A WHOLE LOT OF FUN AND GAMES AWAIT

   

There can never have been a time when the general media in the UK have treated the sport of horse racing with such cold indifference as they do so now.

Whether it be the amount of space apportioned for racecards and articles in the daily newspapers in relation to the other sports, or whether it be the carelessly prepared newspieces on general sports programmes, it is pretty clear that the game is treated with scant regard.

Late on Boxing Day afternoon, Sky News showed a few, sewn together seconds of the King George V1 Chase, with the narrative giving a general viewer the impression that the destination of the prize may have been changed when Clan Des Obeaux jumped across Cyrname three fences from home. The fact that Sky Racing don't cover Kempton should surely not preclude the news desk asking one of the Sky Racing team to pen the script for them.

As bought by the hand newspaper sales decline across the board, with the young adult populations choosing which news items to search for online, horse racing will be one of the big losers. For unlike with printed copy where an article connected with one of the sports that have not waned might be on the opposite page to a racecard that cannot avoid the eye, the new generations can happily exist while being oblivious to the sport.

As an example, this past week they would have searched and found the football related news on their tablets and phones, maybe the cricket and rugby too. But what else ? A group having a chat would be unlikely to encourage the others to look up a story about the King George unless it was connected with the Alex Ferguson link. But undoubtedly, they would have been enthusing over the progress made by Fallon Sherrock in the World Darts Championships.

It blew any racing related story out of the water, but was still secondary to the likes of football and cricket news, but not by far.

There are time windows in which racing should really make a push to get through to the passive. International breaks in the football season form such opportunities as the popularity of international football in the UK compared to the Premiership - even the Championship - has rarely been so far behind.

Boxing Day 2019 was another opportunity begging to be taken advantage of. Amazon had full rights to the Premiership Football on one of it's traditionally anticipated days, yet the multitudes already paying Sky and BT would not have been prepared to add in the expense of yet another pay channel, or have even have been bothered to take up the trial and cancel offer if they knew that one was available.

So it was left to horse racing, on one of it's showcase days staging one of the showcase races of the season, to make a concerted effort to draw in viewers. With the cricket winding up just as the racing was beginning and the darts not restarting until the following day, horse racing had the stage to itself yet it did little to advertise itself. There wasn't even an Opening Show !

As the curtains are drawn on a year and a decade, racing has never since WW2 had so many uncertainties hanging over it. As the 1970's reached its conclusion, it would not be taking a stab in the dark to make predictions for the following ten years, with many foreseeing a rapid expansion of international competition.

Now you struggle to predict what will happen in a timespan of a single year such is the variability of how horse racing issues disrupt, destabalise and instill worry amongst the many different factions, some deeply involved in the sport but at loggerheads with one another, others wanting to gatecrash and do harm with their blinkered, beatnik beliefs.

One of the pressing issues where the aggrieved tend to skirt their preferred solution is what we are told is the lack of prize money in the middle to lower ranks. Most of the owners, seconded by the trainers, who claim that they deserve more reward for playing their part in keeping the bread and butter everyday fare going, want what they see as a shortfall to come from punters.

As this is not realistically going to involve bookmakers taking a further cut in what they feel are decreasing  profit margins, these owners would like it to come direct from the punter via a levy on every bet placed. A return to a tax on stake, or taken from winnings.

For racing fans, the only benefit from the colossal rise in betting on other sports is that they cannot be taken for granted anymore. A levy on each racing bet incurred by the punter ?  No problem, plenty of fish in the sea regarding sports to bet on. Stuff you racing !

Owning horses outright or in small number partnerships is a privelige, a costly one for most who will get little if any return for their outlay and continued monthly expense bar the excitement of being a player with a horse running in their name and colours. If they don't consider the expense to be worth it then no one is forcing them to be involved.

Course closures on a scale not previously seen, the end of the high street betting office, job losses, trainers handing in licences, jockeys handing in licences and the whole breeding and racing industries downsizing. Not the most insane set of predictions by a long chalk.

image in public domain

TAKING A LEAF FROM THE MOVIE WORLD

One of the downsides of the knowledge at beckoning internet age is that it has decimated the old fashioned chinwag when those involved discuss their shared favourite subject, with the detail and supporting evidence for a particular view proudly recalled from memory alone.

When the subject matter is horse racing, it is only really pre 1980's that embedded knowledge is used alone, for eras since can be referenced very quickly by Google search. Particularly since the late 1980's, from at which point the online Racing Post form book is available, the spoiler of most quizzes.

In fact anyone setting an online quiz has to ensure that the questions put cannot be found at the touch of a button. Some will tell you that researching on the internet is really no different than visiting a dusty storeroom containing old newspapers and books, and while specialist research does bring the two methods closer together, it  just doesn't feel the same, with the newer, more clinical method, lacking the kudos attached to the now less needed traditional form.

It is why we enjoy listening or reading people reminiscing over an era not as meticulously recorded as the present. Some of it may just be conjecture, rumour, with details dressed up for effect, or in some cases maybe not. It's up to the listener or reader to judge.

I love to hear and read about Crepello. We are told that this is the animal that highlighted best, the genius of Noel Murless. Nevertheless, when you get down to the nitty gritty of the colt's performances, you cannot sum him up as being anything near outstanding unless you make provisions for his fragile pegs,

In contrast, it is disconcerting when you hear some fans talk of a need for past greats to be reassessed. They will cynically point out that if both the Timeform ratings of Arkle and Flyingbolt were anything near accurate, then it must of been a miracle that they were in the same yard at the same time.

They will then add that while they will accept that Arkle was very likely the best steeplechaser there has ever been, his rating is still exagerated and should be downsized.

Those of us too young at the time to have memories of Arkle may be able to understand how those who witnessed his career feel when we read similar views about how the ratings of Night Nurse and Monksfield are too high.

These people will champion the Istabraq age, when the ranks were weak and the dominant force was followed home in his Champion Hurdle victories by his run of the the mill stable companion Theatreworld twice, and Hor La Loi on the other occasion.

By contrast, Night Nurse and Monksfield were properly tested on regular occasions during the greatest hurdling era ever. There was no adding a subjective amount of pounds on for ease of victory over opponents a couple of tiers lower; their ratings will be as accurate as can possibly be.

Returning to the issue of the internet spoiling raw, recall chatter. There is no turning back so we'll have to live with it. It does indeed have many strengths and in truth far more positives than negatives.

But one facility that horse racing does not have is an equivalent to the IMDb database. Some us cannot now watch an old movie, series  or sitcom, without a tablet on the knee opened on the IMDb site.

There is no need anymore for your enjoyment of a programme to be disturbed because you are racking your brains trying to remember what programme you have seen a familiar looking actor or actress in. Or maybe you are just curious to know what became of them, or whether they have passed away, or the film locations used.

The other night I was watching, for the umpteenth time, an early Columbo episode called Murder By The Book. It's the one in a which a character played by David Cassidy's dad murders his co- writing partner who wants to go it alons as a sole writer.

In the episode, a goofy looking lady with a distinctive voice had sussed out what had happened. She too is then murdered by Jack Cassidy after attempting to blackmail him.

With IMDb at the ready, I discovered that the actress who played the unfortunate goofy woman was in real life called Barbara Colby(pictured). In 1975, she and a fellow actor were in a car park in Los Angeles, having just left an acting academy, when they were both shot dead in cold blood. No motive has ever been established in the many years that have since passed and it remains an open,unsolved case, stranger than and just as intriguing as most Columbo episodes.

A horse racing IMDb equivalent would be welcome. It could be based around the results of all of the top grade races worldwide, and with a similar approximate one hundred year history at least. The cross referencing facilities would have links to all of the jockeys, owners and trainers involved, in addition to the horses and their sires and dams.

The links would be  more than just stats and figures; in the IMDb spirit they would be to biographies, the depth of which depending on the level of success of the subject, or whether there are titbits of note.

It is the modern way of gathering knowledge and for those in favour of so called ' keeping up with the times ', yet who champion some of the stupidest innovations, then something what would be an addition, that may help consolidate interest amongst new fans, and would not be objected too, would surely be worth setting up

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NO SIGN OF THE DEPRESSING TREND BEING REVERSED

The crumbling structures hidden beneath racing's grandstand are spread far and wide. You need to search for them but they are there, nuts and bolts visibly coming loose, if you care to look deep enough.

Germany has never been a major racing country. It has nevertheless always punched above its weight for the quality of horse produced in relation to the relatively small number of animals in training. It is likewise a nation that has had an impact on the equine breeding scene, with stallions having to fit certain rules to prove ability and soundness to be allowed to stand. Many successful pedigree lines have a German influence, including the bottom line of the pedigree of the best current progenitor in the world, Galileo.

On the betting front, it had aways been easy to find access to British, Irish and French racing in high street outlets. In fact, during the 1990's the Racing Post carried a piece from a writer reporting his visit to a Ladbrokes shop in Munich. He was impressed by the enthusiasm of the inhabitants chatting about the likes of Martin Pipes best chances at the forthcoming Cheltenham Festival.

The 1990's seems only yesterday but by God things have changed dramatically. You won't find any Ladbrokes offices in Germany anymore. In fact, if you are over there and try logging into any of your UK betting accounts you'll find that you are unable to put bets on racing back home. You are fine for UK football or other sports, but not the horses.

This is born from legislation taken to protect revenue from betting on racing and to ensure a cut is taken by the state. If you wish to get stuck into the novice hurdle at Hexham you will have to seek out an outlet with a licence to take bets on foreign racing but sadly many have disappeared, or show no racing at all.

One well known LBO has lately gone under. It was the shop (in picture) close to the main station in Cologne. It would show all the UK and Irish racing, even the UK greyhounds. I'd nickname it the ' Trabolgan shop' , as I once remember going in and being dismayed at the headline on the front of the Racing Post, announcing that the fast progressing Nicky Henderson trained gelding had sustained an injury and would be on the sidelines for a long period. I also watched Sea The Stars's Eclipse from there.

The last time I visited the shop it had followed the pattern of the UK shops by installing several FOBTS. Sadly, the premises where the shop stood is now a jewellers.

Close to the main station in rival city Dusseldorf lies a plush Bet300 shop. Inside a plethora of sports are available to wager on. Football at all levels in all corners of the world, basketball, ice hockey, tennis, handball, snooker, boxing, baseball, American football, and others too, but no horse racing.

 If you go deep into the shop you enter a cinema type complex, massive super HD screens, and a seating area in the centre reserved  for  ' members only '. It is generally depressing to think that many get entertainment from entering a shop with screens showing in play live scores and place a bet on the likes of Mauritian second division football, no matter how seducing the facilities are.

Further on into Graf Adolf Strasse, I entered a Tipico shop. Some Tipico shops show British, Irish and French racing, this particular outlet did not, nor did the one down in the Altstadt. Just general sports. There was approximately half a dozen customers in each shop, most sat there watching the scores for the low grade in play football matches. Very, very depressing.

There was one particular LBO I needed to visit. Situated at Karl Rudolph Strasse 167, it had been an old fashioned betting office run by a firm called KG the last time I visited it a couple of years back. Then, they had a Racing Post on the wall, had live British, Irish and French racing, and there was even a customer wearing jodpurs and riding boots ! This area of course forms part of which may be termed as the heartland of German racing.

On a side note, Karl Rudolph Strasse is a continuation of Ostrasse, the scene of an incident engraved in Dusseldorf folklaw.

On Wednesday 6th September 1978, Baader Meinhof gang member Willy Peter Stoll walked into the Shanghai Restaurant which was situated at Ostrasse 156, sat down, then ordered a Chinese meal and a beer. Stoll was on the most wanted list; he had played a leading role in the kidnapping and subsequent murder of Hans Martin Schleyer in Cologne the previous year, where he was one of the gunmen who murdered Schleyer's bodyguards as the industrialist was snatched.

Stoll was instantly recognised by some in the restaurant. As the group had support amongst many far left leaning members of the public, not all who recognised him would be prepared to inform the police. However, one lady popping in for a takeaway was having none of it and immediately went back out and raised the alarm.

A single police officer entered the restaurant, Stoll stood up and went to draw his pistol but the policeman was quicker and shot Stoll dead. Reports of the incident appeared in newspapers world wide; perhaps the most curtly put description was one I found in the archives from a Canadian newspaper.

It showed a picture of Stoll with the the caption, " Willy Peter Stoll - too slow on the draw."

Returning to the nearby LBO; to my initial dismay, the shop had also been taken over by Tipico. But on entering spirits were lifted on finding that they had Racing TV and Sky Racing, in addition to the French racing channel. Strangely enough, although they had cards on the wall for Cagnes du Ser and the French trotting, they had no Racing Posts, and only basic cards for the British racing without any form or tips.

Leicester, Lingfield and Hexham were on, and they had the sound, plus the Racing TV and Sky Racing post race summaries, including the odd interview, such as Matt Chapmans with Danny Cook whose ride he'd been eulogising over. The French racing channel was shown without audio. Throughout the afternoon there was never more than eight or nine punters present, with roughly five or six of them betting constantly on the UK racing.

One pertinent point is that those betting on the British racing were all at the very least over fifty years of age and appeared to be ethnic German. This is a strict pattern I have noticed in betting offices up and down this country and must stem from the fact that this age group would have been introduced to betting when a multitude of LBO's existed, all showing UK and Irish racing, along with UK greyhound racing.

I have also noted that the ethnic minorities amongst the population, such as those from Turkish and African roots, tend to stick to football betting and you rarely see them in the offices where racing is the main fare.

One cannot help wondering how shops such as the aforementioned one in Karl Rudolph Strasse can sustain themselves, having to pay for British and French racing chanels with so few numbers inside and betting.

I would not be surprised if the days of showing British, Irish and French racing in German high street betting offices are numbered. And being left with no option than watching screens showing updated football, tennis, ice hockey and basketball scores, as opposed to a Carlisle novice chase, is such a soul destroying prospect to consider that I think I'd rather visit Baader Meinhof locations than have a bet !

image - taken by author