Does media-friendly mean punter-friendly?

Blogs / Timeform / 11 February 2010 / Leave a comment

Willie Mullins - Lukewarn about Cooldine prior to narrow Hennessy defeat

Kieran Packman wonders how useful the exposure our modern trainers receive really is to punters.

"even when a stronger opinion is offered, it is just that, an opinion, and can prove far from a positive addition to the punter’s armoury."

"He's in good order, conditions are in his favour and I expect him to run well". Some trainers may as well have such painfully bland quotes permanently available on their answering machine, such is the frequency we hear such mundane offerings via the trade press, our pair of racing television channels, Timeform Radio or even their own websites.

Rare indeed is the trainer who says, "He can't really breathe and is prone to bleeding which is why he always travels so well yet finds absolutely zero." There seems to be some sort of unwritten code that only so much will be given away.

Yet even when a stronger opinion is offered, it is just that, an opinion, and can prove far from a positive addition to the punter's armoury. A few recent incidents have brought the debatable value of such quotes to the fore.

Champion trainer Paul Nicholls is regularly lauded for his openness regarding his horse's chances, most notably for his weekly Saturday column. The problem with being open of course, is that it can come back to bite you, as Taranis arguably did in winning at Cheltenham in late-January after published comments that the trainer had "yet to see the old ability's still there" in respect of the long-absent chaser.

The lovable Ferdy Murphy caused a few to curse this most recent weekend when Kalahari King landed a valuable two-mile handicap at Doncaster following his handler's quote that he "won't be ready to win".

Numerous other examples can be dragged out where a trainer's, in most cases, honest attempt to help has proved some way off the mark. The old adage of 'Keep your ears closed and your eyes open' has long echoed around the corridors of Timeform House, but perhaps, to use another dusty cliché, it's more a matter of sorting the wheat from the chaff.

One positive example stands out in recent days, that of Charlie Mann and his fragile chaser Montgermont. In truth, Mann attracts as much attention for spouting strong views and sporting ludicrous pastel cords as he does for training racehorses, but his simple admission that Montgermont had undergone a breathing operation since his debut fifth for the yard, was a key factor in weighing up the horse and, in turn, the race.

Montgermont was a very useful novice chaser, his gains including the Reynoldstown in 2006, but he's been blighted by problems since and had a series of stop-start campaigns. A feature of recent performances had been that he'd often travel strongly but fade - just the sort of trait a breathing op can eradicate.

I'm not suggesting that all such operations are therefore a signal to bet, having had experience close hand of a procedure's dismal failure in our Racing Club horse Another Brother, but I would suggest that this example highlights what that old saying perhaps should be - 'Keep your ears closed to opinion, but open to facts'.