his will he, won’t he approach to the race . . . in effect too much information.

Roll the clock forward a year and Binocular is not declared because of medication remaining in his system longer than expected, which may have resulted in him failing a dope test should he have competed. This time Henderson did not give a blow by blow account and he has been castigated.

Speak and you are dammed, don’t speak and you are dammed.

Whilst in an ideal world the public would be made aware of every bit of information concerning every horse, it ain’t going to happen and it does not matter if it relates to a runner in a Championship race or a Class 6 AW race.

As things currently stand there is nothing in the rules of racing which require trainers to provide constant updates on the state of their runners. At the end of the day trainers are paid by the owners and they are accountable only to the owners. If the owners deem the information to be sharable it should, as the rules currently stand, be their decision and theirs alone as to whether the information is shared.

Now it could well be argued the rules need changing and a case could be made in relation to declaring medication or treatment given to a horse in running but whilst there is no requirement there is no incumbency on the trainer to be up front.

Once again the blogs, fora and Twitterland has been ablaze with ill-informed comment. Much of it along the lines of another Henderson horse “failing a dope test.” Binocular has not failed a dope test, he has tested positive for an allowed medication, which would be illegal should it be in the horses system when he raced.

Connections proactively requested the test from the BHA, a responsible and laudable request.

The BHA did not initially announce the test as it was expected the drug would have been metabolised from the horses system before the race. However horses are not machines and the drug did not come out of his system in time.

Now it is very easy to hypothesise but lets say the testing was announced on Thursday. The horses price would have drifted. Now suppose the drug had left the horses system, quite likely, and he then went on to win the race. What would the reaction have been then . . .  the same as last year, even worse, no doubt.

Even more ironic is those who are shouting the most about what has happened this year are the same people who were complaining last year and are the same people who would have complained even more loudly had the test been announced on Thursday and had Binocular gone on to win on Tuesday.

Now I am not Nicky Henderson’s PR man, I have only spoken to him twice in my life. I cannot judge what sort of person he is. I hear from those who live in in the area that Henderson is not particularly popular person, indeed I have heard many unflattering comments about him.

I am minded of something a wise ex-boss of mine said to me when I managed to upset a very senior director in the organisation in which we worked . . . “remember being popular is not in your job description. You did what you are paid to do.”

The same applies to Henderson, I cannot see what he has done that is intrinsically wrong. What rules has he broken in this case?

Some will say he should have come clean at last night’s Festival Preview at Sandown Park. But was he actually dishonest? I did not stay for the forum but I am told he said Binocular “is fit” . . . where is the evidence he is not fit? The only problem is he has a high level of a lawful medication in his system so yes, Henderson may not have been fully frank and open but does he have to be?

How many other trainers, especially top trainers, in the same position would have taken exactly the same course of action as Henderson?

  

It may not be right but what Henderson has done is fully within the rules.

There is certainly an argument to review the rules in relation to disclosure but, as always, arcing needs to avoid a knee-jerk reaction.

Of course there are those who will happily, cynically, cash in on what has happened, none more so than some of our bookmakers.

Some have even gone as far as refunding ante-post bets on Binocular. That is a very serious step as it undermines the entire ante-post system. It is accepted that in return for enhanced odds if a horse then misses a race for ANY reason then the bet is lost. It is utterly disingenuous for any bookmaker to return ante-post bets on Binocular but not on any other runner.

Many others, especially a certain Irish layer with a very active PR department, are making a big deal about their refunding bets placed on Binocular.

However most of the boasts are hollow and the actual refunds are low. Yes where ante-post bets have been refunded there may well be an additional expense.

However non-runner, no-bet (NRNB) offers have been available for several weeks now and most layers have been offering NRNB since the beginning of this month. Therefore all bets placed NRNB will be refunded as a matter of course.

I strongly suspect the number of bets struck non ante-post and before NRNB came into play will, in fact, be very small.

With NRNB having been on offer for some time punters have had plenty of choice as to where they placed their bets. They could have bet NRNB or taken the chance at possibly better odds without NRNB.

At the end of the day you pays your money and takes your choice.

There is one area of betting which does need looking into and that is the possibility of “insider trading” on the exchanges.

Having spent most of my life in the banking industry I have had the rules around insider dealing drummed into me, as well as the risks of non-compliance. Indeed, on one occasion, compliance actually cost me money because I was unable to act on information I was aware of to mitigate some losses.

The racing industry does have rules in relation to inside information, however they are not as well defined as in the banking sector. As a racing journalist I am covered by the inside information rules but all I have signed is a one line declaration when I received my press badge. The enforceability of the rule in a court of law would be interesting.

Now presumably the BHA will be liaising with the exchanges to see who laid the bets on Binocular in the last 48 hours. However I would be surprised if they find that much evidence of “insider dealing”.

Now I have no intention of doing so here but it would be extremely easy to circumvent the BHA rules on using inside information for gain and any person with a modicum of common sense could do so as the rules have been laid out so ambiguously.

Obviously if the bets are traced back to individuals covered by insider information rules then the  full force of the Authorities should be felt.

Plenty has been said today but let’s get a sense of perspective.

a)      Betting carries risks accept it – if you don’t like it don’t play
 

b)      Full information has never been in the public domain – if you don’t like it don’t play. 

c)       Bookmakers have relied on insider information for years. They are getting moralistic about matters now because they no longer have the monopoly. 

d)      (most importantly) Nobody has died.