A brief report from the Windsor stewards provoked outrage on Twitter but the background detail provides a lot of mitigationI like that stewards reports are posted on Twitter these days but some care needs to be taken with the wording, as we learned yesterday when a verdict from Windsor caused understandable outrage. A member of Simon Crisford’s staff was fined £200 for “attempting to kick MOFAAJI in the groin area when leading the colt out of the Stables”.No further detail was offered in the tweet or the full stewards’ report posted online. But when I called Crisford, it became clear there was a lot more to be said. I should say that Crisford had not been at Windsor but had...
The wholesale gamble on Gibbs Hills at Newcastle could be thwarted by the Ian Williams-trained runnerThose who got the fancy prices about Gibbs Hill for this Northumberland Plate can feel very smug, but following them in at 4-1 hardly appeals, as he hasn’t raced for almost two years and steps up in distance by half a mile. A BB∫Bbetter way to go at double-figure odds could be Speedo Boy (3.35), trained by Ian Williams, who knows how to win a major handicap.The chestnut was second in a hot race at Newmarket when last seen, five places ahead of a stablemate who then won at Royal Ascot. This surface is an unknown but he won his maiden on Polytrack in 2017...
Traffic issues and a clash with a major Gaelic football game are making this quite a challenging weekend for Irish racing Irish racing has been quite innovative with the scheduling of some of its biggest events in recent years, including decisions to stage the first four days at Punchestown, the Irish Derby and the Champion Stakes as early-evening fixtures in an attempt to maximise the TV audience. Running one of its 13 Group One events at 5.25 on a Friday evening is a fresh departure, though, and it will be interesting to see whether the viewing figures for the Pretty Polly Stakes on Friday make up for what would could well be a significant hit to the attendance at the...
Breeders’ Cup officials meet to decide whether to switch the meeting from Santa Anita after a sudden spate of fatal injuriesThe board of the Breeders’ Cup will meet on Thursday with a decision seemingly imminent on whether to switch this year’s $28m two-day meeting, which is scheduled for 1 and 2 November, away from troubled Santa Anita Park to Churchill Downs in Kentucky, which hosted the event last year.Preparations to hold the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita in just over four months have been continuous since it was awarded the event for a record 10th time in August 2018. The track is one of the most famous and historic in world racing, has an unforgettable setting beneath the San Gabriel...
The controversial former jockey, who was banned for five years at one stage, now owns a horse that could run on FridayGraham Bradley is back in the game, the authorities in Ireland having decided to allow him to register as a racehorse owner. Indeed, he has already made a quiet re-entry, Marchons Ensemble having run in his name when second in a Limerick maiden recently. The colt is entered in a race at The Curragh’s Derby meeting on Friday.This is news because few figures in the history of racing, in Britain or Ireland, have attracted so much sustained controversy as Bradley. Without wishing to go over it all again, let us simply remember that he was warned off for five...