‘There’s a lot of good jockeys and they need more recognition’ says one ex-rider but the idea has not yet found favour in racingHere’s a thought which you may or may not like: why don’t jockeys have their names written on the back of their silks, like footballers and other athletes? If we accept the advice of the sport’s marketing people and seek to make stars of our jockeys, why isn’t there an easy way of identifying them in a race? By which I mean, easier than finding the right page in your racecard or Racing Post and running your eye down the list of runners until you find the silks of the jockey who just impressed you or outraged...
The favourite would be the first horse to win this prize in consecutive years since Be Friendly more than 50 years agoLots of possible winners and some unknown quantities make Saturday’s running of the Haydock Sprint Cup a really enjoyable one to contemplate. It seems a pity, then, to go for the favourite but the claims of Harry Angel (4.15) are strong and he can become the first to win this in consecutive years since Be Friendly, more than half a century ago. Related: Enable clash highlights Jockey Club’s short-sighted plan to sell Kempton Ascot 1.35 Fox Leicester 2.10 Shambolic 2.45 Raising Sand 3.20 Scottish Jig 3.55 Ghostwatch 4.30 Rebel Streak 5.05 Bahamian Sunrise Continue reading...
It is hard to see the going being anything other than very testing for Saturday’s Group One sprint race at the north-west trackHaydock’s three-day Sprint Cup meeting opened on Thursday on ground that was officially good, good-to-soft in places, but it is now soft and heavy in places ahead of the Friday card with some more rain possible this morning.It is hard to see it being anything other than testing for Saturday’s Group One sprint, for which there are a dozen declarations headed by last year’s winner, Harry Angel, and the change in the going has already led to a series of non-runners on Friday’s card. Related: Racing punter gets court date in battle with Bet365 over £1m payout Ascot 1.30...
Jamie Osborne has sent another strong team from his stable in Lambourn and has a host of fancied runnersLaytown races, the only official race meeting staged on a beach anywhere in Europe, will celebrate its 150th anniversary on Thursday afternoon with six races on a strand about 30 miles north of Dublin, and several of the prizes could be heading across the water as Jamie Osborne has sent another strong team from his stable in Lambourn.Osborne has fancied runners in the first five races, and all run in the colours of the Melbourne 10 Syndicate, which pretty much exists to target this meeting above all others. It even sponsors the final race – the only one, strangely, in which it...
Road To Riches is among some big-name horses to be sold off by the mighty Gigginstown empire at Doncaster soonAbout this time last year, a group of friends led by Gary O’Brien of At The Races shelled out £21,000 at an auction in Doncaster for a 10-year-old handicap chaser who hadn’t shown his very best form for five years. It’s not the sort of investment your bank manager will ever recommend but it turned out to be excellent business, as Folsom Blue won twice last winter and gave his new owners a huge thrill (and a similar quantity of frustration) when an unlucky fourth in the Irish National. Related: Ex-owner once banned indefinitely by BHA behind ambitious Newmarket yard Lingfield 1.40...