I quote from September’s SPORT 120:

The House of Commons for example used to treat the difficult relationship between Racing and Betting as a rather charming facet of the British Character. Recently it has changed its tune: it seems to have noticed that gambling as a national pastime is a positive threat to the health and happiness of the man in the street, about which something must be done. Quite right, too. More MPs, some of them influential MPs, are voicing concerns.

Perhaps they have noticed how the bookmakers keep preaching “controlled” gambling, while at the same time promoting all the fun that is to be found on the road to perdition and the poorhouse, playing games at which the chances of winning are miniscule.

A very few days after 120 became available, the first of the influential MPs, Matt Hancock, was banging the gong for the racing industry, and I suspect that Tracey Crouch MP, who has strong views on the evils of gambling, might also be ready to go in to bat for British Racing, if Racing’s best interests and her moral principles coincide. As SPORT 120 suggested, there are opportunities in the air just now which must not be wasted.

BIG-FIELD-STARTING UNDER NH RULES.

I could paper the walls of several mansions with the BHAs press releases explaining that there is nothing wrong with the way things are going in this area. Coincidentally, neither of the BHA’s two main wordsmiths mentions, even in a footnote, the fact that False Starts were not a problem before ex-Raceday Regulator Stier invented the Rolling Maul (a mobile torture chamber for horses and riders that precedes big-field starts). Stier is gone. Get rid of the Maul and False Starts will also be gone.

The present management announced a three month review of the situation last autumn – wonderful news at the time! At the end of the review it turned out that the one possibility which was not tested was the removal of the dreaded Maul. Stupid, or what?

Stop Press: I notice that the Cambridgeshire and the Ayr Gold Cup both featured 26 runners, and the pre-start preliminaries were completed in the area immediately behind the Starting Gates and without any sort of tension or confusion (like all starts under both rules since the 19^th century, until Stier waved his magic wand in the direction of big-fields under NH rules and released False Starts galore). Why on earth his mistake is being perpetuated in one small but extremely important segment of jump racing is a mystery. But if you ask the BHA they will refer you to those wonderful reports. Oh dear!

ANOTHER QUOTE FROM LAST MONTH’S DONEC:

“I would very much like to know who were responsible for the fundamental changes at Aintree that were shown to be absolutely superb by the running of the 2013 National (See Wikipedia  Grand National 2013 for the impression made on worldwide public opinion).  All concerned deserve medals. Their achievement gives today’s racing authorities a level of performance to be proud of and to be aimed at.” 

The answer to the question is that the team consisted of the long-time Clerk of the Course Andrew Tulloch and his staff, John Baker (North West Regional Director for Jockey Club Racecourses), and the BHA.

The BHA? Deserving a medal? Surely not? It’s true.  In the company in which it found itself, the BHA had no choice but to try and keep up with its partners, and it managed it (as far as I know) handsomely.  Medals all round. Including Mr Jamie Stier. In that company I imagine he opted for a low profile – quite rightly.

The good news concerns the whip rules: in recent months (and as I write) ex-champion jockey Silvestre De Sousa and the excellent Hollie Doyle have been “done” for totting up too many bans for over-use of the whip. This means that they cannot ride for a certain period of time, and it can cost them important rides.  Jockeys who are too stupid to comply with the rules get longer and longer “holidays” and lose a lot of money.  It suggests that the punishment is fitting the crime. Good stuff.

Best wishes,

Donec