Energumene, Noble Yeats and Paisley Park can pass Festival rehearsals on a bumper card at the home of jumps racingPaul Nicholls is one of the finest trainers that National Hunt racing has seen, but even he cannot edit what is written into a horse’s genes and it is a slight surprise to see his six-year-old Il Ridoto challenging for favouritism in the valuable two-and-a-half mile handicap chase on Saturday at Cheltenham, which will need to pass an inspection at 7.30am to get the go-ahead to race.Il Ridoto has run near-identical races over track and trip on his last two starts, travelling well and making a strong move into contention before fading on the run to the line. The going is,...
The level of protection for your money – or lack of it – is often hidden in the Ts & Cs when signing up for new accountsSome punters will have been crossing off the days to this year’s Cheltenham Festival in March since the Saturday morning after the last one but, for many, Trials Day at the track this weekend will be the moment when the final countdown begins. It will not be just the backers for whom the excitement and anticipation is starting to build either. For online betting operators, Festival week is the biggest of the racing year when it comes to attracting new customers. Continue reading...
The popular grey runner comes alive at Haydock Park and ran a fine race in the Grand National Trial there last FebruaryHaydock’s valuable card on Saturday, is subject to an 8am inspection but the track was raceable on Friday after a milder night than expected with Kirkland Tellwright, the clerk of the course, reporting that the course is “forecast temperatures of between just below zero and minus 2C, which is the difference between success and failure”.Just half a dozen runners, the smallest field for 17 years, will go to post for the featured Peter Marsh Chase if the meeting gets the all-clear, including the hugely popular course specialist, Bristol De Mai (2.40). Continue reading...
Young rider says ‘racing is withering away’ after earning more for one US winner than in any month the previous year hereRacing’s new governance structure, which was unveiled in November, may or may not address the sport’s issues over prize money, field sizes and more. The government’s White Paper on gambling reform, if it ever sees the light of day, may or may not be as much of a potential disaster for racing’s revenue from betting as some predict. Tyler Heard, though, was not minded to hang around to find out.Heard rode 56 winners from around 800 rides as an apprentice in Britain between 2020 and 2022, but his win total dropped from 27 in 2021 to just a dozen...
The selection showed up well at Cheltenham in March and his opening handicap mark could well prove generousThe betting on the Lanzarote Handicap Hurdle at Kempton Park on Saturday is dominated by Charles Byrnes’s Green Glory, who won with something to spare on his handicap debut at Leopardstown’s Christmas meeting, and the first question for most punters will be whether they are with or against the 4-1 favourite when there are 19 alternatives in opposition.Many will look no further. Byrnes is a famously canny operator whose runners often find plenty of improvement when handicapping, and his son Philip, who was also in the saddle for Green Glory’s cosy win last month, is well worth his 5lb claim. Continue reading...