The turf
In praise of older horses – and their trainers
Newbury is as fair a test for a racehorse as you can get with its galloping track and a wide-open…
Farewell to the greatest jump jockey of all time
So the Silver Fox has called it a day. We will never see Ruby Walsh, the man whom even Sir…
The genius of Henry Cecil
There are people I know who regard racing as a cold-hearted business that exploits animals and achieves little besides putting…
The Grand National is one of the great days out
If you’ve never been to a Grand National and are approaching an age when it is appropriate to list ten…
Will horse welfare become racing’s Brexit?
As jockeys, trainers, punters and media folk gathered at Newbury on Saturday to say farewell to Noel Fehily, the ultimate…
While some bookies behave admirably, the BetBright debacle is a disgrace
Encountering a generous-hearted bookmaker is normally as rare an occurrence as finding a picture of the Duchess of Sussex without…
Why we need to support middle-ranking trainers
Owner Phil Simmonds from Rochdale was 17 when he first went racing, joining a friend’s stag party at Haydock Park.…
Did the BHA call it right on equine flu?
The pre-war Fabians Sidney and Beatrice Webb apparently had a pre-marriage agreement. It wasn’t like today’s Hollywood prenups, designed to…
My miraculous winning streak
Last Saturday morning, Mo Gawdat, former chief business officer at Google, was on the radio explaining his algorithm for happiness,…
In defence of the Cheltenham Festival
‘Deer-stalking would be a very fine sport,’ W.S. Gilbert once observed, ‘if the deer had guns too.’ We who love…
Racing in 2018 gave us plenty to celebrate
I don’t know who coined the old racing saying ‘The only person who remembers who came second is the guy…
‘Concussion doesn’t count’: memories of a racing dynasty
The Scudamores are one of the bedrock families of jump racing. After being shot down and spending two years as…
How 250 cows may have changed the course of racing
It may yet turn out that the most significant development in racing this year was the sale of some 250…
My hot tips for the coming season
Trainer Dan Skelton and his jockey brother Harry have 100 winners on the board already but for most of us…
Why racing will miss Luca Cumani
Fairy tales can happen. On Sunday the filly God Given won Italy’s only Group One race of the season, the…
The dirtiest racehorse names
Watching whip-thin jockey George Baker, just short of six feet, greeting his mounts used to make me think of the…
A no-deal Brexit could cripple horse-racing
Racing is full of risk-takers, not least those who fork out hefty sums to buy yearlings or unraced two-year-olds. Back…
The joy of a rainy Newbury
Mill Reef, who won the Derby, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, the Eclipse and the King George by far…
Always trying: Britain’s most successful – and argumentative – trainer
An American trainer was once asked to name the greatest quality of the legendary jockey Willie Shoemaker. He replied: ‘The…
Why Goodwood is the toughest course for jockeys
Having spent most of my life among politicians I guess I have become unaccustomed to candour. The only example I…
Racing for the app generation
Making racing profitable depends on getting information at the right time. In the Stewards’ Cup at Goodwood two Saturdays ago…
The man who rode 2,300 winners
On a foggy November day in 1965 the young son of a Barbadian police chief was one of six contestants…
The man who rode 2,300 winners
For Coleridge, ‘…the light which experience gives is a lantern on the stern, which shines only on the waves behind…
The happiest Royal Ascot in memory
Let’s get the crowing over first. The returns from our Twelve to Follow over jumps last season were somewhere well…
How to handle fickle racehorse owners
On the famed Whitsbury gallops, as corn buntings and stonechats fluttered from the fence posts, a dozen of Marcus Tregoning’s…
