6/15: The Longshot Lad at Royal Ascot ~ Day 2
 

Great ride by Shane Crosse in the Prince of Wales.

I'm betting a few bucks on Novemba at a ridiculous 16-1 right now. Ran well at Ascot last year, was not that far back behind the monster Baaeed and was only a 1 3/4 behind Real World who has chased Baaeed the last few times. Got her prep in Germany last time, have to think she's doing well if she's here.

How are you supposed to pick horses at this place?
:eek:

It's insane

Irad almost put Johnny V through the rail last week, swept under the table. Irad doesn't keep a straight line in the first today, two hours later and already has a five day ban. Gotta love it

I thought that was good race riding last week. Not excusing anything he’s done prior but I think that was much ado about nothing last week.

He got 5 days for that? A green two year old shifting a little and making zero contact?

Very weak.

Where are you guys watching?

I’m watching through the TVG app or site and the GB feed switches to some other British track right after a race. It doesn’t look like any networks have coverage until tomorrow?

RTN and yeah it switches to another track that is running there also

I did find that YouTube had it live in pretty low quality and had continued coverage of Ascot…but I only got to watch the last race doing that.

The TV announcers said that they have a pole located some distance from the starting gate in those straight sprints, and you aren't allowed to change lanes until you pass that pole. I have no idea how far the pole is from the gate, but they were saying that was the likely reason for the suspension.

Lots of different rules to know before riding over there. I would use a local jock.

That makes a lot more sense. And yeah, probably better to use someone more familiar with the rules. Or maybe Irad could have done a little bit of research but we know how riders are with doing prep work.

^Thanks for the analysis on Irad. I was wondering the same and I’m someone who is pretty critical of some of his riding over here. I do appreciate the no nonsense approach personally. Anyone have a theory on what happened with Frankie on Lord North today? I watched the replay several times and still not really sure what happened there.

I think they didn't remove his blindfold before the gate opened.

FWIW I read the blindfold got caught in the bridle and Frankie wasn't able to get it off in the gate, hence missing the break. You can see when he finally does get it off, he throws it in disgust.

Sort of interesting that I always thought US bettors got the shaft. Two days in at Ascot and we have seen gate scratches with no explanation, a favorite rear because the race went off before his rider was ready and a horse whose blindfold didn't get taken off before the start so he was off at least 5 lengths slow.

I wonder how bettors can get screwed on day 3.

^Agreed. Of course I’m biased having bet Golden Pal (not my best work) and Lord North (probably wasn’t winning but could’ve been second, no?) I also have potentially been impacted by the gate scratches but will say I kind of like how they make quick decisions however if that is the case what’s the excuse for wasting an hour trying to get a no chance horse in the stall during the Golden Pal race? I think it was a legitimately bad bet and the way the Aussie showed cruising speed/crushed but prior to the race I mentioned to my betting partner this is an insane advantage for the Aussie compared to Golden Pal…played out and again I don’t think it necessarily changed the result..but it seems a little arbitrary where sometimes decisions are made in a split second and then they do this. Love Royal Ascot though, just some observations

I can't see how anyone could actually enjoy betting and watching the racing at Royal Ascot, most races is impossible to pick a winner and when I do bet a race I have no idea where my horse is or even what stall the horse is coming out of, plus the straight away races with no turns are not enjoyable, too wierd for me, give me good old USA racing with turns and different color saddle cloths so I know where my losing bet is,

Well, it took all of ONE race on day 3 for bettors to get screwed.