The turf

The making of a Classics winner

15 October 2022 9:00 am

For a Radio Four programme she was hosting Clare Balding once had the idea that it would be fun to…

The lessons of Newmarket

1 October 2022 9:00 am

The swallows who nest yearly in my garage have agreed that ‘that’s enough baby-making for this year’, and started their…

My racing moment of the year

17 September 2022 9:00 am

It takes a little bit of magic to train any racehorse. It takes plenty of magic to keep a 13-year-old…

Goodwood was glorious but it highlighted the range of problems facing the sport

3 September 2022 9:00 am

Irish trainer John F. O’Neill owes the stalls handlers at Goodwood a good drink or two. In Ireland this season…

Is this the death of horse racing?

20 August 2022 9:00 am

I don’t miss too many from the political world I once inhabited but I was saddened by the death of…

This year, Glorious Goodwood had it all

6 August 2022 9:00 am

‘You’re being unfaithful,’ says the punter’s wife brandishing a note found in her husband’s suit pocket: ‘Dorothea 07440 521321.’ ‘No,…

Horse racing’s invisible heroes

23 July 2022 9:00 am

President George W. Bush used to quote his fellow Texan Robert Strauss who famously declared: ‘You can fool some of…

Why racing needs Frankie Dettori

9 July 2022 9:00 am

Heading for a holiday in Sardinia, I remembered that the last time we were there our engine-less, drifting boat was…

The joy of Royal Ascot

25 June 2022 9:00 am

In a disintegrating country, stuck for the moment with a Prime Minister who can’t see the difference between a proliferation…

How modesty triumphed in the Derby

11 June 2022 9:00 am

In the absence on her Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty, such an avid Derby attender in the past, and following…

Poor prize money is killing British horseracing

28 May 2022 9:00 am

Seeing Fully Wet win the European Breeders Fund Maiden Stakes at Goodwood on Saturday was a genuine source of pleasure,…

The art of picking winners

14 May 2022 9:00 am

‘Some of our players can hardly write their names,’ moaned one leading football manager. ‘But you should see them add…

The unacknowledged stars of the jump season

30 April 2022 9:00 am

The Irish aren’t just good at winning horse races: they are in the Super League when it comes to celebrating…

The glorious return of the Grand National crowd

16 April 2022 9:00 am

How wonderful after three years to have the crowds back to enjoy the glorious concoction of skill, bravery, razzmatazz and…

The British shone at Cheltenham

2 April 2022 9:00 am

For Barbara and Alick Richmond, Living Legend’s game 12-1 victory in Kempton’s 1m 2f Magnolia Stakes last Saturday was their…

He knew a swan from a duck: remembering Andy Turnell

19 March 2022 9:00 am

You don’t always have to win to enjoy it. At the end of the £100,000 Paddy Power Imperial Cup at…

My top tips for Cheltenham Festival

5 March 2022 9:00 am

Even when the authorities were refusing Milton Harris the right to renew his training licence after he got his finances…

The young trainer Sam Drinkwater is one to watch

19 February 2022 9:00 am

Certain sections of the media love to run a knocking story and when champion trainer Paul Nicholls’s horses failed to…

Clash of the two-mile titans

5 February 2022 9:00 am

The engine wasn’t what it was, they said. At ten years old the spark that had once made him a…

The new Tote is a ray of hope for British racing

22 January 2022 9:00 am

There is nothing like visiting a stud early in the foaling season. As amiable mums-to-be saunter up to the paddock…

The turf

8 January 2022 9:00 am

Seen any groundhogs your way? In racing the New Year began much as the old one had ended. At Cheltenham’s…

British horse racing’s debt to the Middle East

18 December 2021 9:00 am

A joyful Saturday at Ascot recently reminded me that when the old Hurst Park Racecourse (near Hampton Court Palace) closed…

The culture of the weighing room needs to move with the times

11 December 2021 9:00 am

In the first such case for 20 years, former rider Freddy Tylicki, paralysed and wheelchair-bound since his mount Nellie Dean…

A feast of feelgood emotion

27 November 2021 9:00 am

Ascot’s image is all champagne and fascinators, high society and high rollers. Said Art Buchwald: ‘Ascot is so exclusive that…

My tips for this season and a look back at our Flat Twelve

13 November 2021 9:00 am

There are Flat people and there are jumping people. People like the late Captain Tim Forster, trainer of three Grand…