The selection put up his best performance on the equivalent card last year and this would be his fourth course successIt will be a surprise if Saturday’s Cotswold Chase has much of a bearing on the Cheltenham Gold Cup but at least Frodon (2.25) can pay for his entry into the March race by beating his five rivals here. It was on this card a year ago that he put up the best performance of his career, beating Shantou Flyer by a wide margin in a handicap, and this would be his fourth course success.He has yet to win at three miles but ran a couple of good races at that distance in 2017, when he was only five, and...
Fast pictures for all punters could be an enormous boon to racing and help to get the attention of a technologically savvy younger generationThe recent “drones over racecourses” controversy has, in the view of a punters’ representative, called attention to a longstanding truth, that those who bet in-running are on anything but a level playing field. Martin Hughes, who serves on the Horserace Bettors Forum, believes racing is missing out on “a fantastic opportunity” by allowing that unfairness to persist and adds that 60% of respondents to an HBF survey, as yet unpublished, said they would be interested in betting during races if they could see the action at the same time as everyone else.“I don’t think anything has really...
Galmoy Hurdle success for clear Gold Cup favourite ‘He’s every bit as slick over a hurdle as he is a fence’ A little more than 300 days after his victory in the 2018 RSA Chase at Cheltenham, Presenting Percy returned to action here on Thursday and immediately dispelled any doubts about his wellbeing with a comfortable one-and-a-quarter length success in the Galmoy Hurdle. He tired a little towards the line as Bapaume tried to run him down, but his engine and enthusiasm were clearly intact.Presenting Percy took the same race last year, having already made a promising start to his chasing career, then took in the Red Mills Chase here in February on the way to a polished success in...
John Gosden’s colt allotted rating of 126 – the same mark Frankel received at the end of his juvenile seasonToo Darn Hot’s exceptional form in his juvenile campaign last season has just received the official seal of approval from British Horseracing Authority’s handicappers, with John Gosden’s colt allotted a rating of 126 in the 2018 two-year-old classification – the same mark that Frankel received at the end of his juvenile season in 2010. No two-year-old has been given a higher mark since Xaar in 1997.Frankel was joint-top in the ratings eight years ago, alongside Dream Ahead, but Too Darn Hot is 5lb clear of Charlie Appleby’s Quorto, with the Middle Park Stakes winner, Ten Sovereigns, from the Aidan O’Brien stable...
‘Perhaps there was some divine intervention,’ says trainer after young Irishman miraculously avoids hitting the turfI’ve seen some amazing recoveries in the saddle in my time but the one achieved by Michael Sweeney at the final fence of Killeagh point to point on Sunday is as good as any of them. He was clearly on his way to the ground after his mount, Ask Heather, jumped into the final fence instead of over it when holding a narrow advantage and favourite-backers knew perfectly well they had done their money.Sweeney ended up dangling from the mare’s neck for several strides but gravity must have been looking the other way because somehow the rider managed to wrestle his way back into the...