Did anybody else lay GULLIBLE GORDON ante post and not get paid?

@RacingPost: Gullible Gordon declared for #GN2013 but is eliminated to complete the final field of 40 plus two reserves.

That can't be as he was 7th reserve, one ahead of Mortimers Cross, who is still in!

There are usually four reserves as well aren't there?

Yeah doesn't sound right to me. But presume there may be wires crossed somewhere and that is why there is confusion. Aintree website says he was taken out but I read what I posted above when backing Gullible for tomorrow.

the reason you haven't been paid is because the horse has been balloted out...

i realise you think it was taken out foe the topham but the 2 races are declared on the same day and he was balloted out

As I mentioned earlier, he was above Mortimers Cross in the list of Reserves (who is still in) and in any case, there were spaces for four reserves. Accordingly he cannot have been declared and then balloted out.

Was he on the same weight as Mortimers Cross perhaps? And was just above him due to name until he was balloted? Just speculating, I genuinely can't be bothered to look.

He was, but GG was 7 and MC was 8 on the official reserve list. Only 42 were declared imo and nobody was balloted out as there were 44 slots! I emailed the helpdesk yesterday morning and interestingly they still haven't come back with a response.

I'm surprised nobody else has picked up on this. I wasn't the only one to lay him!

Speculation, unless I'm missing something, your case seems crystal clear, you're due to be paid.

Speculation, for your info, on the BHA racing admin site, it says that Gullible Gordon has been eliminated.

But perhaps it if was declared for the Topham at the same time, this may have made him ineligbale for the race; Romanesco/Gordon Elliot was found out by this rule this week (that I admit I didn't know about) that seems to prevent horses from running within 7 days of the National. Perhaps this has come into play here?

Thanks for the info, but even if that was the case which I doubt, I was still paid for my Romanesco lay.

I have also emailed them about this but haven't had a reply.

Under the rules of the race, Mortimers Cross out to have been balloted out before GG (GG had the higher BHA rating at the time).

The Aintree press release at the time stated as follows:

PEARLYSTEPS, BACKSTAGE (FR), CLOUDY LANE & GULLIBLE GORDON - taken out today - no mention ofballoting.

I suspect that it may be the BHA website which is in error, which is why it is taking so long to resolve.

Thanks Rydal, I felt like I was banging my head against the proverbial wall for a moment! Still had no response from them but fingers crossed for a result then. Cheers (Post if you hear anything mate, thanks again!)

betfair's official response at last for the record...

"Please find that our market operations team have confirmed that there were 43 declared with 40 runners 2 reserves and Gullible Gordon which was ultimately balloted out. The understanding is that the authorities ask trainers if they want to be a reserve, and that they get a choice. I therefore assume that the connections said no because the runner was entered in the Topham Chase.

This appears to be the situation as the Weatherby’s website did have the runner listed as the only balloted out runner (before the same fate fell upon the reserves) so we are happy with how our market was managed."


Can't win 'em all I guess but it does seem a strange situation, declaring with having no intention of being a reserve

I haven't had a reply but I have researched it and found this BHA rule:

The trainers of horses which may be eliminated from the race must indicate at
the  declaration stage whether they are prepared for their horse to be a reserve. If a
trainer does not make any such indication and cannot be contacted immediately after the
declaration stage, the horse will not stand as a reserve.

In other words, I think that they have settled it correctly.