What’s your mission with this blog?

Is it merely to comment on your own horses or do you intend to broaden its scope.

How do you go about choosing a horse to buy and which trainer to use.
17 January 2007 11:38
Bert said…

I haven’t really decided where this is going yet motleycrew. I have shares in quite a number of horses now, which should give me enough to keep the blog fresh. You get a lot of insight as an owner which you don’t get as a punter, and I think there may be value in sharing that.

I think racing should be more transparent, and having a blog will let me at least be transparent about my involvement. I do intend to touch on other subjects, although it is a bit time consuming and I don’t have as much time as I would like. I don’t want to be selling Betfair (or anything else for that matter) as that would compromise the nature of the blog, but I expect I will touch on it from time to time if I can find interesting things to say.
17 January 2007 16:14
Eamonn Wilmott said…

Hi Bert,
Thanks for this as its very useful for anyone who has bought or is about to buy a racehorse. You mention cribbing in this post and there is a lot of detail on cribbers & windsuckers on the forum in http://www.horsesfirstclub.com
Part of Horses First Club is not allowing horses to be whipped - which John Francome recently came out against. Whats your view on your own horses being whipped? Stan Mellors interview on the subject is very interesting.
Good luck with all your horses
Eamonn Wilmott
PS We met at one of Willie Whitaker’s poker nights back when Betfair was just a good idea.
18 January 2007 11:19
Bert said…

Eamonn,
I remember the game well - I think it was the first time I became aware of Paradise Poker which was the top site back then. I haven’t seen Willie for ages - if you see him please pass on my best.

I don’t have strong views on use of the whip at the moment, but I do care about my horses and it’s important to me that they are happy. I’m no expert on race riding, but I wonder if the issue is more about strong use of the whip in driving finishes (often by inexperienced jockeys) rather than the odd slap mid race to keep the horse alert, which could be argued is in the horses best interest. Francome was a hero of mine, and to me his art was more about keeping a horse balanced and poised rather than beating out a performance - he’s a good man to champion the cause.
19 January 2007 04:17
Eamonn Wilmott said…

Will definitely say hi to Willie for you.
I was fortunate enough to speak to John Francome on the subject of use of the whip last week and he made the point that “the majority of horses don’t go any faster for hitting them” which is a pretty strong statement from someone who, as you say, was such a brilliant rider and horseman. He feels the same as we do that whipping horses is just bad for the game - it turns off lots of people who would otherwise be regular race goers. We discussed our trying to get a big race sponsor to insist that horses in their race couldn’t be hit as he felt the publicity for them would be incredible. He was quite passionate on the subject and it was impressive to hear as you obviously can’t question his experience and credentials. He was also good enough to give us a mention on The Morning Line on Saturday which was very kind of him.
It’s interesting that we came to this through our work with Monty Roberts and now just in the last few weeks we have two ex-champion jockeys Francome & Stan Mellor supporting the idea. Stan made the point that you do about using the whip as part of the overall communication between horse and rider although adding that for him “the whip was a bit a nuisance at times”. At some point we will be asked when one of our horses gets beat a short head wouldn’t we rather have given it a few whacks up the run-in and I know the answer. Maybe that’s because all the horses are trained here on the farm where we live and are part of the family, but also if your horses are happy (and feeling no pain - a big issue) then they will run their hearts out for you. If I could be so bold as to offer one piece of advice to you as an owner it would be to do all you can to keep your horses’ spirit intact. Even if you lump on for a race you’ve be planning for months - the thing is you still own the horse the next morning. Once a horse starts to go off the game it can get very tough.
I can’t see any positives for anyone in allowing the present use of whip so we’ll keep spreading the word and talking to more and more people and we’ll see how it unfolds.
I’ll look for you at the races in the weeks and months ahead and come and say hi.
22 January 2007 03:39
Steve and Sue said…

Great interesting start to the blog,for any racing person reading the lows and highs of ownership is facinating.
Just out of interest we have just come back from NZ where they are talking about their first $1 million race over there(around £330000) and having seen some of thelack of quality horses i am amazed that UK owners/trainers do not take on the locals.
Just a thought,
Steve
26 January 2007 02:55