Tuesday 13 February 2024

Ebor Handicap


Taking its name from 'Eboracum', the Roman name for York, the Ebor Handicap is worth £1 million in prize money, of which £600,000 goes to the winner, making it the most valuable race of its kind in Britain. Inaugurated, as the Great Ebor Handicap, in 1843, the race is run over one mile and six furlongs at York Racecourse, where it forms the centrepiece of the four-day Ebor Festival, staged annually in late August. Since 2019, when prize money was increased to its current level, the Ebor Handicap has been open to horses aged four years and upwards.

Flint Jack, who recorded back-to-back victories in the Ebor Handicap in 1922 and 1923, remains the only horse to win the race more than once. The legendary Lester Piggott remains the leading jockey in the history of the Ebor Handicap, with five winners between 1958 and 1983. His quintet included Gladness, who also won the Gold Cup at Ascot and the Goodwood Cup in 1958, and Jupiter Island, who subsequently became the first British-trained winner of the Japan Cup, in 1983. Other notable winners of the Ebor Handicap include Sea Pigeon (1979), who went on the win the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival twice, in 1980 and 1981, and Sergeant (2005), who completed a notable treble by winning the Northumberland Plate, Ebor Handicap and Cesarewitch Handicap in the same season.



Thursday 1 February 2024

Triumph Hurdle


The Triumph Hurdle is Grade 1 juvenile novices' hurdle run over 2 miles and 179 yards on the New Course at Cheltenham in March. Restricted, exclusively, to horses aged four years – who, of course, start the season aged three years – the race is currently scheduled as the opening contest on the fourth and final day of the Cheltenham Festival.


The Triumph Hurdle was inaugurated, at the now-defunct Hurst Park, in West Molesey, Surrey, in 1939 and, following the Second World War, was run, uninterrupted, until 1962. Hurst Park closed permanently that year and, in 1965, the Triumph Hurdle was resurrected at Cheltenham, becoming part of the Festival programme in 1968. The race was initially sponsored by the Daily Express, followed, briefly, by the Elite Racing Club and, since 2002, by JCB.


Four winners of what is, effectively, the seasonal championship for juvenile hurdlers in Britain – namely Clair Soleil (1953), Persian War (1967), Kribensis (1990) and Katchit (2007) – have gone on to win the Champion Hurdle later in their careers. Interestingly, the jockey of the 1954 winner, Prince Charlemagne, was none other than 18-year-old Lester Piggott, who would win his first Derby on Never Say Die later the same year.


Veteran Seven Barrows trainer Nicky Henderson has saddled seven winners of the Triumph Hurdle – First Bout (1985), Alone Success (1987), Katarino (1999), Zaynar (2009), Soldatino (2010), Peace And Co (2015) and Pentland Hills (2019) – making him the most successful handler in the history of the race. Anyone looking ahead to the 2023 renewal, scheduled for 1:30pm on Friday, March 18, might also like to bear in mind that seven of the last ten winners were trained in Ireland; at this still early stage, the once-raced French filly Lossiemouth heads the ante-post betting market.



Thursday 4 January 2024

One For Arthur

Owned by Belinda McClung and Deborah Thomson, a.k.a. 'Two Golf Widows', and trained by Lucinda Russell near Kinross, in eastern Scotland, One For Arthur is best known as the winner of the 2015 Grand National. Indeed, he had the distinction of being just the second horse trained north of Hadrian's Wall – the other being Rubstic, trained by John Leadbetter in Denholm, near Hawick, in 1979 – to win the premier steeplechase.

One For Arthur had demonstrated his Grand National credentials when staying on well to finish fifth, beaten just 3 lengths, in the valuable Becher Chase, over 3 miles 2 furlongs, on his first attempt over National fences the previous December. He subsequently won the Classic Chase, over 3 miles 5 furlongs, at Warwick in January in taking style and headed to Aintree at the top of his game.


Despite being 11lb higher in the weights than at Warwick, One For Arthur was sent off 14/1 fourth favourite for the National, behind Blaklion, Definitly Red and Vieux Lion Rouge. Under a confident ride from jockey Derek Fox, who was making his debut in the race, he was held up in rear, as he had been at Warwick, but made steady headway throughout the second circuit.

Favourite Blaklion took a clear lead as the field crossed the Melling Road for the final time, but One For Arthur, who had travelled and jumped well throughout, moved upsides at the second-last fence and soon quickened into the lead. On run-in, recent Cheltenham Festival winner Cause Of Causes appeared as his main challenger, but he was not to be denied and stayed on strongly to win by 4½ lengths.




Thursday 7 December 2023

Northumberland Plate

The Northumberland Plate has been run at its present venue, High Gosforth Park, which houses Newcastle Racecourse, since 1882. However, in 2016, the owners of Newcastle Racecourse, Arena Racing Company, replaced the turf course with Tapeta and, since then, the Northumberland Plate has been run on the new synthetic surface.

Until the middle of the twentieth century, the Northumberland Plate was run on a Wednesday, as the highlight of a holiday period for local mineworkers, known as 'Races Week', and was known colloquially as the 'Pitmen's Derby'. The race was moved to a Saturday in 1952 and, nowadays, forms the centrepiece of the third and final day of the Northumberland Plate Festival, which is staged annually in late June or early July.


Run over an extended two miles, the Northumberland Plate is a Class 2 handicap open to horses aged three years and upwards. With total prize money of £150,000, it is one of the most valuable races of its kind run anywhere in Europe and, unsurprisingly, remains one of the highlights of the Flat racing season in the north of England. Just one horse, the diminutive Underhand, trained by John Fobert, has won the Northumberland Plate three times, in 1857, 1858 and 1859, and also finished second in 1860. Much more recently, other notable winners of the historic race have included Celeric in 1996, Sergeant Cecil in 2005 and Overturn in 2010.