• HELP US - Become a Patron - Fat Jockey is a horse racing community focused on all the big races in the UK and Ireland. We don't charge users but if you have found the site useful then any support towards the running costs is appreciated ... a small donation each month would be a huge contribution. Become a Patron!

Equine Flu Outbreak

This latest update is the first time I’ve really thought the festival might not go ahead
 
Does anyone actually know how cashed out bets will be treated if the Festival is cancelled ? My current understanding is that they would be voided back to their original bet stake value and any credited cash out value unwound. Just thought it might be worth airing this topic in case others are considering cashing out specific bets to preserve value. I could be wrong but I believe this is similar to backing the winner of golf events after round 3 when round 4 is then subsequently cancelled.
 
Does anyone actually know how cashed out bets will be treated if the Festival is cancelled ? My current understanding is that they would be voided back to their original bet stake value and any credited cash out value unwound. Just thought it might be worth airing this topic in case others are considering cashing out specific bets to preserve value. I could be wrong but I believe this is similar to backing the winner of golf events after round 3 when round 4 is then subsequently cancelled.

Personally a still a fair bit early for me to be considering this, but I would be very surprised if they tried to potentially recoup profit from a previously cashed out bet. Let’s say you’d had one bet of a grand on a horse in October and cashed out in November 1,500 pounds, there is no way in my mind that they could come after the 500 extra they returned.
 
My thought Norton is ...

Cashout would be a settled bet wouldn't it?

If you cashed out, the bet is DONE.


Like any already settled as non-runners (not entered) ... I'm expecting them as losers too
 
My thought Norton is ...

Cashout would be a settled bet wouldn't it?

If you cashed out, the bet is DONE.


Like any already settled as non-runners (not entered) ... I'm expecting them as losers too

Exactly that.
 
My thought Norton is ...

Cashout would be a settled bet wouldn't it?

If you cashed out, the bet is DONE.


Like any already settled as non-runners (not entered) ... I'm expecting them as losers too

Any set as non runners should be void as well, that's my understanding
 
My guess on the festival ...unless already very widespread after todays batch of tests ( unlikely imo) I think racing resumes after all horses get their boosters. What happens next I dont know. There is just no way to control the spread of it in the non racing horse world and some more cases are pretty much inevitable ? I just dont think this can be a zero tolerance thing like F&M but thats just my hunch. People dont stop going to work because someone else has flu.

I think the really random aspect is that I can see some kind of blanket ban on yards who have any animals with it. Also hard to know how Irish yards will react ? Its a head wreck.
 
My guess on the festival ...unless already very widespread after todays batch of tests ( unlikely imo) I think racing resumes after all horses get their boosters. What happens next I dont know. There is just no way to control the spread of it in the non racing horse world and some more cases are pretty much inevitable ? I just dont think this can be a zero tolerance thing like F&M but thats just my hunch. People dont stop going to work because someone else has flu.

I think the really random aspect is that I can see some kind of blanket ban on yards who have any animals with it. Also hard to know how Irish yards will react ? Its a head wreck.

I think that is a very good post. If The Festival goes ahead on time and your assumptions are correct, then it is going to be the most interesting Festival ever.
 
I think that is a very good post. If The Festival goes ahead on time and your assumptions are correct, then it is going to be the most interesting Festival ever.

Minefield.
There have been a huge number of horses that have missed races due to ground, now another significant issue with their prep has appeared.
Like everyone I'm desperate for the festival to go ahead but guessing what half the field in every race have been doing for the past 3/4 months looks a surefire route to the poor house to me...
 
Minefield.
There have been a huge number of horses that have missed races due to ground, now another significant issue with their prep has appeared.
Like everyone I'm desperate for the festival to go ahead but guessing what half the field in every race have been doing for the past 3/4 months looks a surefire route to the poor house to me...

Agreed. I've had a right stab @ 9/2 today for it not to go ahead. Simply because I have my best ever antepost book on betfair. I sincerely hope I lose the bet. But I had to do to it so that I could at least lock 1/4 of my profit in. I've been working on it since September, there was no way I was going to watch the whole lot go up in smoke.
 
Rebecca Menzies admits to having 3 sick horses in isolation at her yard. I'm beginning to think The Festival is sunk.
 
TNigel Twiston-Davies believes the rigorous measures put in place by the BHA to contain equine influenza are "a massive overreaction".

The Grand National- and Gold Cup-winning trainer, who had a runner at Ludlow on Wednesday and so is among those who has had to have all his horses tested, described the BHA mandate as "a total knee-jerk reaction" and suggested the authority may find it has "opened a can of worms".

He said: "It's a massive overreaction. All horses are vaccinated, and so when they do get it, it's not really anything to worry about. They get sick, but not that sick – just a snotty nose and temperature.

"I should think every trainer in the country has a horse with a snotty nose, and what you do is take blood tests, take tracheal washes and take their temperature, and if they're clear they're all right.

"Flu is endemic in the whole horse population and what I think the BHA will find is that they've opened a can of worms and that every trainer has two or three.

"We all have bugs and treat them as they come. It's rife everywhere, but not fatal. It's not like herpes or strangles, which are a disaster. This is far from a disaster because we're all vaccinated. It's a total knee-jerk reaction."
 
I could be wrong here but I think the deadline for handicap entries is 21 Feb and entries for the Foxhunters, Bumper, Cross Country and Mares Novice close 26 Feb.
I imagine there's a taskforce at work considering amendments to these dates, and the revealing of handicaps, in an attempt to allow horse the chance to qualify.
I can see the entire entries/weights process becoming very compressed, not sure who that helps but they'll want to give everyone the opportunity race if they want to....
 
TNigel Twiston-Davies believes the rigorous measures put in place by the BHA to contain equine influenza are "a massive overreaction".

The Grand National- and Gold Cup-winning trainer, who had a runner at Ludlow on Wednesday and so is among those who has had to have all his horses tested, described the BHA mandate as "a total knee-jerk reaction" and suggested the authority may find it has "opened a can of worms".

He said: "It's a massive overreaction. All horses are vaccinated, and so when they do get it, it's not really anything to worry about. They get sick, but not that sick – just a snotty nose and temperature.

"I should think every trainer in the country has a horse with a snotty nose, and what you do is take blood tests, take tracheal washes and take their temperature, and if they're clear they're all right.

"Flu is endemic in the whole horse population and what I think the BHA will find is that they've opened a can of worms and that every trainer has two or three.

"We all have bugs and treat them as they come. It's rife everywhere, but not fatal. It's not like herpes or strangles, which are a disaster. This is far from a disaster because we're all vaccinated. It's a total knee-jerk reaction."
Nicholls has agreed with this on Twitter.
 
We all hope so, though there’s little fun in watching every one of yours get picked up after the last by a fitter/sharper horse

There's never much fun in losing, but it is what it is.

If every one of yours gets picked up after the last, you'd have worse luck than most of us have trying to 2nd guess Willie Mullins :)