racing today

Weekly Eye-Cathers – Horse Racing

Last week’s blog post had a Cheltenham Festival feel and today is similar.  This week, and each Monday for the next six weeks, I will be taking a look at a festival race from an ante-post perspective. Starting with the Champion Hurdle. Before that, lets have a look back at the weekend, and a good Saturday for owner J P…

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Inside the Rails – An Owner’s Perspective

We’ve all been there, standing around the paddock, making a final check on the horse to be entrusted with our £10 bet.  In the Summer you might see Aiden O’Brien with John Magnier and Michael Tabor briefing Ryan Moore or John Gosden with Andrew Lloyd Webber chatting to Frankie Dettori on the lawn in the centre of the paddock.  If…

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Betting Bounty – Guaranteed Long-Term Profit Made Simple

Several things in life are relatively easy to do: Make a cup of tea, put on your socks, and conjure up reasons why Alan Sugar should be kicked out of the UK! There are also several guarantees: Getting stuck in traffic while already running late, Alan Sugar refusing to leave the UK, and being left frustrated as your ‘hot tip’…

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Weekly Eye-Catchers – Horse Racing

Today’s post has a real Cheltenham theme to it. Cheltenhamheld its last fixture before the Festival on Saturday. Trials Day, as it’s become known, has developed a reputation for pinpointing winners for the Cheltenham Festival in March. More of that and some other Cheltenham Festival stats later. Firstly, let’s have a look at the story that was making the racing…

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Andy Newton’s Saturday Column

Can you name the last horse to win both the Cotswold Chase and the Cheltenham Gold Cup in the same season? Ok, I’ll give you a clue……  it was over 15 years ago! In fact, it was back in 2000. Got it yet? Okay, I’ll put you out of your misery, it was a Noel Chace trained horse called Looks…

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Is an Odds-On Favourite More or Less Likely to Win the More Horses There Are in a Race?

If you happened to have purchased Eddie’s ‘Odds-On Winners’ strategy guide, then you’ll know that it is possible to make a profit even by backing horses that are at extremely short odds. After all, a win is a win, and when you are getting value with your selections, as is the case with Eddie’s guide, long-term success is likely. However,…

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Weekly Eye-Catchers – Horse Racing

Altior: The Best National Hunt Horse I Have Ever Seen! Since winning a Chepstow novice hurdle, back in October 2015 by 34 lengths, Altior has never been out of the winner’s enclosure. On Saturday he made it 17 wins from 17 runs, 12 of them over fences, when beating two rivals to win the Grade 1 Clarence House Chase at Ascot. Jockey…

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Andy Newton’s Saturday Column

Peter Marsh Chase – Saturday 19th Jan 2019 Don’t get bogged down in the Peter Marsh Chase, let the key trends take the strain.  This Saturday’s Peter Marsh Chase, often run in desperate conditions, it’s an aptly-named contest that is often billed as another Grand National trial ahead of the world’s greatest steeplechase in April. However, don’t be fooled by this title, since…

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Who Are the Trainers & Jockeys That Love Kempton Park?

There is something special about floodlit racing. Horses look even more majestic than usual when galloping along beneath the lights. Yes, it is normally cold and usually wet, and if you get too close to the rails, the kick-back off the Polytrack will fly up and smack you in the face; but it is still an experience that every racegoer…

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Weekly Eye-Catchers – Horse Racing

It’s hard to believe that a Gold Cup & King George VI winning jockey can still claim 3lb. Sam Waley-Cohen has won both those races, but still gets a useful 3lb for his troubles. He even managed to get down to 9-12, to make full use of his claim, when winning Warwick’s Classic Chase on Impulsive Star. Impulsive Star , trained by…

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Andy Newton’s Saturday Column

So we now know what Sir AP McCoy has been doing since he retired from the saddle in 2015… he’s now a Civil Engineer! Okay, I’m only messing about, but that’s the new name of this Saturday’s Classic Chase at Warwick – The McCoy Contractors Civil Engineering Classic Handicap Chase – so it tickled me a bit! This 3m5f contest…

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Running to Form (RTF) – What Does It Mean & Can It Be Trusted?

Horse racing is full of abbreviations, and it is far too easy to get caught up in the complexities of the sport. Don’t assume that it’s impossible to win if you don’t know your TS from your RPR! Even so, a punter’s greatest weapon is knowledge, so it pays to learn and understand the various methods of ranking horses, trainers,…

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Weekly Eye-Catchers

Veteran’s Day A fairly low-key weekend on the racing front, not really surprising given the feast of racing over Christmas period. Sandown hosted a race to warm the cockles of the most cynical racing heart. Yes, it was the Veterans’ Series Final. The race, and its series of qualifiers, have quickly found favour with jumping fans. As a battle-hardened group…

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Weekly Eye-Catchers

Is 2019 The Year of The Clan? Well my holiday already seems far away, but I had a very relaxing time and the break was definitely needed. I returned from Mexico on Boxing Day, and just managed to see the action from Kempton, and what great racing it was too. The King George VI provided a bit of a shock…

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Who Were the Best Trainers in 2018?

We have come to the end of 2018 and now is as good a time as any to reflect on the best-performing trainers of the year, from the perspective of a punter. In this article, I will look at trainers on the Flat, AW, and National Hunt, and see if this year was par for the course or an anomaly.…

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Is There Money to be Made from Forecasts & Tricasts?

Forecast and tricast bets have often been decried as ‘mug’ bets by experienced punters. In their eyes, these ‘exotic’ wagers are akin to going for a four or five horse accumulator. The odds are long, the potential payoff is massive, but the chances of winning are minimal. However, are we looking at these bets all wrong? Are they a bookmaker’s…

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Weekly Eye-Catchers

Frost Returns to Cheltenham Not for the first time I find myself praising the riding skills of Bryony Frost as she steered Frodon to victory in the Caspian Caviar Gold Cup on Saturday. It’s a long time since I have seen a Cheltenham meeting runs in such gloomy conditions, but Frodon’s win did add some brightness to the day. It…

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Frequent Flyer Miles – Can You Trust Trainers and Jockeys with Vast Experience at a Particular Course?

Experienced horse racing punters know better than to take strike rates at face value. Although a jockey or trainer (or perhaps a combination of the two) may have an excellent strike rate at a specific track, it means a lot less when their horses are primarily short-priced favourites. Likewise, having a low strike rate doesn’t mean avoiding a bet because…

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Are Irish Trainers Worth Following in the UK?

There are a plethora of Irish stables who each possess a string of talented horses that are often seen running in the UK. The likes of Gordon Elliott, Willie Mullins, Aidan O’Brien and John Feane are familiar names to horse racing fans and their stables tend to fire in winners on a regular basis. These talented trainers are always on the lookout for winning opportunities…

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Weekly Eye-Catchers

The last two weeks have seen some top-class Championship performances from Bristol De Mai and Buveur D’Air on their seasonal reappearances. This week it was the turn of Altior at Sandown. There have been some great winners of the Tingle Creek Chase over the years, like Moscow Flyer, Kauto Star and Sprinter Sacre, and this year’s victor is up there…

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