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Good point Broadsword, though I doubt search engine optimisation will be the reason for many forum posters
It’s “The Derby” to me too, but I really can’t get worked up about anyone calling it the Epsom Derby or indeed the Cazoo Derby. Neither of these names are factually wrong, and this type of nitpicking is unlikely to make more people want to post on the forum.
RIP Earthly. Sadly things also didn’t look promising for Lambs Lane who fell at the second last in the same race, though I’ve not seen anything to confirm one way or another online as yet. Fingers crossed he was just winded, but he took an ugly fall.
The official rating of a race just indicates which horses it is intended to be for e.g. 0-90 would be for horses whose official rating falls in that range.
How good the race actually ends up being will depend on which horses are actually entered, and how well they perform on the day. Determining how good a race was after it has happened is a very subjective matter, and different people will place different weights on a huge number of different criteria such as official ratings, times, jockeys, the draw, the going etc.
Thanks for drawing attention to this Louise12. The IHRB’s penalty is incredibly weak given that it’s not even a first offence. Apparently he is appealing it too!
A warning in advance that the following description is quite graphic, but this is what the Racing Post has said about his previous conviction:
In 2008, he had his licence suspended for four months and was fined €1,000 after Pike Bridge was found to have been neglected to such an extent that she had eaten at her own legs, rendering her unable to stand and causing her to lie down for 12 weeks before being put down.So the previous sentence was pathetic too. There is simply no excuse here; this man should not be allowed to continue to work in the industry in any capacity.
That wonderful dual purpose performer Verdana Blue has been retired. She is off to be covered at Coolmore, the stallion is yet to be confirmed. She was a top class hurdler on her day and won 9 out of 31 races as well as £341k.
Her biggest win was when beating her stable companion Buveur D’Air in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton in 2018. That race will live long in my memory for the winning jockey Nico de Boinville looking somewhat less than overjoyed at their success. I always did think Verdana Blue was a little underrated, and it seems this included in her own stable.
Wishing her a long and happy retirement.
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.
