For the 60 years I have been a racing fan, the majority of punters think that many races are fixed. Some are but most are not. You try to get 10 or 12 owners and trainers to agree which horse should win a race. One thing I am very sure about, it is much harder to fix a race now than it was 40, 50 or 60 years ago.

People now simply won't believe how corrupt the game was in the past and think it has only just happened because of the exchanges.

Always been the straightest game outside snooker,10 or 12 owners btw,what century?

Depends on your definition of bent tbf but too many fantasies imvho.

glentoby I do agree attendance levels will hopefully increase, but sadly our current crop of books oncourse are quite happy to offer zero value so even though crowds hopefully return in large numbers these so called oncourse turf accountants will miss a trick and cause the end of this trade unless change happens. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity which needs to be embraced by all with two hands.

There is a lot of nonsense on this thread.

This is very much a dying art, get over it and move on.

The machines have taken over and unless there is radical change to restrict the use on-course, bookmakers as we used to know them will be like the Dodo. Extinct.

chatto

08 Jun 20 21:50
Joined: 16 Jan 02
| Topic/replies: 199 | Blogger: chatto's blog
It is strange that nobody ever mentions the zero value of place bets on the exchanges.




Please explain.

OK. Some mention on here about races being fixed and racing being bent.

One evening at Donny last summer I was talking to a group of casual racegoers who were sensible enough to also take an interest in the racing as well as having a drink. One guy in particular said he had often thought racing was 'all crooked' and that he 'knew' dog racing 'definitely was'.

But, he then asked me if I thought both sports were corrupt. I gave him the same answer I always give anyone when they find out I am a full-time racegoer and punter - and then inevitably ask me if it is all 'bent'.

My answer is that from horse racing to dog racing to the stock markets to the foreign exchanges and anywhere else where human beings see the chance of 'easy money' there will be an element of corruption and fiddling. BUT none of it, regardless of the market, is ever large enough to ruin it for the vast majority who play.

This guy saw the logic in my view and said he would start to look at racing differently. As the conversation moved on I then told him how later on I would be backing a 33/1 shot for 4 places in an 8 runner field. He was fascinated by how that could be done.

Anyway, along came that particular race and my horse scraped into 4th only because the one that should have been 4th was subject to either a very poor ride, or a very corrupt one, in as much neither horse or jockey was giving it 100% from some way out!

I then sought out the guy I'd been talking to and showed him how I, as a punter with no knowledge at all of whether there was to be some possible skullduggery in the race, had probably benefited from any that may have taken place. Hence, I went on to say, there is no point at all punters worrying about whether racing is bent or not because the bit of naughtiness that does happen can just as well benefit them as harm them.

So, yes, racing isn't always straight but it is certainly better now than years ago when there were loads of meetings where there were no TV cameras and so only those at the track would ever see what was happening. Can you imagine Devon & Exeter on hard ground in the early 1970's full of holiday racegoers? The absence of any prying eyes save for the stewards must have been a godsend to those with wrong doing to carry out!

Well done for finding someone sensible in Doncaster