Here was me thinking Man Cold was the height of medical seriousness.
It appears however that our highly strung equine friends kick up even more of a fuss.
The current stance is no uk racing till at least next Wednesday with decisions
to be taken next week as to if and when it will be deemed safe to continue.
The BHA’s chief executive Nick Rust believes "The equine influenza outbreak will
affect racing in Britain for a few weeks at most due to the quick action
taken by the sport’s governing body, trainers and vets."
I hope he is correct and that the issue blows over pretty quickly.
If I have a small bit of paranoid worry it may be rooted in
the comment I read about humans being potential carries of the disease
It does not adversely effect humans they say.. but humans can spread it.
I guess the answer we learn from Badgers and TB is that culling all
the humans would be the safest bet.
Perhaps start the cull with the Jockey who last cost you a wedge
via a terrible ride. If he willfully steered into the
boggy zone at Plumton to cost your horse 10 lengths
that should be evidence enough.
Returning to reality I can see minor risk from the likes
of vets who travel yard to yard.
What about horse feed delivery drivers and other supplies who may do the same
or stable staff being in the same pub as stable staff from another yard?
Humans are not as easy to quarantine as the horses.
I have this crazy vision of widespread epidemic with the boffin scientists
analysing the root cause of outbreak spread after the event.
It turns out it was a team of yellow jacketed, clip board carrying
BHA infection control inspectors who had coughed and spluttered
their way from yard to yard up and down the country.
Sillier things have happened.
Messing aside I do hope it all fades and fizzles away soon.
If so and especially if spread is kept away from Royal stables
we may be looking at Sir Nick Rust after the new years honors list.
If not and it all goes really pear shaped the
cry may be more so one of "off with his head".
Irish Racing Continues As Normal.
Guy has always included a regular flow of Irish racing in his analysis messages.
He is well boned up and experienced on the nuances there.
For the next while Irish Racing will be his sole focus for daily racing analysis.
The volume of Irish racing is quite a bit lower than in the uk.
There could even be silver lining upside in that fact as
focus and concentration will be more zoned in.
This Saturday he will be 100% concentrated on Naas
as the only Irish meeting.
Naas is not far out of Dublin and just a stones throw away
from it's more illustrious neighbour Punchestown.
( If you can throw a stone 2 1/2 miles )
My better half was a regular visitor at Naas as a young kid.
This came from her father who would always
put the kids before selfish thought to himself.
A big believer in the benefit of fresh
air he would often force the kids out of the stuffy house.
It is just mere co incidence that his conviction
about the benefit of fresh air always seemed
to peak when Naas races were on.
Heavy hitter trainers such as Willie Mullins, Gordon Elliot and
Noel Meade usually send quite a few runners to Naas.
So we have the Saturday Day Pass running as normal this weekend.
Feel free to book in here
It could actually be a good day for the Saturday arm chair
punter to come in for the Day Pass. I note ITV4 have quickly
sorted a deal to show most of the Saturday races from Naas
live on normal TV on Saturday afternoon.
So the races Guy looks at on Saturday should be
a pretty close match to those on the box.
Cheltenham
This is just a small snippet from Guy's bigger message for today.
More so a "do with what you want" comment as opposed to "bet of the year"
I guess it is all rooted in the fact that in terms of Cheltenham preparation,
Irish runners are going to suffer less disruption than their English counterparts.
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Obviously too early to know right now
How much Danger Cheltenham will be in
Irish Racing does take place
But English runners are banned
So the Irish horses
Could well have the advantage
PRESTBURY CUP Betting
This is the Countries market
Who trains the most winners
At the Cheltenham Festival
Ireland 10/11
Britain 5/4
Tie 7/1
2018 - Ireland 17 Great Britain 11
2017 - Ireland 19 Great Britain 9
2016 - Ireland 14 Great Britain 14
2015 - Great Britain 14 Ireland 13
At those prices
And with recent history
I would rather be with Ireland
Not all firms are betting on this
William Hill 10/11 Ireland
Bet365 are 10/11 Ireland
Skybet are 10/11 Ireland
The beauty of this bet
Ireland do normally win this
The shutdown with the Racing
May give them a further advantage
If it doesn't they have every chance
And it also gives you an interest
In several horses in every festival race
As I said earlier
I am not bothered about having this.
This bet is a "win only single"
If I could get the bet in a double
I'd have a big double
With Djokovic to win Wimbledon
As he would then be a 4/1 chance
But no firms I can find allow this
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Best of luck
Mick
Site Admin