Betting on your horses is the only way to make money at the lower level. Increase the money and they wouldn't take the risk.

Its just the way it is, the handicap system is made for cheating, even if the prizemoney was higher the same strokes would still be being pulled at the lowest levels and I dont hold it against anyone who does it, fair play to them. I dont know if its possible to have racing without handicaps, if you had just level weight classes you would need to have about 50 levels to accommodate some of the rags out there. So as long as your weight goes down for running bad and up for running good, there will always be people at it, if your betting on the low level stuff then you have to decide wether you think a horse is out to run or not, not easy but gambling on racing aint easy so.....if you dont like it, stick to Group 1s or dont bet on racing.

Sure the handicap system is, hell you don't have to do anything dodgy like get the jockey to stop the horse, just chuck the horse in a field for 6 weeks and don't train it. If you are gambling on handicaps 'blind' then you're an idiot. Even if you know a horse has been prepared for a handicap you need to check the paddock to make sure no-one else has the same idea. If you increased the prize money there would be more examples of this... it's tricky.

So, what are people's thoughts on chesters bid to stage hurdle racing?

need to get there broadband sorted first

I personally think as a summer venue which is what they are proposing it's a great idea, could be a bit tight possibly but would be brilliant for spectators.
What are people's thoughts on c4s decision not to show the 2012 arc de triomphe, meaning that for the first time in decades it won't be shown on terrestrial tv? Personally as someone who isn't prepared to splash out on ruk or atr I won't be able to watch, and therefore I'm fairly annoyed. They will be showing it next year though, so I'm a bit puzzled as to why not this year. Any thoughts on the matter? All I'm going to say is that if frankel was running it probably would have been different.

Has for Chester staging hurdle racing good idea although i wish both Windsor and Nottingham would bring back NH Racing as for 2012 Arc De Triomphe not being on CH4 i can live without it lol i thought most people had sky these days and Atr is part of the sports Package.

But i would never have Racing uk its way over priced for what you get i only bet mostly on a saturday and i can watch the main Race and Meetings on CH4.

it costs on average about £2000 per month to keep a horse in training, and considering 90% of horses in this country are low grade and racing for £1500 prize money, there is very little chance of small owners making it pay.

That's why small owners usually only last for a couple of years and then get out.