Rab Havlin

Racing returns to Newmarket's July Course later this month but prior to that John and Thady Gosden took advantage of the fresh turf to give three of their stable's Royal Ascot runners a racecourse gallop on Saturday morning, including the Breeders' Cup victrix Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}). Now five, the Cheveley Park Stud homebred was fourth behind her stable-mate and fellow Thompson family colour-bearer Audience (GB) (Iffraaj {GB}) on her return in the G1 Lockinge S. on May 18.  She now looks likely to have another attempt at the G1...

NEWMARKET, UK -- It's Alex Cairns's day off but he's at the car park next to the Limekilns at 7.30 on Sunday morning. "If I can't do this for a Derby horse when would I do it?" he says as he awaits the arrival of the Derby second-favourite Ambiente Friendly (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}). Cairns is head lad to the colt's trainer James Fanshawe. He chats to Rab Havlin. The pair both hail from the same west Scottish town of Saltcoats but Newmarket has long been their home.  Havlin was appointed...

Just 11 years old in its reconstructed state, Ascot's QIPCO British Champions Day is not yet the supermassive black hole it longs to be, but its gravitational waves are enough to draw in a sufficient quantity of racing's brightest year upon year to justify its title. Saturday's binary stars are the turf overlord Baaeed (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) and the miling dame Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}), whose orbits have been steadily coming closer into view over the past weeks. In the case of the former, this final act of...

Jockey Rab Havlin has decided he will not appeal the decision by Lingfield stewards to suspend him 21 days for failing to take all reasonable and permissible measures to win a race on Apr. 21. Havlin was riding the John and Thady Gosden-trained Stowell (GB) (Zoffany {Ire}) when the 3-year-old made a late move on debut but just failed to catch his stablemate Polling Day (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), ridden by Frankie Dettori. Stowell was beaten a head under a hands and heels ride. Gosden spoke out in support...

Godolphin's Forest of Dean (GB) (Iffraaj {GB}) had finished adrift of Marco Botti trainee Felix (GB) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) in both starts this term and stepped forward to exact revenge on that familiar foe in Saturday's G3 Betway Winter Derby Trial at Lingfield, providing John Gosden with a record-breaking third renewal of the fledgling 10-furlong test. Successful in four of seven starts in 2019, he was under wraps until running third in a Jan. 11 Wolverhampton conditions heat on belated return before filling the same spot in the Feb....

Rab Havlin has won his appeal against a 10-day ban for careless riding after an incident at Yarmouth on July 22. Yarmouth stewards deemed that Havlin had failed to take sufficient action to prevent the John Gosden-trained Swift Verdict (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) from shifting left and causing a chain reaction that affected Dreaming Blue (GB) (Showcasing {GB}), ridden by Tom Marquand, and My Vision (GB) (Showcasing {GB}) under Harry Bentley. Swift Verdict, the €1.4-million first foal out of Classic winner Just The Judge (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}), eventually finished third with...

Look up the race records of Enable (GB), Stradivarius (Ire), Cracksman (GB), Jack Hobbs (GB) and Without Parole (GB) and you'll find that, bar the fact that they are all Group 1 winners to have been trained by John Gosden, they have something else in common. These top horses, along with plenty of others in the stable, were all ridden to victory on their debuts by Robert Havlin, better known simply as 'Rab'. The Scotsman is the epitome of the loyal second jockey. With his humility and the fact that...