I LIVE about 45 minutes from Haydock Park and was surprised when Clerk of the Course Kirkland Tellwright assured the racing world last Monday that the Betfair Chase meeting would definitely go ahead. The rain that has fallen in the North West during the past week has been of biblical proportions and there is more …[Read More]
I’VE always been slightly suspicious of Trials Day at Cheltenham as a reliable guide to the Festival itself. The meeting is usually run on deep ground, conditions that you rarely see in March, and it can throw up a few red herrings when looking for 2015 Cheltenham Festival clues. But I would be very surprised …[Read More]
IT happens nine weeks on Tuesday. You know, that familiar roar, when the tape goes up for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. The roar kick-starts four days of heaven for National Hunt purists. Yup, the Cheltenham Festival is well within punting distance. After the plethora of festive Jump racing, the fog has cleared a little from …[Read More]
CHRISTMAS during my late teens involved lots of eating, drinking… and feverish speculation about the King George VI Chase. It has always been one of the highlights of my festive fare and watching Desert Orchid dismantle the opposition in the 1980s became a much-loved part of the yuletide routine. Greys and the King George have …[Read More]
PHILIP Hobbs and Richard Johnson can do very little wrong at present. Everything they run has to be respected as the Minehead yard is in stellar form. On Saturday MENORAH came close to providing another big weekend winner when just being outstayed by Silviniaco Conti in the Betfair Chase. This is a race that provides …[Read More]
THERE appears to be a wave of expectation surrounding Jonjo O’Neill this season. Many pundits are tipping him to break the grip that Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson have on the trainers’ championship. In fact, people are now referring to the trio as the “big three” in the training ranks (which is a minor insult …[Read More]
NINE runners have been declared for the highlight of the Christmas sporting calendar – the King George VI Chase at Kempton. In its 63rd year, the William Hill-sponsored contest race has a £200,000 prize pot. And bookies can’t seem to separate leading contenders CUE CARD and DYNASTE. Favourites have a good record in the race …[Read More]
by JACK MILNER. The Betfair Chase has been a fantastic race in recent times and a stepping stone for Cheltenham Gold Cup winners past, present and future. None more so than Kauto Star won the race an incredible four times, most recently in 2011 when raising the roof off Haydock Park when beating Long Run …[Read More]
IT HAS already been labelled a “mini Gold Cup”. And with some justification. This year’s Betfair Chase has attracted a field of supreme quality including the reigning Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Bobs Worth, last year’s victor Silviniaco Conti and the young pretender Dynaste. Throw in middle distance specialist Cue Card, The Giant Bolster, former Gold …[Read More]
WHO is the toughest National Hunt horse in training? Bobs Worth? Zarkandar? Overturn? Impossible to say really. But I think I’ve got the answer and he runs in Saturday’s Paddy Power Gold Cup. If there is a tougher jumper in the land than KUMBESHWAR then I haven’t seen him. This chap embodies everything I love …[Read More]
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