Horse racing
How sport helped shape the British character
David Horspool connects different sports to our historical experience: cricket with class, golf with property rights, tennis with female emancipation and boxing with ethnicity
The murky world of bloodstock agents
Top owners are quitting horse racing because bookmakers nervous of a government and a Gambling Commission that know remarkably little…
Tom Marquand was the star of Goodwood
On no course in Britain does jockeyship count for more than at undulating, tricksy Goodwood and although Frankie Dettori was…
Relief Rally put the Ascot heartbreak behind her at Newbury
‘God it’s hot,’ said a Newbury waitress escaping into the lift from rain-soaked crowds jostling in the bars last Saturday.…
The science of horse racing
Everybody in racing is looking for an edge. With 7-4 the field, the punter is looking for a 2-1. The…
An unstable world
Adapted from interviews with a trainer from Iowa, Scanlan’s novel is a disturbing portrait of violence and squalor behind the scenes at racing stables
My summer Twelve to Follow
Usually in May I am still casting an enviously nostalgic eye backwards to Aintree and Cheltenham, reluctant yet to pack…
Rugby union needs its own Richard Thompson
Dear oh dear, as exasperated kings are known to murmur – just look at the state of rugby union. But…
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…
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…
The unacknowledged stars of the jump season
The Irish aren’t just good at winning horse races: they are in the Super League when it comes to celebrating…
The British shone at Cheltenham
For Barbara and Alick Richmond, Living Legend’s game 12-1 victory in Kempton’s 1m 2f Magnolia Stakes last Saturday was their…
He knew a swan from a duck: remembering Andy Turnell
You don’t always have to win to enjoy it. At the end of the £100,000 Paddy Power Imperial Cup at…
My top tips for Cheltenham Festival
Even when the authorities were refusing Milton Harris the right to renew his training licence after he got his finances…
The young trainer Sam Drinkwater is one to watch
Certain sections of the media love to run a knocking story and when champion trainer Paul Nicholls’s horses failed to…
The new Tote is a ray of hope for British racing
There is nothing like visiting a stud early in the foaling season. As amiable mums-to-be saunter up to the paddock…
