Grand Heritage Test and Vaal false rail apology

As part of the build-up to The Grand Heritage next month, the Vaal will host two races with a field of 28-runners on Tuesday . MORE www.africanbettingclan.com/index.php/ite...at-vaal-next-tuesday

I have tried hard to stay out of this kind of sh1t over the last few months but as no-one else has said what needs to be said, let me repeat myself for hopefully the last time.

I would say to start with that I have no doubt this is well intentioned BUT...

We would probably all say that having a course with zero draw bias on a straight course is preferable.

However, if that is proving impossible to produce, for whatever reason, then what is needed from a punter's viewpoint is consistency. Moving the rail for races along the straight alone, as are all races on the outside course, does not give consistency. What it does do is make it almost impossible on a meeting to meeting basis to know where the bias may be, if any bias at all.

Not only does that make it that much harder to predict the winner on any given day, it also makes studying the form two months later that much more difficult. How is a punter to know two months later whether a particular race was run with a false rail or not? So, a horse drawn 1 runs 2nd on the outside course when the false rail is moved 12m but that is not explained in any form guide. So running 2nd looks a pretty damn good effort on the outside track from that draw. But the reality is that day the horse had draw advantage, you just have nowhere that tells you that unless you have the time to look at every replay or keep lengthy notes. It therefore perhaps gives a false indication of that horse's performance on the day.

It is not a realistic scenario. Keep the course in one place for all Vaal courses (Scottsville too) and then at least punters can have faith in what they are looking at historically. Keep changing where the false rail is and no-one has a clue, become disillusioned and they potentially stop betting.

Profound apologies are good and perhaps all too rare in SA racing these days, but I doubt they are much consolation to someone who lost R10k or whatever on the day because the proverbial goal posts were moved.

BE CONSISTENT!

TAB MEDIA RELEASE
SUBJECT: Update to announcement Vaal Tuesday 20 September 2016
DATE: 15 September 2016
RELEASED BY: PHUMELELA GAMING

As part of the initiative to ensure the readiness of the Vaal racing surface for The Grand Heritage on 1 October, the last two races at the race meeting at the course this Tuesday, 20 September, will both have bigger fields than normal.
Race 7, a MR73 Divided Handicap over 1200m, has 17 runners while the final race on the programme, a FM64 over 1400m, has 18 runners carded.
To accommodate the bigger fields, the middle rail that usually separates the Outside and Inside tracks will be removed and there will be a 5m spur at the 500m mark on the inside running rail. The starting stalls for these races will be placed in the centre of the track.
The Grand Heritage, sponsored by World Sports Betting, will be run over 1475m and the operator is hopeful that a full field of 28 runners will line up for the R750,000 contest. Three other races, all making up part of the jackpot, are also set to have 28 runners

The Grand Heritage prize money breakdown

DATE: 15 September 2016

RELEASED BY: PHUMELELA GAMING



There’s less than a week to go until the final field is unveiled for the inaugural running of The Grand Heritage, sponsored by World Sports Betting, at the Vaal Racecourse on 1 October and with prize money of R750,000 the race is set to accomplish its target of a full field of 28 runners and two reserves.

The lion’s share of the prize will be the R406,250 for the winner, who will also enjoy bragging rights at the end of the likely cavalry charge.

The runner-up will take home R130,000 with R65,000 for third and R32,500 and R16,250 for the fourth and fifth-placed runners respectively.

The remaining cash in the pot will be paid to those horses finishing from sixth to 15th with each runner getting R10,000. These monies will only be paid if a full field of 28 runners plus two reserves is carded.