End of an Era

[Win2Win]

It appears bookmakers will be dumping fractions odds in favour of just decimal

So instead of 4/1 you'll now get 4.98 ..... bookie stealth tax

[Street cry]

Another nail in the punters coffin

[TheOldhamWhisper]

Our local bookie is now 2 people - one taking the bets and the other making a profit on Betfair!

I remember the 'good old days' when the bookie had to ring around all the other bookies he knew in case the last leg of that killer yankee came in at 12/1 :D

[mathare]

I haven't been in a betting shop for ages but I will miss the old style odds of 13/8 etc.

I remember as a kid seeing the racing cards in the paper and thinking it was all in a foreign language and one day hoped that I would be able to understand it. And now I do I like the fact that it's not obvious to the general public, it feels like I am a member of a club and have learned their secrets.

Racing for Change are also talking about getting rid of phrases such as Rule 4 (what happened to rules 1 to 3?), talk of horses hanging (as they feel it conjures up images of rope) and so on. It's part of the language of racing, don't dumb it down please.

I watch the news and don't understand what the City bankers are talking about with quantitative easing, hedge funds and what have you. But I don't need to understand it. I don't see why the general public have to understand everything. If you come across something you don't get then it encourages you to try and find out more about it so that you do understand in the future. If you try to dumb racing down so everyone understands, the race cards may as well have 'good' and 'bad' written by each horse, trainer and jockey.

[Win2Win]

Can't wait for the once a year gambler in the National. 99 Year old Agnis trying to figure out why she didn't get 66/1 and now has 65.48736542

[mick56]

MATHAR agree entirely with what you say.Any knowledge that is easily acquired is seldom appreciated or used to its full potential.
But it also concerns me that this is another attempt to chip away at a racing tradition. I well remember years ago when other countries where almost demanding that we change our race distances to METRERS at the time the jockey club soon gave them short shift,but if rearing its head again i wonder if the BHB would react so assertively and what about hcap weights in kilos.
Also, i agree with streetcry that the bookmakers would turn this to their advantage.

[TheOldhamWhisper]

...I well remember years ago when other countries where almost demanding that we change our race distances to METRERS at the time the jockey club soon gave them short shift,but if rearing its head again i wonder if the BHB would react so assertively and what about hcap weights in kilos....

I think we should be fairly safe there as most of the recognised racing countries (except maybe France) tend to stick with the old 8 furlongs in a mile and publish weights in imperial measures. And France doesn't really count, does it...

(and for any offended French people out there, "Ou est votre sense of humour?")

[MarcusMel]

France can't count -'cos their catra sank meaning the country went to the dogs!

The above is a joke, I love wine women and food no mater which gay frankensence country it comes from.:D

[vegyjones]

The above is a joke, I love wine women and food no mater which gay frankensence country it comes from.:D