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Fantasy Racing 2013-14 * The Jumps *

A Forum for Fans of Fantasy Horse Racing games.

Striker
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Re: Fantasy Racing 2013-14 * The Jumps *

Post by Striker »

Topspur; would appreciate the details of that TTTF type comp.

Are you doing the 2013-4 TTTF and The Jumps comps?

Anyone with a half decent entry in The Jumps will have an interesting Cheltenham week as every race is a bonus race. That one week represents a very significant slice of the 3.5 month comp.

It's particularly interesting as many of the leaders don't seem to have the leading novices, or the likes of Quevega in their line ups, and winning the Championship races alone may not be enough, unlike the TTTF which is even more heavily skewed towards the top races.

Striker
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Re: Fantasy Racing 2013-14 * The Jumps *

Post by Striker »

The dumbness of Hill's including the then Racing Plus Chase (now Betbright Chase) as one of their bonus races in November is now starkly demonstrated by the fact that only one of the remaining entries is included in their list of horses.

This is not a criticism of their list of horses, but it does demonstrate the stupidity of including a late February handicap chase as a bonus race. The selection of the Betfair was on the limit of being a sane choice, the Betbright is past that limit. Initially these races made sense in fantasy racing games when sponsorship relevant to the organisers was involved. Now it's simply a reflection of their inability to think and adapt. (unless of course Hills have a secret share holding in Betbright :wink: ).

Really hoping that the few punters who included Rajdhani Express in their lists don't hit it lucky. :wink:

Striker
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Re: Fantasy Racing 2013-14 * The Jumps *

Post by Striker »

Rajdhani Express withdrawn so Hills have a bonus race with potentially 13 runners but with none of them on The Jumps list. Well done guys! :roll:

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SamD
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Looking back

Post by SamD »

@ Striker: thanks for the interesting piece about your intro to racing (Jan 26 post).

Own memories, fwiw, are of being smitten as a teenager during a year working in a hospital, especially when the brother of a nursing girlfriend became an apprentice jump jockey. Used to pore over the Sporting Life (or Sporting Chronicle) and the Timeform black book almost every morning. Also took note of Richard Baerlein, the Guardian's excellent racing journalist, who was capable of producing 20/1-33/1 ante-post tips and naps.

Remember the original betting shops of the 1960s being unhealthy places, though the smoke and grime couldn't deter me, or a few fellow undergraduates, from spending all afternoon there. Needless to say, studies suffered. The book on a race, even small ones, rarely stretched to 10% over-round, unlike the 30% seen nowadays, and betting tax, when it was introduced, amounted to a mere 6d in the pound. Thus managed to earn a living for two years after uni purely through gambling before eventually settling on gainful employment as a programmer in 1970. Favourite horse, looking back, would be Raffingora, followed from his early days as a 5-furlong handicapper through to his wins in group races.

Haven't had time or fortitude, since the mid-1970s, to study the horses properly, though still manage the odd flutter at Cheltenham and Royal Ascot. In truth, probably bet on football more regularly nowadays...

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SamD
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Fantasy Racing: The Jumps update

Post by SamD »

This particular competition runs through to the final day at Cheltenham, Fri 14 March. But with bonus points available on every race at the Festival the leader board could change dramatically.

The front runners of 130,420 entries are on 245, 238 and 225 points currently.

The top three of 14 in the Fiso league have 120 [17,632nd overall], 120 and 110 points.

Striker
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Re: Looking back

Post by Striker »

SamD wrote:Remember the original betting shops of the 1960s being unhealthy places, though the smoke and grime couldn't deter me, or a few fellow undergraduates, from spending all afternoon there. Needless to say, studies suffered. The book on a race, even small ones, rarely stretched to 10% over-round, unlike the 30% seen nowadays, and betting tax, when it was introduced, amounted to a mere 6d in the pound.
An interesting reminder of our youths. Government's intention when it introduced the legislation allowing betting shops was that they should not encourage people to hang around in them and so comfy seats etc etc were not allowed. However as with yourself it didn't always work. In the summer of '63 I worked in a hotel in Shanklin IOW and during those months, a fellow worker and I spent a major chunk of most afternoons in a local betting shop studying form, bullshitting and betting. We became friends with the owner, although there was a very brief almost uncomfortable moment when I played up most of my winnings on Raise You Ten in the Doncaster Cup and took him for a sum that was large by small betting shop standards. The memory is only vague but I think that the bet was mainly inspired by the going, which has been the underlying factor in the majority of my best bets over the years. If memory serves RYT needed soft to be at his best.

I escaped betting tax as I departed these shores just before it was introduced. You say ONLY 6d in the pound but that would have had a major impact on winnings. Over 1963-66 I made an average annual profit of 13% of turnover. Even the initial betting tax would have reduced that by well over a third, and later when increased to 9%/10%, it would have decimated profits and made betting a waste of time, especially for those of us who can enjoy racing even if never having a bet.

Another point you mention about over-round books conflicts with my own, probably flawed, memory. I have no "feeling" that rounding has increased massively, as you suggest, over time. The big difference has always been the type of race, in a small field high quality race with form an open book my feeling is that over-rounding has always been around 10%, but at the opposite end of the spectrum over rounding on large handicaps has ALWAYS been horrendous.

In fact betting has become more difficult as anomalies that favoured the punter have gradually been eliminated. For example in the 60s most of my bets were each way bets on 2YO races, which given 1/3 the odds a place 123 were if your judgement was no more than reasonable, as safe, over the season, as national savings, but with a higher return.

Back to the main subject of this thread: Cue Card has just been ruled out of Cheltenham for this year.

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Ashers
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Re: Fantasy Racing 2013-14 * The Jumps *

Post by Ashers »

How did we all do?

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SamD
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The Jumps concludes

Post by SamD »

Final top ten of 130,668
  • Rank - Stable-no - Points
    01 593401545447 348
    02 336101868843 343
    03 454204732032 340
    04 345803000094 340
    05 311202662158 338
    06 417202172647 338
    07 510302428850 338 [Striker]
    08 345803000110 333
    09 307202562228 328
    10 309702318589 325
    11 343301172918 325
Fiso league top three of 14:
  • 01 363101164625 205 [SamD] - Rank 8,542
    02 363101164633 195 [SamD]
    03 113702651581 165 [quizking]
This remains a good format for an NH contest. But entry method and season-long reporting could be vastly improved, imo.

Striker
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Re: The Jumps concludes

Post by Striker »

SamD wrote:This remains a good format for an NH contest. But entry method and season-long reporting could be vastly improved, imo.
It's certainly the best fantasy racing comp and I would be sadder to see it disappear than the deteriorating TTTF comp that Fred did his best to kill off. The chance to win one of the best fantasy prizes for just £2, means that you can have a multi entry for a few quid and a season's NH interest and enjoyment which usually extends well into Cheltenham.

Your two criticisms are both valid, it wouldn't take much effort by them to improve the reporting. Although you find that if you are in close contention, you know exactly what's going on. :wink:

As regards method of entry, it's certainly a bit of a pain having to trek to one's local shop and to fill in one's name and other details on every entry form. But if Hills feel that it's a sound commercial decision to get punters into their shops, it's a price worth paying. Let's face it with this method of entry the fall in the numbers of entries over the last 3 or 4 years has been minimal compared with the on-line TTTF.

I'll certainly be following my recent Hennessy morning routine of making my annual visit to my local Hill's shop at the end of this month.

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SamD
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The Jumps returns

Post by SamD »

This thread will be locked shortly. The new season's game begins on Sat 29 Nov 2014:

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