Royal Ascot © Photo Healy Racing
Last week the Association of Irish Racecourses (AIR) issued a statement announcing that the apparently toxic split within its ranks over Media Rights had been resolved and all 26 racecourses will now sign up to the deal brokered on their behalf by Horse Racing Ireland’s Media Rights Committee.
The five breakaway racecourses - Kilbeggan, Roscommon, Sligo, Limerick and Thurles - had rejected this deal a little over a month ago and announced their intention to accept a more lucrative counter offer which would have meant that pictures from their racecourses would have been broadcast on Attheraces and Sky Racing rather than RacingTV for the next five years, but all of a sudden they have come back into line.
The AIR press release mentions that an ‘intensive week of discussions’ led to the five racecourses having a change of heart, but it appears that there were no actual concessions made to them in relation to the new five year deal, which seems incredible.
The only apparent changes relate to the implementation of a proposed memorandum of understanding for racecourses during future media deal negotiations (five years time), and a more general review of media rights.
Considering this dispute stemmed from the five breakaway racecourses being unhappy with their share of the Media Rights pie I didn’t think they’d relent without some additional cash being thrown their way. Maybe the provisional-AIR weren’t as militant as I had initially thought.
In racing terms this dispute was resolved very quickly. It was announced back in January that Ronan McNally was to be disqualified from the sport for 12 years, but here we are in the middle of June still waiting on the verdict from his Appeal Hearing.
The Appeal has been heard, but we are still waiting on the written decision from the panel.
There was an intriguing spat on Twitter recently between Irish pro-punter Johnny Dineen and sectional timing guru Simon Rowlands. The pair both make their living from predicting the outcomes of races, but neither seems to see the merits in the others methodology.
While I have to say as an old-school form student I’m somewhat sceptical of the relevance of sectional timing and stride patterns, I’m also long enough in the game to know that having a system and sticking to it is the basis for successful punting.
I also know from personal experience that all the successful pro-punters I have come across rely more on a marked card than actual form. They tend to use form study to whittle down the field, but it is the inside information they glean from trainers, jockeys and stable staff that most influences their decision making.
In order to beat the bookies on a consistent basis you need to have access to information they don’t have and perhaps the likes of Dineen and Rowlands should be joining forces rather than be at loggerheads over their methodology in the eternal battle against the old enemy.
My own tipping took a turn for the better while I was away on holidays in Spain. Three weeks away resulted in three winning weekend naps in a row for the first time in a long time. I’m not sure if it was simply a fluke or somehow related to my more relaxed demeanour, but I’m intending on cracking open a nice bottle of red this Friday lunchtime to see if I can keep the streak going.
Royal Ascot starts on Tuesday and it really is a fantastic week of racing. Aside from the pomp and ceremony of the week it is brilliant to see the global appeal of the event and the high quality international runners it attracts.
Seeing some of the best from Australia, America and France take on the British and Irish horses adds hugely to the enjoyment of the racing and as a predominantly National Hunt fan I’d love to see the big jumps Festivals replicate this level of competition by attracting the best of the French horses.
The Tote World Pool will be in operation on all five days at Royal Ascot which will see some extraordinary sums wagered. Swinger Pools (picking two horses to finish in any order in the first three) normally attract a couple of hundred pounds in bets, but across this week with Hong Kong punters playing these pools will swell to seven figures and more on all races. Maybe even messrs Dineen and Rowlands will be tempted by the liquidity of the Tote this week, I know I will be.
