RACING POST THURSDAY JANUARY 5th 2012
RACING POST WEEK MONDAY JANUARY 2nd TO SUNDAY JANUARY 8th 2012
"IT'S CARNIVAL TIME AT MEYDAN
"SPECIAL BETTING GUIDE, horses to follow, previews of today's action and all the cards, form and super horse-by-horse Spotlights as the Dubai World Cup Carnival swings into action at Meydan, live on At The Races. See pages 10-13
"SIR MICHAEL STOUTE after his 'appalling' season in 2011. The top Newmarket trainer features in our Big Year For Series, page 6.
"AL FEROF could be surprise contender for Champion Chase by JON LEES
"Rising novice chase star AL FEROF could mount an audacious bid for Champion Chase.
"RISING novice chaser star AL FEROF could mount an audacious bid for the sportingbet.com Queen Elizabeth Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March
TOMORROW IN THE RACING POST
"ANTI-POST SPECIAL Our top tipsters pinpoint the best-and the worst- value bets for 2012...
"AGE DOES MATTER JAMES PYMAN unearths some revealing statistics in veteran handicap chasers in another great Pyman's Theories column.
RPSUNDAY NEW YEAR DAY SUNDAY
JANUARY 1st 2012
C4 NICK LUCK "The racing broadcaster of the year talks to STEVE DENNIS about Morning Line dumbing down, his ambitions outside sport, rocking the racing boat and 'that interview' with Paul Roy.
"This is different now. Nick Luck's natural habitat is on the other side of the microphone, the smooth and practiced host of countless broadcasts, if not the voice of racing then certainly one of its most familiar faces.
"I think that Paul Roy would agree that I didn't set out to make him look a fool."
LUCK ON THE BHA
"It simply doesn't have the power to take racing forward into a bright new era. Most of its meaningful influence have been devolved - racecourses now hold more of the cards and are much more commercially savvy than they used to be, bookmakers are much more strongly represented in Parliament than is racing, and the promotional and marketing aspects have gone to Racing for Change and REL.
"A lot has been written about how Paul Bittar is the great white hope, but his role doesn't have the scope for him to make a significant difference to the landscape of racing. Of course, he can be an extremely effective custodian of the constituent parts that the BHA still owns
- integrity, disciplinary, etc = and, most importantly of all, he can prevent himself from making a complete horlicks of it all.
"I'm not particularly pessimistic about the state of the sport, but its not fair to put so much pressure on one man simply because in titular terms he is the most important person in the sport, whereas in real term's he's not."
LUCK ON THE WHIP
"I was never in favour of the BHA wedding itself to a prescriptive number of whip strokes. That's saying that expertise and judgement are not sufficient to make a reasoned analysis of when a horse is being unreasonable asked for an effort with the whip.
"If you say that eight strokes is better than ten, you're also implying that five is better than eight and zero is better than five. If nine months has been spent undertaking a comprehensive review of the whip and the conclusion is that the whip is a legitimate part of a jockey's craft, why then say seven strokes is better than nine?
"What the BHA should be saying is that it's a legitimate tool when used appropriately, and when it isn't we have invested faith in specific people stewards - to mete out justice on a case - by - case basis. People will talk about inconsistency, but each case is different and must be approached with common sense. Ruby Walsh said 'you're trying to make something black and white that will forever be grey.' which is a superb way of describing the situation.
"Ultimately, whip bans will be reduced and the BHA will consider it a job well done, and most people will forget what a complete cock-up it was, but we should always remind people that its execution was pretty shambolic from both rule-drafting and PR perspectives."
LUCK ON DUTY
"Do racing professionals have a duty to promote racing? No - the idea of 'Duty' is a dreadful one. They should have an interest in doing so, but no obligation to do so. I think we can get
extremely self-righteous about the idea that we are one big family all pulling together for the common good. Yes, every one wants racing to succeed, but we can't impose values on people. All this 'for the good of the game' nonsense, I can't stand that phrase.
LUCK ON POST-RACE INTERVIEWS
"Some people have said the requirement to make oneself available for a post-race interview should be a contractual part of having a license, and I've always maintained that it shouldn't be.
"We have very good access to our professionals, much more so than in many other sports. If interviews were mandatory, you'd simply find people going through the motions more and more and it would defeat the object, it would just be 'great ride this ' and ' lovely horse that' .
Speaking as an interviewer, it wouldn't allow you the chance to put your own spin on it.
Look - would forcing those from the more laconic end of the spectrum into a press conference make what they say any more interesting? No."
RACING POST YESTERDAY WEDNESDAY JANUARY 4th
PAUL BITTAR chief strategy officer at Racing Victoria Ltd for two years, to occupy the hottest seat in British administration.
FOCUS ON 2012
"A BIG YEAR FOR PAUL BITTAR. He has the pedigree but has he been given enough power?
Our week long series continues with HOWARD WRIGHT assessing the tasks and troubles awaiting the BHA's new chief executive
