Betting and racing with Boycie

2. September 2010

Am I Blue?

Am I blue? No, sometimes you just have to laugh.

A horse that has been beaten out of sight in it’s last couple of runs, since moving from a high profile successful trainer to a spectacularly low profile and unsuccesul yard, is the subject of a gamble. There is a significant switch of jockey. The horse wins. The trainer claims to have no knowledge of the source of the gamble. The jockey that was booked to ride was reportedly variously described as being ‘unwell’, ‘at the dentist’ and ‘broken down with a flat tyre’. Another report places said jockey slap bang in the middle of the parade ring in front of all the racegoers prior to the race. [...]

No Surprise if Betfair Float Delayed Further

2. September 2010

0 Comments

No Surprise if Betfair Float Delayed Further

The latest speculation surrounding Betfair’s so long anticipated flotation is that nothing is imminent. This will come as no surprise to anyone who read my take on it way back in May of this year. [...]

1. September 2010

3 Comments

Not Cricket

A few observations following on from the News of The World expose of what looks to be pretty rampant corruption within the world of Pakistani cricket. [...]

25. August 2010

10 Comments

Owners Should Not be Layers and Exchanges Should Not be Lenders

In the immediate wake of the case of Gullible Gordon being laid by its owner, I counselled in favour of a pause for thought and consideration. I warned against a knee jerk reaction. Now that the dust has settled, here’s my take on what happened in that case and the key lessons learned from it. [...]

6. August 2010

27 Comments

Casela Park. Fancy a bet?

The ride that Casela Park was given at Newcastle on Wednesday 4th August has attracted a huge amount of comment. If you’ve not seen it I recommend a viewing on the excellent attheraces.com website with it’s free video archive. We’ll have to wait and see what the BHA makes of it. A failure to apply [...]

23. July 2010

7 Comments

Racing’s Premier Folly

An interesting piece in the Guardian by the excellent Greg Wood suggests that an elite group of British racecourses are keen to pool their high profile meetings and sell them as a package to the highest TV bidder. The comparison made, as is so often the case, is with the ‘Premierisation’ that we’ve seen in [...]

15. July 2010

11 Comments

A Pause for Thought After Findlay Appeal

Ever since Harry Findlay was initially disqualified from racing for 6 months by a BHA Disciplinary Panel the debate that has raged has been colourful, passionate and at times not altogether rational.
Now that an Appeal Board has rescinded the initial ban and replaced it with a £4,500 fine, on top of the month of disqualification already [...]

13. July 2010

12 Comments

Interfering on Interference

There’s been a good deal of heat generated recently on the topic of jockeys getting suspensions for infringements of the rules on interference. Richard Hughes has taken a week off in order to avoid picking up further days prior to Goodwood. Trainer Richard Hannon has supported Hughes logic claiming that stewards are too ‘fierce’ and [...]

10. July 2010

0 Comments

Hanagan Hot, Moore tepid, Fallon still freezing?

A bit of un update on the jockeys title race from a statisitcal point of view. Last time I posted on this topic Paul Hanagan’s strike rate was tapering off after his blistering start to the season. I interpreted that as a return to his more normal strike rate and anticipated his title challenge would [...]

23. March 2010

0 Comments

John Hunt, Grand National Commentator

John Hunt
He’ll call the Grand National winner home for millions on the BBC. His face is familiar to At The Races viewers everywhere and his voice has been heard on racecourses throughout the land but how did top course commentator John Hunt get the racing bug, what first got him betting and how did he [...]

7. April 2010

9 Comments

Nigel Twiston-Davies. Dead Stars and Bloody Silly Horses

He came close to quitting training altogether and once famously told the nation that he ‘doesn’t do interviews’. What would I find then when I paid a visit to Gold Cup winning trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies’ Cotswold yard in the week before he bids for a third Grand National?

10. April 2010

5 Comments

AP McCoy

The Grand National always seems to get the story it deserves in the end. Prior to this year’s race it seemed a fairytale story might have been success for the 17 year old Sam Twiston-Davies on Hello Bud. Or maybe a first female triumph in the race, courtesy of Nina Carberry on Character Building. The [...]

13. April 2010

3 Comments

The Odds Compilers Odds Compiler

You might not know him from Adam. You may not have heard of him but his view on a horserace has an impact that is felt throughout the world of betting. If you’ve placed bets on racing any time in the last few decades, you will have taken some of his prices. His opinion [...]

19. April 2010

0 Comments

Shouting The Odds, A Day With an On-Course Bookie

It’s a bright but cool April Tuesday at Southwell racecourse. The track is hosting an all weather flat card where the best race of the day is a Class 5 handicap worth just over £2,500 to the winner. An unremarkable day’s racing in every sense and very much another day at the office for on [...]

21. April 2010

1 Comment

Shouting the Odds – Final Part

It couldn’t last of course and it didn’t. Three consecutive winning favourites wipe out nearly half of the profit accumulated through the miraculously good first two races. We’re now down to the final two events and the chances of a winning day are back in the balance, with current profit barely covering the day’s expenses.

27. April 2010

11 Comments

Where to Start?

When is a runner not a runner?
King John’s Castle in the Grand National and Twist Magic in the Punchestown Champion Chase were two high profile horses that refused to race when their respective contests got underway.

30. April 2010

5 Comments

Getting Off The Fence

It’s impossible to please all of the people all of the time but without doubt the biggest criticism that I attract as a broadcaster is for ’sitting on the fence’ and not being critical enough of jockeys. Yesterday’s opening race at Hereford was just such a race, where my ‘defense’ of a jockey angered some. [...]

8. May 2010

2 Comments

Integrity in Racing

Do we really have the stomach for the fight?
On Friday of this week the BHA published the findings of a Disciplinary Panel that had suspended jockey Charlotte Kerton for 42 days and fined trainer George Prodromou £7,500. Were those penalties enough?

10. May 2010

19 Comments

The Curley Coup

I admire Barney Curley. He is truly an enigma. I admire his patience and his discipline in organising today’s betting coup. I admire his attention to detail. But let’s be clear he’s not a shrewd operator. He’s not a clever gambler and he’s no friend to punters.

14. May 2010

24 Comments

Ask Boycie

Following on from an excellent suggestion from Ken, I’ve decided to add an ‘Ask Boycie’ section to the blog.

20. May 2010

5 Comments

Has Betfair’s Float Boat Sailed?

It was interesting to see speculation this week that Betfair may be inclined to postpone its long anticipated flotation. A float in the spring of this year had been expected ever since news Betfair had called in banking advisers back in the summer of last year, presumably to advise on taking the company public.
Betfair do [...]

27. May 2010

26 Comments

Ask the boss?

Right then, time to get our thinking caps on. I’m hoping to interview a senior BHA member about Racing for Change soon on ATR. Any questions you’d like me to think about please post away on here.

29. May 2010

16 Comments

A Bet of Bother for Harry

The story of Harry Findlay and lay bets placed on his account against his own horses has just got a little more interesting. Harry spoke to me on Get On on At The Races last month and was anxious to stress that he accepted he’d done wrong but was unhappy with the delay in investigating [...]

4. June 2010

27 Comments

Racing and Betting. The Future?

I interviewed Paul Roy, chairman of the British Horseracing Authority, for At The Races this week. One of the main topics was of course Racing for Change and I took a few positives from that part of our conversation. The middle part of the interview focused on the challenges facing Racing. Again some positives there [...]

10. June 2010

6 Comments

Turf 2010 Jockey Stats

With the 2010 turf Flat season now in full swing, I’ve been having a good look at the latest jockey stats on www.flatstats.co.uk. Some of the data on flatstats is free to access but full access to the site is on a subscription basis. It’s a mine of information though for those who are of [...]

10. June 2010

7 Comments

World Cup Kick Off

Well, it’s finally here. The Rainbow Nation hosts the 2010 World Cup but where is the smart money going? I had a good chat with Angus Loughran on ATR today and was pleased to find that we agreed on a few points. I’ll be giving my views on the tournament but have also enlisted by [...]

11. June 2010

17 Comments

Findlay Hammered by BHA?

WORLD EXCLUSIVE
Unconfirmed reports have reached Boycies Betting Blog that owner Harry Findlay is to receive a six month ban from racing. A penalty much harsher than the small ’slap on the wrist’ fine he has been demanding. Findlay was charged by the BHA with laying one of his horses on two separate occasions, a story [...]

11. June 2010

12 Comments

Findlay To Appeal Ban

Harry Findlay said today he would appeal against the six month disqualification he was handed by a BHA disciplinary panel for laying his own horse. A clearly emotional Findlay, speaking on ATR today, held out little hope of a successful appeal though and also suggested that were the appeal to fail that would signal the [...]

12. June 2010

80 Comments

Who Shot Harry?

Everyone has a view on the Findlay ban it seems. Some feel he was hard done by. Others agree that zero tolerance is the only way to go and therefore he got what he deserved. From what I have been able to learn though both the BHA and Betfair agree that a ban was a [...]

14. June 2010

4 Comments

Ascot Draw Bias

First the good news. A trawl through the results for all the races run on the straight course at the new Ascot during the month of June revals no evidence of an inherent bias in the track surface. Now for the bad news. So great is the debate about a possible draw bias and so [...]

17. June 2010

0 Comments

Ascot Draw

Cross your fingers, offer up a prayer to the patron saint of punters and hope. Hope that a large enough number of low drawn horses (at least a dozen realistically) stick to the standside in the Britannia Handicap at Ascot today. Only then will we get a true picture of whether there is a distinct [...]

17. June 2010

9 Comments

Praise The Lord and Pass the Penetrometer!

Thanks be to the gods of racing and betting and all that is holy! The Britannia Cup answered our prayers and saw a true run race on both sides of the Ascot straight. Thankfully silencing the idiotic, feckless, idle, intellectually stunted, moronic, myopic, misanthropic mentalists who concluded on the evidence of one entirely unrerpesentative event [...]

18. June 2010

12 Comments

Findlay Does Appeal

Another Boycie Betting Blog exclusive
In keeping with the Boycie Betting Blog’s record of being ‘first fast and factiest on Findlay’ I can exclusively reveal that Harry Findlay has indeed contacted the BHA to confirm that he will lodge an appeal against his six month disqualification.
The BHA has just confirmed to me that it has received [...]

19. June 2010

8 Comments

Gambling and The law

What with one thing and another I find myself considering the role of the law in the world of betting and gambling. I think we might be at something of a crossroads. Historically bookmakers have made their own rules and run their own businesses and punters have largely liked or lumped it. I predict we [...]

20. June 2010

8 Comments

Ascot Draw/Going Conclusions

Chris Stickells has rightly received a lot of praise for the effort he made once again this year to keep us all informed of how the track was performing. His three strand going stick readings for the straight were absolutely invaluable. He and his team also deserve plaudits though for their preparation of the track [...]

28. June 2010

18 Comments

England’s Exit

Everyone else seems to be doing it so we may as well have our own post mortem here on Boycies Betting Blog too. There’s a lot of talk on the radio phone ins and elsewhere about a lack of passion and commitment from the England players themselves, there’s plenty of criticism of England’s very highly [...]

1. July 2010

8 Comments

A Watering Wager

I’m no tipster but I’ve got a good thing for today. Somwhere, sometime it’s going to rain. The long hot dry spell that has seen barely a cloud in the sky for weeks will come to an end and precipitation will occur. Not such a bold prediction I know but I’m willing to go further. [...]

7. July 2010

17 Comments

Betfair versus BHA, The Gloves Are Off!

Betfair, it seems, has lost patience with the BHA’s continued insistence that the way in which exchanges tax and levy contributions are calculated is unfair. The BHA recently announced a further consultation on this issue and Betfair has now responded by ‘redirecting’ £1 million of the money that had been allocated as part of what [...]

7. July 2010

7 Comments

Phil Mickelson Interview

I was lucky enough to interview Phil Mickelson live on ATR today and thoroughly enjoyed it. Not only was he a real gent to chat to he gave some pretty interesting insights too. My thanks to my ATR colleague Dave Duggan for organising the interview which came via the good offices of well known racehorse [...]

23. August 2010

2 Comments

Coin Flip Challenge

Long time, no post. Been spending a lot of time with the little Boycelets during the summer hols and tinkering around with various betting ideas. One old chestnut which often occurs to me in my more contemplative moments is that a very good test of whether one is able to bet well enough or trying [...]

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