Kitty’s Light is the horse of the year
John Trotwood Moore, one-time State Librarian of Tennessee, was a racist and defender of the Ku Klux Klan. But in…
The grand shame of the Grand National protestors
When jockey Derek Fox came over from Ireland to join the Scottish stable run by Lucinda Russell and her partner,…
In praise of small racecourses
Mrs Oakley not being a turfista, she rarely joins me on a racecourse expedition. But before we had a dog…
The magic of Veterans’ Chase Day
Like most people in racing I began 2023 down in the dumps, moaning about insufficient prize money, small fields and…
Ascot was a high-profile disaster for jump racing
The government may for the moment have disbanded its circular firing squad, but racing has never shown a greater ability…
My Twelve to Follow over jumps
The dozen recommended in May left us with a decent profit
Lesson to self: don’t put a bet on in autumn
When things went wrong in his days running the Daily Mirror, the scoundrel Robert Maxwell used to shout: ‘Which effing…
The making of a Classics winner
For a Radio Four programme she was hosting Clare Balding once had the idea that it would be fun to…
The lessons of Newmarket
The swallows who nest yearly in my garage have agreed that ‘that’s enough baby-making for this year’, and started their…
My racing moment of the year
It takes a little bit of magic to train any racehorse. It takes plenty of magic to keep a 13-year-old…
Goodwood was glorious but it highlighted the range of problems facing the sport
Irish trainer John F. O’Neill owes the stalls handlers at Goodwood a good drink or two. In Ireland this season…
Is this the death of horse racing?
I don’t miss too many from the political world I once inhabited but I was saddened by the death of…
This year, Glorious Goodwood had it all
‘You’re being unfaithful,’ says the punter’s wife brandishing a note found in her husband’s suit pocket: ‘Dorothea 07440 521321.’ ‘No,…
Horse racing’s invisible heroes
President George W. Bush used to quote his fellow Texan Robert Strauss who famously declared: ‘You can fool some of…
Why racing needs Frankie Dettori
Heading for a holiday in Sardinia, I remembered that the last time we were there our engine-less, drifting boat was…
The joy of Royal Ascot
In a disintegrating country, stuck for the moment with a Prime Minister who can’t see the difference between a proliferation…
How modesty triumphed in the Derby
In the absence on her Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty, such an avid Derby attender in the past, and following…
Poor prize money is killing British horseracing
Seeing Fully Wet win the European Breeders Fund Maiden Stakes at Goodwood on Saturday was a genuine source of pleasure,…
