The opening classic of the British flat season had an open look to it beforehand but the unbeaten colt Bow Echo turned the race into a procession as he stormed home from one of the joint favourites Gstaad, winning by two and three quarter lengths. The other joint favourite, the… Read More »
On a week when the championship feature races at Royal Ascot have been dominated by the likes of Gosden and O’Brien, Friday brought a surprising twist. Irish trainer Joe Murphy—who has been training winners from his County Tipperary base since 1977—played spoiler when his filly Cercene held off a late… Read More »
It was a case of business as usual for the Gosden team as joint trainers John and son Thady Gosden welcomed in Trawlerman after the Gold Cup, the third day on the trot that the yard had taken the day’s feature event at Royal Ascot, the UK’s showcase flat meeting…. Read More »
John and Thady Gosden traditionally have their horses ready for Royal Ascot but even by their own high standards they’ve started this week in exceptional form with 4 winners on the first two days including the feature events on both days one and two. Today it was the turn of… Read More »
Eleven years ago the talented Kingman avenged his 2,000 Guineas defeat by Night Of Thunder when the pair met at Ascot in the St James’s Palace Stakes. Today it was the turn of Kingman’s son Field Of Gold to repeat the exact same feat, turning the tables on his Newmarket… Read More »
Aidan O’Brien, fresh from saddling his 11th Oaks winner the day before, matched the feat with his 11th Derby winner as Lambourn made all, grinding down his rivals and recording a convincing success at Epsom. Lambourn was the least fancied of O’Brien’s three runners and it appeared that he may… Read More »
It was another Oaks win for record-breaking trainer Aidan O’Brien as he took his tally in the Epsom’s fillies’ classic to 11 courtesy of the filly Minnie Hauk. Godolphin’s Desert Flower was a hot favourite for the race following her convincing win in the 1,000 Guineas a month earlier. Stamina… Read More »
The Dante Stakes invariably offers up clues of some sort for the Epsom Derby. In the build-up to this year’s edition of York’s key Derby trial the focus was on long time ante-post Derby favourite The Lion In Winter who was making his seasonal reappearance following an unbeaten two-year-old campaign… Read More »
Jockey William Buick had faced a tricky choice when selecting his ride in the English 2,000 Guineas with last year’s leading two-year-old colt Shadow Of Light the obvious candidate through the winter. But Buick eventually deserted him in favour of Ruling Court who had won impressively on his own debut… Read More »
Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby completed a hat-trick of Dewhurst Stakes wins as Shadow Of Light joined Native Trail and Pinatubo on the race’s roll of honour on Saturday at Newmarket. The colt, by Lope De Vega, came into the race on the back of a Group 1 victory in the… Read More »
Porta Fortuna is a filly that hasn’t shirked a challenge in her short career. Already a Group 1 winner courtesy of her win in last year’s Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket, she’d won at Royal Ascot last year and had been placed in a Breeders Cup Fillies Juvenile Turf and… Read More »
When Kyprios won his Ascot Gold Cup two years ago the world seemed his oyster and the possibility of multiple wins in Europe’s premier staying event looked very real. But nature intervened when a joint injury became infected with life-threatening consequences and he was forced to miss last year’s race…. Read More »
Aidan O’Brien’s Derby winner Auguste Rodin had developed a reputation as a bit of an in and out performer. He took a major step towards eradicating that notion and achieving the sort of recognition his talent deserved as he took his Group 1 win count to 6 when winning the… Read More »
Day One of Ascot’s Royal Meeting has seen some memorable wins for Australian sprinters over the years. This year just one horse had made the long and expensive trip, Henry Dwyer’s Flying Artie mare Asfoora who took her shot in the King Charles III Stakes. This is a race won… Read More »
In the aftermath of his crushing defeat in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket it was tempting to think that the City Of Troy bubble had burst. Had this brilliant two-year-old simply failed to train on, failed to physically mature in the way some of his peers had., or was the… Read More »
It had been a long time between drinks for Dermot Weld in the Oaks, his last winner of the Epsom classic was way back in 1981. But in Ezeliya, he had a filly he thought could end the drought, and so it proved. A daughter of Dubawi out of a… Read More »
Newmarket’s 1,000 Guineas saw several threads of trainer Roger Varian’s career intertwining in the victory of his filly Elmalka, who took the season’s second classic on only her third racecourse start. Varian had established his reputation during a ten-year stint with trainer Michael Jarvis. On Jarvis’s retirement Varian took over… Read More »
With trainer Aidan O’Brien being inducted into the British Racing Hall of Fame earlier in the afternoon the script appeared to be written for his unbeaten three-year-old City Of Troy as he lined up as odds-on favourite for the 2024 renewal of Newmarket’s 2,000 Guineas, the first classic of the… Read More »
What UK racing needed following last year’s Grand National, a race disrupted by Animal Aid protesters, was a 2024 renewal that rekindled the nation’s love affair with the historic event. It did not disappoint. 2024 Grand National – I Am Maximus pic.twitter.com/uiojcBqrfk — History of Horse Racing (@horsevault) April 13,… Read More »
Trainer Nicky Henderson endured a challenging Cheltenham Festival after going into the meeting with many of his stars withdrawn as the stable was under a cloud at the time. He understandably approached Aintree’s Grand National meeting with a feeling of trepidation but the victory of Sir Gino in Thursday’s Anniversary… Read More »
