8th March 2017

Nothing too exciting happened here this morning, those who worked yesterday had quiet canters and a couple did a little bit more.

The presenters on ATR this afternoon were moaning how shocking it was, that they, (the general public) were not privy to some horses running plans prior to the festival. It is yet another example of the lack of understanding some people have of horses in training. The trainers do not know what races they will be running in yet. Horses are not machines, trainers and owners will want to see the likely opposition, ground conditions and will want to leave decisions until the very last minuet. If they (the betting public) only understood a little more about training horses and giving the horses the best possible chances to win a race at the biggest National Hunt festival in the world, they may manage to find a little more empathy for connections. Neither of which are purposely misleading or trying to be smart deceiving them. They have no god given right to know any running plans, anti post betting is not compulsory. We all know that the betting public are paramount to the racing industry but without the owners and horses they do not have a sport to bet on. The presenters in question, should have the knowledge to express to punters that a little more understanding of the situation is required and be able to state the reasons why. If they are incapable of doing so they are incapable of doing their job for the best interests of the sport and those involved at the coal face. They maybe better placed promoting virtual racing in the middle of the night.