Horseracing - sport or just a good day out?

In the New Year's newspapers one sports journalist listed his 10 hopes for sport in 2015.

One of the items on his list was the hope that "racing promotes itself as sport, not just a good day out."

He stated the statistic that the Jockey Club estimates "80% of racegoers have little or no knowledge about what they are seeing."

There was more to a day's racing than a few beers and bets.

It's an admirable hope but one that is likely to go unfulfilled this year. Getting fully immersed in horseracing takes a lot of time and effort: understanding the different types of races, the peaks and toughs of the racing calendar, the terminology, the equine form, the characters (equine and human) etc.

The fact that there is racing nearly everyday of the year makes it difficult and time consuming for all but the most dedicated enthusiast to keep up with daily racing developments.

In addition, unless you subscribe to the satellite racing channels, it is also hard to watch racing on a regular/daily basis (even if you weren't at work during the day) as a means of improving your understanding when you go to the racecourse.

It is, therefore, inevitable, that most racegoers will be at the racecourse for a good day out rather than a passion for the sport of racing. They maybe visit their local track a few times per year, seeing completely different horses (and possibly jockeys) on each occasion and perhaps watch one or two other days of racing on television (Grand National, Epsom Derby) throughout the rest of the year. Under these circumstances it is hard to improve one's real appreciation for the nuances of the sport of racing or build up an affinity for certain horses, jockeys or trainers.

One suggestion: display information around the parade ring at racecourses as to what to look for in a fit and healthy racehorse, such as suggested in the article below.

http://turfaccounts.blogspot.com/2013/11/go-racing-and-get-edge.html

GBR Fantasy Jumps Series 2014-2015

The Coral Welsh Grand National at Chepstow was another lucrative source of points for our leading stable.

Big Saturday races on heavy ground are trainer Venetia Williams' speciality and she proved this again with Emperor's Choice (9/1) giving her a second success in the Welsh Grand National. The seven-year-old rallied in after the final fence to beat Benvolio (11/1) by a short head.

Emperor's Choice and Benvolio were our two selections in the race but, with regard to earning points, it would have been better if the placings had been reversed. Nevertheless, we still earned over 300 points on the race in total. Combined with the 294 points (Silviniaco Conti (15/8f), Al Ferof (7/1)) we took from the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park on Boxing Day and have moved to around 150th place in the leaderboard.

There is now the option to make a few changes to the stable jockeys and trainers before the next race in the series at Sandown on 3 January 2015.

GBR Fantasy Jumps Series 2014-2015

Reve de Sivola (13/2) battled to victory for a third time in the JLT Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot on Saturday, defeating Paul Nicholls' Zarkandar (4/6f) in the process.

Our leading stable picked up 125 points in the race and has leapt inside the top 650 stables, which is our best performance to date in any of the fantasy racing games.

But it could all change - for the better or worse - in the busy Christmas and New Year racing programme. December still has the King George VI Chase (Kempton Park) on Boxing Day and the Coral Welsh National (Chepstow) the day after to come. Only then can changes be made to our stables to prepare them for the busy January programme which starts at Sandown Park on 3 January 2015 with the HBLB Handicap Chase.

Let's hope we haven't peaked too soon - the Grand National is a long way off!

GBR Fantasy Jumps Series 2014-2015

Our leading stable earned 375 points on Saturday, taking the total past 1,000 points and the combination strategy worked a treat, although it was not the Nicholls-Twiston-Davies partnership that did the business this time.

Instead Venetia Williams and Niceonefrankie (16/1) won 236 points for victory in the Caspian Caviar Gold Cup at Cheltenham. Unfortunately, jockey Aidan Coleman is not in our stable to complete the trio.

Later on the card The New One (4/7f) was not a hard selection to make in the Stan James International Hurdle but still contributed almost 60 points in partnership with Sam Twiston-Davies.

GBR Fantasy Jumps Series 2014-2015

The "combinations" strategy is working well for us in the fantasy jumps game. Very simply, if a trainer-jockey combination has a runner in the race, that is the selection because if it wins you really rack up the points.

Of course, it also helps that the Paul Nicholls-Sam Twiston-Davies partnership has been so successful in the early part of the season.

In last weekend's Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown Park the trio of Dodging Bullets (9/1), Nicholls and Twiston-Davies earned 159 points. Out leading stable is just outside the top 1,000 with more than 600 points earned already.

Let's see how we get on at Cheltenham this weekend.

Top 10 horse races by betting turnover - July to September 2014

The top ten races by betting turnover in the period July to September 2014 were as follows:

1. Ladbrokes St Leger Stakes
2. Betfred Cambridgeshire
3. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes
4. Coral Eclipse
5. 32Red Cup (Stewards' Cup)
6. William Hill Ayr Gold Cup
7. Betfred Sprint Cup
8. Betfred Ebor
9. Darley July Cup
10. Connolly's Red Mills Cheveley Park Stakes


Source: HBLB

GBR Fantasy Jumps Series 2014-2015

The Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham was the first race in the new GBR Fantasy Jumps Series for 2014/2015.

The series ends next April with the Crabbies' Grand National at Aintree.

We got off to a good start by picking Caid Du Berlais (10/1) in one of our stables, earning 100 points. So after one race we are just outside the top 1,000 - could be the highest position we achieve throughout the entire season!

But we're already beginning to worry that we should have included Sam Twiston-Davies in one of our two stables. He is in group A, however, meaning you have to choose between the likes of AP McCoy, Barry Geraghty, Richard Johnson et al. It is not an easy decision. Use of stable transfers could be very important at different times during the season.