Altior took his unbeaten record over obstacles to 17 (12 out of 12 over fences) when easily winning the three-runner Grade 1 Clarence House Chase at Ascot on Saturday. Nicky Henderson’s stable star remains 4/9 at BetVictor to retain his Champion Chase crown at Cheltenham in March. Henderson reported on Friday that a couple of his horses had scoped poorly including Supreme Novices’ Hurdle favourite, Angels Breath who missed an engagement at Haydock. The yard still saddled the winner with Mister Fisher who was cut from 12s to 8/1 with BetVictor to take the Festival curtain-raiser. Note the Lambourn handler saddled five horses on Saturday – four winners and a second suggested the stable were not all out of sorts. Henderson saddles Laskadine (1.00) in the Warwick opener and she is taken to make a […]
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The Haydock executive have called a precautionary inspection at 7.30 this morning with snow the threat to the track although clerk of the course Kirkland Tellwright suggested on Friday that he was optimistic that racing would go ahead. If, as expected, racing goes ahead the ground is likely to be soft for the Champion Hurdle Trial which looks a modest renewal of this Grade 2 contest. I’m not convinced BetVictor’s 13/8 market leader Silver Streak will be as effective if the ground becomes testing and, in receipt of 4lbs from the other principles, the vote goes to Western Ryder (2.40). The selection is closely matched with Mohaayed at the revised terms on Ascot running last month and should have the race run to suit with confirmed front-runner Global Citizen in the field. The selection is […]
Wolves vs Leicester City – Saturday 12.30pm With the top six well and truly locked off, this is an important match for two sides with aspirations of finishing ‘best of the rest’ in seventh. Lunchtime kick-offs, however, can often be dull affairs and I’m not expecting much fireworks from this one. The two teams have the sixth and fifth best defensive records in the league respectively – better than Arsenal and Manchester United – while goals haven’t exactly been flowing at the other end either. Leicester’s surprise 2-1 win over Manchester City a few weeks ago is the only time since the 1st of December that they’ve scored more than once in a game. This one could go either way so my safest bet here is the half time score to be 0-0 at odds […]
A field of 12 will go to post for tomorrow’s Peter Marsh Chase at Haydock including the Grand National winner of 2017 One For Arthur (10/1 with BetVictor) although a return to Aintree in the spring is the primary objective for Lucinda Russell’s chaser who was forced to miss the great race 12 months ago through injury. Note BetVictor are paying 1/5th odds first 4 on the Haydock feature. There is the threat of some light rain at Chepstow this afternoon on ground described as good to soft at noon on Thursday. In the opener Barbrook Star (1.05) returns to the scene of his excellent third on his chase debut from a 4lbs lower mark. The selection has the steadier of 12st 2lbs and failed to build on his Chepstow run when third at Warwick […]
Book review – Mr Darley’s Arabian by Christopher McGrath The premise of Christopher McGrath’s book Mr Darley’s Arabian is quite simple, but inspired. Through the twenty five generations that comprise the male line of the pedigree of that greatest of all modern racehorses, the mighty Frankel, it tells the story of each of the horses who link the Darley Arabian, one of three founding stallions of the thoroughbred breed, to Khaled Abdullah’s great champion. In doing so it also sets out to tell the history of the sport of racing itself, the events and the people that have defined it through three centuries. The first thing that is apparent is that the book has been meticulously researched. It is rich in detail and that detail continues relentlessly throughout the entirety of the book. This renders […]
Book review – The Black Horse Inside Coolmore (William Jones) Reviewer David Cormack The rise and further rise of Coolmore has been the pre-eminent success story of the bloodstock world during the last forty years. One of the features of that growth has been the air of mystery which surrounds the organisation. Shrouded in secrecy, the decisions taken behind closed doors by an inner circle of powerful and rich individuals, the code of silence also extending beyond the boardroom to what might be termed the shop-floor of the operation, the studs and training centres where the elite group of stallions, broodmares and racehorses are conceived, born, raised and raced. Not by chance has the group who control John Magnier’s vast global bloodstock enterprise been dubbed the ‘Irish mafia’ and very little of what goes in […]