ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED APRIL 2018 Dawn no more than a sliver of grey light on the distant horizon. Darkness not going down without a fight. Shadows flickering hither and thither across the stable yard. Feeding done. Water buckets to fill. Ice on the ground. Puddles picked out in the barn lights. Horses blowing ‘dragon’s breath’ […]
The result of the 1886 Cambridgeshire horse race shows that St Mirin was beaten a neck by Sailor Prince and that the losing horse carried a pound overweight. Jockey, Fred Archer, rider of second-placed St Mirin, blamed himself for the defeat as he had been unable to rid himself of that excess pound. While riding […]
Rolling and rushing and careering and smiling and pushing and shoving a little. The helter skelter tumble off the top of the stands to greet a winner. To secure that spot beside the Winner’s Enclosure. To raise a hat or doff a cap. To applaud and cheer and work out the winnings in our head. […]
Sport. The very fine margins. The difference between winning and losing. The moments that define a career. The moments that define a life. There has been an awful lot of talk recently about FOBT’s. About levels of prize money. About fighting in the bars, and fighting on the lawns. About a crisis within BHA Towers. […]
The second Saturday of May. Percy Warner Park. First race due off at 1.00pm. By which time a huge crowd will have assembled. The infield strewn with vast pick up trucks, parties of young men and Southern Belles dressed to impress, seersucker suits, barbecue smoke hanging lazily in the still humidity. Nashville, Tennessee. The Iroquois […]
I have never done it before. I doubt I will ever do it again. I hope I might. But I have seen many 2000 Guineas fields stream towards me up the Rowley Mile, and this was the only time. So far. The only time that I have found myself applauding the winner fully two furlongs […]
David Hill begins his series on the status of the horseracing industry. […]
