Archive for December, 2009
Ladies to go flat out at Festival
Dec 22nd
Cheltenham racecourse has announced that a ladies-only charity flat race will take place at next year’s Festival. The race will be held on what is now designated as Ladies day, Thursday March 18th, and the race will be run after the six scheduled races on that day have been completed. The Ladies day which, historically, [...]
Race to save the Belmont
Dec 22nd
The bean counters at the British Horseracing Authority may think that they are having trouble balancing the books, having found that payments from the Levy contributions from bookmakers are down by 20%, but that is a problem that racing officials in New York would gratefully embrace. There is something rotten in the Big Apple with [...]
Star player has strong supporting cast
Dec 21st
The meteorological forecasts may yet be inconclusive but anyone predicting an easy route for Kauto Star to a fourth victory in the King George VI Chase has been proved wrong. Weather permitting, Kauto Star could face as many as 13 rivals for the William Hill King George VI Chase, at Kempton Park on Boxing Day, [...]
Racing needs to weather the storm better
Dec 21st
For those who spent much of Saturday stuck in the Channel Tunnel the loss of a race meeting probably did not come that high on the priority list but, one way or another, racing still seems to be getting itself in a tangle in trying to run a sport that can be at the mercy [...]
Palypso time for Longsdon
Dec 18th
Christmas presents from the handicapper are usually slightly rarer than hen’s teeth, but Charlie Longsdon may have been handed an early gift this year. The trainer runs Palypso De Creek in the Blue Square Tommy Whittle Handicap Chase at Haydock Park and finds himself in the novel position of a trainer having less of a [...]
Henderson hooked on the winning line
Dec 18th
At the time it could be dismissed as nothing more than one of the quirks of superstition that run through sport. Caracciola had just become the oldest horse in modern times to win a Royal Ascot race in the Queen Alexandra Stakes, the longest race in the Flat calendar. However, there was no sign of [...]
Derby gamblers who are in for the long haul
Dec 17th
Credit crunch, what credit crunch? Dow Jones? Never heard of the bloke. For those who cannot even see January for the fiscal pile-up that is Christmas, June 2011 is another world, but on planet horseracing thoughts of the Investec Derby in two years’ time are on the minds of those who can afford it. The [...]
Millennium man still playing catch-up
Dec 16th
When Stan Mellor became the first jump jockey to ride 1000 winners, in 1971, it was a benchmark achievement that was, in its own terms, the equivalent of the day that Sir Roger Bannister broke the four-minute barrier for the mile. Today Richard Johnson doubled that total when he rode this 2,000th winner on Fighting [...]
JP looking for initial big-race success
Dec 16th
A look at the various championship tables in jump racing suggests that it is very much business as usual. Tony McCoy is still repelling all challengers from the ranks of jockeys as he appears to have done since God was a child, Paul Nicholls is turning out big-race winners by the handful to keep both [...]
Fallon upon good times?
Dec 15th
It was supposedly the ancient Egyptians who first came up with the idea of cats being possessed of nine lives but even the most resilient feline would be hard pressed to match the survival rate of Kieren Fallon. The Irishman is nicknamed “the Assassin” for his cold-eyed calm when riding in the big races but [...]
Recent Comments