New statistics show the strike rate for French female jockeys is closing in on parity with the men, but what does that prove?Kevin Blake has made another fascinating and provocative contribution to the debate over female jockeys, using his AtTheRaces column to evaluate the statistical effect of French racing’s experiment with a weight allowance. Kevin and I differ on how the numbers should be interpreted but at least we now have some numbers to examine, thanks to his hours of work on the subject in recent weeks.One headline is that the strike rate for all female jockeys in French Flat racing last year was 9.03%, which is up from 6.6% three years earlier and closing in on the average for...
Ballydoyle trainer went 0-18 at Glorious Goodwood and is in danger of going a month between Group One winsAidan O’Brien has been unable to discover an explanation for Hermosa’s dismal display at Glorious Goodwood last week, when the winner of the 1,000 Guineas in both England and Ireland failed to show anything like her best and trailed home last in the Nassau. The filly had been sent off the 13-8 favourite for a race O’Brien had won twice in the previous four years with other Guineas winners, Minding and Winter, but was eased down in the final furlong and finished 49 lengths behind the surprise winner, Deirdre.“Nothing has come to light with Hermosa,” O’Brien has told the Racing Post. “She...
The Newmarket trainer can follow up his sprint handicap victory at Royal Ascot with another at Glorious GoodwoodRoger Varian has evidently developed a taste for sprint handicaps. Having won the Wokingham at Royal Ascot with Cape Byron, the trainer now tilts at the Stewards’ Cup at Goodwood on Saturday with Flavius Titus (3.40), another horse who was racing over further last year but has been transformed by six furlongs.He put up a career best to beat 14 rivals at Newmarket on his April reappearance and bettered that on the July Course two months later. He did not win by far on either occasion but gives the impression there is more to come and this cavalry charge can bring it out...
Escobar looked back to his very best at York last time out and Jamie Spencer is the right jockey to deliver him on the lineThere is a familiar feel to the betting for the Golden Mile Handicap at Goodwood on Friday afternoon thanks to the presence of David O’Meara’s Escobar towards the top of the market, and he is worth backing at around 8-1 in the hope that he enjoys more luck than he did 12 months ago.Escobar travelled like a winner from the start to the furlong pole, where he was stopped in his tracks when attempting to find a gap. By the time he did find running room, it was too late to make any impression but he...
Phoenix Of Spain beat Too Darn Hot with ease in the Irish Guineas and can underline his superiority again at GoodwoodFrankie Dettori delivered for the punters on the first day of Glorious Goodwood and he is aboard another short-priced favourite in Too Darn Hot in the Group One Sussex Stakes on Wednesday.It took four races and a drop back to seven furlongs for Too Darn Hot to get off the mark as a three-year-old in the Prix Jean Prat last time out. With that win in the book and Dettori in such irrepressible form, however, backers seem ready to overlook his less promising start to the season when he steps back up to a mile this time. Related: Glorious Goodwood:...