The stewards were busy on Saturday, looking into the running of Iroko and Delta Work at Cheltenham and, of more interest to me, the victory of Owl Of Athens in the 2m 4f 0-100 handicap hurdle at Uttoxeter. As you … Read More »

It’s Day One of the Dublin Racing Festival and it’s a very similar feel. Willie Mullins/Paul Townend vs Willie Mullins/next-in-line jockeys vs the rest. The champion trainer has the favourites and substantial back up for all four of the Grade … Read More »

Life is hard enough without choices like this: whether to watch Dan Burn going through the motions with little to do at the back as Newcastle dismantle Southampton or Jim Old’s Spirits Bay, ridden purely for the place money, running … Read More »

I want to devote this edition of the Roundup to Mike Futter, who died last week after suffering a stroke 11 years ago. Some of you will remember him through his association with Monty’s Pass, who landed a £1 million … Read More »

I was interested to hear Paul Townend talking with Lydia Hislop and Ruby Walsh about King George VI Chase winner Banbridge over the weekend. The obvious impression from the horse’s style of racing and form is that he could struggle … Read More »

We had a feast of top-class racing over the Christmas holiday, giving rise to some notable fluctuations in the ante-post markets for Cheltenham. Unlike this time last year, when about half the races had a Willie Mullins horse at the … Read More »

Well now, we can probably all agree that the Load of Mischief should be a pub and, if so, our sort of place. In fact, these days it’s a private house in Blewbury, its pub days a thing of the … Read More »

If everything goes according to plan … and in this game we have to accept things can change at the last minute … it looks as if Lossiemouth will meet Constitution Hill in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton on Thursday. … Read More »

I have written before about the decline in interest in ante-post betting, which is a great shame, but looking at the Gold Cup market there is nothing that entices me to advise an early investment. Fact To File, who beat … Read More »

As the goals rained down on Southampton the other evening there was no great surprise around the ground. After 13 minutes, with Tottenham three-nil up, the manager was bound to be sacked and it was just a question of playing … Read More »

I’m not sure that anyone outside the immediate circle of Venetia Williams’s yard could have predicted the ease with which Djelo won the Peterborough Chase at Huntingdon on Sunday. The six-year-old was always travelling very smoothly and went effortlessly clear, … Read More »

Although the ante-post market is not the force of old, there is plenty of material for discussion regarding the current Champion Hurdle betting. The first quandary relates to the participation of Constitution Hill. The seven-year-old seems to be quite fragile … Read More »