Archive for December, 2008

Orange.blossom asked:


I”ll be attending the Newbury Race day next week and as it will be my first time, I would like to look nice but most of all dress appropriately for this ocassion. anyone out there with any tips. i would be most grateful. thank you.

Horse Racing Bets

I.sotope asked:


In the UK, how do you go about getting a horse racing training license?

I’m currently studying for an equine degree so will have relevant experience, would I have to do some kind of course or just take a test, and where/how do you take this test? Or is it simply a case of applying?

Horse Racing Basics

Malcolm Heyhoe asked:


Punters are in for a busy time of it in September as the Flat racing season moves swiftly into its autumn phase starting with the William Hill Sprint Cup, a Group1 contest over six furlongs at Haydock on Saturday September 2.

Class has traditionally been the defining factor in this well-contested sprint course and it’s therefore no surprise to see horses that have run well in the Group1 July Cup featuring again over the sharp six furlongs at the Lancashire course.

Weather permitting, the imperious Iffaaj should take all the beating if he turns out at the Lancashire course after an unlucky second to Les Arcs in the July Cup. Arguably the best sprinter in Europe right now, the Godolphin-trained colt won’t want the ground too soft if he’s to turn out at the Lancashire course.

In his absence the Jeremy Noseda-trained Soldier’s Tale would hold strong claims. He is less ground dependent than Iffraaj and after a lengthy absence his connections are hopeful that she can return to the fray in winning form at Haydock Park. Nunthorpe hero Reverence is another to consider if he can harness his sublime talents to the longer trip.

If it’s September then racing’s rolling caravan must be in Yorkshire for the St Leger, the world’s oldest classic which normally takes place at Doncaster. This time around the latter venue is being thankfully re-built at enormous cost and as a consequence the Leger meeting has been shoe-horned into two days at York - September 8 and 9 - instead of the usual four days.

This is no bad thing given the dodgy state of the ground on the Knavesmire and it will be relief when racing returns at Doncaster for 2008. Staged over a mile and six furlongs, the St Leger calls for stamina, courage and class in a prospective winner. A select field of eight or nine are likely to go to post and the hot favourite, Sixties Icon holds strong claims.

He’s looked a class apart from most of his rivals when waltzing away with the Gordon Stakes at Goodwood last time, a race which is an acknowledged trial for the St Leger. Of the rest, the Mick Channon-trained Youmzain showed fine speed to land the Great Voltigeur Stakes at the Ebor meeting but that piece of form doesn’t looks as strong as the Goodwood success of Sixties Icon.

The Tote Portland Handicap on September 8 is the big handicap race of the truncated Leger fixture and could go the way of the Stuart Williams-trained Hogmaneigh, an easy winner at Sandown last time who could well take in this race en route to a crack at the Ayr Gold Cup later in the month. Anna Pavlova is also a name to look out for in the Park Hill Stakes, a Group race for fillies on the same day.

Over at Leopardstown on September 9 the Baileys Irish Champion Stakes takes place at Leopardstown, and is one of the better clashes of the generations run over a mile and half all season. This time around all eyes will be upon Dylan Thomas as he bids to put a dreadful effort in the Juddmonte International at York behind him over a course that he has won over previously.

The following week racing heads north of the border or the three fine days of the Ayr Western Meeting and the Ayr Gold Cup, the richest spring handicap in Europe is the feature on Saturday September 16.

This year’s race, which has been landed in four out of the past five seasons by trainer Dandy Nicholls, features not one runner from the Nicholls yard after an administrative error meant that no horse from the stable was entered for the great spring contest. The air must surely have turned the deepest blue above the Nicholls yard on the day this blunder was discovered.

Still northern trainers, who tend to do better in this race than their southern counterparts, will be gunning to secure the valuable prize once again with Stewards’ Cup hero, Borderlescott sure to be among the leading fancies while Kevin Ryan’s Mutamared holds good claims and Ian Semple’s Scottish raider, Appalachian Trail is another for the short-list. Remember too that is a poor race for three-year-olds who often struggle in the large fields against their more experienced and older rivals.

Over at Newbury on the same day as the Ayr Gold Cup there’s the always informative and influential Cambridgeshire trial in the shape of the £100,000 John Smith’s Handicap which is required viewing for any prospective Cambridgeshire backers. Last year’s winner of the latter race, Blue Monday, was just touched off at Newbury and this year’s race may again supply the winner of the first leg of the autumn double.

On a cracking day’s racing Leopardstown also stages the Irish St Leger, the only classic run outside of Britain this month and this should provide the fast-improving stayer Yeats with a golden opportunity to add to his Ascot and Goodwood Cup successes. It’s had to see any horse being god enough to lower this one’s colours.

On September 23 it’s the chance for the top milers to strut their stuff in the Group1 Queen Elizabeth 11 Stakes at the newly re-vamped Ascot. George Washington’s eclipse at the hands of the workmanlike Caradak in a muddling Celebration Mile at Goodwood represented the low point of three-year-old fortunes against the older horses and it will

Be interesting to see whether the 2,000 Guineas hero can come good again in the Ascot showpiece.

This year’s classic generation has been wretched in competition with their elders and the Godolphin team will be hopeful of landing a fourth Queen Elizabeth Stakes in the past decade with their fast-improving Deauville winner, Librettist. A multiple winner this season, he should again go well now that he’s shown he can cut it at the top level.

Newmarket is the final port of call in September for three days of the Cambridgeshire meeting on the Rowley Mile. Those keen to glean further Classic clues for 2007 will be hoping that Jeremy Noseda’s star filly Sander Camillo turns up for the Cheveley Park Stakes for two-year-old fillies on September 28 while a day later the Prix Morny winner Dutch Art might will most likely be in action with the juvenile colts for the Middle Park Stakes. Whatever the final nature of the fields for races, the outcome of both contests could well have a significant bearing upon next season’s spring Classics.

A cracking months’ racing comes to an exiting close with the totesport Cambridgeshire on September 30 and there can be no better handicap run all season than this one mile and a furlong contest. Recent York winner Smart Enough looks a likely sort as does his fellow three-year-old Sir Gerard while of the older generation Fairmile makes plenty of appeal after a luckless defeat at Haydock in August.



Horse Racing Bets

Hartster asked:


I’m starting to get into UK horse racing but coming from Canada I can’t equate the racing post with the daily racing form. Where in the post can I see running positions throughout the race, distance, speed numbers, odds, pace etc.

Any help would be appreciated.

Horse Racing Odds

mysilv asked:


I’ll never forget the day when Bob Champion and Aldaniti won the 1981 Grand National it was a fairytale ending for both of them and not a dry eye in the house.
Watch it again on:-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/horse_racing/7324187.stm
Lisa…it was Red Pollard who rode Seabiscuit…Have you seen the film I think Toby Maguire played Red Pollard in the film..it was fantastic…

Horse Racing Betting

Molly asked:


http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080325/tod-uk-horse-racing-oleary-d987f7f.html
lol….plato, when i do I’ll let you know…..lol

Grand National Royalty

David H asked:


(UK).
Thanks Sir Alan, great respect for your tips.
Thanks Des. I`ll be there.

Horse Racing Odds

Malcolm Heyhoe asked:


There has been more than whiff of cordite about the way the current Flat turf season has burst into life and further fireworks can be expected at Newmarket on Guineas weekend. Jim Bolger’s unbeaten Teofilo should fill more than the eye as he bids to extend his unbeaten run in the 2,000 Guineas on May 5 and banish the temporary blues that greeted the news of a recent training setback for the short-priced favourite for the first colts’ Classic.

The imperious Teofilo has been given a clean bill of health by connections and remains the one they all have to beat but the opposition has grown more potent by the day and includes Sir Michael Stoute’s formidable colt Adagio, an nonchalant winner of the Craven Stakes and arguably the greatest threat to Bolger’s mighty star.

On Sunday May 6 Newmarket hosts the 1,000 Guineas and the first fillies’ Classic is a demonstrably less competitive heat than the colts’ counterpart. Once again that man Bolger holds all the aces courtesy of his star filly Finsceal Beo, a dual Group 1 winner last autumn and a worthy favorite to land the fillies’ prize.

Reported in the best of form by her astute handler, she should take the world of beating after the failure of Sander Camillo, her main market rival, to run any sort of race at Newmarket in the Nell Gwyn Stakes. It will take something special to stop the 1,000 Guineas crossing the Irish Sea while on the same day Sixties Icon, the 2006 St Leger winner, should begin his season on a high note by lifting the Jockey Club Stakes for trainer, Jeremy Noseda.

Chester’s prestigious three-day meeting follows hot on the heels of Newmarket and the Derby hopefuls will be on show in the Chester Vase on May 10 where John Gosden’s easy Epsom winner Raincoat could bid to put flesh on the bones of his Classic challenge while in the Cheshire Oaks on May 9 the fillies will seek to do the same for their Classic aspirations. Barry Hills boasts a superb record on this turning track and any horse he runs in the aforementioned two races should be worth close inspection.

On Wednesday May 9 the Chester Cup is the meeting’s big betting race and Philip Hobbs may well let the irrepressible Fair Along, his dual purpose National Hunt star, bowl along in front on the Roodeye in a race where four-year-olds often run well. Queen’s Vase runner-up Galient represents this age group while smart northern challengers Halla San and Admiral, a winner in 2006, stir the pot even thicker.

The run of Classic trials continues at Lingfield on May 12 with the Lingfield Derby Trial and the similarly-titled Oaks Trial for the fillies’ on the same day while over at Haydock the Lancashire course stages the valuable Swinton Hurdle, a 2m handicap that invariably draws a high-class field. This year backers should look no further than Charlie Swan’s Empatt for the winner. He comes here bidding for a hat-trick following impressive victories at Fairyhouse and Ayr.

Over in France on the following day, May 13, the European Flat season steps up a gear with the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (French 2,000 Guineas) and the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (French 1,000 Guineas) on the same card at Longchamp. Ballydoyle and Godolphin have both targeted these prestigious prizes in recent seasons and their runners should be closely inspected while the talented Darjina flies the flag for France in the ‘Pouliches’.

Flat’s racing roller-coaster month pitches up next at York for its three-day Dante meeting and a handful of possible Oaks fillies will run in the Musidora Stakes on May 16 when Henry Cecil’s current Oaks favourite Passage Of Time is expected to go head-to-head with Godolphin’s rising star, Measured Tempo.

On May 17 it is the turn of the Derby hopefuls in the Dante Stakes and all eyes will be upon Peter Chapple-Hyam’s Classic hopeful Authorized who is likely to face a stern challenge from Godolphin’s number one contender, Eastern Anthem. This mile and a quarter Group 2 contest has developed into a key Derby trial and Sir Michael Stoute’s chosen runner should also be noted. He has the best contemporary record in the race with two winners and three placed horses.

On May 19 it is the turn of the season’s top-class milers to strut their stuff in the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury and in recent renewals this has been a good race for Saeed Bin Suroor and the Godolphin team, but given the poor showing of their horses in the recent Dubai Carnival at Nad Al Sheba, the boys in blue will be looking for a lift in this valuable Group1 prize. Intriguingly, Aidan O’Brien may have something to say about the race’s outcome courtesy of George Washington who returns from a barren spell at stud to vex his rivals on the racecourse once more.

In France on the following day, Longchamp’s Prix d’Ispahan regularly draws the top mile and a quarter horses and this is often a contest that exerts a powerful bearing on some of the season’s best ten furlong races. Andre Fabre’s Manduro should be hard to beat here.

The high-class action in May comes to a thrilling climax with the Irish 2,000 Guineas on May 26 followed by the fillies’ equivalent, the Irish 1,000 Guineas on the next day. Both these top-class contests tend to be won by horses that have raced in the Newmarket Classics and British trainers boast an enviable record in both races.

May’s racing roundabout ends with Sandown’s Temple Stakes on May 29, a high-class pattern contest for sprinters that should see Ireland’s Dandy Man bid for a famous victory against a resurgent Tax Free while on the same day the Group 3 Brigadier Gerard Stakes is always interesting. Trainer Sir Michael Stoute is the man to side with in this event. He won it again twelve months ago courtesy of Notnowcato and any runner from Freemason Lodge is worth a close look.



Horse Racing Bets

Malcolm Heyhoe asked:


Comparing the current Flat turf season to a long train journey is one way of describing the roller-coaster campaign that comes to two of its most famous stops in June courtesy of the Epsom Derby and the five days of top-class racing at Royal Ascot later in the month.

The Derby now occupies a Saturday slot in the racing programme that is more in keeping with its place in the modern age, and only a dyed-in-the-wool traditionalist or a blinkered fool would be

grudge the fact that the premier classic has been rescued from the backwaters of the first Wednesday in June to a permanent Saturday berth.

The action at Epsom begins on Friday June 2 with the Group 1 Vodafone Oaks. Already this season’s classic fillies look a distinctly average bunch and it’s not hard to see the Oaks winner coming from the powerful stables of Sir Michael Stoute and Aidan O’Brien, who should provide a handful of the more interesting runners.

The all-conquering Stoute team is likely to feature Riyalma, a game winner of the Pretty Polly Stakes on her sole start to date this term at Newmarket’s Guineas meeting and the fast-improving Short Skirt, who beat O’Brien’s well-touted Alexandrova, the current Oaks favourite in the often influential Musidora Stakes at York at the end of last month.

Speciosa and Confidential Lady, the Newmarket 1,000 Guineas winner and runner-up respectively, could also be in the Oaks line-up but the form of that soft ground classic may not add up to a great deal and the winner in particular is a wayward sort on track who might be unsuited to Epsom’s unique camber.

The June 2 card also features the Vodafone Coronation Cup, a Group 1 race for older horses that may well be won by Andre Fabre’s Shirocco, who looked better than ever when scoring on his seasonal debut at Newmarket recently, while Look Again is one of the better treated horses in the Vodafone Rose Bowl Handicap on the same day.

The Vodafone Derby takes centre stage on June 3 and there can be little doubt that the world’s greatest Flat race has been enhanced as a spectacle by the timely switch to a Saturday even though several recent renewals have been decidedly sub-standard affairs.

Still, watching the Derby field stream around Tattenham Corner before hitting that long and tilting home straight remains one of the greatest thrills in racing and if the betting is an accurate guide then Visindar, this year’s short-priced favourite, is on an unstoppable course to give France their first Derby winner since Lester Piggott steered Empery home for trainer Maurice Zilber and Texan owner Nelson Bunker Hunt in 1976.

Andre Fabre’s unbeaten chestnut has won both his races against weak opposition with ease this season and the trainer’s intimation that the colt is ‘something special’ will be put to the sternest of tests at Epsom. A short career of just three starts in small fields on flat tracks and over shorter distances is barely an adequate preparation for the uphill and downhill challenge of the Derby’s complete test. But Visindar may a cut above ordinary opposition.

Aidan O’Brien and Sir Michael Stoute have saddled four of the last five Derby winners and the former’s Septimus, a determined winner of the best Derby trial in the Dante at York, may emerge as the main threat to Visindar even though he lacks a change of pace and seems a St Leger and not a Derby horse.

Epsom’s Derby day card also features the Vodafone ‘Dash’, a five furlong sprint over one of the fastest sprint courses in the world and the man to stick with here is speed specialist, Dandy Nicholls, who may be represented by Merlin’s Dancer, his recent Chester winner who features on a handy mark for the ‘Dash’.

June 4 sees picturesque Chantilly host the Prix du Jockey-Club, or French Derby as it is more universally known, and Aidan O’Brien’s French 2,000 Guineas winner Aussie Rules could complete a rare French classic double, while Jean-Claude Rouget’s Germance bids to make it five from five in the Prix de Diane Hermes, France’s version of the Oaks at Chantilly on June 11. On the eve of Royal Ascot, York stages its valuable Timeform charity day and the feature race is the valuable three-year-old sprint entitled the William Hill Trophy.

Five of the best days of Flat racing to be found anywhere in the world begins on June 20 with the first day of Royal Ascot that is rightly restored to its true home after slumming it on the pudding-like turf of York’s Knavesmire a year ago.

The Group 1 Queen Anne and St James’s Palace Stakes are the first day highlights and a clash between Peeress, the recent Lockinge winner and Proclamation, last year’s Sussex Stakes hero could be a mouth-watering meeting while George Washington’s presence in the St James’s Palace could put many of his potential rivals off their game.

On June 21 the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes occupies pride of place and the Godolphin team have saddled four winners in recent seasons and if they can re-capture their best form before Royal Ascot then the stable’s chosen representative will be well worth a second look.

Alan King’s Levera and Sir Michael Stoute’s Jeremy will be among the more fancied runners in the seven furlong Jersey Stakes while the latter’s Echelon could be the one to give the Stoute team back-to-back victories in the Windsor Forest Stakes, a one mile pattern event for the better middle-distance fillies.

There’ll be a massive field in competition for the Royal Hunt Cup, one of the biggest betting heats of the entire handicap season where class as well as courage is required of the winner. An early fancy for this one-mile dash would be Roger Charlton’s Another Bottle, who can handle big fields and may be a shade better than he’s shown so far.

The Ascot Gold Cup is the feature race on June 22 and many will be pinning their faith on Sergeant Cecil making the transition from top-class staying handicaps to this Group 1 prize and he’s sure to go well, though that also applies to Sir Michael Stoute’s Distinction, a runner-up in the race a year ago and the most likely winner from Andre Fabre’s Reefscape, who has been specially prepared for the valuable stayers’ crown.

Friday’s Royal Ascot action centres upon the Coronation Stakes, a Group 1 race over a mile for fillies and though this year’s fairer sex seems like an ordinary bunch, the Marcus Tregoning-trained Makderah might be the type to go well at big odds. She has been progressing nicely all season.

Royal Ascot’s final day, June 24, features the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes, which hasn’t been a good race for favourites in recent years while the same is true of the Wokingham Stakes, where speed, a good handicap mark and the ability to handle a big field are all essential components for the eventual winner. Hughie Morrison’s Intrepid Jack will be one of the more intriguing challengers for the season’s first big sprint handicap.



Horse Racing Betting

mysilv asked:


He’s gorgeous and his name is Ben and he could be racing next year in this country. More coloured thoroughbreds born and registered in the UK are also approaching their second year, so it will be interesting to see how these newcomers get on when they start their racing careers.
Ben, the first to be registered with Weatherbys was born at West Down Stud Devon on 26/2/2007 the first foal of US imported stallion I Was Framed.
Would be interested if anyone knows any more about these horses and your views as to what it will mean to racing..Jac x

http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/archives/2007/04/087.shtml
There is a skewbald filly running in this country that I have heard about called Honeypot Splenda from the Honeypot Stud in Somerset.
She is not a pure thoroughbred.

I believe she has run over hurdles at Newton Abbot (pulled up)and on the flat at Bath (last of 11 runners).
There may also be others like her that have run this year, has anyone seen any?

http://www.honeypotstuds.co.uk/

Grand National