Twelve To Follow
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…
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 art of picking winners
‘Some of our players can hardly write their names,’ moaned one leading football manager. ‘But you should see them add…
My Twelve to Follow on the Flat
Combing through race recordings to try to find some fun horses for Spectator readers this summer, I have been struck…
Our Twelve to Follow have generated a record-breaking profit
First the company report. Readers who invested a tenner on the nose each time our Twelve to Follow for the…
Aidan O’Brien’s Derby victory was an act of grand larceny
It wasn’t so much a Derby victory this year as an act of grand larceny. Aidan O’Brien isn’t just a…
Farewell to the greatest jump jockey of all time
So the Silver Fox has called it a day. We will never see Ruby Walsh, the man whom even Sir…
My hot tips for the coming season
Trainer Dan Skelton and his jockey brother Harry have 100 winners on the board already but for most of us…
My hot tips for the Flat season to come
In his days as a novice jockey in the West Country, Bob Davies, who was to ride more than 900…
My hot tips for the jump season
Richard Johnson may already have 100 winners in the bag, and Paul Nicholls may already have banked £750,000 worth of…
The turf
Having spent three quarters of my life covering politics and the other quarter following racing, I am often asked what…
How to make a mint at the races this summer
It has been a little like scraping from the plate as slowly as possible the last traces of Mrs Oakley’s…
This year’s Twelve to Follow netted a £328 profit
Three personalities dominated the Flat season: Gosden, Dettori and Golden Horn. Victories for the trio in the Derby, the Irish…
My Twelve to Follow are seven up
Back on political duty with CNN in election week, I came across a dead rat in Downing Street. It had…
Disneyland comes to the Cheltenham Festival
Irish racing guru Ted Walsh was asked at the start of Gold Cup day if retiring champion jockey Tony McCoy…
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…
Silviniaco answered his critics emphatically at Haydock
‘I’m going for Al Ferof,’ said a suit in front of me in the Totepool queue at Ascot on Saturday…
Robin Oakley's Twelve to Follow for 2015 (this year's came out ahead)
November has never been my favourite month, not since the time when as a Rugby-playing student my face was rearranged…
Why does Newbury alienate potential racegoers?
You don’t realise how much your pleasures mean until you are denied them. It was wonderful to get back on…
