Sunday, July 18, 2010

Some short snippets...

Harry Findlay's successful appeal on Wednesday has received plenty of press coverage this week - Greg Wood argued for a change in the BHA rule book in Friday's Guardian. Meanwhile the exchange operator Findlay used to lay his own horses, Betfair, appears to be considering a stock market flotation in the autumn which could value the group in the region of £1.5 billion. Saturday's Times reported that the two founders, Ed Wray and Andrew 'Bert' Black, will share a paper fortune of £375 million if the float goes ahead. Betfair is the world's biggest betting exchange with over three million customers in 140 different countries.

In future 'Bert' Black is likely to pump some of that money into Manor House Stables where Tom Dascombe trains a number of horses for Michael Owen. However it was trainer Tim Vaughan who provided Owen with his first double as an owner when Paddy Partridge and Holoko Heights took the opening two races on the card at Uttoxeter on Wednesday.

It looks as though trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies intends to try and keep the Plates spinning. Grand Slam Hero won the Summer Plate at Market Rasen yesterday and connections have indicated they now have the Galway Plate on July 28th in their sights. Bet365 still offer 16/1 this evening but William Hill go 10/1.

In the world of golf, congratulations go to the new Open Champion, Louis Oosthuizen. Mrs Tips reports Clare Balding saying on radio a racing acquaintance of hers had backed the winner at odds of 480/1. I wonder who that might be...

Finally, a quip from Johnny Vegas in a 60 seconds interview that appeared in a recent edition of Star magazine. Asked if he'd ever cheated on anyone, Vegas replied: "I have never cheated on anyone, certainly not in a relationship. I cheated on my dad when I said I put bet on for him, but I kept the money. That was 20 years ago." Of course, had the horse come in, he could simply have gone back to his father and handed over the stake, saying he forgot to put the bet on. Such an honest gesture from one so young may well have prevented the probable parental thrashing that loomed ahead. However, if the young Vegas had already spent his dad's stake money on several bags of sweets, then the only sensible course of action would have been to stuff an old exercise book down the back of his pants. Ah, the good old days - where did it all go wrong?

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