racing uk

Weekly Diary – Horse Racing

Mullins Maintains Grip on Staying Handicaps Jumps trainer Willie Mullins looks like he could have a stranglehold on all the big staying flat handicaps over the next few years, if Saturday’s Cesarewitch is any guide. The Irish handler had 7 of the 33 runners, but managed to have the winner in Low Sun, and the runner-up in Uradel. The winner was given…

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Should You Godolphin at the Dubai Future Champions Festival?

The Dubai Future Champions Festival has become an annual event and takes place at Newmarket each year. It is a celebration of the best 2yo horses in Britain and is a fitting appetiser for the following week’s Champions Festival at Ascot. Although these horses are unquestionably the future, punters are also interested in how these magnificent talents perform on the…

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Weekly Horse Racing Diary

At the time of writing this, Europe’s richest horse race is about to be run. I am hoping that Enable will have shown why she remains one of the best middle-distance fillies we have seen in recent years, and win her second successive Arc. And she did! Watch the race live HERE On Saturday it’s the second leg of the…

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Who To Watch – Week Beginning 8th October

A fairytale ending to a brilliant week as Enable claimed back to back wins in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe for John Gosden under Frankie Dettori, just holding off the late surge from Sea Of Class and James Doyle. More Group 1 action awaits this week as the juveniles take centre stage at Newmarket, with the Fillies Mile on…

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Bad Run or Bad Runner? Should You Back Horses That Failed to Finish Last Time Out in National Hunt Races?

For some punters, the form is everything which means dismissing a horse if it had a poor race last time out. Over the last year, I have analysed a lot of major races and found that most winners performed well in their previous race. However, this may only hold true for races at the highest level.  In lower grade races,…

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Weekly Diary

Happy October! There’s a chill in the air, and we have entered a new month. We may have the Arc Weekend and Champions Day to look forward to this month, but you know winter isn’t far away, as later this month Cheltenham will be hosting its first jumps meeting of the season. Let’s take a look back at Saturday’s Newmarket…

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Early Favourites in the 2019 Cheltenham Gold Cup Betting

On Friday the 15th March, we will once again be witness to one of the greatest events on the jump racing calendar, the 2019 Cheltenham Gold Cup. The 2018 Cheltenham Gold Cup produced a thrilling matchup between the heavily backed Might Bite and eventual winner Native River. The 15-runner race saw Native River and Might Bite battle it out in…

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Claiming Jockeys – Does the Weight Off a Make a Difference?

There are an estimated 750 jockeys in the United Kingdom. You may be surprised to learn that approximately 300 of them are amateurs while the other 450 are professionals. At the start of their career, all professionals are licensed as either Conditional (National Hunt) or Apprentice (Flat and All-Weather racing) jockeys.  Initially, inexperienced jockeys receive a helping hand in the…

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Weekly Horse Racing Roundup

This week I will be taking my usual look back at the weekend’s horse racing action, as well as highlighting a couple of trainers whose runners are worth noting at the Cambridgeshire Newmarket Meeting. Honours Shared in Ayr Gold Cup You could have cut the tension with a knife at Ayr, as punters awaited the result of the photo finish…

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Who To Watch – Week Beginning 24th September

One of my favourite meetings takes place at Newmarket, Thursday through to Saturday is the Cambridgeshire meeting and has a great variety of races. The race the festival is named after is a huge 35 runner contest on Saturday which is supported by a pair of juvenile Group 1’s. The Middle Park and Cheveley Park Stakes are often key pointers…

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Winning the Lottery – How Can You Pick A Winner of the Ayr Gold Cup?

It is no exaggeration to suggest that picking the winner of the Ayr Gold Cup is almost as tough as predicting the Grand National winner at Aintree! Just one favourite has won since 1996, and only two have emerged victorious since the 1970s! To be fair, the race is priced accordingly, and all but two winners since 1996 have done…

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Weekly Diary

First, to Doncaster for St Leger Day, and I can’t say it was a brilliant one from a punting perspective. Although I was surprised by the drift on Kew Gardens, who was being offered at 7/2 in places in the ring on Saturday. It would have been churlish not to have taken advantage of the bookmaker’s generosity. Apart from that,…

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Who To Watch – Week Beginning 17th September

The big race of the week comes from Scotland and the cavalry charge of the 25 runner Ayr Gold Cup on Saturday. All bar one of the races on the card are handicaps so it’ll be competitive and potentially a tough one on the punting front. Newbury also host a very good card with a pair of Group 3’s and…

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The St. Leger Stakes – Britain’s Oldest Classic

Autumn is truly a wonderful time of year for racing fans in the North of England. There is little time to rest after the excitement of the Ebor Festival at York, because the last of the Classics, the St. Leger Stakes, is upon us! It is part of a four-day festival which takes place at Doncaster Racecourse from 12-15 September.…

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The Monday Diary

Good Monday Morning to you! After some fairly low-key racing last week. This week’s sport steps up a couple of notches. Yesterday saw the start of a week’s racing at Listowel Harvest Festival. This Wednesday sees the start of four days’ racing on Town Moor with the Doncaster St Leger Festival. If that wasn’t enough for racegoers, next Saturday &…

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Who To Watch – Week Beginning 10th September

We’re set fair for a bumper week of flat racing with the St Leger Festival beginning on Wednesday at Doncaster for four days with the final and oldest Classic of the season the highlight, on Saturday. Irish Champions Weekend features 6 Group 1’s across Saturday and Sunday, with the first day at Leopardstown and the second at the Curragh. There…

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32 Red Sprint Cup at Haydock

The 3-day Sprint Cup Festival takes place from September 6 – 8 this year at Haydock Park, long regarded as one of Britain’s most attractive racecourses. The feature race, the Group 1 Sprint Cup, is the last top-level sprint race of the year and the 6-furlong dash normally brings a world-class field with Championship honours at stake. It is one…

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An Angel on Your Shoulder?

It was very much a case of ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’ with last week’s horse racing. This week begins on a fairly low-key note, but it picks-up on Thursday, when we have then first of three days action at Haydock, culminating in the latest renewal of the Group 1 32Red Sprint Cup on Saturday. Ascot hosts two days of…

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Who To Watch – Week Beginning 3rd September

On Thursday, Salisbury host the Group 3 Dick Poole Fillies Stakes, won last year by subsequent Free Handicap winner Anna Nerium. There is also the unique fixture at Laytown on the same day, where horses race on the beach for what is a brilliant spectacle of horse racing. Saturday is a day for comebacks with Harry Angel making his return…

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Should You Go Dutch? A Guide to ‘Dutching’ in Horse Racing

Legend has it that the term ‘dutching’ comes from the mobster Arthur Simon Flegenheimer, better known as Dutch Schultz. He was Al Capone’s accountant and was involved in various rackets including a racetrack. Schultz is credited with coming up with the idea of dutching in the 1920s.  It is a system of betting used mainly in horse racing and football.…

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