Place to talk about racing? - And corruption
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bests3lleruk
- Posts: 26
- Joined: Wed Apr 01, 2020 7:58 pm
Where do I go to talk about racing as it happens? Like is there any chatroom or forum which is actually active and talks about the racing all day as it happens? Does anyone know of something like this because I bet a lot and I want to be able to talk about certain races. Like the 5:00 at Wolverhampton that just occurred, I think Serena Brotherton threw the race? She was not trying at all. I'm not sure why? She had a lot of horse under her but just stopped riding it. In my opinion she just didn't want to win, and I am not a conspiracy theorist or a losing gambler that thinks every race is 'corrupt'. I just really felt that ride extremely suspicious. She seemed to stop it winning. No urgency at all. No driving. Check the race, she was on the favourite So grateful.
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Chessaholic
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Thu Jan 30, 2025 2:12 pm
If you want to talk corruption and race fixing, look no further than Australian, in particular Queensland harness racing. I've got no doubt it's the most corrupt racing jurisdiction in the world.
Dodgy shit happens in literally every race. Every once in a while they will arrest some nobody at the bottom of the food chain as evidence that they 'take race fixing seriously', but the big guys are essentially immune from scrutiny. The stewards report will say something like 'driver of xxxx questioned as to why they let their horse (a $1.10 fav) be crossed by a total no hoper. Explanation noted' and that's it, it's a flipping joke.
There's no money in harness racing, they are racing for peanuts and it's just so easy to take your horse out of contention. Go to the track and you can literally hear the drivers barking instructions at each other.
Bart Cockburn got done for race fixing, the punters behind it (and I use that term loosely) made 40k on that one race from memory. Want to know what it cost to get Cockburn to throw the race? A measly $200. Barely a decent meal at a restaurant. His defence was 'everyone is doing it' and while obviously that excuse didn't fly in court, it's extremely obvious.
You used to see it all the time on Citibet (before they started closing the markets well before release). A couple of seconds before the jump (so they could avoid the money being bet back into the pool and distorting the dividend), a huge amount of money would be placed at 100% (the tote price) on a particular horse and that horse would ALWAYS find the lead, even if it wasn't expected to. I often thought about piggybacking that info but my conscience always got the better of me, not to mention I didn't want a knock on the door on the very slim chance that the race got investigated.
Sorry, rant over
Dodgy shit happens in literally every race. Every once in a while they will arrest some nobody at the bottom of the food chain as evidence that they 'take race fixing seriously', but the big guys are essentially immune from scrutiny. The stewards report will say something like 'driver of xxxx questioned as to why they let their horse (a $1.10 fav) be crossed by a total no hoper. Explanation noted' and that's it, it's a flipping joke.
There's no money in harness racing, they are racing for peanuts and it's just so easy to take your horse out of contention. Go to the track and you can literally hear the drivers barking instructions at each other.
Bart Cockburn got done for race fixing, the punters behind it (and I use that term loosely) made 40k on that one race from memory. Want to know what it cost to get Cockburn to throw the race? A measly $200. Barely a decent meal at a restaurant. His defence was 'everyone is doing it' and while obviously that excuse didn't fly in court, it's extremely obvious.
You used to see it all the time on Citibet (before they started closing the markets well before release). A couple of seconds before the jump (so they could avoid the money being bet back into the pool and distorting the dividend), a huge amount of money would be placed at 100% (the tote price) on a particular horse and that horse would ALWAYS find the lead, even if it wasn't expected to. I often thought about piggybacking that info but my conscience always got the better of me, not to mention I didn't want a knock on the door on the very slim chance that the race got investigated.
Sorry, rant over
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wearthefoxhat
- Posts: 3515
- Joined: Sun Feb 18, 2018 9:55 am
Corruption might be a little strong, but, if a trainer can bend the rules and gain some sort of advantage, then they will.
The official handicapper/assessor, sets an OR (official rating) for each runner, when they race in the UK after 3 runs. Some trainers will run their runners over the wrong distance, ground..etc to get a low OR, which will enable them be on a fair mark when entered in future handicaps. Also, some trainers take on a horse that may have a high OR and campaign it to get the OR reduced to a winnable mark, then enter it into a race where the conditions suit and win a race or two off this new OR.
The thing is, the assessor can see them doing this, but are handcuffed by a set of rules that can only penalise a runner by a set amount. So, if a runner has had its' mark "farmed" (reduced) by 20lbs over 6-9 months, it's well in and may only go up by 2lbs/5lbs increments for a win.
The punters tend to enjoy this too, as over the years, certain trainers prepared a handicap plot, and the punters joined in when the gamble materialised. Famous names of the yesteryear, ie : Ryan Price, Reg Akehurst, Lynda/Julia Ramsden, Barney Curley, Jimmy Fitzgerald to name a few.
Won't post up present day names as it could be open to interpretation, but are fairly easy to spot, along with certain jockey bookings too.
No idea of the equivalent "goings on" in Australia/New Zealand, but where money concerned, there's usually something unexplained that occurs from time to time.
The official handicapper/assessor, sets an OR (official rating) for each runner, when they race in the UK after 3 runs. Some trainers will run their runners over the wrong distance, ground..etc to get a low OR, which will enable them be on a fair mark when entered in future handicaps. Also, some trainers take on a horse that may have a high OR and campaign it to get the OR reduced to a winnable mark, then enter it into a race where the conditions suit and win a race or two off this new OR.
The thing is, the assessor can see them doing this, but are handcuffed by a set of rules that can only penalise a runner by a set amount. So, if a runner has had its' mark "farmed" (reduced) by 20lbs over 6-9 months, it's well in and may only go up by 2lbs/5lbs increments for a win.
The punters tend to enjoy this too, as over the years, certain trainers prepared a handicap plot, and the punters joined in when the gamble materialised. Famous names of the yesteryear, ie : Ryan Price, Reg Akehurst, Lynda/Julia Ramsden, Barney Curley, Jimmy Fitzgerald to name a few.
Won't post up present day names as it could be open to interpretation, but are fairly easy to spot, along with certain jockey bookings too.
No idea of the equivalent "goings on" in Australia/New Zealand, but where money concerned, there's usually something unexplained that occurs from time to time.
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ShaunWhite
- Posts: 10191
- Joined: Sat Sep 03, 2016 3:42 am
Prize money is so pathetic there isn't much choice but to try and make some on the side. In the OP that raced only paid 3 grand. Not much left when you've paid wages, travel, vet, taxes, property cost etc etc and that's if it wins. The authorities would rather turn a blind eye to it than address the core issue.