Wednesday 20 February 2019

Mis-match of the day

If you’re trying to gee up interest in the Oxford versus Cambridge boat race, great. If you’re a boxing promoter attempting to flog seats and/or satellite pays-per-view for what promises to be a bruising encounter between two heavyweights, I totally get it.

What I don’t understand is why racecourses, especially in the build-up to a mega horse racing event like the Cheltenham Festival, feel the need to boil down contests to a match. 

Earlier this week, Cheltenham racecourse did just that when it tweeted “Will it be Buveur D’Air vs Apple’s Jade for the @unibet Champion Hurdle?”.

Horse race ‘matches’ were popular two hundred years ago but are an anachronism nowadays. They're not a particularly constructive way to promote the sport in the 21st century and won't send revenues soaring from betting turnover. 

At the time of writing, a dozen or more runners could still line up for the Festival's first big championship race on 12 March. So what does this sort of promotion say to the remainder of the participants?

Aside from the top two in the ante-post betting market, you’d imagine connections of the likes of Laurina, Verdana Blue and Sharjah all fancy their chances this year in what’s probably a more open race than several pundits would have you believe (Hardy Eustace was sent off at 33/1 when he took the first of his two Champion Hurdle crowns and, more recently, Punjabi returned at 22/1 in 2009).

While I’m at it, the binary idea of ‘UK vs Ireland’ at the Festival is a load of baloney as well. Good craic, my posterior. Thanks to Brexit, just about the last thing the UK needs right now is another 'us and them' scenario.

There’s only one match I’m interested in against a Cotswolds backdrop in three weeks’ time and that’s punters versus bookmakers.

Incidentally, if one of the latter could quote me a price for a mares 1-2-3 in the big race, that would be just dandy. I'm looking for in excess of 28/1...

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