Back in The UK With A Good News Story - For A Change

ALL VIEWS ARE MY OWN

Well, I am back in the cold of the UK (well, I think it’s cold after the cauldron of Dubai) with plenty to talk about – one story from there, and the rest on home territory.

Much as we all know betting drives the horse racing industry throughout the World, I do wonder if here in the UK we have lost touch a little with the animals, trainers, jockeys and so on playing second fiddle to the odds – and whether or not we back a winner. Last week, I witnessed a heart-warming story that reminded me why I fell in love with this sport in the first place – and without a bet in sight. Sitting at Meydan racecourse for what used to be called Breakfast With The Stars, my colleagues and I shared a table with a young Japanese lad (Ryohei Yamashina), who looked in awe of his surroundings – but with a smile from ear to ear that would only get wider as the week rolled on. My good friend Yolande from the Netherlands started a conversation and we soon found out he was 21 years old and had travelled on his own to the Dubai World Cup, largely to cheer on Liberty Island. We had a Dubai World Cup polo shirt that was too small to fit any of us, and the look on his face when he was given it had to be seen to be believed – it was like all his Christmases had come at once. Add in handing over my baseball cap (smile gets wider) and I have never seen a happier racegoer – but us journos are a strange bunch and it didn’t stop there. Yolande went looking for Liberty Island’s connections and ran into jockey Yutaka Take instead – the biggest star in Japanese racing – who happily posed for photos and gave him an autograph (Ryohei literally fell to his knees, Yutaka is that big a star in Japan). From there we took him into the press conference where we introduced him to French jockey Christophe Lemaire (based in Japan) who was equally as generous with his time, and by now I can tell you I have never seen a happier racegoer in my life, completely over the moon.  With such a heart-warming story going around the track it didn’t take long for the Dubai Racing Club via Laura Martin to have a word with the right people who then “found” a ticket to upgrade him to a hospitality suite for race day (though he doesn’t drink – what a waste lol), where we met him check how his day was going – and trust me, the Cheshire Cat is an amateur when it comes to smiling in comparison. In conclusion, he was like a breath of fresh air – a genuine racing fan who had travelled thousands of miles alone to see his Japanese compatriots and who, with very little work, had what he described as the best day of his life -  brought a tear to my eye and reminded me that betting is not the be all and end all of life.

Meanwhile the Willie Mullins bandwagon continued at Aintree with four winners on the Thursday, taking all the Grade One events, two on Thursday, and two more on Friday, including the first three home in the Grand National. I have no answers to what us Brits do to stop the domination of the level weight graded contests other than spend big, define a better supply chain, or revamp our National Hunt breeding operation and point-to-point field, but I take bigger issue with the handicaps with the National pretty solid evidence. As we all know, the concept of a handicap is simple enough – allocate a rating to each horse based on its proven ability, and said horse then fits into a weight range either giving or receiving weight from its rivals. In an ideal world that means all horses finish in a dead-heat (unrealistic but that is the concept), making every race more competitive – so how is Willie Mullins bucking that trend? I can only think of two possible answers, either they are more adept at hiding a horse’s true abilities – or our handicappers are continually underestimating them. Year on year pre-Cheltenham I hear the Irish rolling out their much used mantra that they have been ill-treated by the British handicapper - and this year, for example, they still won seven of them! I would dare to suggest that our handicappers may not have the grip on them needed to balance them out as well as they do with the British form, though all of this needs to be tempered with the sheer numbers they send over each year, fielding the majority of runners in most races, meaning their chances of having the winner are exponentially increased accordingly.

Not a subject I like to discuss next with the all-singing all-dancing far safer Grand National still seeing the Animal Welfare groups making the most of the publicity the big race brings. Unlike many, I have always felt that when other animal cruelty has been done away with, they can come after racing, but as things stand there is far worse going on day to day with parrots in small cages, grouse shooting, abandoned dogs in the thousands, the list is sadly endless. No-one worth a moment of my time likes to see any horse injured, Flat or Jumps, but we all know these horses are part of a business and looked after as best as modern technology will allow – but they are bred to race, and if the sport was banned immediately what happens to all the horses in training then – do they want them let out in the local park to starve? Unfortunately, we did lose one horse after the National (not during) after Celebre d’Allen passed after pulling up after the last fence. Jockey Michael Nolan has been banned for 10 days after “continuing in the race when the horse appeared to have no more to give” which is not a good look for the sport at all, though whether he should have been allowed to run in the first place as a 13 year old is open to question (he was passed fit by the vets pre-race but as we all get older, in my opinion the risks increase), but that could have happened on a Wednesday afternoon elsewhere and I am not sure the race shoulders any of the blame.

Ending with a positive note, and good luck to Hayley Turner, who announced her retirement from the saddle and her pregnancy at the same time. A true flag-bearer for female riders, she was the first of her sex to ride 100 winners in a season, the first to ride a Group One winner (Dream Ahead in 2011), rode her 1000th winner in 2024, and was an integral part of forming an all women team each year in the Shergar Cup. Her immediate future revolves around motherhood, and I wish her all the best – though a new career in television will surely come calling when the time is right.

Tired of reading – my podcast link where I chat with Ron Robinson of Post Racing fame can be found here https://theworldofsport.co.uk/2025/04/10/mullins-and-grand-national-fallout/

Arthur Cooper, Ryohei Yamashina, Yolande Tilmans, and me at Meydan

On to the racing this Saturday…

Newbury 1.25pm 

The John Porter Stakes over a mile and a half starts our day, and in a race won twice by Ralph Beckett in the last decade, rank outsider Feigning Madness is worth a second look for all you each way punters. Sadly, I cannot see him winning, with his rating of 98 leaving him with 17lb to find with Sunway, as David Menusier’s four-year-old colt drops into Group Three company after mixing it at the top level for the majority of last season. Placed efforts in the Irish Derby and Doncaster St Leger saw his earnings go up to £530,219 by the end of last season, not bad for a horse with just the two wins as a juvenile, and if he is fit and ready to go after 188 days off, he looks the one to beat.  

Newbury 2.00 

The first of the recognised 1000 Guineas trials, the Nell Gwyn Stakes has lost a little of its lustre in recent years with many stables sending their better three-year-old fillies straight to Newmarket. A big field of 16 are set to line up for the 2025 renewal headed on the ratings by Ollie Sangster’s Simmering, the winner of the Princess Margaret Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Prix du Calvados at Deauville before a second in the Moyglare Stud Stakes and a fourth in the Prix Marcel Boussac, both Group Ones. On form she is clearly the one to beat, but there is a chance she is not at her peak just yet with bigger fish to fry, and I will be backing Mountain Breeze instead. Charlie Appleby’s daughter of Lope De Vega bounded clear to win the UAE 1000 Guineas at Meydan last month, and although she may not be the best of these by the end of the season, she might be able to put her fitness advantage to good use this afternoon, with Nardra one to watch on just her second start after a visually impressive debut victory.

Newbury 2.35pm 

The Greenham Stakes is a true 2000 Guineas trial and has attracted an interesting field once more for 2025 – though I would be surprised if any of these go on to score at headquarters. That said, we do have a strong line-up including Godolphin’s race-fit Al Qudra, David O’Meara’s highly regarded Rogue Allegiance, the improving Diablo Rojo, and the ex-Sir Michael Stoute trained Jonquil, who has always been talked of as a Group One winner in waiting. All of those can go well, but Joseph O’Brien sends the interesting Saracen here with then booking of Christophe Soumillon to ride an interesting one. A 500,000 Euro yearling, he made his debut at The Curragh when picking up his maiden by four lengths on soft ground, pulling clear late on, and his action certainly suggests he will be even better suited by the Good going forecast for Saturday afternoon.    

The Curragh 3.25pm 

Over to Ireland next and a Group Three for fillies and mares over the mile at The Curragh, and a race won by those near the head of the market for the last three years, with Aidan O’Brien responsible for two of that trio. He has three in here with Whirl, Ecstatic, and Garden Of Eden, with first named looking for her hat-trick after a maiden and the Group Three Staffordstown Stud Stakes here last Autumn. Three-year-olds have a decent enough strike rate here and the daughter of Wootton Bassett doesn’t mind a scrap if it comes to that, and with Ryan Moore seemingly choosing her over the others that clue will do for me.

The Curragh 4.35pm  

Aidan O’Brien has won four of the last ten renewals of the Alleged Stakes over a mile and a quarter, and he had three entered here as does his son Joseph – so the family had six of the eight originally declared between them, though Loas Angels is now a non-runner! With Tower Of London seemingly better over much further than this mile and a quarter I will risk ruling him out early doors, a comment you could also level at the unbeaten St Leger winner Jan Bruegel, but if Aidan thinks he has the speed, what do I know? I am of the thought process that they want another win out of him over this trip for breeding purposes, and once again, with Ryan Moore picking him over his stable companion, that will do for me.

Sean’s Suggestion:

Sunway 1.25pm Newbury