Weltbeste

The unforgettably named Thore Hammer-Hansen bade farewell to British racing at the end of last season to take up a retainer with leading German owner Eckhard Sauren. On Sunday he will go to post for the G1 Deutsches Derby as the leading rider in the country.  In many respects it was a homecoming for the young jockey, who was born in Cologne and spent some of his formative years in Baden-Baden, where his Danish-born father Lennart was riding and later training. It can also be regarded as a wise move. ...

The curtain came up at Longchamp on Sunday, with the 'réouverture' being conducted in extremely testing conditions but nevertheless providing a welcome return to action at France's premier racecourse. The most important thing on arrival in the Bois de Boulogne is to make it into the track without being mown down by one or more of the cyclists within the relentless peloton that streams past the gates of Longchamp of a weekend. Everything after that feels like a blessing.  And indeed we were blessed with an almost dry and definitely...