Blog

Frontrunner have finally been dragged (albeit kicking and screaming) into the twentieth twenty-first century so changes are afoot.
Frontrunner News has transformed itself into a blog
There will still be regular compilation editions of Frontrunner News distributed on pulped tree matter the old way.
Subscriptions details can be found on the Frontrunner web site (linked to on the right).

Hopefully the new format will help in keeping you more up to to date with gossip, lies, and malicious rumours –  Please contact us if you have some - and wish it to go no further than here.  At least that way we'll take the blame (as usual).

Betfair/ BHA deal “A Triumph”

Up there with the Old Bailey prosecutions, the appointment of Nic Coward, and the closer of Folkestone and Hereford.
Well that is how they announced it. Quite how a marginal increase on what they were being given voluntarily, and in so doing setting the bar low for future negotiations with Ralph Topping et al is beyond me.
Whilst talking about announcements: Record number of attendances, increased media rights, revenue from 48 hour decs, racecourses must be rolling in it. Or are they making the Emperor’s New Clothes at High Holborn?

BHA independently back the RCA

Obviously letting the racecourses (ok some) dilute racing’s product and prize money to such an extent that
people lose interest is nothing to do with Racing’s ruling body, but upholding the rules so that those that do care and try to take action are brought to book is within their remit.

OFFS

Curiously, Frontrunner thinks that since the OFT came stomping about Portman Square the BHA’s remit has been to let others run the commercial side hence REL.
Now whilst the likes of Rod Street and the other clowns are quite useless (not my opinion but those of the bookmakers, actually my opinion as well), how come Mr Bittar and his merry men are still doing commercial negotiations (and doing a really bad job at it)?

Do they just pick and choose what they can do (cannot do)?

The worm that turned

For years Frontrunner News has banged on about how the “independent” appeals committee was anything but, and were rebutted by the then BHA spokesperson. Now that spokesperson is working for the PJA, and guess what, he is now questioning how independent the Appeals committee is. In the interests of the whitewashing industry could someone at High Holborn please at least draw a family tree, showing who is related to who.
How does the “BHA’s” independence work anyway, they subsidise, and by implication approve, the ROA with discounted fees (which are still outrageously high – bordering on criminal), yet not the NTF?

Rules are Rules

There was a rather astounding incident at Worcester earlier in the year when the stewards made some Rules of Racing up as they went along.
I thought that was more generally known as anarchy but seemingly not in the realm of the BHA.
A horse called Green and Gold (gambled on and part-owned by Sir Alex Ferguson) won a hurdle race at the below-tariff (irrelevant to the story but true all the same) track on Wednesday.
The jockey, Paul Moloney, weighed in a pound and half light.
Now, the rules state that you can weigh in a pound light and understandably it was a hot day and he may well have sweated a little.
However, a pound and a half is not a pound (even when you do the conversion to kilos) yet the stewards decided for a string of very convoluted reasons not to disqualify the horse.
Whilst delighted that common sense prevailed, it is hardly the way the buffoons normally work.

Un–Converted

Could someone tell RFC that 200m is a metre short of a furlong and that one of the things people like about racing is its old fashioned way of doing things (thought they might have learnt when they tried decimal odds)
Continuing this process, calling the 20,000 Guineas the £21,000 loses both the history and the romanticism.