Grand National
The glorious return of the Grand National crowd
How wonderful after three years to have the crowds back to enjoy the glorious concoction of skill, bravery, razzmatazz and…
My tips for this season and a look back at our Flat Twelve
There are Flat people and there are jumping people. People like the late Captain Tim Forster, trainer of three Grand…
My top tip for the Grand National in 2023
Want to know the winner of the Grand National in 2023? You heard it here first: when the ante-post books…
Hats off to Rachael Blackmore
Sporting heroes in our modern world have an extra burden to carry. Within seconds of their triumph, with the adrenaline…
Does horse-racing have a future?
Asked, after his Imperial Aura’s impressive win in the Northern Trust Novices’ Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, if he…
The Grand National proved the naysayers wrong – again
When the photo finish confirmed that Tiger Roll and Davy Russell had held on to win the Grand National by…
Dinner with a Grand National winner
Not quite nil humanum a me alienum, but I have always been interested in other people’s trades and worlds. That…
The Grand National a predictable affair? Not a bit of it
With great victories in Flat racing you witness hats-in-the-air exultation. You see the pride of trainers who nurtured the winner…
Reasons to be cheerful about cricket, football and the Grand National
Well the sun is out, the sky is blue, and poor Boris Johnson is taking such a pounding from Matthew…
It wasn’t just pollsters who were useless in the election; pundits were too
It takes some agility to shoot yourself in the foot and saw off the branch you’re sitting on, while hoisting…
AP McCoy’s last chance for a fairy-tale ending
It all depends how you like your fairy tales. OK, so we would have loved the retiring Tony ‘AP’ McCoy,…
Do Scots really die that much younger?
The Scottish way of death Nicola Sturgeon said the SNP would block a rise in the state pension age on…
Sam Waley-Cohen’s Grand National notebook
‘How’s your shoulder?’ someone asked recently, and it was only then I realised, for the first time in a while,…
This autobiography written by a horse that is not as offputting as it sounds
Banks only lend money to those who can prove they don’t need it and it has not been a happy…
The Grand National doesn’t need Jeremy Kyle
Never mind David Cameron. Are you participating in the Great Debate about an event of national significance that stirs the…
The Grand National needs kinder weather
This year you don’t want to be a jockey’s valet. Never have their washing machines spun so vigorously. From every…
