Winter Watch

When City Of Troy (Justify) and his entourage descended on Southwell for a racecourse gallop on that feel-good afternoon back in September, it was commented on that the number of racing fans there to see him--thought to be 700-plus--was larger than would usually turn up for a typical day of racing there. The Nottinghamshire track traditionally staged low-grade fare which offered no real prospect of seeing a horse with talent even remotely comparable to that of the Derby winner. It was also commented on that the test provided by the...

"Look away Mick Appleby, but there has arguably been no finer exponent of the new and improved all-weather programme in the last decade than the Gosden stable, home to a handful of Classic/Group 1 winners who learned the ropes at the likes of Kempton and Newcastle in the depths of winter." That comment featured in our first installment of Winter Watch, followed by a promise to put that illustrious roll of honour under the spotlight at a later stage when it seemed appropriate. Now, following a week in which John...

It was perhaps fitting last week that the inaugural edition of Winter Watch going to print should coincide with the arrival of snow across many parts of Britain, albeit we now find ourselves with one less meeting to report on after the cold snap brought terminal consequences for a certain all-weather track in Nottinghamshire. Consider yourself lucky if you spent that particular Monday evening in the warmth of home, cup of tea in hand ready to find out what this Winter Watch was all about. Meanwhile, all of those involved...

Welcome to Winter Watch, the new column with the unenviable task of trying to fill the void that now exists after Emma Berry penned her final Seven Days column of 2024, not to return until we hand the baton over again next spring. It's a daunting act to try and follow, but then at least we're in solidarity with the horses who will be the subject matter of this column over the coming weeks and months. The Berry boots might be big ones to fill, but so too are those...