Terrible scenes at Newbury

Awful stuff at Newbury today where to horses have been killed - it seems that they were electrocuted.

As an owner of a horse, I feel so so bad for all the connections and of course, for the poor horses themselves; Fenix Two and Marching Son.

It's a terrible tragedy really:  http://www.racingpost.com/news/horse-racing/newbury-launches-probe-after-horses-die-in-paddock/818358/top/

It also seems that a couple of horses were killed in action at Leopardstown so it was a bad day for racing all-round.

On a positive note, my main tip of the day for Irish Independent, Kempes, won the Irish Hennessy Gold Cup so I was delighted with that. Everyone was saying he won't like the ground but as pointed out in my article, he actually has a decent record on heavy:

http://www.independent.ie/sport/horse-racing/put-trust-in-kempes-to-help-you-score-big-2537135.html

Saturday February 12 2011

AS a small-time commodities and stock trader, I got exited the other night when flicking through the channels and discovered that the original 'Wall Street' movie, starring Michael Douglas, was about to start.

The missus had a bit of a face on her, as watching a 1980s film about trading is not exactly the most romantic thing to do on a night in. But it's a cracking flick nonetheless, full of classic one-liners and is a movie that comes highly recommended.

At one point, the young Bud Fox asks his millionaire trading mentor Gordon Gekko whether you can ever have enough money -- to which Gekko replies, "It's not a question of enough, pal. It's a zero sum game; somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn't lost or made; it's simply transferred from one perception to another."

With the wine flowing, I tried to explain to herself that betting on horses is a similar game where the real sense of achievement comes from having your opinion validated rather than winning money, but she was having none of it and rightly pointed out that it's easy to be philosophical when you have a couple of million in the bank like Michael Douglas!

validated

She deserves a medal for putting up with me and with Valentine's Day coming up, I need more than my opinion validated -- I need hard cash to treat her to a nice night out. That's why I'm going to Leopardstown today where I hope to make some bookmaker satchels a little lighter following the rescheduled Hennessy Gold Cup (3.15).

I wrote about this race last week and I guess my editor wouldn't be too pleased if I re-hash old copy so I'll keep it brief, and once again put up Kempes as the bet of the day, priced around 6/1.

At those odds, it's worth going each-way to get some money back if he's placed. In the racing columns, there seems to be a consensus that he won't like the heavier going and Willie Mullins stated this week that he was "not sure" if the ground would suit.

But I beg to differ and think it's worth taking a chance, especially now that stablemate Cooldine and Paul Nicholls' Pride of Dulcote have been withdrawn. In fact, his full record when racing on heavy ground reads 412211PU and he was going quite well when unseating Tony McCoy last-time-out, so I'm not too sure what all the fuss is about.

I think punters are over-reacting a little here, making Kempes' price of 6/1 quite attractive. Romance in Ireland is alive and well and any winnings will be spent on fine wine and dining on February 14. If it loses, I'm afraid we'll have to stay in with a DVD, although I somehow doubt she'll be keen on my choice of 'Wall Street, Money Never Sleeps' if I'm left out of pocket after today!