Jockey added to ancient white horse

11:36am Thursday 8th March 2012 in Oxfordshire

Jockey added to ancient white horse Jockey added to ancient white horse

A WHITE jockey has been added to the 3,000-year-old carving of a chalk horse on White Horse Hill near Uffington.

The figure was unveiled this morning in a stunt from betting firm Paddy Power to promote next week's Cheltenham Festival.

The 110ft tall and 200ft figure is made up of more than 200 metres of canvas.

Paddy Power has made a donation to the National Trust, which maintains the landmark.

Comments(20)

oxchris says...
11:42am Thu 8 Mar 12

Shameful!

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Gunslinger says...
12:11pm Thu 8 Mar 12

Did they make the contribution to the NT before or after vandalising the monument - ie did the NT agree to it?

If not, it is a disgrace - how can you prosecute people for graffiti and other vandalism, when commercial concerns are allowed to get away with it?

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sparky123456 says...
12:16pm Thu 8 Mar 12

you two are proper thick aren't you! either way it's only canvas.

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locodogz says...
12:22pm Thu 8 Mar 12

Gunslinger wrote:
Did they make the contribution to the NT before or after vandalising the monument - ie did the NT agree to it?

If not, it is a disgrace - how can you prosecute people for graffiti and other vandalism, when commercial concerns are allowed to get away with it?
Calm down dear....it's made of canvas and designed to be removed leaving no trace? Hardly criminal damage - possibly the reason for the NTs decision to allow it on the basis that the long term good that could be achieved through Paddy Powers donation outweighed the short-term affront to anyone’s delicate aesthetic sensibilities? It’s the Cheltenham festival next week - I'd imagine that once that’s over this will disappear as quickly as it appeared.

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Wallingford2 says...
1:08pm Thu 8 Mar 12

You cant beat plugging a sport that involves hundreds if not thousands of horses being put down every year, either through injury or simply not being good enough. Lovely.

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xjohnx says...
1:19pm Thu 8 Mar 12

Please take note of the advert and never use ,paddy power' again. Plenty of other British firms.
Don't lose your money to this disrespectful foreign company.
Please ask your friends not to use them.

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xjohnx says...
1:22pm Thu 8 Mar 12

Please don't use this disrespectful foreign company for your betting, ever again.

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nickwilcock says...
1:34pm Thu 8 Mar 12

Well, I think that it's been done rather well in the style of the original carving!

At least the NT has a sense of humour, unlike some of the people who've commented.

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Lord Peter McVay OX2 6EG says...
1:55pm Thu 8 Mar 12

With a bet on the net in a different league, Paddy's price promise is guaranteed. You can't argue with his prices and cash back offers. Plus he has made a large donation to preserving our heritage. Good old Paddy.

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Lord Peter McVay OX2 6EG says...
2:22pm Thu 8 Mar 12

xjohnx wrote:
Please don't use this disrespectful foreign company for your betting, ever again.
P.S. He is a generous chap from The Emerald Isle, not a foreigner.

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gnash21 says...
4:34pm Thu 8 Mar 12

nickwilcock wrote:
Well, I think that it's been done rather well in the style of the original carving!

At least the NT has a sense of humour, unlike some of the people who've commented.
I totally agree. It is very good for watch they have done. Some people get there heads up there **** to quickly about things. Nothing better to do then moan.

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online_reader says...
9:26am Fri 9 Mar 12

The NT didn't give permission, and said yesterday they hadn't received a donation or any communication from Paddy Power. The pegs holding the canvas down had caused damage and they weren't at all amused.

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Mick E says...
9:40am Fri 9 Mar 12

Fair play to them for this harmless and clever/effective publicity stunt, I don't know where the above poster got the info about no donation being paid, I'm sure it's nonsense though. What a load of self righteous comments above, especially the racist one, pathetic, get a sense of humour!

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son says...
6:27pm Fri 9 Mar 12

Great fun! Looks good too, and as it's temp and canvas, can't see how it would cause harm. Could even draw more visitors to the monument in the future, lets hope it's a winner for the NT!

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xjohnx says...
9:12am Sat 10 Mar 12

Paddy Power, being Irish, is definately a foreign company, there profits are spent in Ireland.
They seem to have done a good job swamping this site with favorable comments.
PLEASE don't use their services ever again. There are plenty of British betting companies who spend there profits in the UK

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capt.stout says...
10:28am Sat 10 Mar 12

Great comments from xjohnx, perhaps we should do the same with American companies like Coca Cola and Pepsi for example and only buy Virgin cola instead...While forgetting about the employment they bring to the country. On that note perhaps we should also kick out the Polish and Eastern Europeans, that have been working over here for years and just sending their money back home for a better life when they decide to leave. Just think of all the employment for the British and the money that could be poured into British betting companies then!!!

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Severian says...
10:43am Sat 10 Mar 12

So it's ok to hijack scheduled ancient monuments for commercial purposes now? What next? Banners on Stonehenge or the white cliffs?
Shameful that Irish company should behave like this, but what could you expect from bookmakers, who are hardly the most reputable of people?

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xjohnx says...
11:44am Sat 10 Mar 12

capt.stout wrote:
Great comments from xjohnx, perhaps we should do the same with American companies like Coca Cola and Pepsi for example and only buy Virgin cola instead...While forgetting about the employment they bring to the country. On that note perhaps we should also kick out the Polish and Eastern Europeans, that have been working over here for years and just sending their money back home for a better life when they decide to leave. Just think of all the employment for the British and the money that could be poured into British betting companies then!!!
The lead given by the labour party in their buy British initiative should answer all your fears about using British companies to protect employment and rebuild out bankrupt economy.

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Alwynna says...
12:08am Mon 12 Mar 12

Does no-one understand that this is not just vandalism but also RELIGIOUS desecration? This is a very significant pagan religious site as well as being an historically significant one. It is utterly disgusting that a commercial enterprise can get away with such a vile act! They should be prosecuted the same as you and I would be if we did the same thing.

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AlexF says...
10:26am Mon 12 Mar 12

"In reaction to the Paddy Power publicity stunt unveiled this morning at Uffington White Horse, a National Trust spokesman said:

'We’re fans of racing as much as anyone but we’ll need to investigate if the pegs they’ve used have caused damage to a monument that’s been here for thousands of years.

'It’s our job to look after special places like this so everyone can enjoy them and we know that the thousands of visitors who come here every year have a huge emotional connection with this place.

'We’d normally be asked about this kind of thing in advance to help avoid any issues with damage and we’ve yet to see the promised donation."

Enough said. Disrespectful, lying scum that Paddy power are.

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