Has the king George been re-opened?

Paddy Power, Billie Hill and Betfair  have the original 11 runners priced up in their Ante-Post market for the 15th of January. This would suggest it will not be re-opened to other horses.

i am sure i read in todays rpost that they will make a decision tomorrow re possible re-opening of entries. hope not though!!

if its not reopened then surely it cant be ante post any more and thus subject to a rule 4 deduction as the final decs have closed

as i said before, i want paying out at 10-1 on midnight court for the 1978 gild cup

You want to be refunded on your none runners before Boxing Day you mean

Can I have every none runner come the advertised day of race I have ever backed antepost back then please as well where the race was run and its conditions/venue not changed. Lovely payout that would be zilzal1 I can see your Imperial Commander refund might trigger several windfalls from all my previous antepost none runners.

The BHA are still debating the issue, if the race is reopened Imperial Commander will run.

Whats a "None" Runner ybm???


Will be the longest final declaration stage ever, and no i haven't had a bet.

Is it fair on other connections if their horse was ready on the day but would have other opponents who werent ready on Boxing Day in opposition if re-opened?

Where's the precedent though??

It wasnt fair to all connections when the race wasn't run and they missed out when it was abandoned in the 80s and not run run

It wasnt fair to backers of Midnight Court in 78 when they had to take 3/1 on the Day, but at least they didnt faff around this long deciding. They could have put it on this weekend if they had really wanted to, suppose KS steps on a stone next week and cant run??

The betting was for dec 26 th and if they cant run it within 5 days it should re open as per the rules

They could have run it within 5 days if it werent for WHill's influence.

Agreed Zilzal the rules are clear, I think they are obliged to reopen anyway as they attempted to run it on the Monday and had to cancel again. I think their problem is they don't want to hand back the intial entry fees which generate a small fortune.

OK YBM, dont you think its a bit ridiculous that, as it stands, and if they let the decs stand as final as of now, that we have a ante post market now which is in effect a rule 4 race as the rules state, the final decs have been made.

Who would have a bet in this market on that basis??

Imagine the publicity WHill will get if Kauto were to be beaten into 2nd by a none runner on Boxing Day when the race could have been rescheduled within 5 days if it werent for their influence wanting it on WHill Lanzarote Day instead. Doesnt look good at all to punters.

Its probably gone into the Pension pot

hope so Zil.
Only 10 yrs left to wait for payout.

WHill will be getting big grief from punters if their influence to move the race  beyond 5 days costs Kauto a historical 5th win in the race to what would have been a none runner. It could save them a lot of liabilities on Kauto if this happened there would be a furore.

ffs ymb, its a NON RUNNER.....


Imagine the stink if punters lost their stake if Kauto goes lame on the eve of the race because the race wasn't re opened???

Kauto was READY on Boxing Day while others were none runners ... not right if a horse who couldnt make the race then could because WHill influenced the re-scheduling to WHill Lanzarote Day ... there would be hell on if Kauto were beaten by what would have been a none runner without WHill's influence in re-scheduling the race... simple as.

In fairness to WH they tried to schedule the race for Monday, in order to retain the declarations they should have run it by today and that was unlikely to happen given the state of the course and other fixture clashes

I bet you would have the hump if Kauto was withdrawn though YBM and wasn't refunded your stake when the rules suggest otherwise

It is clear to a blind man the thaw came in enough time to run it this week, the temptation to reshedule it to their WHill Lanzarote Day was too much for them ... if it affects the result that would be very very bad.

The only day open to Kempton was Monday - and the course wasn't fit. They cannot simply move fixtures on a whim - which is why Chepstow had to apply to the BHA to transfer the Welsh National. I couldn't see Newbury being very happy if it had been rescheduled for today. Also bear in mind that the Irish horses are entitled to at least 48 hours notice and that could not have been issued until the Monday inspection was completed.

If it is the King George you move heaven and earth to shift the schedule a couple of days as they did in Ireland. Do they use rocket science over there then or common sense when they have their largest audience?

Race not reopened.  Runners remaining in the race carried forward with new dec stage on Jan 13th.

surerly if they re-open the race,punters shouldd have the chioce of having their money back.
its a completly diffrent race then,bookies cant have it all ways,or can they!

Still no idea why it was n't re-swcheduled for the Bank Holiday on Mon 3rd Jan - take the point about re-scheduling on a whim and I think Lingfield have a turf fixture that day so theyt probably would n't be impressed.

The programme for that day is poor considering it's the last day of the Festive season (and given how long it took to come up with the 2011 fixture list).

There is no turf racing in UK tomorrow now even though the thaw arrived across the country on Monday. BHA have improved in terms of re-scheduling races and meetings in recent years but they and RFC could still do much better...RFC troo busy congratulating themselves on success of marginal initiatives like getting trainers' first names in racecards.

^ sorry, incorrect - there's Taunton on the British mainland.

But it's hardly heady fare compared with the programme in Ireland on these twixtmas days.

Headmaster..are you sure it wont be re-opened?

Race will not be re-opened so only the declarations stand, which is strange given that they posted this notice on the BHA Racing Admin website in relation to the Welsh National - "Following the abandonment of racing at Chepstow on Monday 27th December the entire Welsh National Card has been transferred to Chepstow on Saturday 8th January 2011. The Coral Welsh National will now be run with a total prize fund of £80,000 and the thirty-two horses engaged at the six day stage will be carried forward to January 8th"

It was in the interests of jumps racing in general to stage the KG during the Christmas holiday season, if at all possible. The potential promotional benefits for the sport have been diluted by being forced to move the fixture to mid-January.

Clearly, it is not easy to re-schedule meetings at short notice. And whenever a major race has to be re-scheduled, if it clashes with other racing fixtures, the courses adversely affected will have reason to feel hard done by.

Hopefully, the BHA will now sit down and reflect on what, if anything, could have been done better to increase the chances of being able to stage the KG during the key Christmas holiday period. Would it, for example, have been feasible/sensible to have planned months in advance to have a reserve day set aside for the New Year weekend, in case the weather claimed the Boxing Day meeting at Kempton? No doubt there would have been some obstacles to doing that, but they are probably the kind of obstacles that the BHA needs to find a way to overcome in the future if the marketing of the sport is to be given a higher priority.

Just from the promotional angle, losing the holiday spot for the KG was bad news for the sport.

This is the correct decision under the circumstances. Ideally there needs to be reserve days set aside each year during the Xmas period as mentioned in an excellent post from aka such that the Xmas shop window for racing is not lost and a quick reschedule would be made easier.

Why is that strange Bobby - I don't think the Welsh National had dec'd by time of abandonment?

This is on the RP site.

Hill’s, Paddy P and Bet363 have the original 11 priced up in their Ante-Post

Vote and Bet - Who will win the King George?
Shows all 23 runners

4:02 Kempton SAT 15 JAN 2011
WILLIAM HILL KING GEORGE VI CHASE GRADE 1 (CLASS 1) (4yo+) Winner £114,020CH4
Number of runners: 30

I counted all the runners that were listed in the race and there was 23.
Imperial Commander was not listed.

Surly it can’t be clearer than that?

Headmaster - It has taken us 2 days to get this decision from the BHA - so they clearly were not sure, or couldn't decide on what basis they were going to arrive at the result they wanted.It is not a major concern to us that IC doesn't get a run as it would have been more of a prep run for him given his lay off - but if some of the original participants now defect then the  bookmakers should refund all ante-post bets on those runners. The ante-post market has continued with the 11 declared runners, the race is now open to the 13. You could end up with a field including the two additions but short of some of the original 11 declarations. IMHO it is ridiculous to expect punters to bet on horses being prepared to run on the 26th December, and then have the race run three weeks later.

Don't think you've got this straight yet Bobby.  There are 11 horses left in the race, not 13 - effectively, decs are carried over and no-one can come in who wasn't due to line up on Boxing Day.  Sounds fair to me regarding connections of those engaged?  What bookmakers decide is fair regarding their customers is clearly a matter for them to decide.

Headmaster - Not the way it was relayed to us, in that case why have another final declaration stage at 10.00am on Thursday January 13th ?

Presumably because of the time interval since the original decs.

Carvills - but if it is the same 11 then it is irrelevent, if they don't run they are simply non runners. What difference does it make if they now decide not to declare ?