27 June 2017

Hill Tops

The St Leger, the feature race of the four-day festival at Doncaster, first run in 1776, will have a new Leeds-based bookmaker as a sponsor for the next three years. William Hill has taken over the reins from Ladbrokes in securing the naming rights for the world’s oldest Classic, worth £700,000 and regularly attended by over 60,000 racegoers. Grand Metropolitan, the owners of William Hill, already sponsor a number of Flat races, including the Ayr Gold Cup and Great St Wilfrid at Ripon.

Water to-do!

The decision to water the Ascot course, has been criticised by two trainers, who both had the agonising experience of watching their horses win the race on their side of the track but still lose out to the other side. North Yorkshire-based Declan Carroll believes the decision to water denied his star juvenile Santry the Norfolk Stakes on Thursday, whilst Newmarket handler, Jeremy Noseda, firmly believes that Take Me With You suffered similarly on Friday in the Albany Stakes. Both horses finished the best of those on the stands' side so the trainers maintain that the watering created a huge bias towards the far side of the track.

Where Eagles dare!

Saturday’s Irish Derby at the Curragh could well see a five-strong contingent running for Aidan O’Brien who is determined to continue his domination of the Flat season after his crowning as top national Hunt trainer at Royal Ascot last week. The Investec Derby winner, Wings Of Eagles, is likely to spearhead the Ballydoyle king's bid to win his second Classic of the season. It looks like Ryan Moore will be aboard the son of Pour Moi on this occasion rather than Padraig Beggy, who helped to produce the shock victory at Epsom.