Saturday, July 01, 2006

Welcome to our new website

What I would like to do with this website is to enable anyone who is interested to get a taste of what is going on here, and to share some of the pleasure and excitement which these lovely horses give us all. So please feel free to browse through this site, which is updated regularly, to get a feel of what is happening, of what we are doing and thinking, to get to know the horses and the people involved, and to feel part of it.

I must, however, add one important caveat: this is not a tipping line. I say this now to save you time; if you think I am capable of providing – or would want to provide - a list of future winners and losers, you will be disappointed. Two main reasons make such a function an impossibility. Firstly, the horses here, with one or two exceptions, are not my property, so in the unlikely event of there being any critical information, positive or negative, regarding a horse’s future, my job is to provide that to the owner of the horse concerned, and to nobody else. Secondly, and as importantly, I do not know when the horses are going to win. The myth that racing is rigged and that trainers know the results in advance is, I am afraid, just a myth. I am usually asked by some idiot in the aftermath of one of our rare winners “Why didn’t you tell me that horse was going to win?”, and the answer is always the same: “Because I didn’t know”. I believe that I know more about the horses here than anyone alive, and that when they line up for a race I have a fairly good idea of how they are going to conduct themselves. But, of course, that is only part of predicting the result, because equally crucial is how the opponents are going to perform, and that is a question I am in no position to answer. I find training these few horses here a full-time job, so analysing the prospects of those prepared by rival trainers is something I leave alone. Therefore, if you want to know whether or not these horses are going to win when they run, buy a newspaper the day of the race and get the opinion of full-time form students who are far more qualified than I to provide an objective assessment of the relative merits and, therefore, chances of all the runners.

So if you are looking for an easy way to back a few winners, look elsewhere. If you are fascinated by celebrity, human and equine, look elsewhere, because we are operating on limited resources at the bottom end of the scale, so aren’t going to be making too many headlines. But if you love horses and love the sport of racing, please read this site. I hope you will enjoy it.

1 comment:

John Berry said...

An historic occasion indeed. I'd have been disappointed if anyone other than your good self had been the initial feedbacker. In a similar vein, you'll be pleased to learn that you are the subject of my initial posting on my weblog. Although you may be disappointed to see the exact contents of the references to the brahmameister. So keep logging on, and you may one day make it to the "Meet The Gang" section. You might also make it to the Winning Post Hall Of Fame too!