Horse racing
My House of Lords dinner disaster
It was just a straightforward dinner in the bosom of the House of Lords, talking to members of the Jockey…
Only the Tote can save British racing
For the past 30 years Robin Oakley has taken you through the front door of the horse-racing world and kept…
After 30 years, it’s farewell to The Turf
It was Frank Johnson who as The Spectator’s editor asked me to mix my then day job as the BBC’s…
My most profitable day on a racecourse ever
The Champions Day finale at Ascot gave us, as it should, the best race of the season. Thanks to weather…
Gambling tax hikes could kill British racing
Back in the days when politicians were real flesh and blood rather than social media pushovers, I sat down with…
My favourite memory of Geoff Lewis
To be a great jockey takes character as well as ability and Geoff Lewis, whom we have lost at 89,…
Being a jockey is a tough ride
It has been quite some year for jockey-churning, the latest example being the mid-season decision by owner-breeder Imad Al Sagar…
Rachel Reeves’s self-defeating attack on British racing
Few British traditions can claim as long a history as racing. The first races thought to have taken place in…
Letters: Pride has taken a nasty turn
Lionel is right Sir: Gareth Roberts’s piece (‘End of the rainbow’, 31 May) gave me pause to reflect. It’s not…
Racing is being regulated out of existence
As a parable that sums up the dysfunction of the modern state and the over-regulation of industry, this has it…
Spare us from performative piety
Lent did not, I confess, start well. Cheltenham fell in its first week, and the Gold Cup is hardly the…
How sport helped shape the British character
David Horspool connects different sports to our historical experience: cricket with class, golf with property rights, tennis with female emancipation and boxing with ethnicity
The turf
Top owners are quitting horse racing because bookmakers nervous of a government and a Gambling Commission that know remarkably little…
The turf
On no course in Britain does jockeyship count for more than at undulating, tricksy Goodwood and although Frankie Dettori was…
The turf
‘God it’s hot,’ said a Newbury waitress escaping into the lift from rain-soaked crowds jostling in the bars last Saturday.…
The science of horse racing
Everybody in racing is looking for an edge. With 7-4 the field, the punter is looking for a 2-1. The…
An unstable world
Adapted from interviews with a trainer from Iowa, Scanlan’s novel is a disturbing portrait of violence and squalor behind the scenes at racing stables
The turf
Usually in May I am still casting an enviously nostalgic eye backwards to Aintree and Cheltenham, reluctant yet to pack…
State of the union
Dear oh dear, as exasperated kings are known to murmur – just look at the state of rugby union. But…
The turf
For a Radio Four programme she was hosting Clare Balding once had the idea that it would be fun to…
The turf
The swallows who nest yearly in my garage have agreed that ‘that’s enough baby-making for this year’, and started their…
The turf
It takes a little bit of magic to train any racehorse. It takes plenty of magic to keep a 13-year-old…
