Apparently, someone in London found a container recently in which were a few old coins and a hand-written note saying the money was winnings from backing Santa Claus in the 1964 Derby and advising the finder of the container to back Christmas Day in a future Derby. A prank, no doubt. But a story that will always be associated with Ronan Whelan's day in the limelight of an extremely inclement day. The weather, especially in Britain, is a great sporting leveller and we will not know until further into the season whether the best horse won or simply the horse that coped best with the underfoot conditions prevailed. What is for certain is that Christmas Day now joins Santa Claus as one of the most inappropriately named winners of the Epsom Derby. Whether he joins the Coolmore roster of stallions as a straight-to-jumps stallion will be determined by how Christmas Day...

In his banter with David Jennings in the Racing Post this morning, Johnney Dineen suggests, as his gripe of the week, that the Epsom Derby should be further holed below the water-line by excluding outsiders as the Epsom Derby 'should be a quality-based event and not cater for mediocrity.' He is wrong. There is no place in our sport for elitism and that is exactly what J.D. is batting for in wanting to exclude everyone bar the very top echelon from dreaming of winning the Blue Riband of our sport. He may have a point in wanting the best horses to have no excuse for not winning, for wanting every horse to have a fair shot at glory but who is to say, for example, that Benvenuto Cellini will not fall and splutter down the hill and then run wide round Tattenham Corner or that Item will not roll around on...

Yesterday when relaying my views on how the Epsom Derby will go on Saturday, I admitted to not having outsider Rebel Rocker in my memory box.Today, though, though not due to extensive research but simply by reading today's copy of The Racing Post, I am fully acquainted with his thus far short career. He won a Kempton Park maiden back in November and was second to Saxon Street in Epsom's Blue Riband Derby Trial. What I did not know, and should have known, is that he is a home-bred and his owner/breeder, Jennifer Dorey, lives locally to where I live. Imagine a home-bred, the only mare the breeder has, winning the Derby and who is regularly ridden out by former champion jumps jockey A.P.McCoy. That is the sort of story the Epsom Derby needs and deserves. If only. If only. If looking for a strand of hope it can be found...

If you believe what is said by the majority of the racing media, coupled with the current state of the betting market, Benvenuto Cellini is a sure thing to win the 2026 running of the Epsom Derby. Yet when I look at the 14-declared runners, I see a very open, competitive race, made even more intriguing by the inclement weather and the prospect of soft under foot conditions. After all the recognised trials were run, I formed the conclusion that Item had won the most competitive race and I believe him to be the best horse in the race, not Benvenuto Cellini. Of course, at this stage in their mental and physical development 3-year-old colts can be expected to change from geese into swans and if you take that into consideration you might as well throw away the form book and go for what your eyes will tell as the Derby...

I dare say I stand to be corrected but I will say that the working partnership between man and horse must be the longest in the history of Mankind. As transport in war, as a living machine in ploughing and sowing fields to sport, horse and man have lived and died together. Yes, in some aspects of the arrangement it could be one-sided, with man the master and the horse the servant. Yet the horse had to be cared-for and perhaps man's affection for the horse was greater than the horse's affection for man but down the centuries, whether it was riding into battle or as a coach and four going from town to town, horse and man have carved a unique niche for themselves in the construction of society. In today's Racing Post there is yet another example of the lure of the racehorse. Liam Headd, the Post's Lambourn correspondence,...

A gaggle of Racing Post experts, plus Richard Hoiles, are featured in today's newspaper giving out their views on the performance of Constitution River in the French Derby and not surprisingly their collective opinions range from gushing with praise to dripping with caution. Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion and whether you think them right or wrong one must respect their point of view. The time for evaluation, who was wrong, who was right, will be at the end of the season, not five-minutes after one race, even if it was the French Derby. Incidentally, from a typing perspective, and this may only represent a limitation of my skill with a keyboard (or lack of education - or the diminshing of my mental capacity) but the word Constitution troubles me, finding it a hard word to consistently spell correctly. When the other Constitution went away for his summer holidays,...

I will get this chestnut out of the way from the get-go: I do not believe that horses retired to stud after their 3-year-old careers should be included in the list of great racehorses to have run on the flat. This is why, even though I believe them to the best of their generation, I refuse to put the likes of Sea The Stars and Dancing Brave on the same page as Brigadier Gerard, Mill Reef or Frankel. And nothing any racing clever-clogs can say will get me to change my mind. In today's Racing Post, Julian Muscat has a fine analysis of the 1986 Epsom Derby, a 40-year reflection of a race that will stay a talking point not because of the winner but of the horse that finished second. Dancing Brave was the top horse of 1986, of that there is no doubt. He could have easily enhanced his...

In today's Racing Post, Mr. Reid of Haslemere suggests the Epsom Derby should be staged on the second Bank Holiday in May, previously known as Whitsun or Whit Monday. Previously, I had suggested that bank holidays were not being utilised to best effect by British horse racing, days when ordinarily there are no other sporting events to overshadow our sport. I did not think, as Mr.Reid's does today, that the Derby would be the right fit to become the sporting event associated with this bank holiday, though I am persuaded to his cause.  Of course, in reality, the B.H.A. could choose to stage the Epsom Derby on any of the three-days of the Whitsun weekend, though I would suggest the Monday would allow for more media coverage than the Sunday or Saturday. There is no reason if Epsom would prefer to keep to a two-day fixture that the Oaks could not...

As part of my subscription to The Racing Post, I receive newsletters in the form of e-mails penned by many of the Post's staff of writers. The other day it was the Post's Newmarket correspondent David Milnes who provided an interesting look at Godolphin Stables, historically known as Stanley House Stables when owned by Lord Derby and now home to Saeed Bin Suroor. The part of the e-mail though that lit-up what remains of my brain cells was the surprising fact that before he became a household name George Formby was once an apprentice jockey and worked for several years at Stanley House Stables. So perked was my interest, I actually undertook a small amount of research to see if I could uncover more about George Hoy Booth, jockey. Formby's father was a successful music hall performer and owned many racehorses. According to a biopic of Formby, and I take on...

In 1948, an Australian newspaper magnate, Sir James Joynton Smith, visited England and took quite a fancy to the Epsom Downs, the whole shooting-match, not just the racecourse. He was so wealthy he was in the habit of buying anything he wanted to buy and instantly knew he wanted to be the owner of the Downs. In an instant,as only mega-wealthy can afford to do, he had formed a great and adventerous plan for the Downs, including not only continuing with the Derby but also bringing the Grand National to Epsom. When told neither the racecourse nor the Downs were for sell, Sir James shrugged his shoulders and set his heart on Hyde Park in London, in want of erecting a racecourse there. How life would have been changed if Sir James had his way. Matt Griffiths is featured in the racing post today. Matt, once the rider of Dashel Drasher,...

What I admire about Richard Forristal is that he disguises his moaning behind the skill of a good wordsmith, and he has still achieved the professional status of Irish editor of the Racing Post. Unlike my contribution to life, Forristal combines his moaningness with great wisdom and expertise. He is not one, though, for the joke or absurd witticism, unlike his colleague and underling, David Jennings. It is to all our benefits that we are not all alike. The Racing Post, after all, is a serious newspaper and it would not do to have wannabe comedians on every page. Forristal's headline today is 'Change From Within The Only Way To Make Derby Great Again.' Below his columb this morning there is a letter penned by me putting forward my belief that any changes and great ideas that Epsom may come up with to make the Derby great again will be scuppered...

There are many, many languages, if owners cannot find a nice name for their horses using the extensive English language. The name Silver Buck, for instance, could be translated into Italian or French, the name Sea Pigeon also. One could name a horse Silver Pigeon or Sea Buck, if those words are important to the namer. And the B.H.A. could be both proactive and sensitive when approving names given to horses by their owners. Jimmy You Mushroom is a contemptible name to give a majestic creature. The poor horse runs in the opening race at Beverley today. At Cartmell, this evening, in the opening race. there is a filly called Big Gypsy King. Big Gypsy Queen would have been acceptible, in my eyes, at least, but not Big Gypsy King. Yes, the part owner of the horse, along with his manager, is Tyson Fury who is big, he has gypsy blood...

Even the smallest of racecourses are big enough to accommodate more than just racegoers. Many racecourses have conference halls which can double for a wedding reception or an awards ceremony. Many have nine-hole golf courses on the inner field, with Dundalk having a greyhound track for the days when there are no days for the horses.  I have long proposed the idea that racecourses should become community hubs or places where the local community can use them (mainly for a fee) for events like local or historic fairs, even jumble sales or antique fairs or motor bike or classic car rallies. Pony Club jamborees or gymkhanas, show jumping or dressage. Or any equestrian event that would fit the acreage. Racecourses should be thought of by the local community in which they reside as a place of entertainment and enducation, not simply a racecourse catering for the toffs. A racecourse is more...

How many of you remember Derring-Do? Not Many, I suspect. Annoyingly, I can remember the names of horses from the past but very rarely can I recall the races they won or who trained and rode them. It is doubtless because I readily recall names of horses from the past that I get so upset by those names being recycled in the present. Morris Dancer, for instance. Derring-do went through the sale ring at Newmarket's September Yearling Sale in 1962. I know this as fact due to re-reading Bill Curling's biography of Arthur Budgett, 'Derby Double'. All of which I am about to take from the pages of Curling's book will be as new to me as it will be to you, none of which will have any relevance to horse racing in 2026. Derring-Do's first racecourse appearance was in Sandown's National Breeders Produce Stakes, once upon a time the most...

I'm sorry but it is getting embarrassing. I considered the hoo-ha over the Cheltenham hole back in January an over-reaction; I thought the criticism of Chester's clerk of the course for not saturating the course overnight when there was a high possibility of a deluge in the afternoon unfair and unwarranted; I had no thoughts on the failure to complete a meeting at Goodwood a few weeks ago as sometimes with our variable weather these things happen - but a hole large enough to accommodate a man's entire arm is getting to the point of endangerment to man and beast. It is time all racecourses with drainage underneath the racing surface is thoroughly inspected. It is not as if a spade or digger will be required as there is equipment (Ladar?) that can scan the ground and give a picture of what is going on beneath the surface on a laptop....

On Tuesday, May 12th, 1998, The Sporting Life, in its final edition before leaving the field open to Racing Post domination, one of its news headlines was D.DAY AMID DISCONENT, and concerned the contest between Peter Savill and Sir William Purves for the position of chairman of the British Horseracing Board. As now, there was a groundswell of support amongst racing's professionals for Savill as it was believed the sport would benefit from having someone with long experience of the sport as the head of racing's governance body. The B.H.B. board, though, were split, with a general feeling, perhaps fear, that Sir William's expertise in financial matters would get him appointed. Savill was, at the time, president of the Racehorse Owners Association and a director of the B.H.B. He was an insider within the B.H.B., yet many of his fellow directors, of which there were only nine, one of which other...

We should congratulate those in authority who have finally recognised that the Epsom Derby is going out of fashion and pat them on the back for attempting to right the ship before rescue becomes an impossible task I just hope no one working for I.T.V. during its coverage from Epsom uses the hackneyed and obsolete phrase 'greatest race in the world' because the Epsom Derby has fallen a long way down the international pecking order. If anyone had access to the archive of this website, which they have not due to my decision when having the site buffed and polished a few months ago to only back-date the archive to the start of February 2026, would discover that I have banged-on about the decline of the Epsom Derby since 2018. The demise began when Epsom and the B.H.A. submitted to the calls of the bookmaking industry to have the Derby run...

I follow flat racing though, if I am to be truthful, I am not a true fan. My heart lies 100% with National Hunt. Yet I appreciate that the sport of horse racing originated not so much in the hunting field but on the widespread heathlands, with gentleman of the aristocracy wagering large amounts of money with one another as to who owned the fastest horse. In those days there were no rules and argy-bargy and gamesmanship were not necessarily frowned upon and fortunes were lost on these up-to 4-mile match races. I find the history of flat racing a stimulating study, especially during the years when the Epsom Derby held such national importance that Parliament adjourned for the afternoon. For instance, I have a fascination and respect for Brown Jack that no flat horse of my lifetime has yet to equal.Historically flat racing has been given advantages not really available...

Encouraged by the support of over 200 racing professionals, Peter Savill has thrown his hat into the ring. Whether the B.H.A. will want to appoint him as Lord Allen's replacement is uncertain enough for a market to form around whether he will be adopted or not. He was regarded as a success back in the early 2,000's when he was the chair of the B.H.A. and he certainly fulfils my criteria as someone who has worked, and continues to work, at the clif-face of the sport. We will discover next week whether the B.H.A. has listened to the groundswell of opinion that the sport needs a proper racing man or woman at the tiller of the sport. Fingers firmly crossed. Even I cannot argue against the Anglo/Irish classifications for last season's jumps season. Not surprisingly, Gaelic Warrior is way out in front on 180 over 3-miles and 174 over 2-miles 4....

Kia Joorabchian, for whatever reason, doubtless envy, receives a bad press, with journalists quick to seize on any story about him and to paint it blacker than is necessary. On today's front page of the Racing Post, his decision to remove a few horses from his Irish-based trainer Robson Aguiar - 'Horses Removed From Trainer - but Joorabchian Denies Rift' - is another poke in Kia's ribs. Whate Kia is attemting to achieve is to break into the top echelon of horse racing in Europe. He is not going about it in a quiet, methodical and patient way. He is throwing mney at the enterprise as if he has an orchard of money trees in the back gardens of his, no doubt, many homes. And when the blossom on his trees is less plentiful, meaning less fruit for the year, Kia asks his partners in the enterprise to top him up....