Stradivarius

For the past few years, we have celebrated the highs and sometimes lows, of the Royal Ascot meet with A Tip of the Top Hat awards. Originally over these five days, we presented `The Down the Stretch' awards, but the homestretch at Ascot is a gradual uphill tussle. I think it is much harder for a thoroughbred to pull, to dig down deep on the incline in the final three furlongs. Very trying and tiring. Thus, the Up The Stretch Awards. Here are the 2020 STRECHIE winners. The winner of...

Back in April, when major sporting events across the world were being cancelled left, right and centre, the management team at the Queen's racecourse took the decision that, if racing had resumed in time, Royal Ascot would go ahead behind closed doors. The announcement was met with incredulity in some quarters, particularly by those keen to blame the spread of coronavirus on the Cheltenham Festival, but thank goodness Ascot stuck to its resolve to go ahead, even in extraordinary circumstances. Of course the meeting lost some of its lustre, just...

If it's G1 Gold Cup day at Royal Ascot, it has to be Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) and whether it's a settee, sofa, couch, chaise longue, armchair, easy chair or lounger that the enthralled global TV audience are watching on, they are going to be on the edge of it at 3.35pm GMT. Very few get the chance to come back and win this monumental prize three years in succession. We are talking about legends here, a club in which only Sagaro (GB) and Yeats (Ire) are the...

   Newmarket's second segment of its four-day Guineas meeting plays host to the re-routed G1 Hurworth Bloodstock Coronation Cup on Friday, where the dual G1 Ascot Gold Cup hero Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) is an unexpected yet welcome guest to the party. Where the likes of Anthony Van Dyck (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), Defoe (Ire) (Dalakhani {GB}) and Ghaiyyath (Ire) (Dubawi {GB}) are regulars at this 12-furlong trip, Bjorn Nielsen's elite stayer has not been over this type of distance since defeat in a 3-year-old handicap at Chester in...

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...

NEWMARKET, UK—With the sun bouncing off the silk-smooth coat of Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), it would be easy to imagine the scene at Clarehaven is taking place in late spring. But the temperature gauge is hovering just above zero and the tantalising glimpse of the brilliant mare will remain just that at this stage, with her next public appearance likely to be five months away. Still, we are lucky to be seeing her at all. Had the weather gods been kinder and the ground less deep, perhaps she would have...

Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) and Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) are set to lead a strong team for champion trainer John Gosden at York next week. The brilliant Enable is on course for the G1 Darley Yorkshire Oaks on the Thursday of the four-day Welcome to Yorkshire Ebor Festival, with Stradivarius once more in line for the £-1million Weatherbys Hamilton Stayers' bonus if he can win the G2 Lonsdale Cup on the Friday. The Khalid Abdullah-owned mare has already won the G1 Coral-Eclipse and G1King George VI And Queen...

G1 Prince of Wales's S. winner Crystal Ocean (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) has held his position atop the Longines World's Best Racehorse rankings in the latest edition released on Thursday. The 5-year-old established a mark of 127 for that effort, and while he subsequently lost to Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) by a neck in the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S., the three-pound female allowance that Enable received means that Crystal Ocean remains one point ahead of her. The King George third Waldgeist (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) saw...

With Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) delivering for Frankie on Tuesday, the weight of expectation now rests on Too Darn Hot (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) to maintain the run in Wednesday's G1 Qatar Sussex S. at Goodwood. In many ways, the Lloyd-Webbers' 'TDN Rising Star' was the one who at the start of the season promised most to make this a memorable season for Dettori with his unbeaten streak culminating in juvenile champion status. That it has hardly gone to any kind of plan so far in 2019 is well-documented,...