stodge

Yet synthetic surfaces have been a huge success in Britain, France and Ireland. The Polytrack and Tapeta surfaces used up here are popular with few if any problems and have seen good fields during the recent dry spell as trainers prefer them to firm turf. When you get the likes of Aidan O'Brien, Charlie Appleby and John Gosden happy to run good horses on them you must be doing something right and I'd add they provide a guarantee income stream for owners, trainers and jockeys during the winter months when the grass can't be used. Many trainers also use synthetic surfaces on their gallops - Newmarket and Lambourn have polytrack gallops so horses get used to them from an early stage.

After last week's excitements, a much quieter week in Britain approaching. The coming weekend is perhaps as low-key as any in the summer but in Ireland Saturday sees the Group 1 Irish Oaks at The Curragh. English Oaks winner MINNIE HAUK has been put in at 1/2 to emulate stable mate LAMBOURN and win both the English and Irish versions of the classic. There's a strong supporting card with three Group 2 races, the Railway, the Sapphire and the Curragh Cup. Next Sunday is a lower key card at The Curragh with the highlight the Group 2 Minstrel. It's fairly quiet in France as well with the Group 2 Robert Papin the feature at Chantilly next Sunday. More on these races later in the week.

On then to Sunday and attention shifted to Paris for the traditional Bastille Day card at Longchamp which marks the end of the summer season and the course shuts down until early September as French racing heads to Normandy and the Deauville Festival. A decent card was headed by the Grand Prix de Paris over 2400m which attracted a small but interesting field. NEW GROUND and TRINITY COLLEGE renewed rivalry from the Jockey Club but since Chantilly TRINITY COLLEGE had bean an impressive winner at Ascot. I thought Ryan Moore did everything right on TRINITY COLLEGE though whether the horse really sees out 2400m is open to question on this evidence. LEFFARD had been well held in the Jockey Club finishing one from last so this was a huge step forward. NEW GROUND pulled too hard early and thqt cost him at the business end but it wasn't a bad run and if he could settle further I think he's still an interesting prospect at this trip. LEFFARD is in the Arc while TRINITY COLLEGE is in both the Voltigeur and the Juddmonte at York. They ran 2 minutes 26.45 for the 2400m which was 2.95 seconds faster than standard so FRANKLY GOOD CEN set a very decent pace and they finished strongly. The British raider QILIN QUEEN from the in-form Ed Walker stable won the Group 2 Malleret beating the odds on favourite SUNLY by a short neck in a desperate finish. The other Group 2, the Maurice de Nieuil, was run more than three seconds below standard in 2 minutes 55.01 seconds for the 2800m. Favourite SIBAYAN just got the better of INTERNAUTE - the winner, being a gelding, can't run in the Arc but INTERNAUTE has an entry and looks interesting.

To add a little to this, Ryan Moore rode FIFTH COLUMN to win the valuable mile handicap for Godolphin at Newmarket on Saturday. He beat William Buick on BEDOUIN PRINCE for Charlie Appleby which I'm sure he didn't mind and perhaps was a little bit of revenge after the juvenile race on the Friday. FIFTH COLUMN is trained by John and Thady Gosden and Gosden likes to use Moore if he's available. There was a funny moment in an interview between John Gosden and Matt Chapman on ITV when Chapman asked if any decision had been taken as to who would ride FIELD OF GOLD in the Sussex (the retained Juddmonte rider Colin Keane is unavailable due to suspension). Chapman suggested William Buick was the most likely option but Gosden said he had that morning received a text from a Sardinian in Saratoga asking for the ride. Chapman looked puzzled until Gosden explained the Sardinian was none other than Frankie Dettori - now, the idea of Dettori returning from America to ride for Juddmonte and Gosden raised plenty of eyebrows and Gosden had to put out a statement saying it was a joke but ITV host Ed Chamberlin ran with it and said it would put five thousand on the Goodwood gate.

A busy Saturday in the UK dubbed "Super Saturday" by the racing media and while it was good to have meetings at top venues like Newmarket, Ascot and York the truth is with a very quiet weekend following, moving one of the cards one week would make a lot of sense. It also drove a coach and horses through the concept of "Premier" Saturdays which limits the action to three mettings between 2pm and 4pm to ensure the big race of the day isn't crowded out by races at other venues and gets the time and attention it deserves. That means the big race has to go off before 4pm - unfortunately, ITV insisted the July Cup went off at 4.35pm to build their three and a half hour programme to a climax so the poor Chester meeting had its first two races either side of the July Cup despite suffering a 25% drop in attendance for having been forced to move its start time to 4.20pm. You better believe it's not just the New Zealand Horseracing authorities who make a dog's breakfast of things sometimes. Back to the on track action and another scorching hot day on the July Course brough another sizeable crowd to the final day of the Newmarket July Festival (just over 36,000 through the turnstiles on the three days, up 6% on 2024). The ground remained Good to Firm (watered). The feature race was the Group 1 July Cup over 1200m for the sprinters. Favourite on the off was NOTABLE SPEECH who had won the 2000 Guineas and Sussex last year. This was the horse's first run back at 1200m but he had shown plenty of speed and the view after two fourth places in the Lockinge and the Queen Anne was he wasn't quite seeing out the stiff straight mile. FLORA OF BERMUDA was well fancied after her fine runs in the Duke of York and the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee. The 3-y-o challenge was limited but arguably headed by WHISTLEJACKET and SYMBOL OF HONOUR who, despite having won the Sandy Lane at Haydock, appeared to be the Godolphin second string. There was drama before the start with the well fancied INISHERIN scratched on veterinary advice. A right boilover with NO HALF MEASURES winning at 66/1, the longest priced winner in the history of the race. Neil Callan had plied his trade in Hong Kong for a number of years before coming back to the UK and is one of the more senior members of the jockeys' room. For trainer Richard Hughes, this was an extraordinary achievement, his first ever Group 1. He was a three times champion flat jockey and the son of the great irish trainer Dessie Hughes. Richard Hughes rode for Juddmonte for many years and won the July Cup on Oasis Dream who has gone on to be a great stallion producing Native Trail, Midday and Muharrar to name but three. Hughes married Richard Hannon's sister so he rode a lot for that stable as well. Not a dry eye in the house as the filly returned and she's in both the 1000m King George Stakes at Goodwood and of course the Haydock Sprint Trophy for which she is 14s. A more dispassionate analysis of the form might suggest this is another sign of a very weak division and why the foreign raiders like an ASFOORA or a SATONO REVE didn't take their chance is a mystery. The best of the 3-y-o was BIG MOJO, who after being well held over this trip in both the Sandy Lane and the Commonwealth Cup, put up a huge effort but whether connections will be tempted to go back to 1000m or stay at this trip I'm not sure. RUN TO FREEDOM outran his 40/1 odds in third and for tricast fans the dividend was £27,674.69 which is nice work if you can get it. The six horses from third to eighth were split by a length and it was a real bunch for the minor spots. BELIEVING ran a fine fourth on her final run as she is in foal and having won £1.35 million in win and place prize money owes her connections very little and I look forward to seeing her progeny down the line. NOTABLE SPEECH was a decent fifth - he looked to travel into the race well enough but in truth finished off no better here than he had over a mile and I wonder if there's a problem. JASOUR was sixth, SPY CHIEF seventh and SYMBOL OF HONOUR, who wasn't done any favours by the general bunching in the final 200m, eighth but beaten only three lengths overall. Both WHISTLEJACKET and FLORA OF BERMUDA missed the start with the latter particularly tardy and neither threatened to get involved. We're none the wiser where the sprinters are concerned - LAZZAT and SATONO REVE were the best at Ascot and nothing I saw suggested they wouldn't have beaten this lot again. The time was 1 minute 11.18 seconds which is 0.98 seconds above race median suggesting the ground had been nicely watered overnight. The supporting Group 2 Superlative over 1400m for the juvenile colts was described as a "schmozzle" by ITV commentator Richard Hoiles and it was a messy race. Hot favourite ITALY from the Aidan O'Brien yard was outpointed by SABA DESERT from Godolphin who had drifted from 7/2 to 6s in the betting exchanges in face of support for his stable companion WILD DESERT who finished the meat in the sandwich as first the filly VENETIAN LACE (fourth and not without promise) and then the winner hung left possibly away from the crowds. SABA DESERT was another for Godolphin and Buick who was having a wonderful meeting. The horse is in the National at The Curragh and is already 14s for next May's English 2000 Guineas along with ITALY who did little wrong and, as Aidan O'Brien had suggested in the pre race interview, would come on a lot for the experience. Over at Ascot, the Group 2 Summer MIle saw NEVER SO BRAVE follow up his handicap success at the Royal meeting with an impressive strong run to beat pace setter POINT LYNAS on whom Jamie Spencer had tried something enterprising by trying to slip the field and it almost worked. NEVER SO BRAVE's entries suggest he may be dropped back to 1400m but I'd keep him at a mile on the back of this. HAATEM wasn't beaten far in third and I think he'll step back up in trip after this. AL QAREEM justified odds of 4/7 when winning the 2800m Group 3 at York but that win has probably ruled him out of the Ebor and he'll go instead for the Irish Leger in mid September.

The same is true here in a way it wasn't when I marked the board for Mecca Bookmakers in Soho 40 years ago. Back then, 90% of bets in shops were on horse or dog racing - you had the occasional footie punter who did the midweek and weekend coupons. Now, the share of shop turnover from horse and greyhound racing has fallen below 50%. Shops now have FOBTs (Fixed Odds Betting Terminals - you call them POKIEs I believe). Cartoon racing, as I call it, means there's something going on every couple of minutes but it's essentially horse bingo. Football betting has exploded with the coming of the Premier League and fewer people bet on racing off-course as a result while off-course dog racing is almost non-existant in the shops I frequent these days. If horse racing stopped tomorrow, the bookies would fill the space with more cartoon racing - they don't need horse racing in the day they once did.

Isn't betting important to racing? If Entain control the betting, it must be in their interests to see a prosperous betting market based on horse and harness racing do well. Bookmakers are a key part of the racing politics here as well - they sponsor big races and primarily the quality handicaps which bring in betting turnover and profits for them (and valuable revenue for the Government).

We're digressing but yes asbestos removal is on the agenda. Asbestos comes in different types and risks but if you demolish a 60s or 70s building now, you have to bring in a specialist asbestos removal company and the asbestos gets taken to a separate facility for disposal. As part of regular building inspection, they check to ensure asbestos within existing buildings remains unexposed.

Then the clubs need to get together and assert that ownership. The three groupings who should be round the table to run New Zealand Racing are the Horsemen (owners, trainers and jockeys), the clubs and Entain. Between them, they have the mutual interest (or should have) to see racing and harness racing prosper. NZTR has the regulatory role and must continue to do so.

The other side of this is the raceday experience and on my thread about attending Lingfield on July 8th, I touched on some of the key aspects. You have to pay to get in and sometimes a lot - for that day at Lingfield I paid £18 admission (concession for fossils and other relics). Sandown on July 24th (my next planned) will be £25 (hopefully £20 with concession) on the gate though I could buy in advance for £19.50 (non refundable). That's fairly standard for a midweek meeting and it's the same whether you are at a Grade 1 track like Sandown with good facilities or a country gaffe like Plumpton in the bleak midwinter. The truth is the cost of staging a day's racing - meeting the BHA's regulatory requirements as mentioned above - is much the same for every meeting. The course sell the racing to the bookmakers and the specialist tv channels via the media rights deal to recoup some of that cost. As a racegoer, the experience will vary considerably - at Sandown or any Grade 1 track, the facilities are excellent with plenty of room to move, plenty of catering (not cheap) and excellent viewing of the racing. To cut costs, Sandown now run a single enclosure at all their midweek meetings so I can go almost anywhere for my (hopefully) £20. In all honesty, it's not that bad. If you go to a meeting with better racing or with music, you can expect to pay a lot more as I've said before - the course has to pay the artist and their entourage as well as the additional security, medical staff etc so for Sir Tom Jones, Sophie Ellis-Bextor etc, you're looking at £55+ but what would you pay to see Sir Tom at a concert venue? Plumpton on a damp January afternoon is rather different as you might expect but the catering is often better if you don't mind the local pie and a pint and you are close to the action in a way you aren't at Sandown or Ascot. There have been proposals to run meetings behind closed doors for the betting shops and/or overseas markets but that's not happened yet. We also have on-course bookies and the Tote and whatever you think of bookmakers, they bring colour and atmosphere to the course and getting 4/1 for a horse who goes off at 7/2 is always a good feeling and better when you collect. There's no sign of any course closing here and despite the economic doom and gloom, attendances are moving up here with the July Meeting last week another to post improved numbers though still only just back to pre-COVID. To be fair, if you look over a 30 year time frame, the numbers haven't moved much. To compare like with like, I've got the attendance for the two days of the Guineas meeting in early May at Newmarket: 1995: 38,500 2005: 31,000 2015: 32,000 2025: 30,000 Racing has proved remarkably resilient to all the changes and pressures of the last 20 years or so. Courses have spent on infrastructure to make the raceday experience better but you look at some tracks and there's a lot which could be improved. Lingfield looks tired and dated while Sandown's stand is now 50 years old having been state of the art at the time.

I hope no one minds me putting in my two cents worth from the other side of the world where things are very different. Over here, the courses are powerful, indeed some think too powerful. Jockey Club Courses and the Arena Racing Company operate (not necessarily own) over half the tracks and two thirds of all the fixtures and basically they run the sport through a) allocation of fixtures and b) media rights. I've raised this with you before - the key economic question is who owns the product? Up here, the racecourses do and they also control who can watch the races off course. The bookmakers have their own channel, Satellite Information Services (SIS) which is the feed you see in a bookies in the High Street while the two specialist racing channels are part owned by the bookies (Sky Sports Racing is a partnership between Sky, Arena Racing and the bookies while Racing UK is run by Jockey Club Racing). ITV, the free to air commercial channel, negotiates with the racecourses (contract to continue coverage to 2030 likely to be signed in the autumn) directly. The courses also control the fixture list in terms of when they race (the content is still controlled by the British Horseracing Association) and put in prize money either directly or via sponsorship. They have to abide by the regulatory requirements of the BHA in order to race but as we've seen recently with facilities for jockeys and travelling stable staff at some tracks, the BHA can only make empty threats to remove fixtures. Where the courses have been vulnerable is on prize money particularly the synthetic venues which stage a lot of low quality racing and think they can get away with very low prize money levels - well, they can and have for a while but the Horsemen (Owners, Trainers and Jockeys) have staged periodic protests and there's an ongoing tension. Many, indeed most courses also have non raceday revenue streams from corporate events, weddings, antique fairs etc.

The rivalry is much friendlier than it was. Things improved from 2018 when Godolphin started sending mares to Coolmore stallions and that then was reciprocated. Before then it was very frosty and had been for a while but now much better. In terms of the riders, yes, Ryan Moore has ridden for Godolphin when Buick has been unavailable - not sure how often Buick has ridden for Coolmore but it has happened when Aidan has had multiple entries and Godolphin haven't had a runner. They are two of the best jockeys available and if either is free and there's no competition, they are available to be used. In the UK Owners championship, Godolphin have picked up about £4 million so far this season in win and place prize money, Coolmore £2.5 million, Wathnan £1.5 million and Juddmonte just over a million but there's a long way to go.

I'll have an answer for you in my review of yesterday's action. I have to say when you see Aidan O'Brien on course he is the perfect gentlemen - he congratulates the trainer and owner of the winner even if his horse has lost. It's a good thing to see.

After a near 15,000 crowd for the opening day, the second day of the Newmarket July Festival drew another large attendance. A scorching hot afternoon for all and despite 6mm of watering applied by the Clerk overnight, the ground remained on the fast side at Good to Firm (watered). The feature race on the second afternoon was the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes over the mile for the fillies and mares and this was another of the inter-generational clashes which dominate the season from here onwards. The well backed favourite at 6/4 was JANUARY from the Aidan O’Brien yard who had run a fine third in the Coronation at Ascot. The older fillies were headed by CRIMSON ADVOCATE and CINDERELLA’S DREAM who had finished first and second in the Duke of Cambridge over the round mile. The three at the top of the market dominated the finish and whether Ryan Moore will feel he went 50m too soon on JANUARY I don’t know but these are the finest of margins and this time it didn’t quite work as JANUARY was outpointed by CINDERELLA’S DREAM who we know goes 1800m on firm turf and relished this trip on this ground. After a disappointing (by their standards) Ascot, Godolphin and Charlie Appleby are on fire at their home meeting and this was another for William Buick after his first day treble. CINDERELLA’S DREAM has an end target of the Breeders Cup Filly & Mare Turf but the question will be where she will get her ground between now and then. She’s 4s for the Nassau at Goodwood but has to give 9 lbs to Pretty Polly winner WHIRL who I suspect is ahead of JANUARY in the pecking order at Ballydoyle. JANUARY did nothing wrong in defeat – whether she really gets a stiff mile I’m not sure – I’d like to see her dropped back to 1400m. CRIMSON ADVOCATE was trapped out wide when the race developed and couldn’t produce the same turn of foot she had at Ascot. She may head for the Celebration Mile at Goodwood at the end of August. The front three were a length and three quarters on from the others. My hope, ELWATEEN, still doesn’t look back to how she was before the 1000 Guineas and I’m not sure how well she takes her racing. The German 1000 Guineas winner LADY ILZE was a decent fifth and that was a fine effort given she was only a neck behind the 2024 English 1000 Guineas winner, ELMALKA. The winning time of 1 minute 37.89 seconds was 0.49 seconds above standard so nothing exceptional. The supporting Group 2 was the Duchess of Cambridge for the juvenile fillies and this cut up to just six runners and it looked a penalty kick for Albany winner VENETIAN SUN who went off 2/5 but if you’d had £5,000 to win £2,000 you’d have been sweating as she was made to work by ROYAL VACATION from the Ed Walker who had won her maiden at the Thirsk meeting on the opening day of Royal Ascot but this was a huge step forward and you wouldn’t be confident who would prevail if the two met down the road. Both the winner and runner up are in the Lowther at York which is a flatter and faster 1200m. I wouldn’t normally mention a juvenile maiden but the 1400m for colts and geldings is traditionally a very strong race – last year it was won by FIELD OF GOLD – and another very classy field turned up for this year’s renewal and the paddock inspection showed them to be a quality bunch. The betting suggested the superpower yards had the answer and it was DISTANT STORM representing Godolphin and Charlie Appleby who went off 5/6 favourite with OXAGON for the Gosdens at 5s while CONSTITUTION RIVER for Ballydoyle and VENETIAN PRINCE for the Andrew Balding yard were easy to back at 15/2. In the end, two dominated, drawing nearly four lengths clear of the others and DISTANT STORM just tipped out CONSTITUTION RIVER by a short head in yet another Buick vs Moore finish. DISTANT STORM is a son of Night of Thunder out of a George Washington mare and is a half to a useful handicapper called CLASSIC, trained by Richard Hannon and to BEAUTIFUL MORNING, who won Group races in 2012 and 2013. He’s obviously got an engine and they’ve put him in the National at The Curragh in the middle of September. CONSTITUTION RIVER raced wide which probably wasn’t ideal on debut but quickened really well up the hill on the firm ground. He’s by Wootton Bassett (as you might expect) and the first foal of a Le Havre mare. Both colts looked very smart – whether they will be classic contenders next year remains to be seen but this is a maiden with a record of producing some very good 3-y-o.

A fine and hot afternoon drew a large crowd to the July Course for Ladies’ Day, the opening day of the three-day July Festival. The morning sunshine had further dried the ground which was upgraded to Good to Firm. Two Group 2 races for the opening day started with the July Stakes for the juvenile colts over 1200m. The market was dominated by unbeaten horses from the two main powerhouses of British racing – Godolphin and Coolmore. The former had MAXIMIZED who had won his two races and was backed in to 6/4 while the Aidan O’Brien trained BRUSSELS, who had won his only race, was 9/4. Royal Ascot form was represented by the Norfolk fifth COMICAL POINT and the Coventry runner up DO OR DO NOT. However, there was a turn up here as rank outsider ZAVATERI from the Eve Johnson Houghton yard proved too good winning by a length from DO OR DO NOT who was able to reward each way support at 9s. JEL PEPPER was third with BRUSSELS fourth and both MAXIMIZED and COMICAL POINT well held. ZAVATERI had come out of a Salisbury maiden a month ago and this was a big step forward. He’s a son of Without Parole who is having his second crop as a stallion and stands at Newsells Park Stud for £8,000. To be honest, his first crop was average – his highest rated is a filly called FIERY LUCY who races for Gavin Cromwell in Ireland. The dam is an unraced daughter of Siyouni but from one of the Aga Khan’s more successful lines. You’d think ZAVATERI would get a mile in time and clearly loves quick ground. DO OR DO NOT ran home strongly but the Newmarket July track is sharper than Ascot and I wonder if a step up to 1400m might be in the offing for a race like the Vintage at Goodwood. COMICAL POINT pulled far too hard but William Buick had no real excuse for MAXIMIZED but I did wonder if he was feeling the ground. There was plenty of drama before the Princess of Wales Stakes over 2400m. In the pre-parade, as he was about to be saddled by trainer Clive Cox, GHOSTWRITER reared up and fell backwards. He was lame after the incident and on veterinary advice was withdrawn. PALLADIUM was sent off 13/8 favourite in the reformed market with WIMBLEDON HAWKEYE backed in to 5/2. PALLADIUM was fractious in the stalls but jumped and led. Ryan Moore tried to set an even gallop but when he quickened the tempo 600m out, PALLADIUM gave way tamely and both WIMBLEDON HAWKEYE and ARABIAN CROWN went on. Meanwhile, William Buick was sitting pretty on EL CORDOBES and came through on the outside and in the end won by a cosy two lengths. This was Buick’s 2000th UK winner and wholly appropriate it should be for Charlie Appleby. It’s interesting to note EL CORDOBES has won his two races this year at Newmarket and he may just be one of those who prefers to be close to home. WIMBLEDON HAWKEYE was getting plenty of weight from EL CORDOBES but I had forgotten how bad the record of 3-y-o is in this race so I think he ran well again. He’s 25/1 for the Voltigeur at York next month but that looks a big price for a horse who we know likes York and quick ground. ARABIAN CROWN didn’t like the quick turf here and will be much better on some softer ground while the same was probably true of PALLADIUM for all he was beaten nearly 15 lengths. A poor result for Ryan Moore in the Group 2 races but he started the afternoon with SCANDINAVIA booking a trip to the Leger at Doncaster with an impressive win in the Group 3 over 2600m coming home unchallenged by eight and a half lengths. He’s in the Goodwood Cup for which he is 8s and the Voltigeur for which he is 5s and he’s clearly a young stayer of some potential. I saw OPERA BALLO win the Heron at Sandown at the end of May and wisely, I think, Godolphin decided to swerve Ascot as he looked very good winning the 1600m Listed race named after the late Sir Henry Cecil who trained, among other great horses, the wonderful Frankel. OPERA BALLO is a long way from that class but he’s improving and put up a decent time in this grade – I suspect they’ll have to go into Group company now where it will get tougher.