Fownes looking to rise on Cloud of Glory at the Valley April 23, 2024 IT HAS been good to see trainer Caspar Fownes back in the winners’ circle in the last couple of weeks. In fact, Fownes has had a pretty good month in April with six wins and eight places from just 38 runners. When it comes to saddling winners at Happy Valley, Fownes is usually in a [...]
Shum can Chill the champagne ahead of Chibi’s run April 19, 2024 SHA TIN in Hong Kong is under threat again of possible rain and thunderstorms when racing gets underway with a mixed card of six turf and four all-weather contests, starting at 6.00am on Saturday. Adverse weather conditions have been a regular occurrence in the territory this season, causing dismay to form-book students, and it would [...]
Magnificent Must Go straight to the winners’ circle April 19, 2024 WHILE all the media attention has concentrated on trainers’ title contenders Pierre Ng and Francis Lui in recent weeks, 12-time champion John Size has become a forgotten man in the championship race. The ‘master trainer’ currently trails Ng by 13 wins, but with so much fire-power in his stable and 23 race-meetings of the season [...]
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, [...]