Monday, July 20, 2009

What a coincidence!


A very interesting co-incidence, I must say.

Just last week Mr Khushroo Dhunjibhoy raised the topic of the delayed start to a Classic race and what havoc it can wreak on the thoroughbreds. While he received support from every quarter for his suggestion that this practice of delibeately delyaing the starting stall proceedings to accomodate more betting on the Tote must be discontinued, one never thought similar point may be made in the current issue of the Owner & Breeder magazine of UK.

Read what a columnist has to say about trainer Aidan O'Brien who brought his six Derby runners in the paddock eight minutes late. Since Google docs has yet not given the facility for embedding a pdf file link, I am taking the easier way out and typing in, verbatim, the relevant part of the article:

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"While one can imagine the frustration felt by Aidan O'Brien and the Ballydoyle team at having four of the first five in the Derby yet missing the main prize, only the Dante winner Black Bear Island from their sextet of runners failed to do himself justice. Fame And Glory, Masterofthehorse, Rip Van Winkle and Golden Sword all look Group 1 winners waiting to happen.

"What a shame though that all six arrived so late in the parade ring that the paying public were allowed just a fleeting glimpse of them and the race itself started eight minutes late.

"Cynics will understandably question whether O'Brien's reported insistence on saddling all six himself was the real cause of the delay--after all, they could still have made their way to the parade ring one by one, rather than arriving en masse--and supspect it was a ploy to minimise their chances of boiling over.

"Whatever the reason for the delayed arrival, it was not fair on the other runners, not fair on racegoers or television viewers, and a snub both to Epsom and to the Derby's new sponsors Investec. It was unforgivable in such a showcase event and must not be allowed to happen again." © Owners & Breeders Inc, UK
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[Bold typface done by me for highlighting purpose only]

Prakash Gosavi

12 comments:

  1. Prakash from where do you dig up such stuff? Apt and timely. Good job.

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  2. Comment by Anonymous was deleted as it was not related to the topic of this post.

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  3. What Obrien did was for purely selfish reason n definitely deplorable but wht BTC did was just greedy n disgusting. Someone on your blog (or was it on some other forum?) said to take away not land but also licence from them. I hope that happens.

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  4. mr.prakash gosavi,

    rajagopal nair , amith luthra stopped tips.

    remove from tool bar.

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  5. K Gandhi, Ghatkopar, MumbaiJul 20, 2009, 8:03:00 PM

    Mr Gosavi you have a special flair for writing and reporting, and it's addictive. I also believe you are writing for a different class of people so I am surprised by your webstats. Are there really 400-500 racelovers still around who relish such refined writing? Keep up the good show. Indian racing badly needs writers like you.

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  6. Dear Prakash,

    You are already doing a lot by your articles and valuable insights but YEH DIL MAANGE MORE.

    I have a couple of suggestions

    a) How about writing an article on various equipments used on horses like blinkers, tongue strap, CNB etc etc. You will ofcourse have to detail their functionality, advantages and disadvantages.

    b) How about another one on horse mannerisms that are reported in the post race reports like Broken blood vessels, Running green, In season, Swishing tail etc etc. Needless to say you will have to highlight the reasons for these, effect on horses and remedy.

    There may be lot of people who are well informed and would not find this interesting. However I am sure there are many like me who would be more than happy to be enlightened.

    Dev

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  7. Its time you started a query section.Its sure going to be hit......

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  8. Dear Prakash,
    I am not sure whether hyderabad monsoon meet is part of your FINOO list, if not I would request you to make part of your FINOO trial if possible.

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  9. Dear PG and others..
    i just happened to read your conversation with VVyas and others about hyderabad races, and since you are not yet giving FINOO HYD.. could you suggest one blogger name whom we can follow for HYD Races?? i know all are good, but one pick for good n safe strike rate? :)

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  10. Prrakash sir

    Excellent article by you.

    Need to point out that in most of the English races the starting line is close to the public and there is lots of hubballoo yet the class acts like Sea the Stars still win.

    High time our Indian owners take cognance of this fact.

    What was deplorable was the time wasting tactics by the BTC and the reason behind the smae.

    Hope this has opned their eyes and might stop in the future thus reducing the posibility of other centre owners boycotting theior classics leading to bad fields running in the classics

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  11. Dear S. Patkar and K. Gandhi,
    Thanks for your encouragement.

    Dear PMK,
    Let's not go to the other extreme whipping the BTC who are already reeling under pressure due to their collective, accumulated sins over the years. We must, at least in principle. unite against any high-handed dictat from any government. I have held a strong belief all my life that governments in a democratic set up, if allowed to be corrupt, are the most vicious organisations, most times worse than the Mafia who at least have their unwritten code of honour.

    Dear Kiran,
    I have asked my blog moderator to presently remove the said two blogs (one of them, Amith, is my student from the 2003 batch), but if they revive, we will put them again on the toolbar.

    Dear Dev,
    I don't think I am qualified to write about what you have suggested. My knowledge about that subject may not be up to the mark, and surely not definitive.

    Dear Jawnsin,
    I have been toying with this idea, but again, am scared if I can take out that kind of time.

    Dear Girija Shanker,
    I think my post on Mr Vinod Vyas' blog (http://hydracing.blogspot.com/) and reply to Mandar and Adarsh K on the latest post explain my stand on the matter.

    Dear Khumar,
    Vinod Vyas and Shyam have put in some good work today. You may check their blogs for Hyderabad races.

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  12. Oh I forgot you dear Amith,
    thanks for writing in.
    Btw, why have you stopped your blog? Please revive it if you can so that I can put it back on my toolbar.

    ReplyDelete

Wish to post as "Anonymous"? Not a problem.
But a better way is to use the Name/URL option and take up some net name of your choice. That way your privacy is protected and other readers can associate your thoughts with your web personality. Think about it.
A sincere appeal by Prakash Gosavi, blog owner