Horse Racing News » Cheltenham

Starspangledbanner ready for Haydock after passing gallops test

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:10:10 +0000

• Chestnut declared likely runner by trainer Aidan O’Brien • Fame And Glory misses Irish Champion in favour of Prix Foy Starspangledbanner is likely to take his chance in Saturday’s Betfred Sprint Cup at Haydock after pleasing his trainer, Aidan O’Brien, in a gallop yesterday morning. The chestnut’s chances appeared to be improved by the news that Paco Boy will not be among his rivals this weekend. A cautious O’Brien insisted his plans had not yet been finalised, but conditions will suit his runner and he is understandably keen to add to the two Group Ones the horse has already won in Britain this year

Jumps meetings will suffer most as tracks struggle with cuts

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 03:10:03 +0000

Lower crowds and higher costs mean that midweek winter jumps fixtures are more vulnerable than Flat cards Jumps racing is expected to suffer more than Flat racing from the proposed fixtures cull, with officials raising the possibility of several blank days during the core jumps season. The revelation comes as the sport’s administrators deal with the need to cut costs, caused by a drop in the revenue flowing from bookmakers. Several courses are facing up to critical changes in their business plans, following the British Horseracing Authority’s announcement last month that dramatic changes would be made to next year’s fixture list, to take account of dwindling income from the levy on bookmakers’ profits. Stephen Atkin, chief executive of the Racecourse Association (RCA), has been locked in negotiations ever since with the Horsemen’s Group, representing owners, trainers and jockeys, as well as other interested parties

Claims Five: Where horse racing scores over football | Chris Cook

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 13:00:35 +0000

The beautiful game is back but there’s no need for the sport of kings to be awed by the shadow it casts So the beautiful game is back and immediately all other sports are struggling to compete for attention, grabbing headlines and brief moments in the spotlight only when football isn’t looking. Now that the Premier League season is up and running we can expect to see an endless procession of Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Man U-related stories from now to spring. Given footie’s enormous popularity, this is hard to quarrel with, although the blanket coverage is naturally bound to shore up that popularity. But the start of the season has reminded me of football’s various frustrations and limitations

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Byword looks the most likely to take advantage of Harbinger’s injury | Chris Cook

admin — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 03:06:14 +0000

Khalid Abdullah’s Royal Ascot winner looks overpriced for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe especially if he confirms form with Twice Over in the Juddmonte International at York on Tuesday When a horse like Harbinger is injured on the gallops, the general assumption is that followers of racing are plunged into a black despair while the bookies try to choke their guffaws in their handkerchiefs as they contemplate another bumper payday. Such a scenario, in fact, is not the case. There are punters out there who, though doubtless sorry to hear about Harbinger’s fractured cannon bone, have been left in an excellent position, while the bookies have little to laugh about. When he hacked up in the King George, Harbinger immediately stopped being a horse with a lot to prove at the highest level and became instead the hot favourite for any race in which he might run

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Claims Five: Do we need more novelty events in the racing calendar?

admin — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 10:00:05 +0000

Following the success of Ascot’s Shergar Cup, is it time to add more novelty events to the calendar? Boys v girls anyone? I started to get excited about this year’s Shergar Cup in February. That’s right, just days before the Cheltenham Festival, I found space in my heart for a Flat racing event that was six months off and is still loathed by many

Harry Findlay and Paul Barber share a ‘last supper’ at Doncaster sales

admin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 03:06:12 +0000

Racing’s odd couple sell the last of the horses they owned together and are now the friendliest of rivals Harry Findlay and Paul Barber, the unlikely couple who shared ownership of Denman and many other talented jumpers, emerged from the dining room at the sales ring here yesterday, laughing, joking and practically arm in arm. They had been having what they described as “the last supper”, a final meal together after watching their last seven horses sold at auction, dissolving what has been one of the most entertaining and successful partnerships in racing. Paul Nicholls, the champion jumps trainer, was with them and all three appeared on excellent terms, confounding recent reports that their relationships had been damaged by the tensions that flowed from the disciplinary process Findlay was put through by the British Horseracing Authority. “I’ve had more laughs with that pair in the last hour than I’ve had in the last two months,” Findlay said.

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William Hill must not be allowed an easy ride out of town | Greg Wood

admin — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:06:15 +0000

Racecourses need to carefully consider doing business with bookmakers who have moved their operations offshore There is still no sign of the 2011 fixture list, the publication of which was postponed two weeks ago amid complaints from the British Horseracing Authority that bookmakers are “accessing loopholes to avoid providing fair funding to the sport via the Levy.” William Hill, though, are clearly not expecting anyone in government to close those loopholes any time soon, and yesterday announced that their telephone business is to join the website business in Gibraltar, thereby avoiding both betting duty and Levy responsibilities. It will cost Hills about £7m to close its call centre in Leeds, so if they could sense any imminent move by the government to tighten up on revenue collection, they would surely stay put. Instead, another chunk of turnover will head to the Mediterranean, and where racing bets are concerned, the tax on profits will be around 3%, not the 15% in duty plus 10% in Levy that would disappear in Britain. From racing’s point of view, the loss to the Levy is likely to be more than just the headline figure from the Hills operation.

Cheltenham move problem fence

admin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:40:56 +0000

The penultimate fence on the old course at Cheltenham is being moved to try and reduce its number of fallers.

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Cheltenham to move ‘death fence’ to the home straight

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 22:38:46 +0000

• Fence on the Old Course was scene of Granit Jack’s fatal fall • Champion Chase will be run over 13 fences next year Cheltenham’s controversial second-last fence is to be dug up and moved in time for the track’s next meeting in October. The obstacle on the Old Course has become known as “the death fence” and produces the highest number of falls at the track. Remedial work has twice been carried out to the fence in recent years, but still it has been responsible for some horrific incidents, including the death of 2007 Paddy Power Gold Cup favourite Granit Jack and the falls in consecutive years of Latalomne in the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 2002 and 2003.

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Does racing have the will to enter a brave new world? | Greg Wood

admin — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 01:30:37 +0000

The sport is at a crossroads as radical plans emerge to create a premier league of events to sell to highest TV bidder from 2013 Two visions of racing’s future are implicit in the news that a “premier league” of racecourses could sell the television rights to the sport’s biggest events as a single, maximum-value package from 2013. One is the status quo, a rollover of the current situation in which TV coverage is split between the BBC and Channel 4. Brought about by inertia and resistance to change, it is a future in which racing carries on surviving, as its audience ages and it continues to fade, ever so slowly, from the sporting public’s consciousness. The other is a radical departure with implications for all areas of the sport.

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