Pinza

Christopher Webber - actor, musicologist, opera critic, and author of 'Bluff Your Way At the Races'. Member of Sports Panel for Oxford UP's Dict. of Nat. Biog.

[Pinza @Pinza_UK]

@jamesaknight James, really. You're in danger of sounding like a superannuated actuary. A thing of beauty is a joy which *should* last forever.

[Pinza @Pinza_UK]

@Cav_TRF @itvracing Ah, I don't think of racing fans as consumers, Paul, which is perhaps the point - like many, I am a simple lover of horse racing, which is not quite the same thing as being a cash cow ready for fleecing (excuse the mixed metaphor!) by data corps.

[Pinza @Pinza_UK]

@Cav_TRF @itvracing Maybe we shouldn't. Whereas *time* can be accurately measured, *speed* and GPS position can only be measured relatively (from A to B) which is why they are universally error-prone. Even TPD admit they can be out by a length, which might as well be a mile for in-running purposes.

[Pinza @Pinza_UK]

@Cav_TRF @itvracing Paul, I've been trying to ignore TPD's list of tolerances, which highlight their data's limitations. Temporal latency is one of several factors qualifying the speed data (and those infamously inaccurate tracking bars!) I'm really surprised ITV et al shell out for approximations.

[Pinza @Pinza_UK]

@Cav_TRF @itvracing TPD profits by touting "data". Flickering speed figures have value on flat American ovals, when the figure can be sensibly evaluated in the moment (for what it's worth), but they require complex micro-adjustments for British/Irish tracks and ground, e.g. the Goodwood big dipper.

[Pinza @Pinza_UK]

@Cav_TRF @itvracing Would this dubious speed "data" attract new converts, though? Many find ITV's comparatively empty screen much more visually appealing than the increasingly mindless clutter of flickering screen furniture, obscuring horses and racecourses alike, favoured by ATR and Racing TV.

[Pinza @Pinza_UK]

@Cav_TRF @itvracing We may not *think* we struggle to do both, Paul: but behaviourists are sceptical. Recall that famous video clip where we are instructed to count the number of ball passes, resulting in nearly all of us completely missing the chap in the gorilla suit walking slowly through shot?

[Pinza @Pinza_UK]

@DubaiAce @itvracing Never, I hope. I'm still going on about St. Simon and Ormonde, who raced ... well, a year or two before Frankel.

[Pinza @Pinza_UK]

@DubaiAce I'd add that we must get away from the dull, 20th century, American-style "blockbuster" template for racing "festivals". The British tradition is to have a mixture of races on the day, from claimers to the climactic Group 1. That creates drama, rather than numbed, screaming hype.

[Pinza @Pinza_UK]

@DubaiAce Quite so. It's a very silly notion, as Lee Mottershead himself seems to acknowledge, so why air it? He has no thought for the race's place in the jigsaw, relative to the Eclipse, or even Royal Ascot itself. Despite @ThomasKerrRP's good work at the helm, @RacingPost's faltering.

[Pinza @Pinza_UK]

Ryan Moore is famous wherever he rides, whether in Asia, Australia, Europe or America. His achievement has been marked today by an MBE. Yet he has been airbrushed out of BBC's exhaustive Honours List article. Another sad example of @BBCSport's bigoted prejudice against Racing.

[Pinza @Pinza_UK]

@PowellJfpracing @BHAHorseracing Looking at the series of headless-chicken, reactive "rules" applied over the last few years, chipping away at the sport's credibility, while appeasing its detractors, there's a common denominator. Brant Dunshea. And he has got to go, if British Racing is to escape with its life.

[Pinza @Pinza_UK]

@RacingOnHorses @HarryStewartMo1 @SimonNott @kevinblake2011 @itvracing @AKBets @BHAHorseracing I don't think you grasp the fact that the @BHAHorseracing press release *contradicts* their own rule, which is (legally) the only piece of paper which has official standing. A press release is not a codicil. But by all means continue to believe it is, if you like.

[Pinza @Pinza_UK]

@RacingOnHorses @HarryStewartMo1 @SimonNott @kevinblake2011 @itvracing @AKBets No, @BHAHorseracing's press release does not "clarify the rules". It twists and mis-states them, as HS-M has made very clear, from a professional reading of the rule itself.

[Pinza @Pinza_UK]

@BHAHorseracing There is no "debate" here, but full agreement from all stakeholders in the sport that you have once again made British horse racing a laughing stock, this time through your implementation of an inconsistently-administered "rule". Don't blame us: reflect on your own failings.

[Pinza @Pinza_UK]

@DizzyJB This is indeed a depressing picture, nothing to be excited about. Over these low slung pseudo-hurdles, speed kills. And the white trim (an innovation supported by ludicrously poor "science") merely encourages horses to take off earlier and land on top of the wretched fences.

[Pinza @Pinza_UK]

@CACoates96 You might try to rely less on AI to put together such "reports", as there are several gaffs. We don't speak of "corners" in racing, but "bends"; and Old Park Star was highest-rated in his race, not the Festival. Also, tell your A1 to construct sentences longer than one paragraph.

[Pinza @Pinza_UK]

@GoingBehind Still breathtaking after all these years - the closest I've seen to a winner appearing to float home, such was the perfect sympathy of horse and rider. What artistry. Thanks for reposting this.

[Pinza @Pinza_UK]

https://t.co/7Q8NVoEkaH Is this a Christmas windup? Unless of course @BHAHorseracing are in deathwish mode, it is impossible to imagine they'd opt to retain a de-energised, defensive, uncommunicative and unimaginative drone at the helm. Dunshea is a classic stopgap, no more.