Where, and what, was the Table Top Jump?

For lover or sports and gambling there is little to rival the Grand National. It’s a time where even those who love casino games and the like, and drawn towards the sport of kings. The Table Top Jump was situated on the Grand National Course at Aintree, specifically on the Anchor Bridge Crossing of the Melling Road, which follows the twelfth, and twenty-eighth, fence in the current layout. Back in the days when the Grand National was run, in part, on farmland and open countryside, the Anchor Bridge demarcated the ‘racecourse proper’.

By 1870, long before the age of online casinos and indeed many of today’s major gambling and sporting staples, the Table Top Jump was no longer considered an obstacle, per se, so details of it rely on contemporary reports from over a century and a half ago, which are, at best, a little sketchy. Confusingly, the Melling Road was originally known as the ‘Sunken Lane’ and, for a decade or more, ‘Proceed’s Lane’, following an incident involving the well-backed Proceed in 1849. However, the Anchor Bridge Crossing was on an elevated part of the track that required the horses to jump over a hedge onto a bank and off again, over another, in rapid succession. Thus, the Table Top Jump was akin to banks found on the cross-country courses at Cheltenhham or Punchestown, or in the cross-country phase of eventing.

As early as 1843, the second hedge was removed, leaving just a downhill incline on the far side of the Table Top Jump. In 1870, the first hedge was also removed, leaving just the bank, which was reduced in height and abruptness two years later, before being completely levelled off in 1887.

For how long was Oisin Murphy banned?

Champion jockey in 2019, 2020 and 2021, Oisin Murphy has nonetheless fallen foul of racing authorities, at home and abroad, on several occasions throughout his career. In June, 2019, Murphy was stood down for the day after providing a breath sample containing alcohol above the threshold level for race riding at Salisbury. In November, 2020, he was banned for three months by the French racing authority, French Galop, after providing a urine sample that tested positive for metabolites of cocaine at Chantilly in July that year. While for some of us being hedonistic involves something like playing the online blackjack in the hope of a winning streak, Oisin was clearly keen on a bit more action!

In December, 2021, Murphy handed in his jockey’s licence, pending disciplinary action for breaching Covid-19 protocols in 2020 and two more failed tests for alcohol, one at Chester in May, 2021 and the other at Newmarket in October, 2021. Appearing before the independent disciplinary panel of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) in February, 2022, Murphy admitted all five charges against him, including ‘acting in a manner which is prejudicial to the proper integrity, conduct or good reputation of the sport’. He received three 11-month suspensions, albeit to run concurrently, plus an additional 100 days for alcohol breaches, backdated to the day on which he relinquished his licence. Thus, Murphy, 26, effectively received a 14-month ban and is ineligible to reapply for his jockey’s licence until mid-February, 2023. He was also fined just over £31,000. A hefty sum for most, for instance as a win on online casino sites. Playing those would’ve been a wiser decision in terms of getting a thrill (and hopefully a win!) fthan the paths he chose.

 

Reflecting on his behaviour, Murphy said, ‘I couldn’t undo the lies and deceit. Now that I’m sober I’m a different person and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have made those errors sober, but I can’t go back in time and I’m afraid they were grave issues.’

 

Who decides which races are Group One, Group Two or Group Three?

Who decides which races are Group One, Group Two or Group Three?  Our stateside friends playing the best payout online casino usa, have asked for a post on Group races… so your wish is my command! The classification of Group One, Group Two and Group Three races, collectively known as ‘Pattern’ races, is controlled by the European Pattern Committee (EPC), whose members are Great Britain, Ireland, France and Germany.

The European Pattern was introduced in 1971, to avoid the possibility of prestigious French races being restricted to horses trained in France. Casino en ligne en france fans may be well aware of this. Previously, penalties in such races were determined by the monetary value of the races a horse had won which, granted that French prize money was much higher than elsewhere in Europe, often left them at the mercy of foreign-trained horses. Instead, Pattern races were arranged, by importance, such that penalties could be based on quality, rather than monetary value.

Under normal circumstances, the EPC monitors the quality of Pattern races, based on a rolling three-year average of the official ratings of the first four finishers; in a Group One race, for example, the average official rating must be maintained at 115, or higher. If a Pattern race fails to fulfil or, indeed, exceeds expectations, it can be downgraded or upgraded at the discretion of the EPC. However, in the wake of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the EPC has announced to that no such changes, one way or the other, will be made in 2021.

Where, and what, is Garrison Savannah?

Long before playing the best paying casino online was an option, readers of a certain age may well remember Garrison Savannah, a top-class steeplechaser trained by Jenny Pitman. In 1990, Garrison Savannah upstaged his better-fancied stable companion, Royal Athlete, by winning the Sun Alliance Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. However, in 1991 he looked, briefly, as if he might join the legendary Golden Miller as a winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand National in the same season. He only just held on when beating The Fellow by a short head in the ‘Blue Riband’ event but, less than a month later, established what appeared to be an unassailable lead on the run to the final fence in the National. Sadly, for him, it wasn’t; he weakened from the Elbow and was headed by Seagram, who forged clear in the closing stages to win by 5 lengths.

Garrison Savannah, the horse, was named after Garrison Savannah, the racecourse, which is situated just east of Bridgetown, the capital city of Barbados, and is home to the Barbados Turf Club. Considered one of the finest parade grounds in the West Indies during colonial times, Garrison Savannah has been the home of horse racing on the tiny island since the middle of the nineteenth century. As such, it is one of the oldest racecourses in North or South America. The next time you’re stateside and playing the best online slots usa, consider what amazing sights and history is out there for lovers of betting and sport. The Sandy Lane Gold Cup, run over 1,800 metres, or approximately nine furlongs, on the first Saturday in March, is the most prestigious race of the year at Garrison Savannah.

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