Bet Exchange News - March 2004

Scoundrels and Scallywags (and a few honest men)

In the 1940s as a very young lad I would travel to all UK courses in the back of the family car, an Austin Ruby van. Most times there was a sage or story teller reliving tales from before and after the world wars. One of the first that caught my imagination was the 1947 Grand National when Caughoo only went round the Aintree course once. The story teller was in the area where the incident occurred but with fog shrouding the track and very poor TV coverage nobody would believe him or even the jockey on the second who was so angry with what he felt he had seen, that he assaulted Caughoo's jockey. So the history books have got him down as the winner with no mention of any stroke or coup.

The Sport of Kings and Queens has been littered with fraud and chicanery since the very beginning. In 1844 Maccabeus as a 4 year old won the Derby under the name of 3 year old Running Rein, before the fraud came to light and he was disqualified. Another example was Peter (Ringer) Barrie who specialised in painting white horses black! Round about the same time we see the American Invasion where 'Bet a Million' Gates got together with famous jockey Todd Sloan and together, using all sorts of American potions and concoctions, brought the betting ring to its knees over a 5 year period.

Books written during the period did not pull their punches in the titles. Scoundrels and Scallywags( and a few Honest men) by Senior Jockey Club security officer Tom Divall certainly got to the point and he made it clear that stopping of horses was a common and accepted part of the industry. In the early 20th century the country's leading bookmaker Thomas Henry Dey, in his book, Leaves from a bookmakers book openly admitted taking instructions from a leading owner, which he recounts in his own words:

"One particular occasion comes to mind, it was over the sticks at Sandown...I was put in to lay one as the saying goes ie I was given instructions to lay all I could against a certain horse being a sine qua non." (Don't ask me to translate the Latin, it wasn't on the syllabus on Cubone's Secondary Modern!) He then goes on to admit "peppering the colt until the betting ring was empty."

All these events have become part of racing folklore and there will be those who say that it was all in the past. Perhaps they are forgetting about Panorama and Dermot Browne. Anyone who is suggesting that exchange betting is the catalyst that has caused an enormous integrity problem is clearly suffering memory loss.

Ballinger Ridge at Lingfield

This month we had two incidents that will go down in the history books of racing. But lets look at them through Cubone's eyes. Ballinger Ridge was a horse ridden by champion jockey Fallon. For the first part of the race he dominated the event so expertly that the race was all over by the time the straight was reached. The favourite Rye was a beaten horse and at best would be an also ran second. What occurred next was that this jockey who has ridden winners all round the world and is an expert at pace, decided to do something I've never seen him do before, turn round in the saddle and look for danger.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the case it has offered the off course industry a golden opportunity to point the finger at the exchanges. If there is a conspiracy I believe that it is between the off course industry/BHB and certain parts of the media in promoting their anti exchange message.

Let me take the News of the World exposure. Playing the part of wealthy Sheiks, their reporter was told that the likely winner of the race would be Rye. If Fallon had said this on ATR on a Saturday morning no-one would have batted an eyelid. What the News of the World were really hoping was that Fallon would say was that his horse was a non trier, but at no time did Fallon give them this headline that they were desperately seeking, neither did he accept any of the money they were so keen to give him.

Ice Saint at Fontwell

The Ice Saint incident is in a class of its own and will be seen in many a Question of Sport for a 100 years. The jockey will I hope recover and get a living doing what is a very brave occupation, for there is no doubt he will not get a living as a film stunt man! Just as we were about to consign this story to the history books, an amazing post script was added. The horse, destined to run its next race was withdrawn by the vet at the start. In the Racing Post the next day, the trainer was reported as saying that he was distraught because

This was the one race he was aimed at from the very start. For this to happen today is not good.

Perhaps this quote has been taken out of context, but if I had been a backer of Ice Saint at Fontwell it would not fill me with confidence that the horse had been sent out to win on that fateful day!

Despite the hysteria I feel that if racing has a problem its no worse than it has ever been, its just that the transparency of the exchanges is giving those who don't know better the impression that it is. It has also given those with massive vested interests, the opportunity to attack the exchanges on an integrity issue. In fact the reverse should be the case and the jockey club and the man in the street should be applauding the new transparency.

Good luck

Cubone

The opinions expressed by contributors to this newsletter do not necessarily reflect the views of Bet Exchange News