The Drunken Duck flies like a bird

Press, 12 March 1985, Page 29

The Drunken Duck flies like a bird

NZPA-AAP London Who, or what, are The Drunken Duck, Minnie the Moocher, Dick the Vic, Mrs Muck and Honourable Enoch? They are racehorses, steeplechasers to be precise, and most of them will be going round at Cheltenham this week at the highlight three-day meeting of the National Hunt season. There are so many thoroughbreds in Britain that an owner is presented with something of a task to find a previously unregistered name for an animal. If, as many people think, horses are as intelligent as humans, surely they would take considerable offence at being given names like those thrust upon the above quintet. Take The Drunken Duck, for instance.

Before last Wednesday, he was probably the most aptly-named equine around.

He had fallen three times and been pulled up twice in his previous five starts and during his career had failed to finish in more than half his races.

However, his trainer, Gordon Richards, either promised him a name change or administered a hefty “prairie oyster” or some other hangover remedies before he raced at Bangor last Wednesday.

The Drunken Duck, which has twice failed to negotiate the Aintree course in Grand Nationals, was backed from 14-1 to 6-1 in a 3¥z mile (5600 m Hunter’s Chase at Bangor. Jumping more like Edwin Moses than a feathered bird under the influence, The

Drunken Duck landed the plunge by seven lengths. Richards was so encouraged by his sudden improvement in jumping that he plans to send The Drunken Duck round Aintree again. There are less ambitious events in store for Minnie the Moocher, Dick the Vic, Mrs Muck and Honourable Enoch, all of which have yet to win a race this season. Meanwhile, allegations were made last week by a leading bookmaker, Don Butler, that racecourse telephones were being tapped to obtain information about betting.

Mr Butler alleged he had heard several “amazing” conversations on the V.H.F. band of his portable radio at Bangor, Newton Abbot, Leicester and Warwick. He reported his findings to the National Association of Bookmakers and the Betting Office Licensees’ Association (8.0.L.A.). Both bodies are watching developments closely. Mr Butler said that he was convinced that telephone tappers spoiled a planned off-course coup on a meeting at Hereford recently. The man who planned the coup made a call to his associates off-course only a few minutes before the race started, but the tappers moved in and grabbed the best odds, according to Mr Butler. Mr Butler said that he had discovered a company in Birmingham which manufactured any number of telephone-tapping gadgets. “The problem is widespread,” said Mr Butler. “I

can prove it is widespread. These people are getting to know what everyone is betting. “They're at the races two hours early to plant the bug. Then they sit in their car, or behind the stands and wait for the action. "I was staggered when I first heard the calls at Bangor,” he said. According to Mr Butler, he had heard calls of a highly personal nature as well as those between a trainer and owner. “A leading jumps jockey at Newton Abbot asked a young lady to meet him for two nights at a Torquay hotel,” he said.

Mr Butler pointed out that many racecourses had only one public telephone, which made the tappers task simple. Where racecourses have two telephones, Mr Butler said the bugging team deliberately put one out of action to keep the lines clear. “Only last week, I noticed telephones out of action at Leicester and Nottingham,” Mr Butler said. “That was suspicious.” The chairman of a company which manufactures the most modern surveillance equipment confirmed that a specially adapted telephone-tapping system can be bought for under £ 200 (SNZ4B4). “Telephones are simple to bug,” he said. “There are umpteen ways of doing it.” Mr Butler said that he considered the current penalties for telephone-tap-ping inadequate. The maximum penalty is a £2OOO (JNZ4B4O) fine and/ or two years in jail.