oneXtwo horse racing News

Wolverhampton, Thurles and Meydan

news@oneXtwo.com — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 07:22:19 +0100

Once again, all turf racing in the U.K. has been abandoned. The all-weather meeting scheduled for this evening at Wolverhampton will now be staged this afternoon. The Irish N.H. meeting at Thurles go ahead; expect Willie Mullins and Ruby Walsh to continue their winning run. The best racing by far comes from the Dubai World Cup Carnival in Meydan. Main event is the Group Two al Maktoum Challenge over 9 furlongs on tapeta at 18.30 CET. This race has been totally dominated in recent years by Godolphin and Mike de Kock and that will probably be the...

only Kempton today

news@oneXtwo.com — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:39:22 +0100

with the abandonment of all 3 N.H. fixtures today, the all-weather card at Kempton has been moved to the afternoon and stages the only racing in the U.K. The outlook for the next few days is mixed; while it remains frozen in most parts of the east and south, it seems to be much warmer in the west (e.g. Taunton tomorrow) and in the north and Scotland, where Musselburgh is putting on an extra meeting on Saturday with a good card. Prospects for the excellent Newbury card on Saturday look about 50/50 at present. Obviously the Kempton card is very ...

Lingfield and Wolverhampton

news@oneXtwo.com — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:00:26 +0100

With the N.H. meetings at Market Rasen and Sedgefield both abandoned (and more abandonments looking very likely this week), there is only all-weather action today. Wolverhampton stages an additional fixture and there are some small fields; in fact, normal each-way betting is possible in none of the 6 races. Luctur Emergo (Keith Dalgliesh/ Joe Fanning) and Gabrial´s King (Ian Williams/ Paul Hanagan) met over this CD last Thursday, when the former won by a length. They clash again in the 3yo handicap at 17.30 CET, and possibly the latter, now 6 l...

Ayr and Wolverhampton

news@oneXtwo.com — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:10:32 +0100

Ayr, on the west coast of Scotland, is often the warmest place in Britain when the weather is bad and that is the case at the moment. So there are no problems with today´s card - the first turf racing in the U.K. for 5 days -although the fields are small. Irish trainer Gordon Elliott has an excellent strike rate here and has fancied runners in the first 3 races. In fact he has runners in the opening mares novice hurdle at 14.30 CET, penalised Mae´s Choice (Jason Maguire) and debutante Narjawa (Davy Condon), who had winning form on the flat fo...

Big Zeb v Sizing Europe at Punchestown

news@oneXtwo.com — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 11:18:09 +0100

The Tied Cottage Chase over 2 miles at 15.55 CET at Punchestown today is only a Grade Two in name, but has a Grade One field, with Ireland´s two top two-milers in opposition, Big Zeb (Colm Murphy/ Robbie Power) and Sizing Europe (Harry de Bromhead/ Andrew Lynch). It is virtually a match, as the only other runner has no chance, but still a fascinating contest. They have met on several occasions, but have almost exactly the same profile and have each beaten each other - in this race last year they were first and second, but at Cheltenham last yea...

No racing in U.K. today

news@oneXtwo.com — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 10:36:42 +0100

The winter continues to hamper racing in Britain and even the all-weather tracks have problems because of snow (e.g. Wolverhampton yesterday). Today´s Kempton meeting has been abandoned (snow on the track) while the N.H. meetings at Fontwell and Musselburgh have been abandoned because of frost. Fortunately the situation is not so bad in Ireland and the big Punchestown fixture goes ahead as planned (although the going will be heavy)....

Later: Fairyhouse goes ahead!

news@oneXtwo.com — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 13:08:30 +0100

Fairyhouse has passed its second inspection and racing goes ahead....

Lingfield and Wolverhampton

news@oneXtwo.com — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 11:59:32 +0100

Today´s two all-weather cards are of course far less interesting than the jumps meetings would have been, but Lingfield does stage a good handicap over a mile at 16.00 CET. This looks wide open, although quite clearly Prince of Burma (Jeremy Gask/ Ian Mongan) and Tarooq (Richard Fahey/ Tony Hamilton) have the best recent form. However this has not escaped the attention of the handicapper and they have both shot up the weights as a result. We will take a chance on veteran Smokey Oakey (Mark Tompkins/ Danny Brock), owned by Oscar-winning Judi Den...

Ffos Las, Sandown, Wetherby all abandoned

news@oneXtwo.com — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:15:52 +0100

For the first time this season, N.H. racing in the U.K. has been badly affected by the weather and all 3 N.H. meetings - Ffos Las, Sandown an Wetherby- have been abandoned because of a frozen track. In Ireland, the situation is not much better: Fairyhouse has not yet been abandoned, but a second inspection has been called and racing must be doubtful. There are expected to be no problems at the two all-weather meetings at Lingfield and Wolverhampton....

In hospital!

news@oneXtwo.com — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:37:54 +0100

The writer of this column has to go into hospital for two minor operations. I shall be back as soon as possible, probably on Saturday (February 4th)......