Nicky Henderson’s Countister (2.10) can triumph at Newbury in the novice hurdle, the winner of which will likely end up running at the Cheltenham Festival in MarchJump racing returns to Newbury this afternoon for the first time since March – and for the only time before the ‘Ladbrokes Winter Carnival’ on 1 and 2 December, a meeting that pretty much everyone will refer to as ‘the one that used to be the Hennessy’ for the next 10 years at least.The Challow Hurdle and Betfair Hurdle are among the other highlights to look forward to over the coming months, but there is plenty to whet the appetite on Thursday afternoon’s card too, starting with the hurdles debut of Claimantakinforgan, third home...
Racing’s ruling body must show it has been vigorously enforcing the licence condition that tells trainers not to take enhanced oddsI have made many a complaint about the instinctive secrecy and galloping paranoia that so hampers the British Horseracing Authority in its work. It has to be acknowledged that, in the time of Nick Rust, there has been some progress in opening up to greater scrutiny; the types of disciplinary hearing which are open to the press have been greatly increased, for example, and, until this year, we would not have been allowed into a hearing like the David Evans one on Monday. Related: Questions raised over whether David Evans breached training licence Continue reading...
Brian Ellison’s chestnut is the most likely of the market-leaders to produce something like his best form after recent handicap successJoseph O’Brien has become, at 24, the youngest trainer to win the Melbourne Cup, his Rekindling leading home a 1-2-3 for Irish runners. Read all about it here! Continue reading...
Fresh from riding the Filly & Mare Turf winner on Saturday, William Buick has a strong chance on Ply at Kempton Park on MondayWilliam Buick should still be buzzing when he returns to action in Britain on Monday afternoon having finally got off the mark at the Breeders’ Cup when Wuheida took the Filly & Mare Turf at Del Mar on Saturday. He has two excellent chances on an unusually valuable and competitive Monday afternoon card at Kempton Park, and Ply (3.20) in particular looks a good bet to complete a hat-trick in the final of the London Middle Distance Series Handicap. Related: Melbourne Cup: how the race that stops a nation divides the nation Continue reading...
The trainer with a record 26 Group One winners in 2017 sets his sights on the biggest prize of the year“No, never,” Aidan O’Brien says with feeling, to a suggestion that a winner of the Breeders’ Cup Classic is a personal ambition. “No race would ever be on my mind, we’d always make every decision and do the right thing for the horse. It’s not about us. It’s always about the horse.”It is a sign of the single-minded dedication to what is best for his horses that has carried O’Brien to a record 26 Group One winners this year. But while the question was never going to prompt a Keeganesque rant – “I tell you what, I will love it,...