Fame and Glory - A Trip Too Far?

I'm back, dear friends, from my mountainside exertions in the luverrly Lake District last week and - much to my own surprise and relief - I'm still in one piece. I have to admit that I wasn't charging across the fells with quite the same speed and abandon as in my youth but these days comfort is rather more of a priority than speed.

Rashly I also made plans to spend a few days in Devon with friends straight after my Lake District sojourn. As a result, what was planned as a relaxing week or so recharging the batteries turned into an 1800 miles in 8 days driving marathon. I think I need a holiday to recover from my holiday.

Anyway, enough of my off topic ramblings. A few things to mention today.

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For those of you who were, most kindly, involved in the recent Value Betting Strategy test I will be sending out a full review/analysis of the testing period later today. The test went well though it performed a little below long term expectations. However, most excitingly, one of the testers has drawn my attention to a potential tweak to the selections that would have increased profits more than five fold and reduced the number of bets. I'm extremely excited about this - I've applied the tweak to the results I have for the last few years and it seems those results would have been similarly improved.

Watch this space in the next week or so for news of the service I will be launching - omly a  select few will be lucky enough to secure a place. I firmly believe that this service will be a massive success and provide a genuine opportunity to generate a full time income from an investment of about an hour a day. More to follow!

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I spotted a decent betting offer this morning for people who have the Racing Post app on their phone.

They will refund any bet struck with William Hill on the Gold Cup (up to £50 placed using the Racing Post app) if Fame and Glory wins. Now, I'm a firm believer that Fame and Glory will get the trip and do the business today but it does remain to be proven and a cover bet, with money back should Fame and Glory do the business, makes a lot of appeal.

With that in mind, I've cast my eye over the field and have to admit to a small fancy for Opinion Poll. He's seen some market support this morning bringing him in from 22/1 to 16's. With the wunderkind on board, I think I'll keep on the right side of him by taking advantage of this generous offer. Never look a gift horse in the mouth as they say!

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The BHA is in the middle of a wide ranging review/investigation into the use of the whip in racing. I always find this a tough one. My gut feeling is that I don't like to see a horse hit (let alone thrashed as we sometimes see) but I'm well aware that some horses are just plain lazy and won't even get into a race without some use of the whip.

I don't think the current rules work very well - they leave an awful lot open to interpretation and this causes them to be applied inconsistently and often unfairly.

The issue was brought into sharp focus yesterday when Frankie Dettori picked up a 9 day ban for his ride on Rewilding. I can see all points of view one this one. Were I  lucky enough to be a connection of that horse, I would have expected nothing less of Dettori that what he did. The horse was clearly responding to the whip and was closing fast.

However, as a neutral observer he did hit the horse a lot of times and, for a novice viewer of racing, it could well have looked cruel and excessive.

I think this is something that racing has to get right. If we are to attract more race-goers (and we surely need to), the widely held belief that racing is cruel to the horses must be addressed and dealt with. Readers thoughts and ideas on this issue would, as always, be warmly welcomed.

That's all from me today.

Whatever you're backing - very, very good luck with it

Kieran

P.S. I've just had a very strong word for Labore in the 9.20pm at Leicester tonight. Currently 4/1 with Totesport.