Placepot protest. General grumble.

Bloggers / Kieran Packman / 27 April 2010 / 2 Comments

An ideal day for a tie.

'...someone has unfathomably decided to put a race full of unraced three-year-olds as the second in on the card. Fair enough, if that's your attitude, I'll keep my potential levy in my back pocket.'

Why do maidens so often form part of a Placepot? Kieran Packman gripes about that and other things that that have annoyed him since the Flat returned.

At last, some proper Flat action. The Craven meeting. Top trainers. Jockeys raring to go. Punting to be done. I think I'll have a crack at the Placepot. Oh, hang on, someone has unfathomably decided to put a race full of unraced three-year-olds as the second in on the card. Fair enough, if that's your attitude, I'll keep my potential levy in my back pocket.

The Wood Ditton is the race in question and its place in the racing calendar at all is surely debatable, given it only appeals to those who've braved the various gallops of the land in the hope of a miniscule edge. But to stick it in the middle of the card is just infuriating. It's made worse by the fact that the opening race that precedes it has eight newcomers amongst a field of a dozen.

Maidens have their place, it would be ridiculous to suggest otherwise, but surely their place is at the end of the card whenever possible? I can't see any reason why this shouldn't be so. As I write this, on an average Tuesday afternoon, Lingfield have two divisions of a maiden and two divisions of a handicap. The handicaps are races 7 and 8 with the maidens at the start. I'd welcome someone with more common sense than I commenting below and explaining why this is the norm. As it is, the Placepot is regularly underbet (by me at least), for this very reason. No.2675 on the to-do list for the snowed under Racing For Change team.

While I'm in a whining mood, how about jockeys that follow pre-race instructions even when events are completely conspiring against them? Step forward Liam Keniry who got into some good old 'my dad's bigger than your dad' aboard the well-treated Cool Strike on Sunday as he wanted to lead, but so did Neil Callan aboard Callisto Moon. Net result, they ruin each other's chance and set it up for the stamina-laden Sherman McCoy.

And, finally, one of the oldest debates in racing, does a tie mean you are a better all-round human being? Apparently so, say the management at Thirsk racecourse. Despite representing a runner on the card, I wasn't allowed in the viewing area I wanted as I'd neglected to wear a neckpiece on a sweltering Spring day. Very tempting to return wearing a tie and nothing else and see what reaction you'd get. In my case I fear it'd be pity, primarily.

Comments (2)

1. Simon Rowlands | 28 April 2010

   My pennyworth:

   I think there is a perception that inexperienced and unraced maidens should run on as-near virgin ground as possible and that that may inform the positioning of races for them on the card (the same consideration is not extended to bumpers, thankfully). I'm not saying it's right.

   I like such races as part of a Placepot. Using median ratings for sires and trainers derived from Timeform's excellent Statistical Review (:-)) and some sires' ground analysis such races have sometimes provided me with my biggest payoffs against the crowd.

   I agree with your sentiments about jockeyship, but the problem really seems to lie with the idea of giving such specific instructions in the first place. If a trainer states "you must ride this horse up with the pace" to a jockey, what is the jockey meant to do? Some would like to see us adopt the Australian approach in which changes of tactics have to be flagged in advance or explained afterwards. They miss the point about the unpredictability of a horserace and the need to react to events, imo.

   I'm glad to say that overly restrictive dress codes are fewer now than when I first got involved in racing, but there is still room for improvement. The biggest yobs I have come across at racecourses have all been wearing suits and ties.

   Simon

2. Mark Weston | 28 April 2010

   The jockeyship point raises an even more complex question: if you are the jockey on a habitual frontrunner who only wins from the front, and you find yourself in a race full of other frontrunners, what should you do? I have never found an answer to this one, and believe me I have tried.