Having ended his first season with Godolphin on a high, jockey Mickael Barzalona can hardly wait for the 2013 campaign to get under way. The crack French rider shot to prominence last year when he partnered his first Group One winner, Andre Fabre’s Wavering in the Prix Saint-Alary in May…. Read More »
The Melbourne Cup and a less-celebrated feature not so familiar to Australians have been identified as the only two target races in 2013 for the Luca-Cumani-trained Mount Athos. Back in England after campaigning in Australia and Japan, Mount Athos will have his entire 2013 campaign dedicated at improving on his… Read More »
Champion German mare Danedream has been retired and a date with Frankel awaits in the new year. The winner of the 2011 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and this year’s King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Danedream was denied the chance to defend her Arc crown in Paris due… Read More »
Racecourses prepared to stage Sunday meetings are to be given a cash incentive as part of the Levy Board’s $A17 million increase in prize money for 2013. The Board’s Betting Patterns Working Party (BPWP) has proposed an offer of $7,800 supplementary prize money payment to fixtures on Sundays which offer… Read More »
A jockey and a former Premier League footballer are among six men charged with serious breaches of horseracing rules in the latest corruption scandal to hit the sport in Britain. The British Horseracing Authority says Irish jockey Eddie Ahern, who has ridden more than 1000 winners in Britain, is accused… Read More »
Nine time Singapore champion jockey Saimee Jumaat has been disqualified for 18 months and fined $50,000 for his handling of a horse at Kranji earlier this month. Saimee was found guilty of failing to take all reasonable measures to obtain the best possible placing aboard Profound on December 7. He… Read More »
Hereford’s owner Arena Racing Company claimed it was still open to negotiation over the potential for the racecourse to be re-opened at some stage in the future. Only 17 years remain on the lease for the National Hunt venue with Herefordshire Council, and with ARC maintaining it is not financially… Read More »
Victor Dartnall is hoping Giles Cross can give his Barnstaple team something to cheer about by ending the season on a high in the Welsh National. The Devon trainer had to shut up shop due to an outbreak of equine herpes last month, but the stable is back up and… Read More »
At The Races insisted “no material impact on ATR’s profitability is expected” after it was announced Ascot is to switch broadcaster to Racing UK from the start of the 2014 Royal meeting. Racecourse Media Group-owned Racing UK are responsible for the majority of Britain’s major racecourses, including Cheltenham and Newmarket,… Read More »
Both the English Derby and the Grand National are set to stay in their familiar time slots in 2013 despite Channel 4 assuming control of television coverage. BBC television lost the rights to Channel 4, who have chosen a new production team from IMG Sports Media, with 88 days of… Read More »
No less than 33 yearlings from the first crop of the brilliant Sea The Stars are among the 406 entries revealed today for the 2014 English Derby. Sea The Stars won the Derby in 2009 during a fantastic campaign that saw him win six Group One prizes in as many… Read More »
Retired jumps legend Kauto Star has left Paul Nicholls’ stable amid controversy, with owner Clive Smith sending him to be assessed as a dressage competitor. Nicholls was unhappy with the decision having hoped Kauto Star would see out his days with Clifford Baker, the trainer’s head lad and Kauto Star’s… Read More »
Ed Dunlop will see how Red Cadeaux copes with the British winter before deciding whether to prepare his globetrotter for another potentially lucrative trip. The Newmarket trainer is considering the Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan for the six-year-old gelding who registered his first Group One success in the Hong Kong… Read More »
Trainer Aidan O’Brien has outlined 2013 plans for champion colt Camelot at the Horse Racing Ireland awards at Leopardstown. The Coolmore-owned three-year-old became the first son of his late sire Montjeu to win a mile (1600m) Classic when he claimed the 2000 Guineas in May. He added the Derby at… Read More »
Among the declarations made by China’s leader Deng Xiaoping when Hong Kong was handed back to his country in 1997 was one small promise that directly affected more residents of the former British territory than almost any other. “The racing will continue, the dancing will stay,” decreed premier Deng. The… Read More »
Nicky Henderson believes Sprinter Sacre is already close to being the best chaser he has ever trained after his effortless victory in the Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown. The six-year-old is unbeaten over fences and never came off the bridle in adding another Grade One to his haul. Henderson houses… Read More »
Australian jockey Zac Purton has guided Hong Kong’s reigning champion Ambitious Dragon to victory in the International Mile at Sha Tin. The Tony Millard-trained Ambitious Dragon was cleared by vets just hours before Sunday’s race after he was found to be moderately lame in a hind leg a day earlier…. Read More »
Australian mare Sea Siren has finished unplaced in the Hong Kong International Sprint won by Japanese horse Lord Kanaloa. Sea Siren was three-wide most of the way and failed to produce her usual finishing burst while Lord Kanaloa was perfectly poised and raced away to an easy victory over Cerise… Read More »
English stayer Red Cadeaux has claimed an overdue Group One win in the Hong Kong International Vase at Sha Tin. Denied victory by the barest of margins in the 2011 Melbourne Cup won by Dunaden, the Ed Dunlop-trained Red Cadeaux burst through the pack to claim a narrow win over… Read More »
Two new Grand National fence designs have been given a favourable response after they were trialled for the first time at Aintree. Jockeys gave the thumbs up in what appeared to be a seamless change with all the fences on the famous course looking outwardly the same. However, four obstacles… Read More »
