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So sad to see Top Notch’s name here. He was a great favourite of mine and a wonderfully tough and consistent performer. Perhaps the best way to sum him up is simply to say that he was perfectly named.
RIP Top Notch
Just watched the race, agree this seems very harsh. Hopefully he’ll appeal and get it overturned.
Stewards were as per the below, so the panel included some ex-jockeys which makes it even more puzzling:
Steve Drowne (Chief Steward), Caroline Tellwright (Stewards’ Panel Chair), Fergus
Sweeney (Steward), Alice Cosgrove (Social Distancing Officer), Stephanie Farmer
(Assistant Steward), Michael Eyre (Raceday Assistant)Happy to Solihull, though it might be a while as I say
It sounds like the period you are interested in is quite broad, but if there are any standout days that you’d be particularly keen to get your hands on feel free to mention them. When I go through what I have will keep an eye out.
I meant to follow up on a point from further up this thread…
IanDavies mentioned the Timeform Black Books. I know these have been discontinued along with the annuals, but I never quite understood what they were and would be keen to know a bit more about them.
If I understand correctly, the Black Books were a weekly publication containing a brief write-up of every horse that had run so far that season i.e. similar to the annuals, but without the essays and photos. If I’ve understood this right, it sounds as if the initial instalments for a new season would be quite slim, but the Black Book would be quite a hefty tome towards the end of the season.
Have I understood this correctly? Thanks in advance
Hi Solihull. My interest in racing really took off at the start of the 1990s, and I have loads of stuff taped from TV from that decade. I almost certainly would have recorded some of the Cheltenham and Aintree coverage in its entirety.
I have a long-term project on the backburner to digitise these recordings, but it won’t be happening any time soon! I’m also not sure what has actually survived various house moves to the present day or how good the picture quality will be now. However, I do still have quite a lot of tapes, and when I get round to looking at it further I would be happy to notify you. That said, hopefully you’ll get some more useful leads before then!
Excellent, pleased to see Mystic Moonshadow showed some promise.
Expect her to win when she’s next entered up on a Monday!
Agree with Nathan in that I suspect fault would be found with whoever was presenting. Also it’s not as if the presenters of times past didn’t all have their own verbal quirks and stock phrases.
Hi Jade, and welcome to the forum
Horseracing certainly has plenty of reading material out there. Most books tend to focus on specific topics such as biographies or autobiographies, or specific horses or races etc. Books that give a good wider historical picture are more thin on the ground, and I’d also be interested to know of any that people have to recommend.
The Daily Telegraph Chronicle of Horseracing (edited by Norman Barrett, 1995) gives a good chronological overview of the development of the sport in the UK from its very beginnings, making liberal use of their archive of news articles.
There are also quite a few “guide to horseracing” and “encyclopedia of horseracing” books out there which give a good overview of the sport and will touch upon some historical aspects. One that I like in particular is The Channel Four Book of Horseracing (Sean Magee, 1995). Timeform have also published some nice books with a historical perspective such as Favourite Racehorses (1997). I too have read some books by Chris Pitt and agree with Robnorth’s recommendation of him.
Brilliant, thanks Bonanzaboy
Lots of info there as you say.Have posted a link below in case it’s of interest to anyone else.
Where does this regular information get published Ekbalco? I had a hunt on the HRI website without success. Thanks
Sad to see Caught On The Hop now confirmed too. That race at Killarney was a real shocker. Bit surprised that El Cid is not listed as I thought both him and Part Time Farmer were lost too.
RIP all
Lovely to see a proper announcement about the retirement of three wonderful horses in Faugheen, Douvan and Benie Des Dieux. Faugheen’s comeback as a novice chaser was one of the highlights of the 2019-20 season for me. Douvan achieved too much to be described as a “nearly” horse, but he certainly had his share of injuries and bad luck. Given how fragile he is, it seems a sensible time to call it a day now. Wishing them all long and happy retirements.
Bit confused by that reply Dynamite21. Surely this forum is a sensible place to ask people who share a common interest for their recommendations? My question was not for the type of factual information that can be found easily by a Google search.
It’s explicitly disallowed by the Rules of Racing nowadays RubyLight. I’m not sure how things would pan out if someone attempted to run the same horse twice in a day, but presumably the horse should not be allowed to start the second race.
Apracing, I remember Commercial Flyer’s three runs over consecutive days for Martin Pipe. Neither Pipe nor Nicholls covered themselves in glory at the end of that season, and I believe Nicholls has spoken of regretting some of his actions from then since. Pipe turning Sindapour out in another hurdle race less than 24 hours after a heavy final flight fall left a particularly bad taste.
Thanks very much for the further replies. Running twice in the same day definitely isn’t allowed now, except where the first race is a walkover.
Possibly Amington Girl who I mentioned further up was the last to do so in 1999, though I’m not certain of this or when the rules changed.
