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General Chat

Istabraq said:
Graded races have always suffered from poor turnouts, could be a number of reasons for this but the one I hear alot is that a 130 horse runs to within 15/20 lengths of a 160 horse and the handicapper gjves him/her a few pound that stops them from winning any race for a year.
No question there are others too and it’s something racing needs to look at, but maybe we shouldn’t be massively surprised when our big festival races, Arkle, Turners and NH Chase in particular, attract only a handful of runners these days.
I have total sympathy for those who went racing yesterday though…
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Already been looked at.
Handicapper stated they would be treated differently a couple of seasons back, can't remember exactly how though.
And it appears to have made no difference,
 
Haydock has a problem in that the clerk of the course has form for misleading pronouncements.

This summer and autumn have been dry until very recently. We went to Worcester about a month ago and it was probably the best ground of the season so far. I put that down to the regular watering for summer racing. Ascot, as far as I know, don't water the NH course during the summer so early season rain sinks in very quickly. However, if it's excessively watered, any rain can make it go soft very quickly even on the flat course.

If you have a good horse, you probably have a campaign laid out for the first half of the season and you wouldn't disrupt it lightly particularly if you had a good shot at the Christmas and spring festivals. Henderson and King get a lot of stick but they'd get a hell of a lot more if their horses were damaged on unsuitable going. I have sympathy for Ascot racegoers but once Henderson had voiced doubts on Friday it was entirely predictable that the 3 stars would be withdrawn. If you withdraw without good reason there is a financial penalty but there was no suggestion of this yesterday. It's an unwanted side-effect of 48 hour declarations.
 
I think the problem most will have is what he has now been saying this morning “he’d be in his box for the year” after Matt posed the question about running him yesterday.

This is a complete nonsense statement and is so stupid of such a high profile trainer of the sport. The ground was perfectly safe at ascot yesterday, it just wasn’t right for ‘his horse’. Although the Supreme was probably just as quick but anyway that’s a different matter.

To come out with something like that and putting it down to welfare as opposed to not wanting to run because he has bigger targets and doesn’t want to jeopardise those, is ridiculous.

How many horses do we see injured before they even make the track every year? Sorry but Henderson has lost the plot. Don’t care much if he pulls his horses, frustrating but what’s he’s saying now is a damaging for the sport.
 
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Craigy14 said:
I think the problem most will have is what he has now been saying this morning “he’d be in his box for the year” after Matt posed the question about running him yesterday.

This is a complete nonsense statement and is so stupid of such a high profile trainer of the sport. The ground was perfectly safe at ascot yesterday, it just wasn’t right for ‘his horse’. Although the Supreme was probably just as quick but anyway that’s a different matter.

To come out with something like that and putting it down to welfare as opposed to not wanting to run because he has bigger targets and doesn’t want to jeopardise those, is ridiculous.

How many horses do we see injured before they even make the track every year? Sorry but Henderson has lost the plot. Don’t care much if he pulls his horses, frustrating but what’s he’s saying now is a damaging for the sport.
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yep saying ground is unsuitable for his horse and saying its dangerous are two very different things. as such a high profile trainer he should have much more awareness of impact of what's he's saying on the sport. this just plays into hands of those who would love NH to stop altogether
 
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Quevega said:
Already been looked at.
Handicapper stated they would be treated differently a couple of seasons back, can't remember exactly how though.
And it appears to have made no difference,
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Yeah now you mention it I vaguely remember this being talked about.
As you say, hasn't helped/changed anything sadly...
 
archie said:
It's an unwanted side-effect of 48 hour declarations.
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This is a good point, the 48 hour decs was brought in for good reason but it does mean trainers have to guess what the ground may be 24 hours earlier.
That said, if all the stars had been pulled before the 24 hour decs the end result would still have been the same, poor fields...
 
Starting to think Hendo just doesn't like running horses anymore. I have a share in a horse with owners group trained by Nicky.1 run in 2 years, spent most of the last 2 seasons dodging engagements because of quick ground, just needed something with soft in the description apparently. Was entered at Uttoxeter today and pulled due to the below :excitement:.
  • OWNERS GROUP Friday 18 November 2022


    Blue Stello has NOT been declared at Uttoxeter on Sunday 20 November. The ground is expected to be too soft for his first run after a break and there should be other races for him in the coming weeks.

    We will relay news of any further entries in due course.
 
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Eggs said:
…ah, ok. Hunter Chasing mentioned in stable tour but obviously not Cheltenham. A couple of firms have him priced up - naughty.
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Wondered if they might try him over the banks. He's priced up at 33/1 and did have an entry in the Risk of Thunder.
 
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Faugheen_Machine said:
Wondered if they might try him over the banks. He's priced up at 33/1 and did have an entry in the Risk of Thunder.
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Did consider this myself FM

Don’t see him as been the ideal type though

Need to be quite nimble for the quick twists and turns
 
ComplyOrDie said:
Who are the 33's with mate?
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I hadn't checked today but 33s was in a couple of places at the end of last week. Just had a look and 20s is best price quoted.

I didn't back him but the entry at the weekend did make me think twice. 20s is a bit tight though.
 
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anyone know why Absolute Notions has been greyed out for the Supreme with bet365?
 
JamieSensible said:
anyone know why Absolute Notions has been greyed out for the Supreme with bet365?
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….I notice they have withdrawn it from their Supreme market, no idea if that’s temporary. It looks like they have pushed it out for Ballymore & cut it into 20-1 for AB.
 
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