Horse Racing

For many years, there was an unwritten battle between British and Irish racing at the Cheltenham Festival. The home favourites, of course, wanted to dominate and ward off the threat of the Irish; the raiders from across the Irish Sea were intent on taking some handsome loot, in the form of the meeting’s generous prize […]

From winning all of the English Classics and being crowned Champion Trainer ten times, to training Shergar and landing the Queen’s first Ascot Gold Cup triumph, it’s fair to describe Sir Michael Stoute’s career as ‘legendary’. He decided to call time on his training days at the end of the 2024 season at the sprightly […]

There’s an immense thrill to watching the best National Hunt horses soaring over obstacles, but all punters would agree that the last thing they want is for any of the animals out on the track to suffer an injury of any kind. A stern test of jumping that is safe and promotes the welfare of […]

These days, when talk turns to Frankel its about his remarkable success rate as a breeding stallion – he has produced dozens of progeny, with many of them going on to win big races in their own right. Is it any wonder that Frankel’s stud fee has been increased to a whopping £350,000 a turn? […]

Since 1995 and at the time of writing, only 33 jockeys have smashed through the 1,000 winners ceiling. And now Hayley Turner has joined them, becoming the first female rider to surpass the milestone in Europe. She’s enjoyed an outstanding career but this is perhaps the pinnacle of it, cementing her status as one of […]

In theory, it should be easy to crown a Horse of the Year; you just pick those that have won the biggest races on the calendar. But, of course, there are different disciplines within racing – from sprinting and one-mile specialists to stayers – and so often the best in the business will never meet […]

A couple of trademark flying dismounts from Frankie Dettori warmed the cockles of punters and armchair viewers at the 2023 edition of Royal Ascot – the last time the genial Italian will compete at the festival prior to his retirement. However, his victories were one of the few occasions when the betting public had much […]

It’s somehow fitting that the 2023 edition of Royal Ascot, the first with King Charles III as the ruling monarch, served up a myriad of amazing headlines. There was Hollie Doyle’s victory in the fittingly-named King’s Stand Stakes; the first time that a female jockey had won a Group 1 race at the world-famous festival. […]

The enormous strides that female jockeys are taking in the National Hunt thanks to the exploits of Rachael Blackmore are well and truly being emulated on the Flat by Hollie Doyle. She has racked up five Group 1 wins in her young career already, with victories on UK soil in the British Champions Sprint Stakes, […]

It would be unfathomable for horse racing as a sport to die out in the UK or another major jurisdiction such as Ireland or Hong Kong. But that’s exactly what has happened in one of the leading Asian countries for horse racing. Racing fans in Singapore have been hit with the devastating news that the […]

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has unveiled dramatic plans to revolutionise the sport in 2024, including a ‘Premier’ tier of races and Sunday evening floodlit action. The governing body has recognised the need to grow horse racing at a time when concerns over the cost of training are only partially being offset by an increase […]

It’s hard to imagine a long-distance runner at the Olympics beginning to celebrate a victory when there’s still a lap to go – but it does happen, as both Hagos Gebrhiwet and Lonah Salpeter, who lost out on medals after putting in their sprint finish a circuit too soon, can testify. Perhaps even more surprising […]

The tough financial conditions in the UK and around the world are causing record numbers of horse racing trainers to quit the sport. Newmarket handler Martin Smith is just one of a number of trainers to leave the sport in recent years – bringing the curtain down on a ten-year career. His announcement came just […]

Only a handful of jockeys have truly ascended beyond horse racing to become household names beyond their chosen sport. Lester Pigott, Willie Carson, AP McCoy, Rachael Blackmore….there’s only a handful that would be recognised by the average Joe or Jane if they bumped into them on the high street. Very much in that group is […]

In horse racing, cross country is one of the toughest, most gruelling disciplines that the sport has to offer. The extensive distance – such races are not far shy of four miles in length, coupled with the colossal fences that cross-country chases have, makes for a particularly challenging form of racing. Even so, some horses […]

When you invest in anything, you expect some degree of certainty as to what will happen to its value. Assuming a major global event like, let’s say, a global health crisis or multi-country conflict doesn’t happen, you can expect your investment to go up a little or down a little, based upon wider market conditions. […]

A desire to ‘strengthen the performance of British jump racing’ has been the catalyst for the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) to overhaul the way in which National Hunt renewals are graded. Concerns over the regression of domestic horses and yards when compared to the Irish – particularly at major meetings like the Cheltenham Festival – […]

As you may already be aware, betting odds – be it in their fractional or decimal form – can easily be converted into a percentage, which offers punters an implied probability of an event occurring. From 10/1 outsiders (9%) to 5/4 short-odds favourites (44.4%), these probabilities help many to better understand exactly the price they […]

The year 2022 has been record-breaking in many parts of the world for the extraordinary temperatures that have been experienced. Back in July, the UK received its first-ever red extreme heat warning, and associated Level 4 National Emergency, due to the balmy weather, with the mercury surpassing 40˚C in many towns and cities across the […]

It has to be said that Flat racing in the United Kingdom is facing its worse existential crisis in some time. While major meetings like Royal Ascot and Epsom Derby weekend remain tremendously well supported, attendance levels are down as a rule – in some cases, like Chester’s May Festival, saw 35% fewer punters attending […]

Greed or genuine concern? Those that don’t know a great deal about horse racing may suggest that trainers and owners sniffing at a £3,500 top prize have lost sight of reality. But anyone involved in the game, who know that there’s little change from £2,000 when training, feeding and watering a racehorse each month, and […]

If new rules on whip use proposed by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) were brought in six months ago, Sam Waley-Cohen would have been disqualified from the Grand National – completely re-writing horse racing’s record books. According to reports, the sport’s governing body is considering an automatic disqualification for those jockeys that exceed the allowed […]

From The Beatles and Oasis to Take That and Little Mix, many of us can remember exactly where we were when some of the biggest bands/groups on the planet announced their split to devastating fans. In Flat racing, the equivalent of John, Paul, George and Ringo is Frankie Dettori and John Gosden, who will remain […]

With more than 4,000 wins as a jockey and a still-record nine victories in the Derby to his name, Lester Piggott’s place in horse racing’s hall of fame is assured. The ‘Long Fellow’, as he was known, sadly passed away in May at the age of 86, and tributes flooded in from those in and […]

Sport has an ability to write stories that are amazing and often scarcely believable. And, so it came to pass that Sam Waley-Cohen, after 23 years in the saddle and, in his final ever race, won the Grand National aboard the 50/1 shot Noble Yeats. In doing so, he became just the fourth amateur jockey to […]

Legal? Yes. Ethical? The jury is out. More and more people are cloning their beloved pets, paying as much as £40,000 to specialist labs to create a genetic twin for cats, dogs and the like that are ill, ageing or have passed away. It may surprise you to know that animal cloning has been around […]

It was almost fitting that JP McManus’ 4,000th winner as a racehorse owner was given to him by one of his most exciting young chasers – the sort that helps to keep a veteran of the sport as fresh as a daisy. Chantry House triumphed in the Cotswold Chase in January, and it was again […]

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has revealed that they will be increasing minimum riding weights – however, many of the sport’s flat and jump jockeys are not happy. The BHA had introduced a 3lb weight increase to coincide with the health crisis, with weighing room safety measures including the closure of saunas to help riders […]

It was a landmark moment for Freddy Tylicki, and it could well prove to be a historic moment for horse racing too. A High Court judge has ruled that Graham Gibbons was responsible for the fall that paralysed Tylicki at Kempton back in 2016, accusing the jockey of ‘reckless disregard’ for the safety of his […]

In a world where every second counts, there’s millions to be made and lost in the blink of an eye when betting on horse racing in-running. As a consequence, you can almost forgive punters for trying to find an edge when wagering in the live markets – although, when that comes at the expense of […]

It perhaps depends on where you consume your news and media as to what you know about Charlie Brooks. The husband of News UK chief Rebekah Brooks, you may know him as the unwitting subject of a phone hacking enquiry that led to him hiding ‘erotic art’ he had collected in fear of his home […]

It would be interesting to hook punters up to ECG monitors in the middle of a National Hunt meeting. For those whose punts are in the clear approaching the final fence, there must be a brief moment where the reading goes off the charts. Of course, in the vast majority of cases, the horse in […]

There are those in the sport that will tell you the weighing room is a welcoming, supportive and community-spirited place. But with more and more victims of bullying and abuse coming forward with their stories, it seems as though now is the time for the BHA to get real about the situation and take action. […]

Floodlit evening racing on turf? It sounds like a pipedream, but it has taken a step closer to reality thanks to the innovations underway at the stalwart of night racing – Chelmsford City. A timeline of ups and downs has followed the track’s initial announcement way back in 2017 that they were planning the turf […]

In a year in which she tragically lost her husband of 73 years and turned 95 herself, you would think that Queen Elizabeth II might start to take things a bit easier. But you sense it would take an event of seismic proportion to see her miss out on a trip to Royal Ascot, and […]

Some people never quite seem to learn their lesson, do they? Oisin Murphy, one of the most talented jockeys around, has once again courted controversy after failing a breathalyzer test – meaning that he had to ‘stand down’ from a day’s racing at Newmarket. It echoes the situation that unfolded back in June 2019, when […]

When the betting odds for one of horse racing’s ‘majors’ are released, it goes without saying that the absolute vast majority of interest is to be found at the head of the market. That is where some of the finest horses in flat or jumps racing around today are to be found, with the outsiders […]

Lovers of horse racing may just be getting confused as to how and where they can watch horse racing on their TV set. There’s ITV, popping up with live coverage of the major events over jumps and on the flat, plus Racing TV and Sky Sports Racing, formerly known as At The Races until 2018. […]

It has been on the table for what feels like an eternity. Ever since the Cheltenham Festival was extended from three days to four in 2005, it seems like it’s been an almost annual conversation ever since as to whether the action can be prolonged across five days as well. Given the tough financial times […]

The past couple of years have been halcyon days for female jockeys in horse racing. In 2019, Bryony Frost set the template when she won the Ryanair Chase aboard Frodon – becoming the first woman to win at the Cheltenham Festival over obstacles. And then you have Rachael Blackmore….where do you even start with her? […]

One of the most idiosyncratic racecourses in the land, Towcester may finally be returning to horse racing. That’s the plan of the track’s new management team, who are plotting a return to the sport – first testing the water with a series of point-to-point fixtures. It’s been three years and counting since Towcester last hosted […]

You’ve probably heard Aesop’s Fable of the Boy Who Cried Wolf. You know the one – the young rascal that shouts that a wolf is coming just to goose the local villagers. And then, when the wolf does indeed come, nobody listens to the boy….with bloody consequences. Bob Baffert, the Triple Crown winning trainer, may […]