Firstly, what does the festival mean to you as
a bookmaker and as a racing fan?
The festival
is the principal betting event of the year with its competitive racing and
small fields. Even though I’m a bookie – it’s as enjoyable for me to attend as
any other racegoer. Form of horses in evidence through the preceding national
hunt season is often meaningless at Cheltenham.
As a bookie, could you tell us about your
biggest or most memorable wins and losses at the festival?
I can’t discuss specifics. Suffice to say many
wagers involve five figure sums and there’s plenty of lively betting and
opinions.
Your father was a very well-known bookmaker
said to be years ahead of his time in terms of promotion. What lessons of the
trade did you learn from him?
I learned the
value of looking after punters as customers and treating them with the respect
they deserve. Many modern day bookmakers view punters as ‘fodder’ – poor
business plan.
What favourites worry you the most at the
festival this year?
Un De Sceaux
because the Arkle cuts up so badly and has become meaningless. Some Arkle
winners have come out subsequently and been moderate – it shows the lack of
enterprise in certain connections.
As a fan, have you got any fancies of your own
so far?
I don’t
head to the festival fancying horses or studying form. It’s a pure betting
experience for me.
Has there been anything to report in the ante
post markets with your customers so far? Any general market support or any individual
big ante post bets?
Most ante
post markets are quiet – Mullins being able to send 20+ horses to one race and
multiple targets have reduced most markets to a nonsense. We can’t formulate
markets until we have reasonably firm entries.
Obviously the retirement of AP McCoy will
dominate the headlines as we approach the end of the season. Could you give a
few words on McCoy?
McCoy is
most certainly greatest jump jockey of the modern era. It’s nonsense to say
others are better. Records speak for themselves. He’s retiring at the peak of
his career , it appears knee jerk to me. It’s of course acceptable to retire as
you feel your powers on the wane, but not after riding fastest 200 winners in a
season – and with Jonjo O’Neill apparently incapable of training horses. The
retirement of McCoy is a huge blow to a struggling code.
What other factors do you find tend to affect
people’s betting habits more than they should, and what should be focused on
more when considering what to back?
Too much
focus on betting exchanges from bookmakers and punters alike. Always look for
value- even if it’s an exchange negative. With such poor liquidity in evidence
and nobody laying horses these days other than BOTS, punters need to get back
to old fashion form at the best meetings. The lesser meetings – particularly
the all-weather – are rife with crooked activity and should be avoided as a
medium. Except if you’ve nothing better to do.
Who in your opinion are the best or most
underrated jockeys over jumps and on the flat? Likewise, who are the best or
most underrated trainers? As a bookie, are there any yards which you fear
runners from more than others?
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| "Geraghty is outstanding - he made Henderson what he is today, at least in part." |
Geraghty is
outstanding – he made Henderson what he is today, at least in part. His talent
is still under rated in my view. I fear Nicholls because he works his horses,
as he should, and his consistency is admirable.
People hear the bookmakers complaining regularly
about having a losing day after a few favourites come in, but most punters are
still dubious about how often the bookmakers actually make a loss. How much of
the time would you say the bookmaker tends to come out on top?
On track –
and if you’re not trading every penny back on exchanges – the bookmaker is 2/1
to win these days, so many adverse factors – betting to exchange odds is
patently unprofitable. Off track most firms have turned to other products to
make money. Hence the festival will be characterised by amazing offers and
deals which guarantee a loss in many races – this never used to be so. But
other products such as machines and football have taken over.
You’ve been fairly outspoken in the past about
the current state of both bookmaking and racing. Could you outline what the
main issues are in the industries?
Racing has
to man up to its issues and stop heading the advice of vested interest. Field
sizes are decimated, trainers have far too many opportunities particularly at
the graded end of the sport, people are no longer racing midweek, Channel 4
struggles for viewers when it’s fed a diet of 5 runner events, most racing is
sponsored by betting, TV networks such as ATR and RUK and the Racing Post are
totally ruled by reliance on betting as advertisers.
What steps would you take to improve racing for
the connections, the punters, the bookmakers?
I would cut
the programme by a quarter. I would dissolve the current structure of the BHA
which has proved ineffectual and weak in addressing racing’s issues. We need a
strong and totally independent governing body to manage the sport, to include
the racetracks. Every decision should be based on what’s best for racing and
not a racetrack, owner, trainer or bettor.
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