LISTENING to the pre-race analysis on Racing TV on Thursday and one of the presenters describe a bumper runner as “he’s not a big elephant”, this coming after a comment last Sunday that “a horse is not a dog”, could all leave you very confused over this sport of ours!
I’d never seen or heard of Matt Zarb-Cousin, founder in Britain of Gamban, which campaigns for blocking access to online gambling sites and apps, but he almost got as much attention as the Cheltenham handicaps did in online discussions early this week, following an appearance on Luck On Sunday.
My simple X social media post of that memorable “horse is not a dog” revelation received over 15,000 views, way more than any racing comment column! Which is kind of where we are in this new online realm and many of the newer racing ‘fans’ quickly gaining online publicity.
But often you wonder are they doing more harm than good? So much of the things that have attracted and keep the previous generations attached to the sport are being missed. You wonder do the new recruits really love racing?
In the course of his TV slot, Zarb-Cousin presented the argument that a remedy to the issues of affordability checks and problem gamblers is to have separate online wallets for horse racing betting and casino betting.
Welfare issues
And following a recent ban on greyhound racing in Wales, he argued that any welfare issues in greyhound racing that were used to ban it, would not occur in an attempt to ban horse racing.
His argument that “greyhound racing is dangerous by design, as the purpose of it is to use dogs to create a random betting event. It is not a sport, horse racing is,” leaves so much to contradict. A betting event is a betting event to most people. American racing is round an oval, the majority of racetracks benefit hugely from casinos alongside. Prize money is excellent. Coal Battle won $600,000 for winning a Grade 2 Derby trial last weekend at Oaklawn.
As someone who would have no interest in random gambling on slots and casinos and one who bets in moderation as a means to best use interest and knowledge for some profit and enjoyment, my opinions are probably not as relevant as those making a living, who have long been operating in the centre of this storm.
Excessive affordability check restrictions, which affect those who have always managed their betting, the growth of the online casino and the welfare issues in the background, are constantly slung at racing and the debates from those involved never seem to show a united front or argument.
The one recurring comment in every debate about problem gambling is “Everyone has a casino in their pockets”. It was used in the debate over the new Gambling Act here and the ban on advertising betting on TV during daytime will do little to combat that.
The arguments this week did throw up lots of engagement from the betting and gambling side on social media. Predictably, a lot of it resulted in unpleasant exchanges at times. For a sport under scrutiny, it never seems to be getting any closer to fighting its case with a united front.
APPARENTLY, the great Sir Alex Ferguson never actually said it’s squeaky bum time. It was ‘squeeze your bum’ time. Whatever the accuracy, if you have a tasty, under the radar, double-figure ante-post bet on something that is now a much shorter odds candidate for the Cheltenham Festival, these are the days to dread the ‘breaking news’ and Betfair activity posts on social media.
I think a new term is warranted, being ‘Kawaboomga’d’, in honour of Tony Mullins waving his now redundant ante-post bet on the Mullins absentee. We hope no more high-profile absentees hit the news over the next seven days.
The fixation on the handicap weights can also really get overdone. One bad jump in the heat of the Coral Cup, a change in going, they can throw all the 5lb ‘well in’ plans out the window.
Kopeck De Mee has been the handicap talking horse, a three-time French winner, not seen in Ireland and only heard of in the last month.
Ruby Walsh said on Racing TV’s Road To Cheltenham this week that on a literal form reading, “you could get Kopeck De Mee to 162 in Ireland, which would probably be 166 in the UK”. He led all the way on his second last win at Nantes, jumping well, if standing off a few and he again raced prominently at Auteuil last time
The horse he beat last time, last May, had previously beaten Kitzbuhel by a length, but was subsequently beaten at Auteuil. All his form is on very soft or heavy going. It looks far off the expected Festival going, even if Cheltenham is always on the softer side. I’d still think there are a lot of unknowns in it to be taking 4/1 and 5/1 in a very competitive looking Coral Cup or Martin Pipe.
MANY of the new Group 1 races announced last week seem to have been on the cards for some time and the York seven furlongs and Ascot stayers race should fit into the calendar.
More surprising to me was the elevation, and distance extension, of the juvenile contest at Leopardstown’s Irish Champions’ Weekend (sorry, Festival!).
A nine-furlong juvenile race in early September was hardly called for. Will that winner be attractive as a stallion prospect in our speed sires world?
Yes, the conditions will be better than for the Doncaster Futurity and the two late season Group 1s over further than a mile in France in October, but many of those late season two-year-olds won’t be ready for September – Twain last season being an example.
Auguste Rodin in 2022 excluded, recent Leopardstown winners Landfall, Nelson, Cadillac, Atomic Jones hardly suggested this race produces stars.