David Howden

ASCOT, UK -- Six months ago David Howden was in the winner's enclosure celebrating success at Royal Ascot with his G2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes winner Running Lion (GB) (Roaring Lion). On Friday the owner-breeder was back at the racecourse to espouse his passion for sport horses, and more specifically how racehorses can be retrained for other disciplines. Howden's principal interest in horses came through eventing. He hosts Cornbury Horse Trials at his Oxfordshire home every September and his daughter Jemima is one of the rising stars of the young...

Owner-breeders David Howden and Jayne McGivern, both of whom are also heavily involved in the eventing world, have unveiled plans for a valuable class for former racehorses at Howden's Cornbury House Horse Trials. The Cornbury Racehorses Eventing Challenge is a joint initiative which will be run at the Oxfordshire event in 2025, offering a first prize of £45,000. The duo hopes that it will help to raise the profile of the suitability of Thoroughbreds for eventing.  The class will be run at British Eventing Open Novice level, but using an...

Ryan Moore has been booked for the ride on the G1 Coronation Stakes and G1 Cheveley Park Stakes heroine Porta Fortuna (Ire) (Caravaggio) in Friday's G1 Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket, for which seven fillies and mares were confirmed on Wednesday morning. With no Ballydoyle representative in the line-up, Moore is free to link up with the Donnacha O'Brien-trained filly, racing for the Medallion-Weston-Fowler-Reeves partnership, with Oisin Murphy who steered her to success in the Cheveley Park back on David Howden's G2 Duke Of Cambridge Stakes winner Running Lion (GB)...

Royal Ascot was tremendous in myriad ways. Sun up, crowd up, and a spread of results which drew in some of the world's biggest owners and trainers alongside syndicates and smaller yards. Then on Sunday morning came the news that QIPCO is to significantly reduce its sponsorship of British racing from next year. British Champions Day will still be run in its name, and the company owned by Sheikhs Hamad and Fahad Al Thani will remain as an official partner of Ascot racecourse, but Newmarket's Guineas meeting, Ascot's King George...

David Howden's 4-year-old filly Running Lion (GB) (Roaring Lion--Bella Nouf {GB}, by Dansili {GB}), last of eight in Epsom's G3 Princess Elizabeth Stakes earlier this month, halted a six-race losing streak with a dominant performance in Wednesday's G2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes at Royal Ascot. Last term's Listed Pretty Polly Stakes victrix kept wide of the peloton initially and drifted inwards to assume control after the opening exchanges. Holding sway thereafter, she was nudged along in early straight to poach a decisive buffer approaching the final furlong and kept on...

Howden, the global insurance group, has partnered with the Victoria Racing Club (VRC) and continued its relationship with The Bahrain Turf Club (BTC) in a pair of sponsorships, the company announced on Tuesday. Howden is already an official partner in Ascot Racecourse. Howden is now the Official Partner of the VRC. The VRC hosts the Melbourne Cup Carnival. They have also been named sponsors of the G1 Howden Australian Guineas over 1600m. The company is now in its third year of sponsoring The Crown Prince's Cup Meeting in the Kingdom...

A new class for ex-racehorses, worth £50,000, will be conducted at the Cornbury House Horse Trials in 2025, Jayne McGivern and Cornbury House Horse Trials announced on Friday. The new class is the initiative of McGivern of Dash Grange Stud, who owns top event horses, and David Howden, group CEO and founder of Howden and founder and president of the Cornbury House Horse Trials. Her aim is to also raise the profile of the adaptable nature of Thoroughbreds, especially in terms of their suitability for eventing. She is donating £50,000...

DUAL, the specialist underwriting arm of Howden Group Holdings, has completed the acquisition of David Ashby Underwriting Limited ("DAU"), a MGA specialising in bloodstock and high value sport horse insurance. The latter had earlier been formed in 2020 following David Ashby's purchase of Amlin's bloodstock and livestock book and provided cover in Thoroughbred bloodstock, commercial breeding, rear and racing, and high value sports horses. David Howden, CEO, Howden, said: "Joining with David and his expert team deepens our connection to the equestrian world, and makes us a true differentiator in...

It's a heady time of year to be on Newmarket Heath of a Saturday morning. You can tell by the convoy of smart cars when one of the big strings is about to arrive at the Al Bahathri, with Guineas weekend providing the perfect opportunity for owners to watch their horses work.  This past Saturday, either 2,000 Guineas day, Kentucky Derby day, or Coronation day, depending on your persuasion, was no exception. With the car park double-stacked and trainers and jockeys all about, Joe Foley, waiting for the off with...

Running Lion (GB) (Roaring Lion--Bella Nouf {GB}, by Dansili {GB}) improved off a debut fourth at Newmarket's July venue with wide-margin wins in one-mile heats at Lingfield and Chelmsford last term and opened this campaign with a decisive score on sophomore return at Kempton last month. Back on the turf for the first time since that first-up effort, she rewarded the race sponsor David Howden with a first win of the Guineas meet and provided the Gosden stable with a seventh triumph in this usually informative G1 Oaks pointer. The...

One of the great joys of racing is its enduring ability to captivate and enthrall people at any stage of their lives. A chance spark can alight, and burst into flame. It was that way with David Howden. It is only four years since he bought a lot at a charity event at the Dragon School in Oxford that consisted of a morning on the Newmarket gallops and a day's racing at the 2000 Guineas. "My wife Fiona and my daughters, Talitha, Jemima and Kitty, came with me," says Howden....

International insurance broker Howden will sponsor the Listed The Crown Prince's Cup at the Rashid Equestrian & Horseracing Club in Bahrain this year. The 2000 metre race takes place on Jan. 28. David Howden, founder and group chief executive officer of Howden and a racehorse owner and breeder, said, "Our sponsorship of The Crown Prince's Cup in Bahrain, alongside our partnership with Ascot, helps to deepen our relationships in a sport we love and enable us to further understand and respond to the worldwide risks challenges it faces. Howden has...