Departmental Two-Step

If racing moved into the Agricultural camp it would make sense that all horse related endeavours should be grouped together. Showjumping, hunting, trotting, etc.
Why is racing currently lumped together with dogs? The only crossover between those two sports is betting.
On the issue of funding, how come jockeys don’t qualify for sports grants? All our so called Olympic athletes earn a living from grants.

I suppose why not Joe, the Olympics which was the bastion of amateurism has become nothing of the sort as TV pulls the strings.

Isn’t racing already benefitting greatly from the dept of agriculture?, it seems to become a member of horse racings regulatory body you have to own and run a stud farm?, punters who have been watching and studying racing for donkeys years need not reply [sure what the hell would they know? a lot more than they are given credit for, you better believe it!!!], just in case you might spot a non trier, one of the million and one the Stud Farmers [TURF CLUB] ignore every year, the dramatic improvements in form, aah sure horses are not machines, machines wont work properly either if they don’t get sufficient oil.
For some reason the seven dwarfs spring to mind?, they have shovels and picks but not for the benefit of the general public but to tend to their Stud Farms, they are too busy caring for their lush fields to bother about more important things like regulating racing correctly.
Best of both worlds and both depts!.

that should be apply not reply before one of the incestuals get in a cheap shot.

I have a funny feeling that BOC could post a blog about the colour of grass and Patrick would still find some way to link it to non triers and the crookedness of the Turf Club. Keep up the good work Patrick, remember all the great truths started as great blasphemies.

I lasted all of two days in my attempt to give up fags [not the gay type!] Ted, so decided my new year resolution instead was to be even more vocal in my one man crusade to expose the farce that is the IRISH TURF CLUB.

PATRICK. Please explain how you think the Turf Club is a farce considering it has been in existence for around 200 years, run racing through times of depression, recession and growth and yet is still around COMPARED to HRI which has punters and non stud owning people running it and yet it is HRI’s fault for the never ending decline that racing is experiencing at this time?

Consider all parts of the above passage before ranting, I mean answering.

This weeks subject matter is too deep for my limited brain, but what do you think of taxing the bookies and exchanges until they cry while no taxes on the course bookies.

Well James I’ll put it this way, take the Hong Kong jockey club, they actually brought in a rule where if a trainer hadn’t trained 20 winners in a season he would have to renew his licence, the integrity of the sport is paramount to them, people put millions of their hard earned on this sport every year and they believe their money should be protected from cheats, not in this country, people like Martin, Byrnes and Curley are looked at as some sort of demigods, the Dick Francis novel attitude still exists in the mindset of many in this country, aah sure cheating is almost romantic and we have regulators and hacks who still buy into this dinosaur mindset.

HRI don’t really know what they want except more money from someone. I suppose building the pointless second stand in Cork was part of what BOC alludes to in kissing ministerial ass, what with old FF pal Joe Walsh being the bossman down there, I suppose they wanted to be nice to him by building him another nice new red brick building. I would have thought you attract the crowds first, then you expand the facilities. They might have put a bit more thought into where they sited the track aswell, some sort of drainage is normally useful when horses are galloping on turf.

As for the Turf Club, they’re skint, I’m surprised they’re still able to fulfill their responsibilities under the act at all to be honest. They’re damn lucky they hadn’t knocked the stands they had on the Curragh or the stewards would be watching the race from a Duffy’s Circus big top near the old stands. I wouldn’t mind but there’s no one going racing there anyway, a bit of a refurb would do at this stage.

All in all, the game is in a bit of a mess.

You are doing you best to get this site closed down, patrick. Good man yourself.

but Patrick you didn’t answer my question.

by the way patrick, Barney Curley is based in the UK therefore under the jurisdiction of the BHB and out of over 350 licensed trainers in Ireland, both public and private, you named only two that you feel are cheats etc etc. So, out of 350, 2 are cheats and demigods according to you and 348 are not BUT yet you have generalised and tarred all 350 with the brush of 2 people????

Gowran Park have, to me, always been one THE worst Irish racecourse when it comes to marketing their product, and, indeed, giving value for money. They have always struck me as a racecourse with no real love of the game, no real understanding of what the punter wants, nor interest in same.

On the Irishracing.com homepage Gowran advertise a e40 ‘Thyestes Punters Package.’ However, when you click through there is NO package on offer. When you click on ‘racing special offers,’ on the drop-down menu of their website, you will see a previous offer for e35 that gives no value to the vouchers it offers, ie, it’s a meaningless offer, and, I think, actually dates back to autumn of last year.

Thyestes Chase day is Gowran’s big day of the year. Most other days, except for the Red Mills Day, are washouts, especially the flat meeting, despite the fact that Ireland’s top flat trainers rate the track highly and use it frequently.

Few racecourses sow the seeds of their own demise with such green-fingered expertise as do Gowran. Other raceourses please take note.

James if you have been reading this blog on a regular basis, you will be well aware why I think the Stud Farmers are a farce of a regulatory sporting body. Ever since I have been interested in horse racing they have been pursuing a policy of an appeasement rather than prevention, almost apologetic in their implementation, not once that I can remember have they ever used the full powers that are available to them in fact quite the opposite about 95% of the time they use the bare minimum.
Someone mentioned that the Turf Club are skint, well this is their chance to swell their coffers, start by been much more forceful in their implementation and start putting the protection of the general publics money first and foremost, that is afterall why they are employed in the first place.
Backbones are in short supply it seems at Irelands regulatory body, more worried about appeasing and not upsetting the natives [old and new friends] than doing their job properly.

On the issue of the Turf club…Slavery lasted for more than 200 years doesnt mean that it was good.

The HRI board is made up of 5 Turf Club reps so they still have a big say in how the sport is run.

And yes they are broke and will end up bankrupt if the continue with building a Facility that will only be full on one day of the year.

Tally Hoe!!!!!!

There is no “E” in Tally Ho

Christ, what a crap blog with so many little oneupmanship nitpicking contributions.

Brian’s article in The Irish Times yesterday about the HRI figures was well written and much more interesting. Plenty of food for thought there.

While on the subject of The Irish Times, does anyone know who Roddy L’Estrange is? He writes the satirical piece “Against The Odds” in the sports section every Wednesday. I presume its a pen name for someone like Tony Sweeney or Vincent Finegan. Whoever it is, its good stuff and at this stage RTE should be looking at it as Satirical Soap material, instead of the likes of Val Falvey TD and other rubbish.

I must say, some of Brian’s metaphors are a little embarrassing. The image of Martin Cullen in panties is not something I wish to see in an opinion piece while I’m trying to enjoy a mug of tea.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2010/0120/1224262708785.html
……………………………………………………….
Having read the article ruprecht one thing that stands out to me is that HRI had no plan B, I suppose like many they thought the good times would last forever and now all of a sudden they’ve had a right eye opening reality check.
The ones I feel sorry for are the ones at the bottom rung of the ladder in all walks of the racing product, as thats where the axe usually falls first.
The Fat Cats are not unduly worried about financial stability as they’ve no doubt saved plenty for a rainy day when they were living it up on the goverment handouts.
I can picture a similar scenario especially as regards jump racing where all half decent bumper and juvenile hurdling performers were sold across the water back in the 80’s, not so much that they’ll all find their way across the water [many will anyway] but many will remain in this country but the smaller owner of a decent animal will find it harder to resist the temptation to sell when the more wealthy Irish owners [the ones whose vast majority of their wealth lies outside of this country] come calling with hard to refuse offers when the current financial situation is brought into consideration, in a nutshell jump racing will become like flat racing where a few Fat Cats own virtually every decent performer, Danoli fairytales will be a thing of the past, less smaller owners means the smaller trainer suffers which all has a knock on effect on the bread and butter of horse racing the overworked, underpaid stable staff.

For racing to try and grab back a bit of stability its essential they get their cut of the off course and online markets, how about Tote Ireland branching out to Irelands high streets offering a similar product to what the traditional bookies do, and also have a shop on every racecourse in Ireland instead of the major bookies cornering that market the only bookmakers allowed on course should be the ones in the ring, and have Irish Tote betting machines in all the other high street boomakers, the Tote in Britain have 540 shops across the country and outlets on 60 of Britains racecourses, only thing! I think the Tote in Britain is soon to be privatized [if it already hasn’t?].
Whether any of this is financially viable in the current climate I don’t know, but its something that should have been done years ago, but nobody at HRI had the foresight or more to the point the balls and the creativity to spice up what has to be one of the most static and dull betting options that is currently available to punters TOTE IRELAND!.
I’m sure if a law needed changing that would have been no problem such was the cavorting of politicians and racings heirarchy in recent times.
One thing that has always amazed me, how betting exchanges ever got through goverment legislation across the water is beyond me, they’re a cheats paradise no matter how much people try to dress it up. The introduction of exchanges has had a massive effect on racing in this country too. I use them myself, but if they banned them in the morning it would be quite understandable, but thats not going to happen!.

Brian does a very good job as a HRI spin doctor in that article, [a couple of spins below from his article below]

“What had been a mostly positive decade for Ireland’s most successful international sport”

“but for a country in which racing employs over 15,000 people, and generates international success at a rate unequalled in any other sport, it is an issue central to any future recovery.”

Brian comparing horse racing with other sports where the stars are human not four legged dumb animals is just silly and an obvious attempt to put spin on HRI’s current predicament, in other words trying to feather your own nest.
If John Magnier never stood Sadlers Wells in this country we would be pretty much a backwater in world racing terms, fortunately two sons of Sadlers Wells, Montjeu and Galileo also stand at Coolmore and will carry the flag in breeding terms for the foreseeable future, but there can be no doubt that without Coolmore who also benefitted greatly by the goverment tax exemption on stallions, Irish racing would have remained pretty much static.

I’m going on a bit as usual, but anyone who was watching Oliver Bradys customary winners speech the other day you couldn’t help but notice that the crowd gathered round probably had an average age of a 101 years.

Patrick
Why can’t you get your points across in this manner more often. Your above piece makes loads of sense and would mirror many of my own views on the current state of the industry.
The Tote had a forward thinking leader a few years back, but unfortunately he was too much of a maverick for the pwoers that be. pity.

Yes indeed - well put Patrick. Your point on Tote Ireland is very valid. I have often wondered how come they did not have a High Street presence here myself and had also to compete against the likes of PP etc on course - I always thought I must have been missing something obvious.

HRI are of couse well in with The High Street Bookies as they seem to sponsor about half the major races in Ireland and also pay generous rents for their space to Irish racecourses, some of which are owned by HRI. You can also do the Tote now in Ladbrokes as well and I am sure they also paying HRI/Tote handsomely for the privilige. Then the likes of Chronicle have their big box in Leopardstown for which they pay HRI handsomely. All very cosy. Why rock the boat?

Your point is also very valid on the exchanges. I dont like the fact that people can legally bet on a horse to lose. In my opinion it only encourages Skulduggery.

One point I differ on - If that was a week-end meet in Naas you would have had a younger crowd. I would have been there for one! I was raging I missed it. With it being rescheduled for Tues you only got the OAP’s there as the younger crowd and those with families were working/at school/college etc and those unfortunate not to be working could not afford to be going gambling. However that raises a point in itself - should HRI be rescheduling such meets to working days when they will only get a small limited attendance. Id say the course and bookies made f all on Tues after expenses, probably a loss - its probably all about the ATR money right……

im looking for a farrier to take me on for an apprenticeship with fas and race in kildare if anybody can help give me a shout cheers

i see patrick getting a lot of stick here, but i am a long time avidly following racing in this country (like you all) and have a huge knowledge of who’s who in the industry at all levels, PATRICK is correct in harbouring serious doubt about the effectiveness of the TURF CLUB in protecting the integrity of racing. the dogs on the street know well there are a list of trainers the length of your arm who are known to be ”cute hoor’s” or ”quare hawks” or dare i call them something else ? patrick mentions 2 or 3 but there are many, and yes to a degree it generates a sense of mischief and an entertaining element but cheating the handicapper is equal to cheating the racegoer. The TURF CLUB membership is a prestige - society thing as much as anything else. the type of mindset that is or should be outdated. JIM BOLGER has had huge grievances with this body for as long as i can remember, the same JIM is in my opinion the most straight talking man in the game, across the water MARK JOHNSTON is equally forthright. i.e. there are people in positions in the TURF CLUB and JOCKEY CLUB who are a waste of time, and have no purpose other than to enhance their standing among those they know.
as regards which dept. racing comes under well does it make any difference ?
if the people at the top table of racing HRI - TURF CLUB are skilled enough they will get the best from GOVERNMENT for the sport, you can always dream !

The people who invented the exchanges have to be congratulated on their vision ruprecht, its one of those entrepreneurial success stories that you can only dream about, but their contribution towards to racing is minimal considering the massive share of the market they enjoy.
I remember before the exchanges were introduced they were plenty of dissenting voices not least the traditional bookmakers [for obvious reasons], Peter Savill was probably the most vocal as regards what exchanges could do to the integrity of racing, his doubts at the time have been proven correct as most of the bad headlines racing has been getting in recent times has to do with the exchanges. The exchange apologists usually trot out the tired old argument about the Betfair security dept reporting suspicious betting patterns to the BHA, sure why wouldn’t they? its their only form of defence from the very real accusations that its a cheats paradise. The apologists of course all enjoy the variety of different betting opportunities that that the exchanges offer and are willing to turn a blind eye to the exchanges negative side, a lot of these write for or are tipsters for the Racing Post, so the exchanges have friends in the right place to defend their product.
How did racing survive 10 year ago before exchanges?, everyone was quite happy to have a bet with the traditional bookmakers, punters were getting on quite fine, in truth there was no need for exchanges but there here now and here to stay it seems, even if the evidence has stacked up against them that they encourage skullduggery, and believe me we will have many more cases of skullduggery as regards the exchanges in the not so distant future, one thing that does baffle me is that we haven’t had one person involved in racing in this country that uses betfair for less than ethical means brought before a disciplinary hearing and charged, or maybe a certain regulatory body are refusing to act on information recieved?, hard to believe everyone involved in Irish racing are so squeaky clean that they would ignore such a dangling carrot.
Getting back to the traditional bookmakers they quite cleverly manipulated the racing ruling bodies over the years so much so that the likes of the BHA and HRI are nothing more than foster children been nurtured by the bookmakers and in HRI’s case the goverment too, they control the Racing Post, they control ATR & RUK, they control the vast majority of racetracks especially across the water, with that comes very poor quality racing the type bookmakers encourage, but Britain and Ireland are joined at the hip as regards racing so anything that goes on over there usually has big bearing on what goes on over here.
I see what you are saying as regards midweek meetings ruprecht, I’ve no doubt that most of the people who go racing midweek have time on their hands either long time retired or recently retired, but you will still find that the majority who attend at the w/end also, would be OAP’s or closing in, most of these have been going racing for donkeys years and its like a religion to them, I can’t see the next generation been as hardcore in their loyalty to racing, too many distractions, thats why I think HRI should be looking to other ways to fund their product as I believe attendances will continue to decline and will never ever recover, by all means keep trying but to be honest I think it will be fruitless exercise they just have to get used to reduced attendance, maybe the culling of midweek meetings altogether will be a start?.

” in a nutshell jump racing will become like flat racing where a few Fat Cats own virtually every decent performer,”

What do you mean “will” - isnt that the position now as it is - JP McManus, Michael O Leary (Gigginstown) etc,,,but at least O Leary lives here and pays his taxes to help out. As for Martinstown and a lake in the shape of County Limerick ?? - talk about losing the run of yourself

Re: the lake in the shape of County Limerick , somebody should warn McManus what happened to Louis XVI and Versailles and the hubris and vanity of it all - what will he come up with next - a country in Dubai in the shape of Ireland ?? You can take the man out of the bog but you cant….

Declan it goes without saying that I can relate to virtually everything you said, but have to take you to task over Mark Johnson, he’s outspoken alright but all of it is self serving mush imo, he makes no secret as to his animosity towards punters.
I’m not always in agreement with Bruce Millington [RP Editor] but he writes an excellent piece at the back of todays post, where he takes Johnson to task over his blinkered views and makes some compelling arguments as to why racing should be looking to promote betting first and foremost.

DK, you’re right in a way, but in the not so distant future we will probably have at least half of every 20 runner plus maiden hurdle been contested by the McManus and Gigginstown colours.

Patrick, I must say that I do enjoy reading your comments.
I am well aware that a fair percentage of your comments are ott but a lot of what you have to say is very sharp and incisive and,what I call,on the money. I hope that you will keep the comments coming.

I for one have been very quick to knock Patrick over his comments in the past, but he is making alot of sense at the moment - The premier league protected there 3pm Saturday kick offs by having a blanket ban on TV coverage, this insured that people would go to the games and not sit at home and watch it on Sky.
I wonder what would happen if AIR and HRI were to put a blanket ban on all teleivised racing, they could could then strike a deal with the bookmakers about betting tax and a daily fee that would included extra money to cover gate losses due to people staying at home for the comfort of ATR, take this saturday for instance Leopardstown, Navan, Ascot and Haydock four cracking jump cards all live on the tv, why would you bother going racing if you could wacth all this and bet from the comfort of your own home.

€100,000 a day for tv rights x 340 days racing €34 million in revenue. at the moment they pull in around 10 million for their tv rights. Racing is the product why do we sell it so cheap?

Agree 100% with the poster re Gowran Park. As a regular visitor down that end of the world I have been racing many times down there. It must be the nicest course in Ireland but the management down there are a pure disaster. Like the previous poster I clicked on the EUr40 package to find nothing behind it. I once brought a group down for a corporate day and although the facilities are top class, the food and service were terrible. With the likes of the bowes, mullins and many more geniuses down there wouldnt you think that their local course wo do something to show their appreciation. In Bowes case it was Naas and Navan who honoured their achievements. To me, the powers that be in the course are 20 yrs behind the time and see the national hunt crowd as a secondary citizen behind their flat clientele. They should be encouraging and begging local people onto the course and not showing total apathy towards them. the track and local fans and trainers deserve far better. But sure thats what has racing where it is I suppose, just not living in the present day at all

“Horse Racing Ireland’s “Mission Statement” is “to develop and promote
Ireland as a world centre of excellence for horse racing and breeding.”

Well then, why are they allowing such a proliferation of substandard stock and breeding programs to exist here which leads to overproduction? Why not take a stance on the breeding industry and insist that future stallions must be vetted thoroughly and should genetic issues arise with their offspring, then they should be removed from the rosters. How many on here, have bought horses who turned out to have wind problems with paralasis of the larnyx? That is a recessive gene showing up in the mare and stallion. Should stallions that have this gene be allowed stand and cover more mares, season after season? Should stallions that produce horses with parrots mouths be allowed cover mares? I most certainly feel that they shouldn’t but yet they are allowed. Some of the big named stallions can produce horses with wind problems. This does nothing to improve the thoroughbred as a breed. Maybe horse racing comes under the Department of Sport, because if it came under the Department of Agriculture, those incharge may be embarrassed about the assessment procedures and vetting that the registered sport horse stallion has to undergo to be approved or maybe even forced to adopt similar procedures?

As regards who is racing for, well it is a sport / industry which is for every sector of the sport / industry and is part of a lot of people’s social calendar. In fact I read a report and I cannot remember where (so I’m unable to dig it up), but from memory 40 something per cent of attendees at race meeting’s were there for the social side of racing. If this is the case and it was the largest sector of the pie, then investment and improvement in the tracks must continue in the medium to longer term. So while purists may be pissed off with the large hats on ladies day, maybe more should be done to attract the ladies, because those purists attending were only a very small percentage.

I’m for TV as I believe it provides promotion of the product. However in a serious overhaul of the whole funding structure, would it be not be advisable that a terrestrial or free to air “Tote” racing channel be established for Irish viewers to start with, in addition to selling rights to ATR. Digital terrestrial tv is on the way, so that frees up a whole lot of spectrum in the airwaves to deliver the channel. Also my understanding is that Sky buys the rights so that it can make revenue off Skybet. So if that is the case, why the hell can’t it be done by racing through an efficient, effective and well run Tote? Have Tote betting facilities through the remote control of the set top box with such a digital channel. Still, sell the rights to ATR, as I’m sure that they will still have a large following for the channel in the UK, and racing still retains revenue though this channel.

Patrick has very good queries and asks why isnt Tote competing with PP and the likes on the High Streets. I’d go one step further and suggest why couldn’t tote be in every shop, newsagent etc that has the facility for the Lotto. Isn’t it classified similarly to lotto and different to regular bookmaking operations as regards legislation? (Even if it is not, I’m sure with political will it could be quite easily). Please correct me if I’m wrong on this, but I believe I read that somewhere, or maybe somebody posted it on here a while. If this is possible, think of the benefits for tote and the contribution back to racing, selling a product with no fixed overheads only a percentage commission on every bet. Maybe they this type of facility would also end up being more socially responsible with betting limits! Still though, bookies, exchanges etc must pay more and substantially more. It must be forced upon them, no if’s and no but’s. It’s hard not to rant on, but these guys are not contributing what they should be to a product which derives them a lot of revenue.

To me racing is a sport and I’d agree with BOC’s sentiments where we stand on the world stage, despite our obvious issues, problems and shortcomings.

The answer to many of Irish Racings problems is to have the Tote on the high street making money for racing instead of private shareholders, many of whom do not reside in this country or pay tax.

The reason why the Tote is not allowed to operate to its full capacity is due to the powerful bookmaker lobby that exists at the top level of Irish Racing which ensures that profits go to individuals rather that Racing.

HRI is bookmaker controlled and run, along with 2 or 3 other very powerful people. Until this changes the Tote will never be allowed to grow.

With regard to the Breeding problems and bad stock, unfortunately nothing can be done legally to regulate this area as everybody is entitled by law to breed whatever they want.

The Terrestrial TV rights are owned by RTE so they have the monopoly on that.

CH, this is evidence in relation to your point “Still though, bookies, exchanges etc must pay more and substantially more. It must be forced upon them, no if’s and no but’s. It’s hard not to rant on, but these guys are not contributing what they should be to a product which derives them a lot of revenue”.

Brian’s article in the IT today on Gambling Laws highlights that Betfair who had been making a “voluntary” €1.2 million payment to racing in Ireland, have contributed nothing since the start of 2009. Says it all that…….

If as The Oracle says that “the Tote is not allowed to operate to its full capacity .. due to the powerful bookmaker lobby that exists at the top level of Irish Racing which ensures that profits go to individuals rather that Racing” is correct there needs to be a revolution.

I don’t think HRI is bookmaker controlled and run. HRI have been calling for changes to be made, to bring Revenue back into the sport. I could be wrong though.

Nothing is being done on the breeding side, because there is no appetite to do anything about it. And yet today, we see in the Racing Post where genetic studies were being undertaken to try to determine the optimum distance of an equine athlete.

http://www.racingpost.com/news/bloodstock/m-johnston-tom-dascombe-sir-mark-prescott-cautious-optimism-over-genetic-breakthrough/674006/

It will be interesting to see the reaction of the studs over the coming months to this. When they are testing, maybe they will test and declare the results of further tests for the gene relating to wind problems? Somehow I don’t think this is likely.

If RTE have the terrestrial rights for racing, then when it comes to the next time around, it would be up to the negotiators to dictate the terms and still allow for a specialist “free” racing channel. But like everything else there would need to be an appetite and a want to do it.

Brian’s article in the IT today on Gambling Laws highlights that Betfair who had been making a “voluntary” €1.2 million payment to racing in Ireland, have contributed nothing since the start of 2009. Says it all that…….

Hell Ruprecht, I didn’t know that. That is an absolute disgrace. This needs to be arrested, something needs to be done now. It should not continue. HRI or whoever should go to all the main political parties and tell them that in return for changing the laws and forcing these gangsters to contribute their share, that the Greyhound and Horseracing Subsidy could be redistributed to other government departments requiring funding. It seems to be a systemic issue, with Irish people, that we allow ourselves to be continuously screwed by people in control and while we may moan a bit, nobody justs says, enough is bloody enough!

RTE do not own any tv rights to Irish racing, they request and get whatever days they want(17) due to the fact that it is national TV and not a pay per view service, they have no input into the price paid to racecourses by ATR and SIS for there everyday broadcasts of Irish Racing.

This blog is totally confusing and contradictory - Obe blogger says RTE have the TV rights another says they do not. Nobody seems to agree on or know the facts as they are. =How in blazes will they agree on whats to be done about it if we dont even know whats the facts are Call in Joe Friday?

Link to BOC’s article in todays times,

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2010/0122/1224262842222.html

The reason HRI have got nothing from Betfair for the last year is because they came to an agreement for 10% of gross profit on the Irish product, a voluntary contribution and the same as what the BHA get. HRI then came back a year or two later, got in a huff, banged their fists on the table and demanded 20% of gross profit.

Betfair (a bit miffed at this tantrum) wisely withdrew their voluntary contribution and told them to shove it. One would have thought that HRI would have heard of the saying “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”. Maybe they thought they were Greeks bearing gifts or something? Upshot of all this is that the cash starved HRI have cut off their nose and have alot less money than they should have because of their hare-brained, hamfisted negotiation skills.

Required reading for the mandarins in HRI, ‘Getting to YES: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In’ by Uri & Fisher. It’s usually on the book list for 1st year business students. It might have prevented their ridiculous blunders with betting suitors like Betfair over the product fee and Paddy Power over the Punchestown betting shop embarrassment.

HRI is certainly not cash strapped. How many millions do they get from the government every year?

The only question is are they spending what they get properly. 6 runner maiden hurdles at Leopardstown?

Well said Mike; “Beggars can’t be choosers”. No disrespect to the good people in HRI but the real world has yet to hit them.

Tote down a quater of a million today at Leopadstown!!!!!!

Terrestrial TV rights are different to the TV rights that private companies like Atheraces and SIS secure.

Terrestrial TV rights are the ones that allow national brodcasters like RTE, CH4, TV3, BBC and ITV show racing to the general public free to air.

Their value is limited because its free to air and only securing a sponsor and advertising can bring in some revenue but in the main they loose money. Thats why RTE, BBC and CH4 are cutting back on racing coverage.

Well thee you have it, clear ,concise and acurate information on the TV rights position - well done and thank you

The Oracle has spoken

Whatever happened to my president nomination? me and D.D. were actually starting to get on……………….?

Resource Guy

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