Today’s best bets, by Chris Cook
I had an exchange with racing’s ruling body yesterday which revealed as much about their approach as anything uncovered by the Jim Best story last year. I had gone to the British Horseracing Authority to ask about the Jockey Club’s plans to close one of its tracks (Kempton) and redistribute the fixtures among its other venues, including the very important and prestigious King George VI Chase.
I repeated my suggestion from four years ago that the BHA ought to insist, in the case of any racecourse being closed, on its fixtures reverting to the ruling body to be redistributed as it saw fit, rather than as the racecourse group wished. This, I said, would be a useful means of discouraging groups from closing tracks. I was taking it as a given that we all see racecourse closure as A Bad Thing.
The BHA briefing note came back: “It would be entirely inappropriate and possibly illegal for us to act in this manner. Racecourses are independent commercial bodies. The BHA does not have a mandate, or right, to put in place measures to prevent independent commercial bodies from opening/closing their assets.”
As you may possibly be aware by now, I’m no great fan of unfettered capitalism, which seems to me to involve a simple transfer of power from those in authority to those with money. Racing is full of people who are to the right of me on the political spectrum and it’s no great surprise to find some of those people running the BHA.
What is a surprise is that the BHA isn’t the least bit interested in putting in place the most modest deterrent against racecourse closure. My suggestion would, after all, be no more than a deterrent and the BHA, having reclaimed fixtures from the closed track, would still be able to hand them all back to the relevant group if it felt that was justified.
The point would be to assert that the sport should have a controlling say over the consequences of racecourse closure. It is clearly in the wider interest of racing to assert this and there is nothing admirable in weakly leaving the matter in the hands of whoever happens to own the tracks. As things stand, a track’s fixture list can become more valuable than the track itself, making the track extremely vulnerable.
It is, in my view, a shocking abdication of responsibility that racing’s ruling body will not act, in these circumstances, to give the tracks any kind of protection from a closure that would suit the group but not necessarily the sport. And what on earth do we gain from being so laissez-faire with the fabric of our great game? We are badly led.
Speaking of terrible decisions, I’m taking a chance on the stamina of Raktiman (2.50) in today’s North Yorkshire Grand National at Catterick, in view of a GoingStick reading of 8.3 that suggests a surprisingly dry surface for the time of year. He comes from the yard of Sam England, whose 23% strike-rate in handicaps this season is a wonder to behold.
The last time he ran at Catterick, in February, Raktiman hosed up by 10 lengths from a mark only 4lb below the one he has today. He couldn’t sustain that form in better races for the rest of that season but has worked his way into form again, judging by his second place at Fakenham last time, bested only by a Twiston-Davies youngster.
Doing Fine was my first thought for this race but he’s skinny at 4-1, whereas Raktiman could easily run better than odds of 25-1 anticipate. I’m also keen on Alto Des Mottes at 18-1, having tipped him for the race last year when he was five lengths clear at the last from the same rating as he has today.
The interesting one at Leicester is Bells ‘N’ Banjos (2.10) at 12-1. Now seven, he seems to have lost his enthusiasm since winning easily in a handicap hurdle 14 months ago, with the result that he has come back to a beatable mark.
This is his first run since moving from Warren Greatrex to Fergal O’Brien and his first over fences, in which sphere he might prove handily treated. I’m prepared to take a chance on the necessary revival.
The case for Mister Bob (3.00) at Newcastle requires less imagination and I’m surprised he’s 6-1, having won over this course and distance from a similar mark on his penultimate outing. He was “nearest finish” after a steady early pace last time and I fancy Tony Hamilton, riding him for the first time, to maximise his chance.
