Horse racing conspiracy theory

[cosmicway]

This is a hot potato topic but maybe some will venture an opinion.
We talk of race fixing.
It’s unethical but it’s talked about all over the world.

If you ask around there are two types of people you may chance upon:

a) The big brother type - This type will say to you “such things never happen in our glorious socialist country”.
b) The conspiracy lover - This one sees cloak and daggered spies everywhere, he calls you naive if you dare suggest that the astronauts did indeed go to the moon.

I don’t really have time for type (b). They are horrendous and boring individuals.
The type (a) however presents us with a generically flawed argument. What about Al Kapone ? Was n’t he a notorious race fixer, together with his main antagonist Lucky Luciano ? Also what about ten years into the future ? How does he know a new Al Kapone won’t turn up ? Is the glorious socialist state (we always had a glorious socialist state) 100% secure ?

But I ‘m not interested in such affairs either, involving outlaws. I consider the Al Kapone stories as the background situation upon which racing’s lot evolves and continues to exist.
What I ‘m talking about is conspiracy ran and organized by race courses themselves, the goal being to influence betting patterns. To bring about continued jackpots for example.
Is such a thing rampant in your opinion ?
I don’t really have the answer but I have heard stories from people inside the industry. Sour grapes perhaps -what do I know- but I have heard.

What do you have to say ?

[Shemp Howard]

WHo is Al Kapone?

[Overlay]

The spelling of Scarface's name aside, I agree that we should all be concerned for the integrity of horse racing, from both the sporting and wagering perspectives, and I wouldn't go so far as to say that collusion or dishonesty never occurs. However, I've always felt that there are enough patterns of thoroughbred performance that repeat themselves year after year, and that make race results reasonably predictable and the systematic handicapping of races possible, that such behavior on a widespread scale would be fairly readily detectable (not to mention the deterrent effect of the competing interests represented by all the different groups or individuals that would have to be a party to such corruption in order for it to succeed).

[cosmicway]

WHo is Al Kapone?


http://chicagocrimescenes.blogspot.gr/2008/12/capones-horse-track.html

[cosmicway]

WHo is Al Kapone?

Capone is spelled with K by the Italians and with C in America.


The spelling of Scarface's name aside, I agree that we should all be concerned for the integrity of horse racing, from both the sporting and wagering perspectives, and I wouldn't go so far as to say that collusion or dishonesty never occurs. However, I've always felt that there are enough patterns of thoroughbred performance that repeat themselves year after year, and that make race results reasonably predictable and the systematic handicapping of races possible, that such behavior on a widespread scale would be fairly readily detectable (not to mention the deterrent effect of the competing interests represented by all the different groups/interests that would have to be a party to such corruption in order for it to succeed).

Yeah but what if the system is considered productive ?
For instance a jackpot always brings more crowds to the gates.

Obviously if you have been readying a horse for the whole year they can't tell you "wait till next summer" because it's down in price.

[Overlay]

Yeah but what if the system is considered productive ?
For instance a jackpot always brings more crowds to the gates.

Obviously if you have been readying a horse for the whole year they can't tell you "wait till next summer" because it's down in price.
I'm not sure that I understand your point there. To me, what you're saying sounds like an argument in favor of the opinion that I was expressing. Owners or trainers are not going to cooperate if it requires them to forgo their own personal interests and potential earnings with a horse that they have been preparing specifically to win a given race. (Pardon me if I'm misconstruing your meaning.)

[cosmicway]

I'm not sure that I understand your point there. To me, what you're saying sounds like an argument in favor of the opinion that I was expressing. Owners or trainers are not going to cooperate if it requires them to forgo their own personal interests and potential earnings with a horse that they have been preparing specifically to win a given race. (Pardon me if I'm misconstruing your meaning.)

You are not misconstruing, but I mean that as the exception.
I mean I imagine the kind of diabolical setup like this:

Boss's underling approaches owner and says "hey Jim, all those clowns are going to cash with your horse today, why don't do us a favour ? we want a jackpot". To this Jim replies "ok, no prob mac" but he may also reply "no way today - tell the boss to **ss off" - it's all in the family.

[cosmicway]

Yet another notorious race fixer is said to have been Saddam's brother - the chief of police (maybe one of the faces in the Iraq war deck of cards).
That's what Arab stable lads who work for the Greek race course are saying.

[therussmeister]

Capone is spelled with K by the Italians and with C in America.

I would be surprised if this is true. It is my understanding that the Italian language does not use Ks at all except for words imported from a different language.

My Italian-English dictionary app lists only a few words starting with K, and they are all of non-Italian origin. Furthermore, none of them are "Kapone" but it does include "Capone".

[cosmicway]

I would be surprised if this is true. It is my understanding that the Italian language does not use Ks at all except for words imported from a different language.

My Italian-English dictionary app lists only a few words starting with K, and they are all of non-Italian origin. Furthermore, none of them are "Kapone" but it does include "Capone".

Possibly.
"C" is a useless Latin import. Emperor Justinian decreed that the language of the military shall be the Greek language.