Equinties - the stewing stewards

Gm Equinauts

A brilliant day of backing winners yesterday,

may the bull run continue!

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

STEWING

British Racing always finds a way to outdo itself, and more often than not, the whip is how we do it to ourselves.

As many of you will know, Saturday’s Cesarewitch winner ALPHONSE LE GRANDE has been disqualified from the race as Jamie Powell used his whip 10 times.

So, the result of one of the biggest handicaps of the year meant the stewards stewed on it for 3 days and changed it long after weigh in. Scandalous.

Where to start?

Firstly, although the new whip rules are new, the issue of the whip and how many times a jockey can use it has circulated the sport for several years.

We created this problem when we brought numbers into the equation, and ever since then, we’ve been battling this problem when there are much bigger issues in our sport.

Just take a look at this interview with Christophe Soumillon from 13 years ago!

There are two ways of looking at the whip rules when something like this occurs.

One side is the idea that Powell broke the rules that were clearly stated and the horse has been disqualified. Goals are ruled out for offsides by millimetres in football, and if their big toe is over the line, they are officially offside.

However, racing needs to own up to the whip, and it needs to do it soon.

It needs to take responsibility for this piece of equipment that all jockeys use frequently and demonstrate that using it safely does not harm the horse, because ultimately, public perception is why these whip rules came into place.

Yes, a jockey using their whip in a nasty way that, to the eye, looks way too excessive should have the book thrown at them, but can anyone seriously look at Powell’s ride from Saturday and say it was a harmful ride?

Above all else, why did it take three days to count 10 strikes?

Yes, it takes more from the stewards than just counting from one to 10 to categorically decide that a jockey has gone over the limit, but the BHA waiting three days to decide the result hurts the same group again - the punters.

Punters who backed the second haven’t been paid out and punters whose each-way horse missed the places by one miss out. It’s all a bit of a shambles.

To be fair to the stewards, disqualifying the winner in such a huge race is itself a huge decision but, when they implement strict whip rules, they have to be readily prepared to deal with the consequences in a fast and efficient manner - and that is making huge decisions such as Saturdays BEFORE THE NEXT RACE IS OFF.

The stewarding process needs to be streamlined and made more efficient for everyone’s sake.

Anyway, isn’t racing fun!

HENDO’S HORSES

The jumps stable tours will start coming in thick and fast, and yesterday Attheraces released their tour with Nicky Henderson who looks to have a strong squad this year.

The obvious news was reported regarding CONSTITUTION HILL and JONBON, though there was an interesting line about JERIKO DU REPONET, the big talking novice hurdler of last year.

Despite holding a mark of 135 over hurdles, which looks very interesting having beaten LUMP SUM in the Group 2 Rossington Main Novices’ Hurdle, the boss of Seven Barrows is keen to send this son of CHOEUR DU NORD over fences.

This is sad as that mark of 135 is sitting there ready to be used, but he is likely to be a much better chaser and could steer away from handicaps altogether!

As for the other interesting lines from the stable tour, Hendo gave a nice nod to CRAZIERTHANDAISY, a five-year-old mare by WALK IN THE PARK, as he said: “She is ready to go over hurdles and she has summered very well and schooled very well. I think she could be pretty useful in the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle division, and we like her a lot.”

He also said ASTON MARTINI, a five-year-old mare with an official rating of 120, “has some unfinished business over hurdles”, so she could be one for a handicap soon, and CENTREOFATTENTION looks like one of his higher-class novice hurdlers for this season.

That’s because he said: “He is a youngster we have always liked – he looks to have a very bright future.”

Worth a read: https://jumps.attheraces.com/features/stable-tours/nicky-henderson 

BIG RACE PREVIEW

15.50 2M 7F GRADE 3 BETVICTOR CHASE

We often steer clear of Irish stuff but there’s a pretty good chase occurring over in Punchestown today.

HEWICK, MINELLA INDO, CONFLATED, MINELLA CROONER and more are all included, so we best preview it!

MINELLA INDO, the 2021 Gold Cup winner, heads the market, just…big drifter and there’s a lot to like.

He won on seasonal reappearance in 2020 and 2023, so he should go well fresh, and unlike a few in here, he’s not entered for the Grade 1 Ladbrokes Champion Chase at the start of next month. A bit of rain will help take the sting out of the good ground, but he’s run well on yielding and good to yielding before.

As for CONFLATED, he is entered for Down Royal next month which is likely his target. He is 0-6 on seasonal reappearance and he has tended to improve a lot for his first run of the year. More, Gordon isn’t properly firing yet.

The £800 wonder horse HEWICK likes better ground, so the official going of good is preferable and he won last year’s King George off a 146-day break.

Shark Hanlon has said “he's not fully fit yet but he's getting there”, so that would be a small worry. Apart from that, he is a likely player and what a big f you that would be to the Irish racing authorities if he was to land this today.

MINELLA CROONER won a handicap chase off 142 lto and is one of the younger legs in the field, though that was in a 0-150 at the Punchestown Festival and this is a big step up. He doesn’t have great form in Graded chases, but this would be his easiest chance at a Grade 3.

HURRICANE GEORGIE gets all the allowances and she was second to MINELLA INDO over course and distance in this race last year. She has also won on good ground and is race-fit. She is not out of this despite her rating of 140.

VISIONARIAN won lto on good ground and definitely prefers the top of the ground, so this looks like a race for him. He hasn’t tried anything near to three miles since he was fifth in the 2023 Galway Plate, so this distance is unknown.

Of the bigger prices, FRENCH DYNAMITE is a horse who could well handle this extended trip and he is a classy operator on his day. This was shown when finishing fourth in the 2023 Ryanair and second in the 2022 Paddy Power Gold Cup, but he would need to improve back to that level.

Verdict: We’ll only watch this race as it should prove good viewing and we don’t really hold any strong opinion, our hat potentially hanging on the drifting MINELLA INDO who has proven to go well fresh.

RISK ON

We think we have a monster bet today and given how well we’ve been doing recently, we can afford to have a bigger bet than usual.

Advice - when ever staking larger than usual, make sure it’s within the limits of your bank roll (assuming you all keep betting banks - that’s key!), it is not every thing! Play with conviction and make the most of winners to build the bank, but always keep the risk measured. For example using basic maths, if you’re bank is £1000, you should be betting £10-£20 on singles and £50 for something like todays bet. Stay in control and betting will pay long term.

We will post our bets today on our X account @equinties.

SUBSCRIBE TO ACCESS OUR WEEKEND EDITION BELOW.

Become a paying subscriber of Premium to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content.

Already a paying subscriber? Sign In.

A subscription gets you:

• • The weekender edition (Mon-Fri still free)
• • The weekends best bets
• • That warm fuzzy feeling inside knowing the intern gets fed
• • Only £1 a week!