HOW CROOKED IS OUR GAME OF KINGS?

Whenever i speak to friends about the racing game,their always seems to be some sort of story about a fixed race,or a jockey dropping his hands or whatever.Can some of our jocks post under anonymous and clarify how crooked our game is,or is that rocking the boat???????

Sad to say this is one of the clouds that has hung over racing from the year dot!

Posts would be welcome on how to clean up the game, or how to market and promote the game to non racing people.

I do not think racing is as crooked as many people may think.

Most owners, if not all, want to win. Their trainers want to win, and when the jock or his agent call for the ride i think they want to win too.

Owners are not fools when it comes to watching there horses, and while they may fool themselves that horses are better than they are, this only goes so far.

Ultimately, crookery must come down to not winning when you can. These days especially this would have to involve a hot horse. Given the lengths most connections go to try and win races, from travelling (incl jocks) to drugs and preperations and stakes and everything else, to be sold out by a jockey at the end is just shameful.

But I must add that there are no secrets at the end of the day. IF, big IF, a jockey sold out, it would have to be to a bookmaker and that bookmaker would have to trade heavily against the flow to make the proper profit that equals the risk. Staff and/or friends and/or associates will know, and it always leaks out.

I think one has to differentiate between talk/gossip/insider info and crookery. Even jocks backing horses or tipping to big punters and bookmakers does not mean the fix is in.

Finally, every endeavour that involves money like casinos, stocks & shares, property. commissions, black empowerment, government contracts...all smell to high heaven. In the end we just assume it's happening somewhere..but most people you actually know are decent despite the wicked few.

Thanks Jack, good post.

Captain Ryan Price: Nearly all skulduggery in horse racing can be traced back to bookmakers. ????

i thought the problem was always that you COULDN'T trace it back to the bookies!

the truth is, only the connections can fix a race. sure, the money may pass through the bookie or the tote but a bookie cannot fix a race without the active participation of one or more connections.

theoretically any horse running at 4/1 or less (ie. a 20% chance or better) can guarantee you a tote profit

plenty of examples of races that were attempted to be fixed but it didn't turn out as planned

but 95% of those in the game to their credit won't entertain the discussion

Why fix races..just lay a horse you train or own that you know cant win..through missed training sick etc

you got to love the fact,that we know some parts of racing is bent but still take part regardless.. infact i think we like the bent parts(or expect it to be going on)look at the admiration we give trainers when they bring of a coup,when we should really be saying where did that run come from

Studying form is sometimes more about who you think is gonna try pull a move more than which is the best horse in the field

Which horse by missing the frame will make the P6 or PA worth some kind of money.

Scotia, refer back to discussion earlier this year related to barrier/time trials...those ideas keep getting conveniently shelved to the detriment of racing being made more transparent and open to the market of punters.