Filly from Mick Easterby stable returned positive test Beta blockers are potentially a ‘stopping’ drug The British Horseracing Authority is investigating claims that Ladies First, the beaten favourite for a race at Newcastle on 21 September, returned a positive test for a beta blocker, which is potentially a “stopping” drug.Ladies First, a four-year-old filly from the Mick Easterby stable, lined up for a one-mile handicap at the all-weather track just 12 days after posting a career-best winning performance in a seven-furlong handicap at York. She was strong in the betting both at the track and on the Betfair betting exchange, being returned at an official SP of 6-4 at the course and an almost identical 2.53 on the exchange. Related:...
The Wetherby race will be the high-class chaser’s first race since finishing fourth in last year’s King GeorgeThistlecrack, the brilliant winner of the King George VI Chase at Kempton in his novice season in 2016, “has not missed a beat” in his preparation for the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby on Saturday week, Joe Tizzard, son and assistant to the 10-year-old’s trainer Colin, said on Tuesday.The Charlie Hall will be Thistlecrack’s first race since finishing fourth in last year’s King George, six lengths behind the winner, Might Bite. He was ruled out of the remainder of the season shortly afterwards as the result of a stress fracture, but is now in full training ahead of a campaign that may well...
The remarkable mare goes for a 29th win in 29 on Saturday, but the Caulfield Cup result offers some hope for EuropeIt was another highly satisfactory weekend for European stables in the Antipodes as runners from the northern hemisphere finished first, third and fourth in the Group One Caulfield Cup, an outcome that is likely to add to the jitters among local fans as the remarkable mare Winx, who is on a 28-race winning streak, attempts to make it 29 this weekend with an unprecedented fourth success in the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley. Winx is top-priced at 2-5 with British bookmakers for Saturday’s race, which could prove to be the last outing of her career, and only one other likely...
Aidan O’Brien’s Cliffs Of Moher will test an old superstition as he leads European assault on Australian Group OneThere are four Group One races on the card for Champions Day at Ascot, and another with plenty of European interest at Caulfield in Australia on Saturday morning, where Aidan O’Brien’s Cliffs Of Moher, the runner-up in last year’s Derby, is one of four runners from British and Irish stables in the Caulfield Cup, a major trial for the Melbourne Cup. Anyone getting up at 6.40am UK time to back Cliffs Of Moher will find that he now races under the name of The Cliffsofmoher, since his original moniker clashed with that a colt who was already in the Australian form book....
Champions Stakes favourite will use blinkers to keep focus Soft ground is expected to suit colt in last race of career Cracksman, the odds-on favourite for the Qipco Champion Stakes at Ascot on Saturday, will wear blinkers for the first time in the final race of his career, in an attempt to coax him back to the form that secured a seven-length success in the same race last season.Cracksman beat Poet’s Word, this year’s King George winner, into a distant second place at Ascot last October but he has not seen a racecourse since being two and a quarter lengths behind Poet’s Word at Royal Ascot in June. That defeat followed two Group One victories, in the Prix Ganay and...