At The Races celebrates 10 years on air

ATR has put together a video of the high and low-lights of its first 10 years on air.

A moderately entertaining watch.

Racing review: Saturday 26 July 2014

Taghrooda topples Telescope in King George

The 2014 running of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes went to John Gosden’s filly Taghrooda (7/2), who remains unbeaten in four races.

It was a strongly run race, with a good pace set by Leitir Mor and Taghrooda was at the back of the field for much of the contest. But she made good progress through the field in the home straight under Paul Hanagan, who is having a dream season.

As a three-year-old filly, Taghrooda received a substantial weight allowance from several of her older, male rivals and this could have made all the difference. The favourite Telescope (5/2f) carried 9-7 to the filly’s 8-6 and the winning distance was three lengths at the post.

Haggas fires in the winners

Trainer William Haggas had winners across the country on Saturday an added five victories to his tally for the season.

Zaraee (5/2jf) kicked things off at Newcastle (2.30), then Mange All (10/1) won the one-mile handicap at Ascot (2.40). These wins were followed by the impressive Muthmir (4/1f) and Valley Of Fire (9/2) at York (3.30 & 4.05).

Daydreamer (7/4f) rounded off a successful day in the in 8.05 at Lingfield. Before the race Daydreamer was the only horse in Haggas’ stable rated below 70. The eight-length win will likely take the gelding above that mark.

Mark Johnston was not far behind with three winners around the UK, including Heavy Metal (33/1) in the valuable Longines International Stakes at Ascot. It bodes well for Glorious Goodwood next week.

BHA unveils new website

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has unveiled its new website and logo.

http://www.britishhorseracing.com/

In a press release the BHA says the highlights of the new website are:

• A cleaner design with a more logical navigation
• Improvements to the user experience, especially in the more coherent linking of data such as non-runners, going and weather reports with racecards, and data such as photo finishes and Stewards reports with results. Users can now reach all of this essential racing data in a much more logical, accessible and user-friendly manner
• New content areas including race entries and horse, jockey and trainer databases
• Fully responsive design for mobile devices
• A new ‘Ask BHA’ section with FAQs on a range of topics
• A streamlined Resource Centre offering a range of information tools for the sport’s participants

Racing review: Saturday 19 July 2014

Fillies to the fore
There were some impressive performances by fillies on Saturday afternoon.

Tiggy Wiggy (5/2f) was a class apart in the Weatherbys Super Sprint at Newbury. Richard Hannon’s filly was carrying top weight but that was no hindrance as she stormed clear under jockey Richard Hughes to win by six lengths from Haxby (Roger Varian, Andrea Atzeni, 10/1).

She holds an entry in the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes at York at the end of August.

Mark Johnston’s Kosika (8/1) made it three wins inside a month with victory in the one mile fillies’ handicap (2.05 Newbury). The four-year-old was always at the front and her rivals let her go for home unchallenged.

At Newmarket Shelley Birkett rode Noble Protector (12/1) to success in the Aphrodite Stakes, a listed race for fillies. The 3/1f Criteria was well held, 5 lengths back in second place.

Doom Bar Stakes, Newbury 2.40

Al Kazeem could not make it a winning return to the racecourse after a spell at stud. Roger Charlton’s six-year-old was backed in from 15/8 to 11/10 but ‘match fitness’ seemed to count as he faded in the final furlong.

Horse to note: Vancouverite, having his first run since the Dubai World Cup in March, just beaten a short head, drifted from 7/1 to 10/1.

Sweet on Candy

Henry Candy has had a couple of fine winners in recent days in the shape of Music Master (Hackwood Stakes, Newbury) and the unbeaten Limato (Rose Bowl Stakes, Newbury).

British champions series: fantasy racing 2014

Another fairly good return from the latest round of races in the British Champions Series at the July Meeting, Newmarket.

Admittedly, the favourites won the two races - the QIPCO Falmouth Stakes and the Darley July Cup - in the form of Integral and Slade Power. They earned a combined total of around 120 points but we couldn't add much to that with the additional trainer and jockey points.

Our second stable picked up some bits and pieces with Rizeena (28 points)and Ryan Moore (10 points) in the Falmouth Stakes and Frankie Dettori (10 points) aboard Undrafted in the July Cup.

Ascot and Goodwood are next up towards the end of July.

British Champions Series: fantasy racing 2014

Royal Ascot and the Coral Eclipse have produced quite reasonable returns for both of our stables and each has now comfortably passed 1,200 points - admittedly still some way off the leaders.

One stable picked out Mukhadram as the winner of the Coral Eclipse at Sandown, earning 120 points, whilst the other accumulated nearly 400 points in the one race thanks to Mark Johnston's Somewhat clinging on for third place at 100/1!

Some stable highlights from Royal Ascot a few weeks back are:

• Earning over 100 points for picking out The Fugue (77.5) and Magician (32) as the first two home in the Prince of Wales's Stakes
• Sole Power and Richard Hughes earned a combined 95 points in winning the King's Stand Stakes
• 90 points earned by Leading Light (54.5) and Estimate (36) as the first two finishers in the Gold Cup

The next chance to continue the good run comes with a couple of races at Newmarket's July meeting next week in the Falmouth Stakes and July Cup.

Book review: Doped

I have just finished reading Doped (Jamie Reid, Racing Post Books, 2013), winner of the 2013 William Hill Sports Book of the Year.

A very enjoyable but head-shaking read. Some of the exploits were so brazen I had to remind myself it was a true story and not the fantastical plot of a Dick Francis novel.

The book would have benefited from more references and notes. Some of the details would only have been known to the participants but there is not an extensive bibliography or appendix giving the source of certain details.

In summary, for a period in the 1960s a gang of dopers wandered into racing stables across the country and doped horses at will and profited from the horses' subsequent poor runs (as did selected bookmakers and criminals).

It was a very risky business with high stakes that went beyond the financial. The dopers started on Flat horses, including several runners in Classics and high profile races, but also expanded into National Hunt runners too. 

In jumps races, the risk of a doped horse falling and killing its jockey was higher than in Flat races. If the dopers were caught they could be charged with murder, which in 1960s UK could still carry the death penalty. But it didn't seem to act as a deterrent.

The dopers were not always successful. Sometimes they over-doped the horse which caused it to be withdrawn from the race. Other times they were out-foxed.

Trainer Fred Rimell became suspicious after some of the gang paid a visit to the yard under the pretext of wanting to have horses in training with him. 

He suspected they were interested in getting at his Grand National hope Nicolaus Silver so he switched the grey and placed another grey horse in his stable. The dopers did indeed return and unwittingly doped the wrong horse.

Nicolaus Silver went on to win the 1961 Grand National and was returned at 28/1 because of rumours he had been doped and could not win!

Quite early on in the book the author really gets to the heart of the matter as to why what happened was able to happen:

"There was no whining about 'transparency' or 'accountability' as there would be today. Geoffrey Hamlyn [SP compiler for the Sporting Life] took the view that in matters of sin on the racecourse it was about a 50-50 split between the bookmakers on the one side and trainers and jockeys on the other."

Charlie Maskey of Victor Chandler recalled "We all knew they [trainers and jockeys] were at it and they all knew we knew."

It is easy to take a romantic view of past crimes with colourful characters, such as are recalled in Doped. But the gang's actions ruined horse's lives, deprived jockeys and trainers of victories with their leading horses and defrauded the betting public who placed wagers on runners that could not possibly win.

Given that these scandalous events occurred in the early days of legalised off-course betting, it's amazing that betting on horseracing has survived at all.

The end of the book felt a bit disappointing because of the lack of known details about what exactly happened to the main protagonists in later decades. But, overall, it was a well compiled account of an extraordinary period in the Turf's history.