L’Homme can Presse home his advantage in Gold Cup January 14, 2025 REGULAR readers will know that I tipped a Venetia Williams horse in my first Road to Cheltenham ante-post column last week. Well, I’m going in again I’m afraid! Make no mistake, Williams is an outstanding trainer, particularly of chasers, and I just think L’HOMME PRESSE is too big at 25/1 for the Boodles Gold Cup. [...]
Time to hit the jackpot at Ascot with Jonjo’s Jipcot January 14, 2025 MILLIONS are on offer this weekend. Quite literally, as Windsor (Friday and Sunday) and Ascot (Saturday) host the inaugural three-day Berkshire Winter Millions Festival with £1.2 million up for grabs. With a strong card up at Haydock as well, several horses hold multiple entries, so there are some risks with ante-post punting. First on the [...]
Purton looking to Fly North of Whyte’s wins record January 14, 2025 IT GOES without saying that all eyes will be focused once again on jockey Zac Purton, as he closes in on Douglas Whyte’s record of 1,813 winners in the territory. Having ridden eight winners already this month, and totalling 1,808 victories at present, it is only a matter of time before he surpasses Whyte’s record. [...]
Bottomuptogether could be a Smart Fighter on debut at Happy Valley January 14, 2025 BANK on former Hong Kong champion trainer Ricky Yiu to provide the best bet on a tricky and highly competitive nine-race programme at Happy Valley today. With just seven winners separating the top nine stables in the Trainers’ Championship at present, Yiu is making a strong bid to win another title he last held five [...]
Mickley in pole position to tee up Classic Series bid January 10, 2025 FORM students will be in their element when racing at Sha Tin on Sunday gets underway with an informative 10-race programme starting at 5.00am. With the Four-Year-Old Classic Series getting underway with the Classic Mile at the end of the month, this is probably the final chance for some expensively bought gallopers to stake their [...]
Purton Power can get Young Champion’s head in front January 10, 2025 THERE are a handful of Four-Year-Old Classic Series candidates who put their reputations on the line in the feature race on the Sha Tin card, The Racing Club Cup (8.05am), a handicap over seven furlongs. The likes of top-weight Packing Hermod, officially rated fourth in the top 50 four-year-olds in the territory, Rubylot, well-handicapped with [...]
FA Cup football and racing across UK hit by freezing temperatures and snow January 10, 2025 Freezing temperatures and the prospect of more snow are set to play havoc with sporting fixtures this weekend, with several football matches and racing meetings already postponed or cancelled. In football, Mansfield Town’s FA Cup third-round tie against Wigan and Carlisle United’s League Two match against MK Dons on Saturday have been postponed. Mansfield said: [...]
Williams’ improving Djelo looks set to fly in the Ryanair January 7, 2025 CHELTENHAM is now little over two months away and in the coming weeks I’m going to begin to build an ante-post portfolio ahead of the Festival. The aim with these bets is to find something at big odds that is likely to go off a much shorter price if lining up in March. While there’s [...]
Charm the Silver Lining to Kempton rain clouds January 7, 2025 RECENT weather has wreaked havoc on the fixture list with wind, rain and snow battering Britain’s racecourses since the turn of the year. With the forecast remaining unsettled this weekend’s fixtures could well be in the balance, and if key meetings at Kempton and Warwick do get the go-ahead, then racing is sure to take [...]
Purton in high Spirits as he closes in on Whyte’s HK record January 7, 2025 IT IS surprising that man of the moment, jockey Zac Purton, hasn’t been booked in the feature race, the Group Three January Cup at the Valley, but his many thousands of supporters will still be expecting to make another fistful of dollars from their champion. Purton, only nine wins away from Douglas Whyte’s all-time riding [...]
