‘We’re second choice for everybody,’ is the complaint from the trainer, who has been working a ‘best available’ policyOne of the untold stories of each Festival is how hard trainers find it to book a high-profile amateur jockey for the National Hunt Chase or the Kim Muir. It can be a very unrewarding experience, like trying to nail down mercury. You think you’ve got a yes and then yer man’s name turns up in the declarations next to someone else’s horse. Related: Sizing John a dramatic withdrawal from Cheltenham Gold Cup with pelvic injury Ayr 1.50 Snougar 2.20 Skywards Reward 2.50 Acdc 3.25 Charmant 4.00 Lake View Lad 4.30 Massini’s Lady 5.05 Chu Chu Percy Continue reading...
In Sunbury on Wednesday and in Dundalk on Friday, European-trained horses are targeting guaranteed spots in KentuckyIt is a long and rarely-trodden path from Sunbury in south-west London to Louisville, Kentucky, but one of the runners in the 7.10 at Kempton Park this evening will take the first step along the 4,000-mile route when the track stages the Road to the Kentucky Derby Conditions Stakes over a mile. The race was originally scheduled for last Thursday’s meeting, which was lost to the weather, but has been saved because it carries precious qualification points for the Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs in early May. Along with the Patton Stakes at Dundalk on Friday, points will be awarded on a...
Last week’s big freeze hit attendances badly, yet starting prices were still determined by a small handful of on-course puntersThe attendance at Southwell on Tuesday should be a little better than last Friday’s crowd for a hastily-arranged “jumpers bumpers” meeting, but then it could hardly be much worse. Around 400 paying customers – the standard crowd for an all-weather Tuesday at the Nottinghamshire track – are expected to turn up, which is nearly 400 more than the 13 who paid through the gate four days ago. When trainers, owners and stable staff are taken into account, the “crowd” at Southwell last Friday was probably around 100 in all, but most of those will have been at the track to work,...
Bookmaker has been laying well over the odds for weeks about flashy hurdler’s Supreme chanceI had a quick word with Eddie O’Leary this morning, just to confirm that next week’s target for Samcro hasn’t changed. He was clear, as he has been for weeks, that the intention is to run the star novice hurdler in the Ballymore, barring extreme ground conditions. “It would have to be brutally heavy,” he said, before Samcro’s owners would even begin to consider running him in the Supreme. Related: RSPCA raises concern over whips not adhering to guidelines Dr Richard Newland 60% (5) Peter Bowen 40% (5) Paul Nicholls 30% (30) Brian Ellison 30% (27) Alan King 28% (25) Sue Smith 25% (12) Warren Greatrex...
If Headway (3.30) is to justify his trainer’s lofty ambitions, a big effort is needed at Lingfield against beatable rivals on a surface that ought to suit“He’s really well. I just hope it’s on,” was the word from William Haggas as he contemplated the chance of his Headway (3.30) in Lingfield’s Spring Cup on Satuday. In glorious sunshine at long-ago Royal Ascot, Headway was beaten just a head in the Coventry and has since run third in the Gimcrack.There is reason to hope for better this year and Haggas is aiming at the Jersey Stakes, perhaps via the German Guineas. If Headway is to justify those ambitions, a big effort is needed against beatable rivals on a surface that ought...