The ground should be much more to the liking of Sands Of Mali at Hamilton than the sounder surface at Meydan in MarchDel Mar, Deauville, Ascot, Meydan … and Hamilton. It is all in a day’s work for Sands Of Mali, the unexpected winner of the Group One Sprint on Champions Day last October, who will add the Scottish track to his impressively varied CV when he makes his first start of the year in Britain on Thursday.Hamilton deserve plenty of credit for pulling together the six-runner field for the British Stallion Studs Clyde Conditions Stakes, worth £17,000 to the winner, as Sands Of Mali is not the only Group One winner going to post. Related: Talking Horses: Kieran Shoemark...
The jockey has spoken openly about the addiction that led to a positive cocaine test, and rode a winner on his return to racingKieran Shoemark says he hopes to be riding at Royal Ascot in a fortnight, having enjoyed a winner from his first ride after a six-month suspension at Lingfield on Saturday night.The 23-year-old jockey, who has spoken with disarming frankness about his struggles with addiction that led to a positive test for cocaine, added that he was particularly grateful to his weighing room colleagues for the warmth of the welcome he received when returning to work at the weekend, and even more so to the trainer Charlie Hills, who has been extremely supportive as the rider works hard...
Al Boum Photo can complete Paul Townend’s 12-month cycle of redemption in the Punchestown Gold Cup after last year’s inexplicable brain-fade on the same horseA quick rebrand has transformed Wednesday’s Sagaro Stakes meeting at Ascot into “Royal Ascot Trials Day” as a reminder that high summer is not too far away, but there are no excuses for starting at Punchestown, where the jumps campaign is still alive and kicking and the Punchestown Gold Cup later is potentially one of the races of the season.The betting cannot separate Al Boum Photo, Willie Mullins’s first Cheltenham Gold Cup winner at the umpteenth attempt, and his stable companion Kemboy, who unseated his rider at the first at Cheltenham but has since thrashed his...
Ascot signal that a ‘few tweaks may be needed’ after closing day of the Royal meeting provided an unattractive betting cardExpect another reshuffle in the Royal Ascot line-up next year. Last weekend’s Saturday card was particularly badly affected by the changes made for this year’s meeting and the indications from Ascot are that a rethink is likely before the 2019 fixture.Nick Smith, Ascot’s director of racing and communications, has already admitted to the Racing Post that “a few tweaks may be needed” following the disquiet expressed about the closing day card this year, and with Hong Kong punters joining in the fun next year to create an ‘Ascot World Pool’ it is unlikely the course will want to put on...
The logic reveals itself only slowly but Royal Ascot’s ability to host the best thoroughbred racing in the world comes because of its baffling dress code not in spite of itOne of the charms of Royal Ascot is that, uniquely among British race meetings, the races are never sponsored. And thus their traditional and often picturesque names – the Gold Cup, the Royal Hunt Cup, the King’s Stand Stakes – continue uncluttered by the commands of commerce. Related: Alpha Centauri stamps her class on Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot Related: Ascot to modernise British racing by publishing timing data Continue reading...