Horse racing
‘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…
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…
Did Ed Balls mean to make a documentary on the joys of Trump’s America?
The thing I most regret having failed ever to ask brave, haunted, wise Sean O’Callaghan when I last saw him…
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…
My hot tips for the Flat season to come
In his days as a novice jockey in the West Country, Bob Davies, who was to ride more than 900…
The Grand National proved the naysayers wrong – again
When the photo finish confirmed that Tiger Roll and Davy Russell had held on to win the Grand National by…
It was ladies first at Cheltenham
At soggy Newbury last Saturday racegoers were still reliving memories of an epic Cheltenham Festival. ‘Were you there for that…
How do you solve a problem like fixed odds betting terminals?
You can tell by the tone of the jokes how most occupations are regarded and we’ve all heard the traditional…
What makes a champion jockey
Write a few books and you have to listen politely at parties as people who have never opened yours tell…
Everyone is talking about the little girl from Devon
If there hasn’t yet been a hurricane called Bryony there should be. The impact of Bryony Frost, just 22, this…
Why I’ll chain myself to an earthmover at Kempton Park
I have never been one for system betting but one little piece of guidance returns to my mind at the…
Robin Oakley: Why Jeremy Clarkson should stick to cars
Jeremy Clarkson wrote recently about a day at Newbury. He declared: ‘Claiming that horses are different is like saying ants…
Why Jeremy Clarkson should stick to cars
Well, I had a very merry Christmas thank you — and I hope you did too — but as usual…
The dark side of horse racing
Spotting Mark Grant’s name on an Ascot racecard, I remembered a dashing young mop-haired rider I first encountered some years…
My hot tips for the jump season
Richard Johnson may already have 100 winners in the bag, and Paul Nicholls may already have banked £750,000 worth of…
The founding father of bookmaking
Imagine Ryan Moore getting caught on the line by a rival’s late spurt at the end of a Newmarket race…
