Emma Berry

As the year winds down, now is a relatively quiet time for horse racing. But there was nothing quiet about 2024, another year when there was no shortage of bad news and plenty of controversy thanks to the nasty battle between pro and anti-HISA Forces. The TDN seeks to be fair in its news coverage and makes no attempt to accentuate the negative stories. The problem is that the numbers say the readers prefer to read the "bad stuff." What stories resonated most with TDN readers? Here are the top...

Emma Berry, European editor at Thoroughbred Daily News, is among the writers shortlisted for the 2024 HWPA Derby Awards, which take place at the Lancaster Hotel in London on Monday, December 2. Berry is nominated in the Specialist Writer of the Year category, along with Lee Mottershead, Tom Peacock and Alan Sweetman from the Racing Post. The shortlist for the Racing Writer of the Year features two previous winners in Mottershead, bidding for a fourth victory, and Peter Thomas, who lifted the trophy in 2022. The pair are joined by...

It's early, but maybe not too early to start dreaming of the GI Kentucky Derby. At least it's not for owner Richard Rigney. Rigney is the owner of 'TDN Rising Star' Jonathan's Way (Vekoma), the winner of last Saturday's GIII Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs, the first of many races that award Derby points to the top five finishers. Making his second career start after overcoming trouble to win a maiden at Saratoga, Jonathan's Way was an impressive winner, suggesting there could be bigger and better triumphs in his future....

Who are the contenders in this year's GI Kentucky Derby? The TDN Writers' Room crew breaks down the field for the biggest race on the first Saturday in May. The TDN's Emma Berry also joins the show to preview the weekend's 2,000 Guineas.

During a particularly fruitful week for European influences at Saratoga this August, three black-type winners in the space of four days had made their first public appearances during Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale in Newmarket, England. First, the 5-year-old Technical Analysis (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) won the De La Rose S. on the Wednesday, marking her third consecutive year of stakes victories at the Spa, having won the GII Lake Placid S. in 2021 and last season's GII Ballston Spa S. This was followed 24 hours later, and...

Cheltenham is behind us and, yes, we still have Aintree and Punchestown to come of the major jumps fixtures but, with the clocks on the turn, really the only thing to think about now is the return of the Flat. The turf season makes its staggered return in Ireland on Sunday, and in Britain the following Saturday. France is already racing ahead and packed in four stakes races at Saint-Cloud last Saturday, with the Listed Prix Omnium II providing the first TDN Rising Star on the European turf for 2023...

While conducting a long overdue tidy-up of my office I came across a copy of the brilliant Pacemaker International magazine of June 1980. (For the avoidance of doubt, it had not been on my desk all that time.) There were some throwbacks, such as an advert for Leslie Combs II's draft of yearlings from Spendthrift, and another for Rover cars (imagine that in a racing publication nowadays!), as well as items that served as a reminder that the more things change, the more they stay the same. To this effect,...

First job in the Thoroughbred industry? Racing editor of Horse & Hound.   Biggest influence on your career? Julian Muscat, my editor during three gloriously happy years at Pacemaker, for steering me on the path of righteousness towards the Flat and (almost) away from National Hunt racing.   Favourite racehorse of all time, and why? Dereham. He'll never be a champion but he gave me my happiest moment of 2022 when winning on our home course at Newmarket. He's the last foal of the first racehorse I ever rode and...

The TDN's European Editor Emma Berry is among the writers shortlisted for the 2022 HWPA Awards, which take place in London on December 5. Berry, whose work was depicted by the judges as "authoritative and well-informed articles, written in a very clear and entertaining style, most enjoyable to read", is nominated in the Specialist Writer of the Year category along with Jonathan Harding and Alan Sweetman of the Racing Post, and Jon Lees of Thoroughbred Racing Commentary. The Racing Writer of the Year nominees are freelance journalists Lydia Hislop and...

With the leaves on the turn and rugs back on the horses after the hottest summer in many a year, it may feel as though we are coming to the end of the season but by juvenile Group 1 contests in Europe we are really only halfway through. So far, No Nay Never's sons Little Big Bear (Ire) and Blackbeard (Ire) (No Nay Never), both trained by Aidan O'Brien, have claimed three between them - the Phoenix S., Prix Morny and Middle Park S., while the Joseph O'Brien-trained Al Riffa...

Where to begin? The past week has been so wrought with emotion that by the time Sunday arrived with its 15 group races in England, Ireland and France only the dourest of stayers made it through to Doncaster's Mallard Handicap. This is a racing publication, of course, but before we reflect on the action on the racecourse, it would be remiss not to mention the heartbreaking human loss which was so intrinsically entwined with the sport.  Grief engulfed two nations. Wednesday brought the indelibly sad image of Henry de Bromhead...

There is a charming tradition for the large crowd at Baden-Baden races to applaud the runners as the field passes the post for the first time, never mind in the closing stages. For Sunday's racegoers, many of whom arrived with well-behaved dogs and sometimes less well-behaved children, the excitement level reached near-fever pitch as Frankie Dettori urged home German racing's current hero, Torquator Tasso (Ger). At the post the pair went down by just a head to the winner Mendocino (Ger), another son of Adlerflug (Ger) ridden by the man...