EP: 267 Ayr, Newbury & Hong Kong April 19, 2024 After winning the Grand National last Saturday, Willie Mullins takes aim at the Scottish National at Ayr this weekend in the hope of winning the British Trainers Championship for the first time. The Scottish Champion Hurdle also takes place on Saturday. Newbury is the venue for three important Group 3 races and the Spring Cup, [...]
Inis Oirr and Git Maker to do us Proud April 16, 2024 IT’S VERY much National season at the moment, with last week’s Grand National succeeded by Saturday’s Scottish Grand National (3.35pm) at Ayr. With Willie Mullins’ I Am Maximus winning at Aintree, the Closutton handler now leads the British Trainers’ Championship, despite only having had 19 winners this season. There isn’t much Mullins hasn’t won on [...]
Don’t be Torn from old boy Summerghand at Newmarket April 16, 2024 CLASSIC trials are upon us again with today being the middle day of Newmarket’s three-day Craven Meeting and the ITV cameras are there to cover the action from the Rowley Mile. Godolphin and Charlie Appleby hold a strong hand in both trials, with Dance Sequence a firm favourite for today’s Nell Gwyn (3.35pm) and tomorrow’s [...]
Cruz’s Love must warrant Respect in bid for first win April 16, 2024 MARK Newnham’s SHOW RESPECT, who lines up in the Magazine Gap Handicap (3.50pm) over the extended mile, rates the best bet on a nine-race Happy Valley card in Hong Kong today. Making excuses for gallopers, especially at Happy Valley, is a quick way to the ‘poor house’, but it’s hard not to forgive this son [...]
Cheer could be welcome winner for title chasing Ng April 16, 2024 LONG-time trainers’ title leader Pierre Ng is suddenly finding his stable under intense pressure from the chasing pack in the championship race. With just under three months of the season remaining – 24 fixtures left – Ng finds himself looking over his shoulder as trainer Francis Lui, after yet another winning treble at Sha Tin [...]
I Am Maximus records best rating by a Grand National winner this century April 16, 2024 I AM MAXIMUS produced the best performance this century by a Grand National winner when taking the Aintree showpiece last Saturday, eclipsing the 165 which Tiger Roll recorded when winning for the second time in 2019. The eight-year-old carried 11-6 to victory which was a big burden by recent Aintree standards. Since the days of [...]
Jim Culloty: Grand National is not scary at all! April 12, 2024 THE GRAND National was one of Jim Culloty’s favourite, and apparently easiest, races as a jockey, winning the 2002 renewal aboard Bindaree. Looking back on his previous rides in the race, Culloty revealed that he wasn’t at all scared by facing some of the biggest fences that National Hunt racing has to offer. Culloty, [...]
Purton could be Striding towards more records April 12, 2024 IT WAS good to see six-time Champion Jockey Zac Purton receive all the accolades at Happy Valley last Wednesday, when reaching the 1,700-winner milestone in the city. The Zac-Man, who later went on to ride another winner at the meeting, will now set his sights on Douglas Whyte’s all-time record of 1,813 victories and attempt [...]
Ting can place Absolute trust in Ferraris April 12, 2024 SPARE a thought for trainer Jimmy Ting who will be looking for his first winner in Hong Kong since January 24th. The 57-year-old local handler must wonder what he has done to upset the Gods of fortune, sitting bottom of the trainers’ championship table with just four winners this season and on a present losing [...]
Jim Culloty: Bindaree needed one chance and the rest was history April 12, 2024 AS A jockey Jim Culloty rode some of the best around and will forever be associated with the three-time Gold Cup winner Best Mate, while later he would train the winner of the Cheltenham showpiece himself, when successful with Lord Windermere in 2014. Culloty also won the Grand National as a rider aboard Bindaree in [...]