British champions series: fantasy racing 2014

It was a case of "Mission accomplished" for our two fantasy stables on the British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday.

With five races to tackle and double points on offer, this one meeting can really salvage the entire performance of the stable.

We put most of our eggs in the Lady Cecil/Noble Mission partnership in the QIPCO Champions Stakes and the gamble paid off, although Al Kazeem threatened to spoil it.

The horse-trainer combination earned 430 points for the returned price of 7/1 and the second selection of Free Eagle (third at 5/2) added a further 90 points with Dermot Weld also in our leading stable.

Our first stable earned over 1,200 points on the day and leapt up into the the top 3,000, finishing just inside 2,900th place with a total of almost 3,600 points.

The second stable earned 898 points on British Champions Day and finished back around 8,000th place.

It looks like the winning stables were up around the 5,000 points mark for the competition overall, so there is improvement needed for next year.

Jockeys and the temptation to cheat

An informative article from Robin Oakley on the potential earnings of the majority of jockeys and why the temptation might exist to take money to influence a horse's performance in a race. By no means a new risk to racing's integrity but still one that needs tackling.

http://www.spectator.co.uk/life/the-turf/9315642/the-economics-for-a-jockey-are-grim/

Horse racing in the Midlands - BBC video

The BBC has been running a series of short videos on different aspects of horseracing over the last week. The final video is an interesting piece on the state of horseracing in the Midlands and the varying fortunes of tracks like Cheltenham, Worcester, Hereford and Wolverhampton.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/horse-racing/29572053

Revamp for Scoop6 as rollover continues

Saturday's Scoop6 win and bonus fund will likely be more than GB£ 2.5 million after it went without a winner last weekend.

The game has enjoyed a surge in popularity in 2014 after a number of particularly large rollover jackpots. Now Betfred's Tote wants to capitalise on this by making changes to the way the pools are generated.

A new starting fund pool will be created to ensure there is a "rollover" prize to play for each week, regardless of whether or not the win fund is claimed.

Totepool MD Phil Siers explained: "The addition of a starting fund will mean there will always be a rollover for customers to aim at, regardless of whether the win fund is won the week before. We think this addition will prove popular with players as they will be able to look forward to big-money rollovers every Saturday."

The cost of playing will remain at GB£ 2 but the way that money is split will change:

35% to the win fund
17.5% to the place fund
12.5% to the bonus fund
5% to the new starting fund
30% in deductions to the operator

The Tote will begin the starting fund with GB£ 250,000 of its own.

Top 10 horse races by betting turnover - January to June 2014

The top ten races by betting turnover in the first six months of 2014 were as follows:

1. Crabbie's Grand National
2. Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup
3. Investec Derby
4. Ladbrokes World Hurdle
5. Stan James Champion Hurdle
6. Coral Scottish Grand National
7. Qipco 2000 Guineas
8. Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle
9. BetVictor Queen Mother Champion Chase
10. Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle


Source: HBLB

British champions series: fantasy racing 2014

In an effort to move up the leaderboard we were trying to use our stable changes to get more horse-jockey-trainer combinations as our winning selections to earn the most points we could at York and beyond.

The plan worked beautifully in the Darley Yorkshire Oaks on Thursday when Tapestry won (90 points), ridden by Ryan More (29 points) and trained by Aidan O'Brien (34 points). One of our stables had all three selected, earning over 150 points.

Richard Hughes was a good source of points too - earning over 60 points in combination with The Grey Gatsby for coming second to Australia in the Juddmonte International Stakes and 77 points for winning the Nunthorpe Stakes aboard Sole Power.

Our leading stable has now earned more than 2,000 points, whilst the other is approaching 1,800. But large leaps up the leaderboard are still eluding us.

Europe's sprint programme shaken up

The European Pattern Committee (EPC) has revealed details of substantial changes to the European sprint race programme from 2015.

The aim seems to be to create a high-class, competitive sprint dedicated sprint programme for younger horses to help them compete with their international rivals.

Part of the changes will include the running of a new Group 1 race over six furlongs for three-year-olds only at Royal Ascot.

 Chairman of the EPC Brian Kavanagh explained:

“The strategic objective in reviewing the sprint programme was to implement measures that will have a long-term, positive impact, delivering meaningful benefits both for European racing and for the European horse population.

“For horses performing at every distance other than sprinting, the European Pattern provides a three-year-old only programme until mid summer ... there is a definite lack of top class European three-year-old sprinters."

"... we have introduced a limited number of Pattern races restricted to three-year-olds in the first half of the European season, culminating in a new Group 1 race at Royal Ascot, and secondly, we have sought to deliver a more balanced overall sprint programme, providing better opportunities and greater incentives to run high class sprinters in Europe." 

“We acknowledge the steps we have taken are bold, some may consider them radical. However, the Committee believes they are warranted and that they will be of considerable benefit to European horseracing and breeding.”