The three-day Grand National meeting at Aintree opens on Thursday with Tiger Roll set to be the centre of attentionThe three-day Grand National meeting at Aintree opens on Thursday with Tiger Roll set to be the centre of attention as he faces eight rivals in a bid to add the Grade One Betway Bowl Chase to his remarkable list of high-profile victories.The five-time Cheltenham Festival winner and dual Grand National hero has become a household name without taking on top staying chasers at level weights. But owners Gigginstown House Stud decided to make an exception this time, and Tiger Roll runs at Aintree on Thursday – rather than last Monday’s Irish Grand National or the Grand National at the weekend....
TV tips for the Bank Holiday action at Lingfield and Newcastle, including Finals day at the formerThe Betway Easter Classic, the feature event on Finals day at Lingfield on Good Friday, has attracted the smallest field in its seven-year history, but an interesting head-to-head is in prospect between Bangkok (4.15) and the Winter Derby winner, Forest Of Dean.Bangkok was a little out of his depth in the Saudi Cup in February but has disappointed only once in four starts over Friday’s track and trip, when odds-on for the 2020 Winter Derby. He readily chased down Forest Of Dean, who got first run off a steady pace, in the Winter Derby Trial in February and looks rock-solid at around 5-4. Related:...
The selection for the Doncaster betting highlight has eased in the weights and could be set for a very productive campaignJames Doyle has won the past two runnings of the Lincoln Handicap in 2018 and 2019, including an easy success on Charlie Appleby’s Auxerre as 5-2 favourite two years ago, and the same trainer’s Eastern World gives him an obvious chance of a hat-trick on Saturday.The four-year-old is just one of several runners in the field that could yet make their mark in a higher grade later in the season, however, along with Brentford Hope and Haqeeqy, for the newly licensed father-and-son team of John and Thady Gosden. Related: Talking Horses: prize money switch under fire after Cheltenham drubbing Kelso...
Scheme does little to encourage key players to send the most expensive yearlings and jumping prospects to British yardsPunters will not notice quite a significant change to the way British racing operates from Saturday afternoon, but owners certainly will and not all of them will be entirely happy with the results. From the first race of the weekend, when the Flat season on turf is due to get underway at Doncaster, prize money will be divided up under a new formula devised by the Horsemen’s Group – which includes owners, trainers, jockeys and stable staff – which aims to spread the returns to owners more evenly from top to bottom of the racing pyramid.The new system will see just over...
The blue and white colours of the hugely popular owner were instantly familiar to racing fans around the worldThe blue and white colours of Sheikh Hamdan al-Maktoum, whose death at the age of 75 was announced on Wednesday, were instantly familiar to racing fans around the world for 40 years, in Group One races and maidens and everything between. His investment in bloodstock, both for racing and breeding, in that time was incalculable, and matched or exceeded only by his younger brother, Sheikh Mohammed.While his brother’s maroon-and-white colours were replaced with Godolphin blue a quarter of a century ago, however, Sheikh Hamdan’s silks were a constant thread in the narrative of Flat racing from the afternoon when the two-year-old Mushref...