The Racing Week

By Ian Henderson

Is there some way to get an 11 month year? Can we cancel November? I ask this because every year my betting goes to hell in a handcart because we have the changeover from Jumps to National Hunt in November. It is a very bad period for punting as anybody would have found out from following advices given on this column through November. The Flat returns to All Weather and the National Hunt gets going with half the horses not being seen on course for months. We end up with neither fish nor fowl. Many runners on the All Weather have never raced on the surface before and you don’t know how they will cope. To cap all this misery, two masters of the universe failed to win ten days ago much to the horror of their followers. The month has been beset with rain and we all know that when the going gets soft it is a bookies benefit. I have frequently written a note by a horse’s name, ‘likes soft’. No it bloody well doesn’t, it hates it, as it demonstrated during the race. Likewise the comment ‘runs

A "helping" hand Thierry Henry

fresh’.  Well if its performance is anything to go by it needs another six months off. These two comments should be framed in red over my desk…and I still get caught out. Wisdom doesn’t always come with age; you only have to look at your Mother in Law.

I feel sorry for Thierry Henry. He’s damned if he does and he’s damned if he doesn’t. What he did was not deliberate because here you have one of the most honest players around. He put his hands up afterwards, admitted the foul and suggested a rematch. What else could he do? He won the match for his home country and I would ask you to name one player in any other international side who wouldn’t have walked away and said nothing. If there were a replay they would be admitting that the first game result was wrong. If they had a rematch the bookies would be inundated with demands for refunds. They would only receive demands for refunds from the losers and they have paid out the winners. This is an impossible situation. Maybe its God's punishment for the Irish for getting thousands of free phone votes on Jedward so skewing the voting.

I am very pleased to see the All Weather flat return. There are far more fallers on the jumps than horses getting boxed in on the flat and the All Weather is a happy hunting ground because you have fewer races and fewer horses to contend with. The All Weather racing is definitely punter friendly.

On Saturday I came across a genuinely honest advert from a bookmaker. BetNOW advertised a free £10 bet in Saturday’s Racing Post on the Betfair Chase. They didn’t ask you to place money with them first and the offer for Kauto Star was an instant profit of £16 if he won. A bit better than the 1.91 on offer. I registered with them to claim my freebie and I am now £16 better off for nothing. They say there’s nothing free in this world but that was free and 100% genuine. You were able to place the tenner on any runner in that race.

Football has millions of followers and is all over the media like a rash. Racing has all but disappeared off the radio and there are only a few races reported on TV news. Unless you pay for dedicated channel you don’t

Calendar Girl? Hayley Turner

hear much about racing in the everyday world. Betting Offices have a reputation for sleaze although many of them are a lot cleaner and healthier than the local caff. If racing’s reputation depends on the public’s daily view of the betting shop with its puffers outside then I’m afraid we are doomed. But I have the answer. Round up Hayley Turner, Gemalova, Jennie Pitman, Stef Lidiard, Lady Tavistock and a host of other celeb females from racing and print a WI calendar. Jennie and Stef could hide behind a couple of saddles and Hayley wouldn’t need to be hidden at all. It would definitely work and proceeds could go to the I.J.F. A very good cause. In fact one or two jockeys might injure themselves while looking at the calendar. Seriously, racing does need to improve its image and the best way is to continue with the freebie offers now at last being made by some racecourses. Catch them young and they will be there for life. I was 18 when I had my first winner from my first bet. Never Say Die at 9.0. I immediately thought that I was God’s gift to racing and it took many years for me to get the message.

Cancel November! This would give less time for the morons to advertise Christmas every minute of the day.  Did you know that Christmas is coming? It’s still five weeks away but the advertising has gone mad. I have just received my first Christmas card. I saw my first Christmas ad back in August. I was in Portugal for Christmas a while ago and only saw one Christmas tree and no Christmas advertising. And Portugal is a very religious country. Christmas is about religion isn’t it?? All the British got together in a local restaurant for Christmas lunch and we watched flamenco dancing in the afternoon. That was it. Christmas as it should be. A great time with no aggro from the adverts. There was a hellish climb back from the beach to the hotel I remember and some joker had named it Cardiac Hill.   

That’s all.

Ian Henderson