Racing’s weekly magazine programme on ITV4 was among the nominees at the Sports Journalism Awards this weekThe Opening Show was keeping good company on Monday night, when racing’s weekly magazine programme was nominated in the ‘Best TV/Digital Show’ category alongside Match Of The Day and other heavy hitters at the Sports Journalism Awards. While the award eventually went to Cricket on 5 for highlights of the final extraordinary day of the Ashes series, The Opening Show was given bronze in the seven-runner field, a significant piece of recognition for a programme that appears to be finding its feet and an audience.Figures provided by ITV4 say the show, screened at 9.30am on Saturdays, has been getting an average audience of 175,000...
A pair of Gallic chasers are aiming to dislodge Tiger Roll’s crown in the Cheltenham Festival Cross Country Chase On a windswept gallop in central France, Emmanuel Clayeux is looking a couple of weeks into the future – and also, he hopes, three or four years.Urgent De Gregaine and Diesel D’Allier, Clayeux’s main contenders for the Cross Country Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, were among the horses exercising here on Tuesday morning, and will be aiming for a repeat of their one-two finish over the unique obstacles in November when they return to Gloucestershire on 11 March. Only time will tell if there were also Festival contenders for 2022 or 2023 working alongside them, but the odds are that there...
The selection can give Nigel Twiston-Davies another success in a race he won a decade ago with Razor RoyaleIt has taken just one poor run for punters to forget about Crievehill (3.35), on offer at 20-1 for the Betway Handicap Chase, the race formerly known as the Racing Post. That seems an oversight in view of the drying ground at Kempton, which should allow him to show the ability that carried him to a 10-length victory at Haydock in November.He attracted some interest for Ascot’s Silver Cup, days before Christmas, but the very testing surface that prevailed then was no use to him, for all that he jumped well and travelled enthusiastically for a circuit. Connections seem to have learned...
Language matters, as the Horse Welfare Board noted this week, so why continue to use a term which is off-putting to others?A serious, substantial piece of work is the strategic plan published on Thursday by the newly created Horse Welfare Board. It is full of interesting and original thoughts, reflecting on racing’s relationhip with its horses and can be downloaded here. Related: Horse Welfare Board comments set to usher in stronger whip penalties Newcastle12.30 Ginflix 1.00 Snookered 1.35 On The Blind Side 2.07 Siannes Star 2.40 Tupelo Mississipi 3.10 Trapper Peak 3.43 Dark Lochnagar Continue reading...
The successful jumps trainer is a traditionalist but welcomes the significant changes made at Aintree in the past decadeOn the eve of the Horse Welfare Board’s first press conference, intended to introduce itself and its aims to the world, Willie Mullins gave his support to the idea that racing should move with the times and adjust to changing social mores. The hugely successful jumps trainer described himself as a traditionalist but admitted that, despite his scepticism, good had come of significant changes made to the Grand National in the past decade.Mullins made his comments at his stables on Wednesday, during a discussion of the National Hunt Chase, which became a hot topic at last year’s Festival when turning into an...