I’m anticipating a flurry of activity in the ante-post markets for Cheltenham this week with the publication of the entries for the handicaps – the weights are then released next Tuesday (February 24th). Some bookmakers have been offering odds on … Read More »

I watched a race on television the other day, partly because I rather fell for the name Pourquoi Pas Papa who is, as you probably know, a French-bred four-year-old trained by Paul Nicholls. He arrived from D Cottin’s stable in … Read More »

I have mentioned before a profile of form over jumps which has occasionally been linked to horses that have landed a touch. This relates to a horse who has shown form in point-to-points, then joined a professional yard and been … Read More »

Date: 14 January 2026 About: The Weekend Bulletin & Jodie’s Jumps Journal Client comment: “The Weekend Bulletins and Jodie’s Weekly Journal are excellent.”   Date: 19 December 2025 About: The Weekend Bulletin Client comment: ” Just wanted to hail Marten’s pick … Read More »

The Dublin Racing Festival eventually got under way on Sunday, thanks in no small part to the extraordinary drainage system at Leopardstown. Few courses could have handled that degree of rainfall and it will be interesting to see, notably at … Read More »

Jacquard, Dieu Soleil, Broadway Melody. Tishan out of trap 6. Faraway places with strange-sounding names. Sterrebeeke? Work on Monmore Green first, it’s probably closer. Charles Malizia and Arno Rudolf. 1 and 3 in the last at Hackney Wick, gone to … Read More »

Trials Day at Cheltenham on Saturday could have been an opportunity to showcase jump racing at its best, but instead it exposed three of the most troubled and contentious areas of the game. Dan Skelton has made it clear all … Read More »

On hearing a racing journalist say in passing that he started his career as a board boy in a betting shop it brought back memories of my early days in the same role. I actually started as a board boy … Read More »

Enough is enough. Frankly, that phrase is rather too direct and often used by someone worn down by something. Which I’m not, although if I say I’ve been looking at the runners and riders just about every day since Halloween … Read More »

Although I would not suggest Paul Nicholls and I are close buddies, we do go back a long way … to 1995 in fact, when, in his fifth season with a licence, he trained Larry’s Lord, a horse who ran … Read More »

‘They are not long, the days of wine and roses.’ No indeed and we all know what the English poet Ernest Dowson meant when he wrote his poem well over a hundred years ago. Sadly, the line lived on many … Read More »

Hi there, There was plenty of talk in the aftermath of the King George VI Chase about what a great race it was and, as a spectacle, that was the case with the eight-horse field covered by two lengths turning … Read More »