Cue Card will take his chance in the Cheltenham Gold Cup! But what wins today?I’m delighted to see the news this morning that Cue Card has been committed to the Cheltenham Gold Cup by his owner, Jean Bishop. After his comprehensive defeat in the King George by Thistlecrack, it seemed that Colin Tizzard, who trains both, was minded to send Cue Card to the Ryanair, which the horse won four years ago. Continue reading...
Switching the all-weather Flat fixtures from the profitable Surrey course to Newmarket could be the real prize in controversial schemeWhen the Jockey Club announced last week that its 10-year plan involved the sale of Kempton Park for housing to help fund a new all-weather course in Newmarket, its officials bent over backwards to insist that the decision had been taken with a heavy heart.Roger Weatherby, the senior steward, talked of showing “leadership with the assets we have” and taking “tough decisions to help our sport keep moving forward”. The loss of Kempton, he stressed, was painful, but the only way to raise £100m or more to put towards a bright new future. Related: Kempton the victim as Jockey Club puts...
Our tipster finds himself out of step with the betting market over Itoldyou’s chance in East Sussex todayAs a general rule, the further out of step with the betting market you find yourself, the more wrong you are likely to be, or the more likely you are to be wrong. I hope that doesn’t sound defeatist and of course I believe it’s possible to beat the market, or I wouldn’t be doing this, but the market represents a lot of wisdom and a lot of knowledge and that requires respect. Related: Horse racing tips: Monday 16 January Continue reading...
Followmybuttons could lead us to the winner’s enclosure, provided he keeps clearing the fencesOne of the things I already like about ITV Racing is its enthusiasm for archive footage. Today, to mark the passing of Brian Fletcher, they’ve tweeted footage of his 1974 Scottish National success on Red Rum, which apparently the jockey said was the best win of his career. Continue reading...
Shouldn’t racing’s ruling body be putting measures in place to make racecourse closure less attractive? I had an exchange with racing’s ruling body yesterday which revealed as much about their approach as anything uncovered by the Jim Best story last year. I had gone to the British Horseracing Authority to ask about the Jockey Club’s plans to close one of its tracks (Kempton) and redistribute the fixtures among its other venues, including the very important and prestigious King George VI Chase. Continue reading...