Sport is made for betting

The Horsemen's Group in British racing put their head above the parapet last week and made a stand - encouraging trainers to boycott any races where prizemoney did not meet the recommended amount. Big name stables such as Godolphin and Richard Hannon backed them, announcing they were prepared to support the policy, even going as far as boycotting events/tracks where they were traditionally successful. By Friday, there was 'no chance' of the Horsemen's Group weakening its stance and compromising on tariff values... but by Monday, their backbone had disappeared. Obviously there are two sides to the argument here - it did seem a little bizarre that tariff rates were going to affect major races, surely the prestige of those races makes up for falling a few grand short of a number generated on some spreadsheet. After all, if you want to increase prizemoney at the bottom of the industry, where the majority of horses, owners, trainers and staff operate, a thin slice off the ...

The thoroughbred industry in Ireland is worth hundreds of millions to the Irish economy, yet you'd think it was purely for ribbons judging by the regular incompetence of its ruling body, Horse Racing Ireland. The bookie who left Listowel races last weekend owing thousands has missed his monthly fee payment to HRI by direct debit SEVEN months in a row. Dalton: ‘HRI should not have allowed me to stand at Listowel’ . . The Killarney-based bookmaker, however, maintains that HRI and it’s betting division manager, Paul Finegan, should emerge from the debacle with little credit. Explained Dalton: "My direct debit to HRI bounced seven months in-a-row. That direct debit is for pitch fees and levy and would come to approximately €2,000 a month. "I owed HRI €4,500 and they stood me down for two and a half months. I then got a loan for €4,000 and Paul Finegan, on behalf of HRI, took that and told me I could pay the monkey (€500) when I had it. "I returned to bookm...

An Irish bookmaker has done a runner owing thousands after doing his arse at the recent Listowel racing festival. Bookmaker 'on the run' after leaving Listowel owing 1000s of euros Bookmaker Ger ‘Dixie’ Dalton is believed to have left Listowel last Saturday owing punters thousands of euros. Horse Racing Ireland officials have been trying to contact him and have written letters but it seems Dalton is nowhere to be found after ”running out of money and unable to pay out on winning bets”. . . This may not of been a one off incident with sources suggesting that a fellow bookmaker had threatened to object to Dalton’s licence following an incident at a Clonmel coursing meeting were there was a major issue but the matter was later resolved. To the bookie's credit, he did at least report a cashflow problem to the levy office (bookmakers' supervisor) on the course before fleeing. However, the fact this guy has had issues before will leave a very sour taste in the mo...

Time and time again in Ireland, horses are allowed to start after breaking the gates and running a lap of the course (and then being so worked up that they have zero chance of winning the race). Their other massive blunder is starting the race when a horse is playing up in the gates. In the 6:50 tonight at Roscommon, The Silver Crown was unruly in the barriers, and was obvious for all to see. Barrier attendants went to the horse, the jockey was off the horse and needed time to get back onto the horse and into the irons. The moron who is paid to start the race pressed the button to open the gates before the jockey had even got his feet back in the irons. He was no more than 10m away from the horse in question, no excuse for not seeing it, and punters have been robbed blind as the horse is declared a starter despite having been denied a fair start. The horse jumped slowly and then the jockey jumped off after three strides because his feet weren't in the irons, a very dangerous situat...