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Thread: Will there be a backlash?

  1. #1
    Senior Member Grey's Avatar
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    Not looking good across the water

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    Trumpism at its finest or worst depending on your outlook.
    So if Ireland rips England a new one in the 6 nations today are the English going to opt out of it in the future.
    What about Ballydoyle? Their horses going to have to carry xtra weight in the classics to even things out??
    Ireland has big time owners investing their own money in the sport.
    All that whining.
    England more and more becoming a nation of pussies if you ask me.
    ROLL ON THE RESISTANCE !!!

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    Senior Member swedish chef's Avatar
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    10 Handicaps Britain 5-5 Ireland - where is the problem? If it aint broke don't try to fix it.
    Pluralism of Ideas and the prosperity of any land are intertwined. Freedom of minds and skill of intellect to 'think the unthinkable' is how humanity has progressed; when minds are incarcerated nothing endures.

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    Senior Member granger's Avatar
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    Start with fixing their own program before trying to sort out another jurisdiction
    Some people say he’s the best since Arkle and that’s certainly true when you look at what he’s done

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    That could be an April fool story -international competition is surely a good thing.

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    Senior Member Frankel's Avatar
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    Ireland clearly come out on top in the handicaps regards strike rate. Britain basically had 3 runners to the 1 of the Irish.
    All comers, all grounds, all beaten!

    This perfect mix of poetry and destruction.

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    Can't win if you don't compete...the handicapper has and always will be way too heavy on horses in the UK that win **** races so their chance of winning is remote.....Alan King said it all when he said the handicapper has made it impossible to run Elgin anywhere else but in the Champion Hurdle Ok he got 12k for finishing 5th but unless he can find poorly contested Grade 1's next year his win career is over fore some time
    Last edited by Tanlic; 18th March 2018 at 4:14 PM.
    Formely Fist of Fury

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    Senior Member swedish chef's Avatar
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    Pluralism of Ideas and the prosperity of any land are intertwined. Freedom of minds and skill of intellect to 'think the unthinkable' is how humanity has progressed; when minds are incarcerated nothing endures.

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    It's a ridiculous non-story that smacks of sour grapes. I can't believe for a second that the majority over here have even thought about it.

    Cheltenham is the pinnacle of our sport and surely the majority of true horse racing fans are watching horses and not nationalities. I can't imagine too many genuine racing fans give a flying so and so about a UK v Ire scoreboard.

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    The handicapper takes ages to drop horses Village Vic for example has barely been sighted for two years but has been dropped only 3lb

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    That is it in s nutshell.
    Nicky H could not get over the reception Sprinter Sacre got at Punchestown.
    Racing Fans respect and throng to see top horses run top races.
    For long enough we had Galmoy to cheer for and nothing else; give it ten years and the balance could be on the other side .

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    Senior Member granger's Avatar
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    Everything is cyclical. In the Kauto, Denman, Imperial Commander time they wondered if Ireland would ever win a GC again.
    Some people say he’s the best since Arkle and that’s certainly true when you look at what he’s done

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    Remember in 2006 Ireland trained the Gold Cup 1-2-3, all different trainers with the 2005 winner injured.

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    Senior Member an capall's Avatar
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    Source: Irish Field, Brian O'Connor, Irish Times Racing Correspondent, Blog posting.

    An interesting dissection of something that's becoming more and more uncomfortable.

    https://www.irishracing.com/blog-ite...on&prid=189774
    "And still they gazed and still the wonder grew. That one small head could carry all he knew.

    And that small head knew that Impaire Et Passe would win the Champion Hurdle."

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    Quote Originally Posted by an capall View Post
    Source: Irish Field, Brian O'Connor, Irish Times Racing Correspondent, Blog posting.

    An interesting dissection of something that's becoming more and more uncomfortable.

    https://www.irishracing.com/blog-ite...on&prid=189774
    Interesting which prominent English NH trainer wasn't included in the drug testing element of the article. But I guess what's good for Martin Pipe is good for Gordon Elliot.

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    Senior Member an capall's Avatar
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    I think you may have inadvertently answered your own question.
    "And still they gazed and still the wonder grew. That one small head could carry all he knew.

    And that small head knew that Impaire Et Passe would win the Champion Hurdle."

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    Inadvertently indeed. :-)

  20. #19
    Senior Member Grey's Avatar
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    Happily it looks like the views of the anonymous BHA official in the article giving rise to this thread are not widely shared.

    As swedish chef has pointed out, the score in the handicaps was five each to Irish stables and UK stables. Not much to be concerned about there. Of the five Irish winners, four were from the Elliott stable. The Guardian has an interesting piece on this today, which points out that for three of those wins he also had a better horse winning a graded equivalent: Samcro/Blow By Blow, Shattered Love/The Storyteller, Farclas/Veneer Of Charm. In other words, because of the great strength in depth of his stable he could afford to run good horses in handicaps because he already had even better ones for the higher class races.

    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/bl...-handicap-king

    The news that Mullins and Elliott horses had been visited before the festival by BHA dope testers came as a surprise to many, but as long as they are testing with the same rigour in their own jurisdiction people will be ok with it, and in any case the situation in Ireland with regard to testing needs to improve.

    The other complaint by the anonymous BHA official is that the 1% levy on betting by Irish punters, used to fund Irish racing, includes a hefty proportion of betting on British horse racing, which is therefore being cheated of this money. This facile line fails to take into account that the reverse is also true, that there is significant betting on Irish racing in the UK, for which Irish racing receives no benefit.

    UK betting turnover on racing is about five times higher than in Ireland (around 4.5 bn sterling versus €1.1 bn euro), so the proportion of betting on British racing in Ireland would also need to be five times higher than the proportion of betting on Irish racing in the UK before there could be any serious grounds for concern.

    The anonymous official also needs to remember that the Irish levy, which yields around €70 m, covers all types of betting with bookmakers and not just horse racing. They might also have forgotten that racing in Northern Ireland is currently funded by the Irish state rather than the UK. When these factors are taken into account the pot of gold being eyed up is surely illusory.
    Last edited by Grey; 21st March 2018 at 7:04 PM.

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    Fine post Art
    Some people say he’s the best since Arkle and that’s certainly true when you look at what he’s done

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