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On my way to Goodwood this summer, two young women and a male colleague, who had appointed himself their guide to the day’s racing, were sitting opposite me. The Derby was run at Aintree, he informed them.
I recommend the Griddle & Fry van at Plumpton – excellent burgers (last tried February 2019). Some mobile outlets at racecourses are better bets than the racecourse-run outlets in the stands.
That is his statue you can see in the bottom photo. The RVC appears to have moved the skeleton from the room it used to occupy (along with a Stubbs portrait donated by Paul Mellon and other items) on the ground floor. (The building is the Eclipse Building.)
The Eclipse hoof that was run for at Newmarket is in the Jockey Club rooms, along with a Stubbs portrait and a whip said to contain hair from Eclipse’s mane.
The skeleton is in the Eclipse building at the Royal Veterinary College in Hatfield, Herts. Mim Bower and a team of researchers from Cambridge University concluded that the skeleton was genuine, but that Eclipse came from a different family from the one recorded in the Stud Book.
Nicholas Clee, author of
Eclipse: The Story of the Rogue, the Madam and the Horse That Changed Racing
.
I thought her question was brave. She has had good access in the past to Sheikh Mohammed and to Darley/Goldolphin, and she knows that he is not someone who welcomes awkward questions.
I agree with the posts about the premature hyping of Dawn Approach, and the poor post-race analysis. I thought that Richard Hannon Jr was generous in defeat.
I was surprised to see Simon Crisford sitting alongside Paul Bittar at the press conference. I could see why he would have wanted to be there – the position implied that he was among the official investigating team, and distanced him from any suggestion of culpability. But really he was a key player in the organisation being investigated.
I’d be interested to know whether the BBC sought out Aidan O’Brien after the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, or whether Ballydoyle’s connections sought out the BBC so that he could make his excuses. In the Racing Post, Alastair Down wrote that A O’B had grabbed his arm in order to emphasise the point that So You Think had gone into the race undercooked. O’Brien told him, "I’m not making excuses, but…"
I know that Ballydoyle/Coolmore have to talk up their racehorses and stallions. But this is really unsporting behaviour (though the norm from this quarter), and very disrespectful to the winning connections.
It’s disappointing that the connections of Carlton House appear to be complaining that they were unlucky. If Pour Moi had lost, Andre Fabre and team would have had greater grounds for complaint. The horse skidded round Tattenham Corner, made ground on Carlton House only to become unbalanced and lose it again, and nevertheless flew at the finish. He won despite setbacks, whereas Carlton House couldn’t overcome them.
Perhaps I’ll change my mind on reading this series, but I’ve always thought that Jeffrey Bernard was terribly overrated. He rarely wrote an elegant sentence, and never turned a memorable phrase – in the pieces of his that I read, anyway. (I may have caught him at the wrong end of his career.) It seemed to me that he was revered for his incorrigibility rather than for anything he actually achieved in print.
Both sire and dam contribute equally to the genetics of the foal
Yes: so one wouldn’t expect either sire or dam to be more likely to influence a horse’s aptitude for particular distances. But it would be interesting if the statistics suggested that the dam’s side was more influential on this characteristic. I take your point, though, that there are likely to be many more examples of speedy sires and staying dams than the reverse.
Frankel’s own dam, Kind, is an example of a horse that inherited a preference for sprint distances from her sire (Danehill), even though her dam (Rainbow Lake) was a Lancashire Oaks winner.
I tries to point out that "ordinary race goers" were deprived by the snobs at Epsom not by Aidan. Now finally you people are coming to my defense. Thanks so much.The only people hurt by Aidan were the millionaires hence the uproar last year.
No – as Cormack has explained, the Queens Stand does not have exclusive access to the paddock.
The tone of many of the comments on this thread is hostile, and even bullying. There’s a case for saying that the title of it is libellous (one of the definitions of a libel being a statement that is likely to harm a person’s reputation among her/his peers). Reading it makes me feel ill. Enough.
If this year’s Gold Cup were held on a Saturday, wouldn’t the Kauto Star/Denman clash have a chance of grabbing the attention of a broader public?
The 1964 Cheltenham Gold Cup, at which Arkle defeated Mill House for the first time, was held on Saturday 7 March. Sean Magee (
Arkle: The Story of the World’s Greatest Steeplechaser
) writes: "This shift allowed a much larger television audience to witness the great race than would have been the case had the usual schedule been continued, and undoubtedly contributed to the size and fervour of the nascent Arkle fan club."
I can’t forgive the omission of For Bill of Voler La Vedette from the top twenty when a Menorah (for instance) is included and to rate Big Bucks and Zaynar as equals is sheer fantasy
You’re still missing the point. These ratings are not a reflection of horses’ abilities, but of the time figures they have achieved.
Still, if you’re missing the point, many others may be too – and that, as I understand it, is your main argument.
"Liverpool are no threat, Rafa Benitez is a nobody and the club are twenty years behind Man Utd" – says Alex Ferguson.
we like listening to Simon Cowell telling us how the majority of the participants are talentless mugs.
I find the mean-spirited gracelessness prevalent in football, and Simon Cowell’s bullying, depressing phenomena. Please let’s not introduce them to racing.
If your method had selected 35 winners and 75 losers with all the winners priced at evens would that then make your method relevant?
Well, it would have shown that the ratings were doing a good job of identifying future winners – which is the issue I’m getting at. (You’re right: the issue of whether speed ratings are profitable is separate.)
With all due respect your method isnt exactly groundbreaking. I’d also imagine the horses thrown up by this would be well to the top of any speed figure rank if running in the same class in subsequent races.
Yes, agreed, my system was unsophisticated. Artemis’s was more thorough – but that didn’t work either. The basic problem may be that these horses’ performances were spotted by the handicapper.
You may remember a forum thread from a few years ago – "Cav Okay – speedy juvenile". The horse posted what appeared to be a very fast performance. But upping him in class exposed his limitations.
