After so many well-timed runs down the years, the outstanding rider judged the final act to perfection too and went out at the top on his own termsThe end came suddenly, as it so often does for a jump jockey. But while so many of his weighing-room colleagues simply wake up one morning and decide that they can’t face it any more or get the news from a specialist that they can’t risk another fall, Ruby Walsh went out at the top with a Grade One winner, and on his own terms. After so many well-timed runs down the years, the final act was judged to perfection too.In a golden generation of National Hunt riders, Walsh was transcendent. Tony McCoy...
Al Boum Photo can complete Paul Townend’s 12-month cycle of redemption in the Punchestown Gold Cup after last year’s inexplicable brain-fade on the same horseA quick rebrand has transformed Wednesday’s Sagaro Stakes meeting at Ascot into “Royal Ascot Trials Day” as a reminder that high summer is not too far away, but there are no excuses for starting at Punchestown, where the jumps campaign is still alive and kicking and the Punchestown Gold Cup later is potentially one of the races of the season.The betting cannot separate Al Boum Photo, Willie Mullins’s first Cheltenham Gold Cup winner at the umpteenth attempt, and his stable companion Kemboy, who unseated his rider at the first at Cheltenham but has since thrashed his...
‘GoRacingGreen’ Room a collaboration with mental health campaigner Debbie Matthews and other tracks may follow suitWell done to Nottingham racecourse, which becomes the first British track to open a ‘safe space’ facility for racegoers living with poor mental health. This is a result of the profile given to the issue in recent months by Debbie Matthews, a tourism consultant who has become an expert on the subject while dealing with her own anxiety disorder over the years.Nottingham says it is “is thrilled to be the first racecourse to support Debbie and the #GoRacingGreen community”. One of its bars has been converted into ‘The #GoRacingGreen Room’, “a safe and quiet space for anyone who needs to seek respite during a race...
Five days of top-class action in prospect as the Irish National Hunt campaign draws to a close The narrative over the five days of the Punchestown Festival in the last two seasons has been Gordon Elliott’s spirited but ultimately doomed attempts to seize a first trainers’ championship from Willie Mullins. Last year, Elliott started the week as an odds-on chance for the title but was blown away by a 9,802-1 six-timer from Mullins on day two. A year earlier, the decisive shift arrived even later in the week when Mullins and his son, Patrick, landed a Grade One double on day four.This time around, it is not even close. Mullins has been trailing Elliott for the last two years at...
The racecourse has spent years working to provide a large quantity of data for each race, available from next weekSagaro day at Ascot on Wednesday will see the launch of the track’s new “sectional times” display, first reported in The Guardian last summer. It represents three years of work by Ascot and Longines, one of the course’s official business partners, and will provide a wealth of data to help us all get a better understanding of the action on the track. Related: Talking Horses: racing attempts to get out in front of gene doping furlong by furlong times for the raceactual distance travelledtop speedfastest furlong. Related: Bryony Frost ‘fit as a flea’ and ready to fly at Sandown, says Paul...