Denman owner at odds with the future of racing

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13 April 2012

The red T-shirt is out of place and the language is more colourful than you would expect to hear at the Dorchester Hotel but Harry Findlay is on a roll. Denman's co-owner sees horseracing going the way of greyhounds: to the dogs. And its decline can be solved — if only those in power would listen.

"Nic Coward, the CEO of the British Horseracing Authority, knows as much about gambling as I do about the Russian Ballet. It is offensive. We all know that gambling and racing are intrinsically linked and no one in racing understands it," says Findlay.

"You talk to the people at the highest level in racing and they haven't got a clue. It is just incredible."

Findlay has to keep backing winners if Denman and the other 70 or so horses he owns or part-owns are to be kept in training. It costs him around £60,000 a month. But as he prepares to watch Denman attempt to win his second Cheltenham Gold Cup tomorrow, he says those in power are gambling with the industry's future. And he doesn't like racing's odds.

The way forward, he explains, is for the government to keep control of the Tote, which enjoys a monopoly of pool-betting at courses in exchange for a guarantee that money is pumped into the sport, rather than sell it to a bookmaker for an estimated £150million and take less money from it.

Findlay says: "We are crying out for a proper Tote. The government are taking pennies when they can be taking literally billions. Selling the Tote to a bookmaking company wouldn't change the bigger picture at all."

He sees a tie-up between the Tote and Betfair, the UK's biggest on-line betting company, as the future.

"If you had a win-pool take-out of around 12 per cent, rather than the 28 per cent they take out in France, you'd get all the gangster money. They would come out of the woodwork to bet and you would take out billions."

While passionate about the health of racing, it is not nearly as important to Findlay as the wellbeing of his co-owner, as Denman aims to wrest the Gold Cup from the Paul Nicholls-trained stablemate Kauto Star.

He said: "Denman was made for Paul Barber. I know he's won Gold Cups before and he's a wealthy man but there is nothing that will have so much effect in his life than Denman.

"No matter how many Gold Cups he wins or horses he owns, he's almost obsessed with him.

"I worry about Paul. I think about Paul well before anything else. He gets in a right state over him."

Kauto Star is odds-on to land his third Gold Cup, while dual Hennessy Gold Cup winner Denman's odds are drifting with every drop of moisture that evaporates from the course. But Findlay says he has already won one battle.

He adds: "I don't think there is any doubt Denman is the most popular horse. He got a bigger cheer last year when he came in second than the winner did."

Denman unseated Tony McCoy in the Aon Chase at Newbury last month and Findlay admits: "I was disappointed because the vibes from Paul Nicholls going into the race was that Denman was on fire. It was Tony's negativity afterwards that is a bit worrying.

"But watching the replays of his Hennessy win and the Aon, I've got my confidence up in the last few days. Denman's just got to turn up with his A-game and put in a performance similar to his Hennessys or his Gold Cup win — that's all I want.

"It looks like Kauto will get his ground now. Paul Barber says that on good ground Kauto wins, on heavy ground Denman wins. I don't quite agree because I think that one of Denman's best runs was against Aces Four in the SunAlliance Chase and the ground was as quick as it has been at Cheltenham in the last five years.

"I wouldn't have the ground ruling us out. We'll be in front and you never know. If Kauto starts getting a couple of them wrong...

"But I do think it is a two-horse race. I might back Kauto just for a bit of insurance and if Denman gets beat by Kauto fair and square, that will do for me."

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Denman owner at odds with the future of racing

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