A pair of Gallic chasers are aiming to dislodge Tiger Roll’s crown in the Cheltenham Festival Cross Country Chase On a windswept gallop in central France, Emmanuel Clayeux is looking a couple of weeks into the future – and also, he hopes, three or four years.Urgent De Gregaine and Diesel D’Allier, Clayeux’s main contenders for the Cross Country Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, were among the horses exercising here on Tuesday morning, and will be aiming for a repeat of their one-two finish over the unique obstacles in November when they return to Gloucestershire on 11 March. Only time will tell if there were also Festival contenders for 2022 or 2023 working alongside them, but the odds are that there...
Willie Mullins’ runner looks a very rare talent and the visual impression of Saturday’s win was backed up by a timefigure that was almost off the scaleThe third Dublin Racing Festival over the last two days at Leopardstown was, by some margin, the best so far, thanks in no small part to the efforts of the track’s groundstaff and the decision to keep watering the track on Sunday morning despite 5mm of rain overnight. A repeat of 2019, when the final day saw 22 non-runners as a result of drying ground, was avoided, and Delta Work, whose connections were 50-50 at best about his chance of running on Saturday afternoon, was able to give Gordon Elliott his first win in...
Veteran missed the King George with a bruised foot, which continues to trouble him, and the Gold Cup is not an optionThe bruised foot which caused Thistlecrack to miss the King George VI Chase is still troubling him three weeks later, Colin Tizzard said on Tuesday. Connections have decided not to give him an entry in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and he will race over hurdles if he turns up at Cheltenham for the March Festival.“He’s still not quite right,” the Dorset trainer said. “It’s the injury he had at Christmas. It’s only a small one but it’s there and things like that keep recurring with him.” Related: Talking Horses: debate over deals with betting firms to rumble on Doncaster1.05...
Odds-on favourites have become more common since a fourth day was added. Do we want thrilling battles or processions?If you enjoy a thing, it’s only natural to want more of it, as those of us who have done extremely well at the trough in the past fortnight are keenly aware. How, then, do we explain the recent Twitter polls which have come out resoundingly against the idea of adding a fifth day to the Cheltenham Festival?Here is one. Here is another. In both cases, votes in favour of an extra day failed to make it as high as 20% after the idea was discussed on ITV by Cheltenham’s new chairman. Related: Bad practices list for horse racing trainers includes allegation...
Gold Cup-winning trainer predicts Festival extension from four days, but Oliver Sherwood says it would be ‘absolute disaster’Kim Bailey, who achieved the feat of saddling Champion Hurdle winner Alderbrook and Gold Cup winner Master Oats in 1995, said on Monday he believes it is “inevitable” the Cheltenham Festival will be stretched to a fifth day from its current four days.The trainer’s comments came despite the British Horseracing Authority stating on Monday that the Festival’s four-day format will continue. The BHA had announced a new race, the Mares’ Chase, for 2021 but said that it would replace an existing contest not yet selected. Related: Post-Brexit concerns voiced by top cross-Channel raider George Baker Salisbury 1.50 Good Job Power 2.20 Stoweman 2.50...