Brave Totesport Trophy hero Recession Proof has been confirmed a definite runner in the opening race at the forthcoming Cheltenham 2011 Festival, the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, writes Elliot Slater. John Quinn’s five-year-old put up a tremendous performance for a first-season novice to get the better of fellow northern challenger Bothy in a thrilling finish to [...]
Champion trainer Richard Hannon has been speaking about the plans and aspirations for his high-class stable star Canford Cliffs, and looking forward excitedly to the 2011 campaign, writes Elliot Slater. Hannon reports that the four-year-old has wintered very well indeed and has come back into training looking “bigger and better” with hopes very high that [...]
Newmarket handler William Haggas has issued a warning to punters considering supporting his ante-post Lincoln Handicap favourite Kalk Bay that it is unlikely that the four-year-old will make the cut for the traditional cavalry charge that signals the start of the Flat season on turf, writes Elliot Slater. Kalk Bay needs 26 horses above him [...]
No-one who set out for Newbury races on Saturday could possibly have imagined the awful scenes that would await them in the parade ring before the first race of what promised to be an outstanding day’s action at the track’s premier National Hunt fixture of the season, writes Elliot Slater. Soon after the runners arrived [...]
Paul Nicholls appears to have deliberately eased off the gas in recent weeks, giving many of his horses a slight breather before the forthcoming challenges of the Cheltenham and Aintree Festivals, but the signs are that he means business again on Saturday where he sends out leading contenders for both the Aon Chase and Game [...]
Everyone dreams of owning a great racehorse; well almost everybody and ask those who don`t would they like a percentage share of the Derby winner’s prize money and there aren`t too many who would say no. The thoroughbred racing industry is associated with wealth, with glamour and with tales of heroic bravery and defeating the [...]
It is sad to learn of the news that the highly respected Compton-based trainer Peter Cundell has saddled his last runner after a career that has spanned the best part of four decades and seen the popular handler achieve some notable successes, writes Elliot Slater. Cundell saddled his last runner at Kempton Park on January [...]
It’s doubtful whether someone could actually create Cheltenham nowadays and if you were building a course from scratch it certainly would not be the template that you would work from. The place is unique and that’s what makes it special and one of the great sporting venues in the UK. Almost a natural amphitheatre the [...]
Most of the Cheltenham festival facts, figures and statistics that people focus on are connected with events on the tracks but here are 10 quirky facts that you may not know about the Festival. They probably won’t help you decide where to place a Cheltenham 2011 free bet, but they should keep you entertained. A [...]
