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25 Mar 26
13:53
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05 Oct 11
https://www.racingpost.com/news/opinion/comment/easy-cheltenham-handicap-winners-are-so-often-lauded-but-all-they-do-is-erode-trust-in-the-sport-auLUm0q89BTb/
Wonder if he actually mentions Skelton by name?
Can anyone post?
Thanks
Wonder if he actually mentions Skelton by name?
Can anyone post?
Thanks
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Replies: 7
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It looks like a space filler article. The gist is captured in the URL. No, the Skeltons are not named. This week it will be handicaps.
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Ignore that last sentence.
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It would still have been nice to read it.
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Easy Cheltenham handicap winners are so often lauded - but all they do is erode trust in the sport
Denis Harney thinks questions need to be asked to assuage legitimate concerns It is often said Cheltenham is the Olympics of jump racing, yet the International Olympic Committee has yet to introduce a 100-metre dash in which the fastest athlete is forced to run in flip-flops to ensure a more even contest. If it did, we wouldn’t be surprised to see sprinters 'find their legs' just once every four years, having spent the intervening seasons looking suspiciously sluggish. And the comparison of the festival to the Olympiad is apt; it is the stage where every owner and trainer yearns to stand above all others. Following recent changes to the programme, handicaps now comprise 12 of the 28 prizes on offer at the festival. With nearly half the 'Olympic' opportunities determined by the weight cloth, it is no surprise to see the competitive pursuit of a favourable mark. Nonetheless, it is more and more frustrating to see a horse bolt up in a way that makes a mockery of both the handicapper and its official rating. We all saw it happen this year, but the reality is it happens every year, and we should not ignore it. We are asked to believe in a kind of alchemy; that the spring air of the Cotswolds is so invigorating that a winter’s worth of mediocrity can vanish in an afternoon spent under the shadow of Cleeve Hill. Too often, the wins are met with admiration for a trainer 'targeting' the race, rather than scrutiny of the circumstances. While winning a Cheltenham handicap is undoubtedly a craft, lauding the coup ignores the collateral damage: the punter who backed that same horse in a previous outing, taking the form book at face value, only to realise their timing was off. A common defence is that the signs were there. The odds told the story; the market knew. Sometimes that is true; often, it is not. And even if it were, it is an unsatisfactory answer to a deeper concern regarding respect for the betting public. The authorities in Britain and Ireland face a Herculean task. There is often a plausible excuse for a poor run of form; if there isn't, then it's because horses are unpredictable animals. Yet such unpredictability should not be allowed to become an all-encompassing shield. A fundamental requirement for racing to thrive is trust. Greater scrutiny, more robust questioning from broadcasters and visible follow-up from the authorities would go a long way toward assuaging legitimate concerns. "Don’t hate the player, hate the game" is a familiar riposte on behalf of the medal holders – so surely it's time to ask if the game itself could be better. |
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Thanks, I was expecting something a little more substantial. That said, I agree entirely, but not sure the audience he is addressing. We have the sport's leading trainer specialising in these sort of strokes, and nobody bats an eyelid. Chances of the media calling him out as such are somewhere close to zero.
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Like I said, the article is fairly summarised in the URL given in the opening post.
Last year Poniros won the Triumph, pearls were clutched, rules were changed, and it made little discernible improvement to either the Triumph or other novice hurdles. I'm an ordinary punter who backed some but not all of these winners and I do not want the rules changed every year until the Racing Post's star tipsters manage to land their naps, especially if done by people who fail to understand the simple truth that horses, and human athletes, are trained to peak for the biggest meetings. The irony is that requiring a minimum number of runs before Cheltenham forces trainers to run horses in unfavourable circumstances. |
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Whilst Handicaps exist Trainers will look to exploit a Mark.
Simple as that |