Much-travelled French jockey, now based in Newmarket, is being helped back to action at Oaksey HouseThe rehabbing facilities available to jockeys in Britain have been hailed as the best in the world by Gérald Mossé, who speaks with authority after more than three decades of riding in many different countries around the globe. Mossé, who has ridden winners of the Arc and the Melbourne Cup, is spending this week at Oaksey House, the Injured Jockeys Fund’s facility in Lambourn, with the aim of getting back in the saddle in mid-February after sustaining what he describes as a minor injury in Bahrain at the end of last year.“I’ve been lucky in my career, never to be injured too much,” said Mossé...
Pinatubo’s Curragh demolition has received official recognition as the finest performance by a juvenile since Celtic SwingPinatubo’s nine-length defeat of Armory in the Group One National Stakes at The Curragh last September has received official recognition as the finest performance by a two-year-old for a quarter of a century, as Charlie Appleby’s unbeaten colt was duly installed as 2019’s champion juvenile with a rating of 128, 2lb in front of the great Frankel at the same stage of his career.Like Frankel, Pinatubo completed his two-year-old campaign with a win in the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket, but it was his earlier victories in both the National Stakes and the Vintage Stakes at Glorious Goodwood, by a combined total of 14 lengths,...
Criticised for its coverage and the exit of Cornelius Lysaght, the Corporation’s relationship with the sport is coming into focusThe BBC’s waning interest in racing was highlighted both inside and outside the sport’s media over the weekend. On Saturday, Andy Dunn, the chief sports writer for the Daily and Sunday Mirror, took to Twitter to complain that Radio 5 Live’s sports report “did not carry a line” about the day’s racing during his drive home after covering the day’s early Premier League game at Watford. “What a shame they have simply ditched the sport,” he concluded, a thought which was echoed by Matt Hughes, his counterpart at the Daily Mail. “Desperate,” Hughes said. “Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup trials today...
Racing’s ruling body says there were fewer equine fatalities last year than in 2018, but its figures were challenged by Animal AidRacing’s ruling body issued a reassuring assertion on Thursday that the number of horse deaths at the track last year was significantly lower than in 2018, when an alarming increase provoked headlines. However, the figure published by the British Horseracing Authority was immediately challenged by Animal Aid, an animal rights organisation hostile to the sport, which said that it had noted a higher figure than the BHA for the first time in its many years of tracking equine fatalities.The BHA says it recorded 173 fatal injuries to racehorses in 2019, from 91,937 total runners, a rate of 0.19%. In...
The headhunters tasked with finding the new head of the BHA face some tricky choices as they scroll through their contactsThe headhunters tasked with finding Nick Rust’s replacement as chief executive of the British Horseracing Authority face some tricky choices as they start scrolling through their contacts this morning. How upfront can they be about the requirements and challenges of the role? Or, to put it another way, do they actually want anyone to call back?The job has its compensations, of course. Chunky salary, offices in central London and a guaranteed ticket to some of the biggest and best sporting events on the year. But the successful candidate will also need the hide of a rhino to absorb the regular...