Yorkshire Racing
& Breeding News
2024 ~ 2023 ~ 2022 ~ 2021 ~ 2020 ~ 2019 ~ 2018 ~ 2017 ~ 2016 ~ 2015 ~ 2014 ~ 2013 ~ 2012
2011
~ 2010 ~ 2009 ~ 2008 ~ 2007 ~ 2006 ~ 2005 ~ 2004 ~ 2003 ~ 2002 ~ 2001 ~ 2000 ~ 1999
| Date | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 28/12/2013 | Malcolm Jefferson's Oscar Rock started favourite in the Challow Novices' Hurdle Gd1 at Newbury this afternoon but could 'only' finish third, the same position being taken by Philip Kirby's Stopped Out later on the card. At Lingfield there was a Mark Johnston double heading by the durable Galician landing the £11,972 Ladbrokes Handicap. Catterick meanwhile saw three local winners from the yards of Brian Ellison, Peter Atkinson (Croco Bay in the Novices' Handicap Chase) and Malcolm Jefferson. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 26/12/2013 | If it's Boxing Day and it's Wetherby it must be the Rowland Meyrick Handicap Chase Gd3 and this year it fell to Sue Smith's Cloudy Too who won by 10 lengths, despite fluffing the last, with Malcolm Jefferson's Cape Tribulation, the winner last year, back in third. Grand National winner, and stablemate of the winner, Auroras Encore jumped clear to finish fifth, albeit last of those that did get around. Up at Sedgefield there were winners for John Quinn, Ruth Carr and George Moore whilst Ollie Pears won the last on Wolverhampton's all-weather. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 21/12/2013 | Mark Johnston's heavily campaigned Galician put up another good fight today when third, only beaten a neck out of second, in the Quebec Stakes L at Lingfield, where Geoff Oldroyd and Kevin Ryan were amongst the winners. At Haydock Sue Smith took the £12,021 Onestopenergy.co.uk Novices' Chase with Mwaleshi whilst stablemate No Planning was third in the Tommy Whittle Handicap Chase. Up at Newcastle there were winners for Sue Smith and Peter Atkinson. Tom Tate's yard at Hazelwood Castle appears to be for sale, although the sales details are somewhat cagey and I've seen no official announcement ........ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 19/12/2013 | I'm all for improved prize money, but the latest instalment in our races at odd places in the calendar series comes from Kempton and Lingfield which both hosted £25k + races today ..... why !?!? Anyway the good news is that we won one of them with David Barron's new recruit Tarooq landing the £28,012 Compare Bookmakers at bookmakers.co.uk Handicap at Lingfield this afternoon. Later on David Nicholls had a winner at Kempton, specifically Tax Free who, as a result, pushed his career earnings over £600,000. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 14/12/2013 | No joys over jumps today, but there were minor winners on the all-weather at Southwell for Brian Ellison, Kevin Ryan and Mark Johnston. Evening racing at Wolverhampton saw the £28,012 Coral Mobile Handicap which was landed by Mark Johnston's Marshgate Lane whilst Karl Burke also had a winner later on the card. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 07/12/2013 | A fairly similar story to last Saturday; some places in some of the feature races West of the Pennines, a healthy sprinkling of lesser winners and pretty much the same protagonists ! At Aintree we started well with John Quinn's Poetic Verse grabbing second in the Betfred 'Double Delight' Fillies' Juvenile Hurdle L whilst Sue Smith's Mr Moonshine stayed on strongly to retain third in the Becher Handicap Chase Gd3 and stablemate Gansey was fourth in the £43,792 Grand Sefton Handicap Chase, a race in which he was second last season. On home soil at Wetherby Sue Smith had a double whilst there were also winners for John Quinn and Philip Kirby. Mark Johnston had a winner on Wolverhampton's evening card. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 30/11/2013 | Two excellent runners up today at Newcastle with John Quinn's Cockney Sparrow putting up a career best performance to be second in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle Gd1 and Sue Smith's Vintage Star battling for three miles only to be denied by a neck in the Rehearsal Handicap Chase L. The earlier under card had seen winners for both Brian Ellison and Sue Smith. Evening racing saw a winner for David Griffiths at Wolverhampton where Mark Johnston's Galician ran well to be second under top weight in the £28,012 Ladbrokes Handicap. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 28/11/2013 | An otherwise quiet day for racing (unless you happened to be attending a Thanksgiving Day meeting stateside!) sees David O'Meara land a useful prize over jumps when his Ifandbutwhynot lands the Gerry Feilden Hurdle L at Newbury by four and a half lengths. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 20/11/2013 | It was announced today that the well bred Westlake will join the Hedgeholme Stud stallion roster next year. Westlake is a three time winner who is a Sadler's Wells own brother to Powerscourt and a half brother to the dam of Frankel. He will stand at a fee of £2,500. John Quinn and Malcolm Jefferson both had winners at Hexham today whilst David Nicholls and Kevin Ryan both scored at Lingfield. On Kempton's evening card David Barron's Bertiewhittle and Mark Johnston's Galician were second and third respectively in the EBF Hyde Stakes L. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 16/11/2013 | An excellent day at Wetherby for the locals with six winners headed by a fantastic treble from Sue Smith with the other winners provided by Tim Easterby, Tony Coyle and John Quinn. At Cheltenham Malcolm Jefferson's Ataglance finished fourth in the Paddy Power Gold Cup Handicap Chase Gd3. On the all-weather at Lingfield there was a winner courtesy of David O'Meara but the highlight was David Griffiths' Take Cover who was a decent second in the Golden Rose Stakes L.Evening racing at Wolves saw two further winners for David O'Meara and one for Mark Johnston. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 09/11/2013 | Last day of the flat season and last chance saloon time. Unfortunately Mark Johnston's bid for a Group One winner for the season was unsuccessful but Hartnell ran well nevertheless to be third in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud G1. Likewise Mick Easterby's Hoof It's bid for a win this term also came to nought although he ran well enough to be fourth in the Wentworth Stakes L at Doncaster. Hartnell's jockey Joe Fanning was crowned 'Cock o'The North' yet again at Doncaster and there were local winners with David Barron's Indy a convincing winner of the maiden on his debut and Tim Easterby's Kenny The Captain landing the Nursery. In the £12,938 Betfred Fun & Friendly Handicap John Quinn's Lincoln winner Levitate again showed his love for Town Moor by winning nicely. Our best placed horse in the £40,462 November Handicap was David O'Meara's Open Eagle who was third. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 03/11/2013 | Sue Smith's Cloudy Too stayed on well to land the Colin Parker Memorial Intermediate Chase L at Carlisle today. Malcolm Jefferson landed the bumper at Huntingdon. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 02/11/2013 | A good day at Autumnal Newmarket with David O'Meara's Penitent landing the Ben Marshall Stakes L, and Mark Johnston's Hartnell taking the Zetland Stakes, the support was provided by O'Meara's Fattsota who was third in the James Seymour Stakes L. At Wetherby John Quinn's promising Cockney Sparrow landed the OLBG.com Mares' Hurdle L which proved to be our only winner there whilst Alan Swinbank won the last at Ayr. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 01/11/2013 | Yet another good day at the office for Brian Ellison with his Ultimate landing the bet365 Handicap Chase L at Wetherby this afternoon with Malcolm Jefferson's Mac Aeda back in third, Jefferson had earlier landed the opener. Sue Smith had a winner at Uttoxeter and Philip Kirby took the last on Wolverhampton's evening card. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 31/10/2013 | After a few attempts over the last month or so Mark Johnston's Galician, a big winner back in July, finally picked up the all important 'black type' when second in the Fleur de Lys Fillies' Stakes L at Lingfield this afternoon, only beaten a head. Johnston had earlier won the opener with first time out Muteela, a very well bred filly. Sedgefield saw winners for Philip Kirby and Malcolm Jefferson. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 26/10/2013 | Expectations were high today, one of the last major days of the flat season. Unfortunately reality was a little more grounded and the best result of the day actually came over fences with Brian Ellison's Viva Colonia coming third in the Monet's Garden Old Roan Chase Gd2 at Aintree. On the flat Richard Fahey and Tim Easterby both garnered decent winners at Newbury whilst Fahey also provided our sole success at Doncaster where a host of Yorkshire horses ran poorly. Evening racing at Wolves yielded winners for Richard Fahey and David Barron. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 21/10/2013 | Following his September victory in the Old Borough Cup Philip Kirby capped an excellent season with his first stakes winner when the maiden Lady Heidi landed the Silver Tankard Stakes L at Pontefract this afternoon at 20-1. Yorkshire provided all bar one of the winners at Ponty this afternoon with a treble for Richard Fahey as well as winners for David Barron, Sharon Watt (who presumably has well fenced gallops !) and Brian Ellison, whilst Alan Swinbank took the last at Windsor. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 19/10/2013 | Champions Day at Ascot, and given the paucity of
Yorkshire runners we actually had a very good day. First
up was Hoof It who ran fourth (only beaten a head out of
third) in the Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes G2
for soon to retire trainer, and Yorkshire legend, Mick
Easterby. Two races later and it was the Queen
Elizabeth II Stakes G1 in which Brian
Ellison's Top Notch Tonto (supplemented at a
cost of £70,000 !) put up another stellar performance to
be second, collecting £227,900 for his efforts ; what on
earth can he achieve next term !? At career earnings of
£322,811 (some with his previous trainer the now
disgraced Ian McInnes) Top Notch Tonto
is still some way off the all time 'Yorkshire
Winningmost' list, however Borderlescott has picked up
some prize money since the list was last featured after
the Grand National so an updated version is shown below.Ellison
also won the opener at Catterick, and Tony
Coyle the last, but there wasn't a lot of local
joy in between.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 13/10/2013 | Brian Ellison's Montefeltro, who hadn't won any sort of race until landing a Maiden Hurdle at Fontwell in May, made it three in a row on the flat when taking the £48,780 Irish Cesarewith Premier Handicap at the Curragh this afternoon, an absolutely fantastic performance to cap what has been a stellar season for Ellison. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12/10/2013 | An excellent day at HQ for the Yorkshire raiders on Future Champions Day, starting in the best possible manner with the Kevin Ryan trained duo of Astaire and Hot Streak landing a historic double in the Middle Park Stakes G1. We may have had horses placed second in both the 2,000 Guineas and the Derby this term, but this was actually 'our' first Group One winner of 2013, with Astaire making all to win by a staying on half a length. Two races later, and at the opposite end of the distance spectrum, Mark Johnston's game filly Scatter Dice overcomes a diabolical start to take the £155,625 Betred Cesarewitch Handicap at 66-1, a truly exciting race and a well deserved win for this tough filly. Finally in the last Richard Fahey's Tales Of Grimm puts up a sound display to be second, beaten only a short head, in the Darley Stakes G3, only his second start for the Malton trainer. Slightly less joy at York where Richard Fahey had the second in both the opening two races whilst Ollie Pears' No Leaf Clover put up an excellent effort to be second in the Rockingham Stakes L and David Nicholls took the penultimate race. James Turner had a winner up at Hexham and David Nicholls took the last on Wolverhampton's evening card. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 06/10/2013 | No winners at Longchamp, but a couple of good placings starting with Kevin Ryan's Hamza, unplaced in the Ayr Gold Cup last time out, finishing third in the opening Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchanp G1. Ladies Are Forever and Sandiva both ran respectably enough in their races but Richard Fahey's Garswood put up an excellent show to finish third in the Prix de la Foret G1, only beaten a short neck out of second place. Domestically Tony Coyle had a winner over hurdles at Uttoxeter. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 05/10/2013 | An excellent day at Ascot starts out with Kevin Ryan's Hot Streak putting up a commanding performance to land the Cornwallis Stakes G3, the Middle Park beckons. Two races later and Mick Easterby's Hoof It continues his return to top-class form when third in the Bengough Stakes G3 (now held on the same day as the Rous Stakes ; bonkers!). Finally there is a Yorkshire one-two in the penultimate £93,375 Betfred 'Goals Galore' Challenge Cup Heritage Handicap with Richard Fahey's money-spinning Heaven's Guest coming home in front of David Barron's Bertiewhittle, who surely deserves to win a big race sooner rather than later. No joy from our runners at Newmarket or Longchamp (although we have a better card to play in Paris tomorrow) but at Redcar the locals dominate with the highlight being Tim Easterby's admirable Ventura Mist coming home in front to land the £93,231 Totepool Two-Year-Old Trophy L with Kevin Ryan's Morning Post back in third. Earlier Brian Ellison's progressive Top Notch Tonto landed the EBF Guisborough Stakes L and David O'Meara's Ingleby Angel the £12,450 Straight-Mile Championship Final Handicap whilst there were also winners for Geoff Harker, Ruth Carr, Mick Easterby and Tony Coyle. Evening racing at Wolverhampton yields winners for Kevin Ryan and Richard Fahey. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 28/09/2013 | No joy at Newmarket yesterday, and the same today although there was nevertheless an excellent performance from Mark Johnston's Somewhat who was beaten only a neck in the Royal Lodge Stakes G2 by Berkshire who is out of Kinnaird, formerly trained by Patrick Haslam. This represents a strong improvement in form as Somewhat could only manage fourth to the same horse at Royal Ascot, hopefully they'll meet again in the Futurity, and then no doubt Soemwhat will be Godolphin bound. Also at HQ David Barron's Tres Coronas was a sound third in the Cambridgeshire Handicap, but the winner was Educate, bred by Lady Ledgard at Scampston Hall Stud and adding to his earlier win in the Spring Mile. Mark Johnston and Richard Fahey had a winner apiece at Chester where the later's Romantic Settings was third in the £28,012 Sportingbet.com Handicap. At Haydock Brian Ellison's Racy was a decent second in the £32,345 Betfair Supports Racing Welfare Handicap, but there were no Yorkshire winners. At Ripon David O'Meara landed the feature £18,675 Ripon Cathedral City Of The Dales Handicap with Doc Hay, whilst there were also winners for Mark Johnston (a double), Ollie Pears, Karl Burke and Richard Guest. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 26/09/2013 | Newmarket Day One, and it's a very good start for Yorkshire interests with Miracle Of Medinah, bred by Andrew Spalding at his Hedgeholme Stud, landing the main race the Somerville Tattersall Stakes G3 to add to his earlier victory in the Rose Bowl Stakes L. The previous race had seen Mark Johnston's Special Meaning grab the all important black type when third in the Princess Royal Richard Hambro Stakes L, whilst stablemate Statuatory was second in the Jockey Club Rose Bowl L. Nigel Tinkler's Misplaced Fortune put up a good run to be second in the last. Locally at Pontefract there were winners for Mark Johnston, Paul Midgley and John Quinn. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 21/09/2013 | An excellent result in the Mill Reef Stakes G2 at Newbury today with Richard Fahey's Supplicant coming home in front of stablemate Rufford with Kevin Ryan's Hot Streak back in third, an excellent 1-2-3 !. The next is the £46,688 Dubai Duty Free Handicap which is won by Haafaguinea who was not only bred by the Bishop Wilton Stud but is by the Beechwood Grange resident stallion Haafhd. Kevin Ryan's York Glory runs a close second in the Dubai International Airport World Trophy G3 whilst Mark Johnston lands the nursery, a good day in Newbury for the Tykes (albeit Irish and Scottish Tykes!). Up at Ayr things started well with Richard Fahey landing the opener and Ann Duffield's Willie The Whipper finishing second in the Doonside Cup L, with David Barron's Clon Brulee back in third. Next up was the £31,125 'Consolation' Ayr Silver Cup and this fell to Mick Easterby's top-weight Ancient Cross, with nephew's Tim Easterby's bottom-weight Fast Shot runner up. Tim Easterby's admirable Ventura Mist was a decent third in the Firth Of Clyde Stakes G3. In the Ayr Gold Cup itself David O'Meara's Louis The Pious was second whilst John Quinn's Levitate won the Ayrshire Handicap and Quinn also took the last. At Newmarket Mark Johnston's Oriental Fox stayed on strongly to land the £32,345 Cesarewith Trial Handicap. Locally at Catterick there were winners for Declan Carroll, Mark Johnston, Richard Fahey, Alan Swinbank and Richard Guest. Over in France Karl Burke's Odeliz was third in the mouthful Prix d'Automne Fonds Europeen de l'Elevage L. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 20/09/2013 | The Ayr meeting may have technically started yesterday (when Yorkshire had a clean sweep of winners), but in terms of better quality racing proceedings really kicked off today. Unfortunately we didn't do anywhere near as well with just winners for Tim Easterby and Karl Burke and no show in the bigger races. Richard Fahey had a winner at Newbury whilst the winners at Newcastle came from Alan Swinbank, Malcolm Jefferson, Kevin Ryan, Richard Guest and John Quinn, whilst David Barron had a winner on Wolverhampton's evening card. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 18/09/2013 | David O'Meara's Penitent has quite been the force this season that he was last, but he managed to bag his first win of the year today at Sandown when taking the Fortune Stakes L., possibly he'll run in the Joel Stakes next. At Beverley there were winners for Nigel Tinkler, Kevin Ryan, David O'Meara, Tim Easterby, David Barron and Edwin Tuer whilst Bryan Smart had to travel all the way to Yarmouth for his winner. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 14/09/2013 | A fairly poor St Leger day from the local perspective, with no Yorkshire runners in the big race itself, and it went downhill from there. The best performance of the day came in the opening Champagne Stakes G2 with Kevin Ryan's The Grey Gatsby again running a good race in defeat when finishing second. Best placed of the local runners in the Portland Handicap was Brian Ellison's Racy, who finished fourth, and we had no winners on the card at all. At Chester Mark Johnston and Bryan Smart at least came home with winners, with David O'Meara also scoring at Lingfield. La Pomme D'Amour runs in the Vermeille tomorrow, and Ladys First in the Canadian Stakes, but I'll be on holiday, so don't expect any nuggets here for a few days ! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 13/09/2013 | Not as good today at the St Leger Festival with the best result coming from David O'Meara's Repeater who was third, only just fading from second in the closing stages, in the Doncaster Cup G2, his first run for the Nawton handler since joining from Sir Mark Prescott. The penultimate race was the £12,938 Towndoor Limited Commerical Property Rental Handicap and there was a local winner in this with Richard Fahey's Sir Reginald coming home in front of David Barron's Bertiewhittle. Tony Coyle won the last at Bangor whilst Richard Guest landed a double on Wolverhampton's evening card. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12/09/2013 | It was a quiet start to Doncaster's St Leger Festival for the locals yesterday (although James Bethell won the opener), but things certainly warmed up today. In the opening EBF Carrie Red Fillies' Nursery Handicap Karl Burke's Ticking Katie put up a decent display to be second whilst in the next, the Sceptre Stakes G3, the same position was filled by Richard Fahey's Switcher. The most valuable race of the day was the Weatherby's Hamilton Insurance £300,000 2YO Stakes and this saw a Yorkshire 1-2 with Kevin Ryan's unfancied Morning Post picking up £175,129 for first place and Tim Easterby's Azagal a mere £70,080 for second. Mark Johnston's Alta Lilea was third in the Park Hill Stakes G2 whilst the closing two races were both won by David Barron runners including Clon Brulee in the closing £16,172 DFS Handicap. Brian Ellison had a winner at Wolverhampton's evening meet. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 08/09/2013 | Bad news today that Mark Johnston's ultra progressive Universal, winner of three group races this term, fractured a pastern on the gallops this morning. He is heading for Newmarket for an obviously complicated and important operation. On the track there were winners at York for David Barron, Tom Tate and Brian Ellison although the best performance came from Geoff Oldroyd's Ladies Are Forever who was second in the Garrowby Stakes L, another good result for her owner breeder Reg Bond of Yapham Mill Stud. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 07/09/2013 | Total dominance to start with over the border in Lancashire with the Yorkshire raiders landing the first three at Haydock. First up was Tim Easterby's Confessional who took the opening £17,790 Be Friendly Handicap. The second saw a very rare Yorkshire clean-sweep in a group race with Brian Ellison's Top Notch Tonto taking a commanding lead to annexe the Superior Mile G3 from Karl Burke's Hay Dude and Richard Fahey's Gabrial. The big handicap on the card was the third race, the £38,814 Old Borough Cup, and this saw Platinum deliver Philip Kirby the biggest win of his training career to date. We may not have won the day's feature race, the Betfred Sprint Cup G1, but it did see something of a return to form for Mick Easterby's Hoof It (bred by Reg Bond at Yapham Mill Stud) who was a very decent third. To top off a good day in the Red Rose County Tony Coyle's Lily Rules picked up valuable black type when third in the Ascendant Stakes L. We fared less well at Ascot and Kempton whilst there were local winners at Thirsk for Mark Johnston (a double) Ruth Carr, Kevin Ryan and David Nicholls. Jedd O'Keeffe won the last race on Wolverhampton's evening card. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 31/08/2013 | Well it was a dead-heat but Richard Fahey's battling Ladys First finally managed to land a group race today when equal first in the T.B.A. Atalanta Stakes G3 at Sandown, very well deserved indeed. Tim Etherington had kicked off proceedings with his Burning Thread landing the opening £12,450 Betfred Goals Galore Handicap whilst Mark Johnston's Fennell Bay was second, beaten only a neck, in the £37,350 Betfred TV & Levy Board Handicap. It was a similar story at Chester, albeit minus the group winner, with Richard Fahey's El Viento taking the opening £12,938 Minstrell Recruitment Handicap and Fahey's Brae Hill and Johnston's Es Que Love occupying second and third respectively in the £28,012 Crabbie's Alcoholic Ginger Beer Handicap, whilst Fahey and Bryan Smart won the last two on the Roodeye. On home soil at Beverley Kevin Ryan's York Glory was edged out by only a neck in the Betfred Beverley Bullet Sprint Stakes L with Robin Bastiman's Borderlescott running his best race since his return from retirement when finishing third, Johnston's Baileys Jubilee ran another poor race and appears to have not trained on. Later on the card there were winners for Kristin Stubbs and Mick Easterby. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 29/08/2013 | He had to go all the way to Germany but Mark Johnston's Suzi's Connoisseur bagged the all important black type today by winning the Kronimus-Rennen L at Baden-Baden, which will no doubt please his owner-breeders. At equally glamorous (honest!) Hamilton there were winners for Ollie Pears, Mark Johnston and Karl Burke (back in the saddle, so to speak), whilst Julie Camacho scored at Lingfield and Philip Kirby at Stratford. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 26/08/2013 | Lovely Bank Holiday weather at Ripon where Richard Fahey bagged the feature race of the day when Supplicant took the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Ripon Champion Two Yrs Old Trophy L, at this rate Cheveley Park Stud will be sending a lot more yearling up to Museley Bank! Tim Easterby's Venture Mist picked up more black type by finishing third in the same race whilst our only other winner was supplied by David O'Meara. At Newcastle the Yorkshire raiders went through the card with a treble for Richard Fahey and a double for Tim Walford, Kevin Ryan, John Balding and Mark Johnston (Stars Over The Sea in the much dimished in recent year 'Blaydon' Nursery) had to settle for a solitary winner apiece. Kevin Ryan and David O'Meara both scored at Epsom whilst under National Hunt rules Tony Coyle had a double at Bangor, Richard Guest had a winner down at Huntingdon and Brian Ellison had a double at Cartmel where there were also winners for Ben Haslam and Philip Kirby. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 24/08/2013 | The final day of the Ebor meeting sees a notable juvenile double for Kevin Ryan with his Astaire landing the historic Gimcrack Stakes G2 (with Richard Fahey's Parbold a decent third) and stablemate Hot Streak taking the Roses Stakes L (with Tony Coyle's maiden City Zen third, the trainers first 'black type'). In the opening race Richard Fahey's Switcher was third in the City Of York Stakes L , whilst stablemate Fort Bastion dumped Tony Hamilton over the side with the minimum amount of ceremony following the opening of the stalls. Mark Johnston's Oriental Fox was best of our depleted runners in the Ebor itself, finishing fifth whilst Johnston's Sennockian Star was second in the penultimate £19,407 Betfred The Bonus King Handicap, with Richard Fahey's Hi There back in third, the last was the £19,407 Qipco Future Stars Apprentice Handicap in which Mick Easterby's Hoofalong was second. At Goodwood Sir Robert Ogden's Amazing Maria (homebred at his Sicklinghall Stud), trained in Newmarket by Ed Dunlop, won the Prestige Stakes G3, whilst Elaine Burke's Boots And Spurs was third in the £62,250 Betfair Cash Out Heritage Handicap. Over at the Curragh meanwhile Kevin Ryan's Hamza was second in the Flying Five Stakes G3, what must he do to win a Group race?, whilst two of Mark Johnston's four runners, Atlantic Affair and An Chulainn, were second and third respectively in the Tattersalls Ireland Super Auction Sales Stakes. Sue Smith had a winner at Cartmel. Evening racing at Redcar was abandoned, whilst at Windsor Richard Fahey's Area Fifty One was a dissapointing fourth in the Winter Hill Stakes G3, eleven lengths behind the third. All the way down in Clairefontaine Mark Johnston's Alta Lilea is third in the Grand Prix de Clairefontaine L. It's Malton Open Day tomorrow. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 23/08/2013 | Another good day for David O'Meara at the Ebor meeting with his Chancery leading home a Yorkshire 1-2-3 in the opening £31,125 Sky Bet Handicap ahead of Richard Whitaker's Rio's Rosanna (homebred at Hellwood ) and Richard Fahey's Kiama Bay. Richard Fahey's Gabrial ran well in defeat yet again to be third in the Strensall Stakes G3 and the best of the Yorkshire runners in the Nunthorpe Stakes G1 was Tim Easterby's Hamish McGonagall who was fourth beaten only a nose out of third, Moviesta unfortunately was last. Kevin Ryan's Equity Risk was second in the last race, the £19,407 Nationwide Accident Repair Services Handicap. Evening racing saw a treble for Mark Johnston at Hamilton (including Special Meaning in the £16,819 Lanark Silver Bell) where David O'Meara and Kristin Stubbs also had winners, whilst Chris Fairhurst, Tim Easterby and that man O'Meara all scored at Newcastle. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 22/08/2013 | It was David O'Meara's turn in the limelight on Day Two of the Ebor meeting at York with Mont Ras landing the £46,687 Clipper Logistics Handicap from Mark Johnston's Windhoek in second, and stablemate Dutch Rose winning the finale £19,407 eventmaster.co.uk EBF Fillies' Handicap, in which the Theakston Stud bred Indignant, who was top-weight, was second. Kevin Ryan's Sleeper King picked up £15,451 for fourth place in the £154,769 DBS Premier Yearling Stakes and Mark Johnston's Star Lahib filled the same place in the Galtres Stakes L. Elsewhere Mark Johnston had a winner at Bath, whilst Tim Easterby scored on Wolverhampton's evening card. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 21/08/2013 | A reasonably good start to the Ebor meeting at York, certainly in the opening couple of races with Kevin Ryan's four year old Bogart (such a money-spinning juvenille, but without a win since) taking the first, the £31,125 Symphony Group Handicap, and stablemate The Grey Gatsby - who started favourite - only going down by a neck when second in the next, the Acomb Stakes G3. Bogart also set a new course record, albeit over the relatively obscure five and a half furlongs! There was then a bit on lull before the penultimate race which saw Mark Johnston's Broxbourne land the £19,407 Lanstone Building Conservation Handicap by a neck, with stablemate Party Line back in third. At Musselburgh the Yorkshire raiders grabbed the first four races courtesy of John Quinn, Tim Easterby, David O'Meara and Philip Kirby. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 17/08/2013 | An excellent day for the Yorkshire runners, which bodes well for the Ebor meeting next week. Pride of place goes to Richard Fahey's Sandiva who quickened nicely to land the Prix du Calvados G3 at Deauville by one and a half lengths. It was Ripon's big day today, and the weather didn't really play ball, but there was a local winner of the £43,575 Great St Wilfrid Handicap and it was that man Fahey again, this time with Baccarat, whilst David Nicholls' Rodgrigo de Torres was third. Richard Fahey had two further winners at the meeting and David O'Meara and Mark Johnston also scored. At Newmarket there was yet another big winner for the late Guy Reed and his Copgrove Stud when Can You Conga, trained by Kevin Ryan, took the £31,125 32red Supports Racing Welfare Handicap and Mark Johnston won the following race. Johnston also provided our sole winner at Newbury, but it was a very impressive one with Somewhat easily landing the Washington Singer Stakes L. Chester saw a winnner apiece for Mark Johnston and Richard Fahey and the later's Rene Mathis was a good second in the £29,110 Archery Handicap. Meanwhile at Doncaster (for some bizarre reason the 'featured' meeting in today's Yorkshire Post?!?) there were winners for Kevin Ryan and Mark Johnston. Tony Coyle won the last on Market Rasen's evening card. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 11/08/2013 | Another day of good foreign results with Mark Johnston's Maputo landing the Royal Whip Stakes G3, his first attempt in group company, at the Curragh where Kevin Ryan's Hamza was also a good second in the Phoenix Sprint Stakes G3. Meanwhile in, erm, Sweden Elaine Burke's London Citizen picks up £38,210 when second in the Svenskt Derby L at Jagersro ..... Spigot Lodge's second Derby runner-up of the season ......! Domestically it's quiet with Richard Guest landing the last at Leicester. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10/08/2013 | Performance of the day comes at Deauville where La Pomme D'Amour, homebred by the late Guy Reed at his Copgrove Stud, and now running for his estate, lands the Prix de Pomone G2 (a race almost named for her!) for the second year in a row. The Vermeille presumably beckons. At Ascot it's the annual schlock fest that is the Shergar Cup but Mark Johnston does well with Oriental Fox third in the Stayers Cup, a 1-2-3 in the Classic Handicap thanks to Royal Skies, Bushel and Statutory and a 1-2 in the Challenge Handicap with Star Lahib and Sadler's Risk, unfortunately most of these helped propel the European team to victory. At Haydock Kevin Ryan is our sole winner although Mark Johnston's pair of Sennockian Star and Salutation were both placed in the two big handicaps and Richard Fahey's Area Fifty One was fourth in the Rose Of Lancaster Stakes G3. At Redcar the locals win all bar one of the races thanks to Kevin Ryan, James Bethell, David O'Meara, David Barron, Ruth Carr and Micky Hammond. Evening racing at Ayr netted winners for Kevin Ryan, Richard Whitaker and Philip Kirby. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 04/08/2013 | Another good day for David Barron with Hitchens racking up yet another good win when landing the Queensferry Stakes L at Chester where John Quinn provided our only other winner. Tim Walford's runner won the last at Market Rasen. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 03/08/2013 | Easily our worst day of this year's Goodwood with no winners, the best of the placings come early on with David Griffiths' Take Cover second in the opening £21,788 Stewards' Sprint Handicap, and Mark Johnston's Salutation filling the same position in the second race, the £31,125 RAC Handicap. In the £62,250 Steward's Cup the first Yorkshire horse over the line is Brian Ellison's Racy in fourth whilst Richard Fahey's Shot In The Sun is second in the nursery. There is also an outbreak of seconditis at Galway with Kevin Ryan's Pintura collecting £15,447 when runner-up in the EBF 'Ahonoora' Premier Handicap. A little better at Thirsk with a double for David Barron including Norse Blues taking the £19,407 Thirsk Summer Cup Handicap from David Nicholls' Karaka Jack and Kevin Ryan's Trail Blaze, Ruth Carr wins the last. Mick Easterby, Kevin Ryan and Richard Guest were amongst the winners at Hamilton's evening meet. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 02/08/2013 | The penultimate day of Glorious Goodwood and another big win when Bryan Smart's progressive Moviesta, despite badly hanging left, takes the King George Stakes G2 very nicely indeed on his first attempt in black type company, following a couple of sterling effort in valuable sprint handicaps, a potential superstar in the making perhaps ? Earlier there were fourth places for Kevin Ryan's Glory Awaits and Mark Johnston's Galician whose stablemate Tanseeb was second in the nursery. On home turf there were winners at Thirsk for David Barron, Elaine Burke, John Quinn and Tim Easterby whilst evening racing at Bath saw a winner for John Weymes and the corresponding card a Musselburgh resulted in wins for Kevin Ryan, Richard Fahey, Ollie Pears, David O'Meara and Philip Kirby. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 01/08/2013 | We had to wait until Day Three but Glorious Goodwood finally lived up to it's name, at least from the weather perspective. It was pretty glorious on the track as well however with Mark Johnston again landing the opening race, this time with Broughton (a good Yorkshire name on Yorkshire Day) landing the £31,125 Gordon's Stakes Handicap. Stablemate Alta Lilea ran a good race to be third in the Blackrock Fillies' Stakes G3 (aka the Lillie Langtry Stakes) whilst Richard Fahey's Majestic Moon took the penultimate £15,562 Tatler Handicap. We fared less well elsewhere however with just a solitary winner at Nottingham, courtesy of Elaine Burke. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 31/07/2013 | Day two of only moderately soggy but still far from Glorious Goodwood and this time we are in winning mode from the off with Mark Johnston's Broxbourne (who won at Ascot on Friday!) running on gamely to land the £24,900 UBS Goodwood Stakes Handicap. In the Vintage Stakes G2 Richard Fahey's Parbold is a good third, whilst stablemate Alejandro is second in the last race on the card.The local winners at Redcar come from David O'Meara, Ann Duffield, Tim Easterby and Neville Bycroft whilst Simon West wins the last up at Perth. Evening racing gets off well with Elaine Burke and Richard Fahey landing the opening two at Sandown. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 30/07/2013 | Glorious Goodwood 2013 kicks off .... in the rain .....and in the second race Kevin Ryan's Sleeper King is nudged out of third place in the Molecomb Stakes G3 by a head, with Richard Fahey's Supplicant back in fifth, the pair therefore reversing their Royal Ascot form. Much better in the next with Fahey's Garswood, who started favourite, taking the principal race of the day, the Lennox Stakes G2, by a neck. No joy for the much-heralded Mark Johnston team, although Lyn Valley was second in the maiden, picking up more money than you'd get for winning most maidens. At Beverley there is a double for David O'Meara and further local wins for in-form Brian Ellison as well as Philip Kirby, James Turner and Mick Easterby. One thing I forgot to mention at the weekend ; David Barron's ace, and somewhat accident prone, sprinter Pearl Secret is tragically out for the rest of the season, and is only 50/50 to ever race again. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 28/07/2013 | Richard Guest may have moved a bit further north to Wetherby but Barnet Fair is a constant and today, a year to the day since his last big triumph, he landed the £28,012 SIS Live Handicap at Ascot. On home ground Richard Fahey's Gabrial was second in the Pomfret Stakes L at Ponty where there were winners for Fahey, Tim Easterby and David Barron whilst our Carlisle winners were supplied by Kevin Ryan, Richard Fahey, Mark Johnston and Brian Ellison. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 27/07/2013 | Proceedings didn't quite go to plan at Ascot for team Johnston with Universal a far from disgraced, but still faintly disappointing, fifth in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes G1, but this still netted him a futher £28,648. The prior race had proved more lucrative however as Johnston's Galician landed the £62,250 Cash Out Multiples Only On Betfair International Stakes Heritage Handicap (new leading contender for worst race name of the season!), with Kevin Ryan's Trail Blaze back in second. A tilt at some black type will presumably be next for this progressive filly. We were initially short on winners at York although the early bigger races did see placings for Richard Fahey, David O'Meara and David Nicholls (Summerinthecity second in the £31,125 Sky Bet Dash Handicap) however the last three on the card yielded winners for Kevin Ryan, Richard Fahey and David O'Meara. Kevin Ryan also had a nice double at Newmarket (including the late Guy Reed's Clayton) where Brian Ellison also scored. Ellison also took the Beeswing at Newcastle where Alan Swinbank and Richard Guest also had winners, whilst David Griffiths won the opener on Lingfield's evening card. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 26/07/2013 | A typical busy summer Friday sees a double at Ascot for Mark Johnston with the highlight being Broxbourne's win in the £14,231 Brown Jack Handicap. Locally at Thirsk there were winners for David Barron (a double), Tim Easterby, Richard Guest and Mick Easterby whilst Tim Walford scored at Uttoxeter. Evening racing at York saw yet another placing for Richard Fahey's Ladys First, this time third in the EBF Lyric Fillies' Stakes L, albeit some seven lengths behind the winner. David O'Meara supplied our only two winners on the Knavesmire. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 21/07/2013 | Declan Carroll's Whozthecat put up another excellent performance when landing the £48,780 Rockingham Handicap at the Curragh this afternoon, the biggest win of Carroll's nascent career, and indeed of the man on top ; 10lb claimer Luke Leadbitter, who only had two winners to his name prior to today ! Somewhat closer to home there were local winners at Redcar for Richard Fahey, Alan Brown, Geoffrey Oldroyd, Noel Wilson, Ruth Carr and Marjorie Fife (not to mention an even more local win for Keith Reveley !). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 20/07/2013 | You know summer has truly arrived with the onset of the statistic distorting sales races but at least we did very well in Round One with Richard Fahey's (in)appropriately named Peniaphobia landing the spoils in the £122,924 Weatherbys Super Sprint at Newbury with Kevin Ryan's Oasis Town (by Beechwood Grange stallion Sleeping Indian) picking up a mere £24,600 for third place. Earlier Ryan's Hamza had finished second in the Hackwood Stakes G3 whilst Mark Johnston had continued on from the last two days by landing the opening two races, with Galician taking the £12,450 Choose EBF Nominated Fillies Handicap. Also 'just' the two winners on home soil at Ripon for Mark Johnston with his Salutation landing the feature £15,562 Ripon Bell-Ringer Handicap, Kevin Ryan and Ruth Carr providing the other local winners. At Market Rasen David O'Meara's Roman Flight was third in the Betfred Mobile Lotto Summer Handicap Hurdle L whilst we only came away from a Newmarket raid with placings, headed by Johnston's perenial bridesmaid Es Que Love, third in the £28,012 poptelecom.co.uk Handicap. Harry Hogarth provided our sole winner at what was no doubt a packed Cartmel. Evening racing at Haydock sees a double for David O'Meara. Just the small matter of Universal's assault on the King George before Goodwood, hopefully the Johnston horses will stay in this kind of form for at least a few more weeks ! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 19/07/2013 | A fantastic result at Hamilton's evening meeting today with Mark Johnston (who had four winners yesterday, and the same the day before) registering an incredible 1-2-3 in the Glasgow Stakes L when Maputo came in ahead of stablemates Alta Lilea and Mister Impatience, I can't remember the last time that happened in a major race ! The previous race was the £20,542 Scottish Stewards' Cup Handicap and this saw David Nicholls' Rodrigo de Torres win by a short head from Tim Easterby's Fast Shot. Earlier on the card Bryan Smart had landed the maiden, whilst the man Johnston took the last. Afternoon racing at Nottingham had seen a winner for Johnston who also took a victory at Haydock where John Balding, Tim Easterby and Ruth Carr also had wins. There were no Yorkshire trained winners at Newbury, but Miracle Of Medinah, bred by Andrew Spalding at his Hedgeholme Stud landed the main race on the card, the Rose Bowl Stakes L. Johnston made it a wonderful six winners for the day in the end with a double on Pontefract's evening card where Paul Midgley also had a double (one of which Adam's Ale is a Muriel Hills homebred) whilst Richard Fahey and Declan Carroll both scored at Newmarket's corresponding meeting. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 13/07/2013 | Not a bad day for the Yorkshire runners but perhaps not quite as good as was anticipated. The highlight came at Newmarket where Richard Fahey's Good Old Boy Lucky just pipped Mark Johnston's Somewhat in the Superlative Stakes G2 to give an excellent Yorkshire 1-2. The next was the £62,250 Bunbury Cup and here again Johnston was the runner-up with Es Que Love just unable to find an extra gear in the final reckoning, Fahey made it a July Course double by landing the penultimate race. At York David O'Meara's Smarty Socks was second in the opener whilst later on the £93,375 John Smith's Cup saw Yorkshire born Newmarket handler William Haggas grab a 1-2 with David Barron's Tres Coronas back in third. In the City Walls Stakes L on the Knavesmire Bryan Smart's Excelette was a decent third whilst Robin Bastiman's Borderlescott came out of retirement to finish sixth. We had a clean sweep in the last three at York courtesy of Kevin Ryan, Tom Tate and Richard Fahey. At Ascot Brian Ellison's Racy was second in the opening £62,250 Betfred Mobile Sports Handicap whilst Mark Johnston won the penultimate race. Some reasonable placings at Chester, but no winners. Perhaps the most timely result of the day however happened at Longchamp where La Pomme D'Amour, owned and bred Copgrove by the late Guy Reed who died on Wednesday, (furthermore she is by Peintre Celebre who was raised there) showed a return to form by finishing second in the Prix Maurice de Nieuil G2, just a pity it wasn't a win! Evening racing at Hamilton saw winners for David O'Meara, Tim Easterby and Mark Johnston. Meanwhile the Kennythorpe yard of John Wainwright has gone on the market with Savills (who also have Alan Bown's yard on their books) for £1.34m. Wainwright hasn't had a runner since May, and most of 'his' horses now seem to be with Neville Bycroft, so read into that what you will, I've seen no official annoucements. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12/07/2013 | The fixture list is borderline bonkers at this time of year, still it was another good day for the Yorkshire runners. Leading the way at York was Geoff Oldroyd's Ladies Are Forever (homebred by Reg Bond at Yapham Mill Stud) who ran on well in the closing stages to take the Summer Stakes G3 for the second time. The other local winners were served up by David Barron, David O'Meara and Richard Fahey. Down at Newmarket's July Course it was Richard Fahey's turn for glory with Heaven's Guest landing the £62,250 Betfred 'The Bonus King' Handicap by a head from Bryan Smart's Moviesta with Fahey's Rene Mathis two lengths further back in third. Evening racnig saw a winner apiece for Richard Fahey and Mark Johnston at Chester. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 11/07/2013 | The bad news out of the way first in that Yorkshire racing stalwart Guy Reed sadly died last night at the age of 91. The self-made founder of the company that eventually became Buxted, not to mention Reed Boardall whose wagons you will have seen pounding the motorways, he originally owned the Nidd Hall Stud before transferring his operation to Copgrove, he also owned Spigot Lodge in Middleham for many years. Amongst the numerous good horses this well known and respected 'character' owned and bred were Dakota, Warpath, Shotgun, Apache, Flossy, Pablo, La Cucaracha and the current stars La Pomme d'Amore and Tiddliwinks. Truly the end of an era, who are the traditional Yorkshire owner/breeders now ? By a strange sort of symmetry is was announced yesterday that from August Karl Burke will retake the reins at Spigot Lodge from his wife Elaine. Much better news from Newmarket however with a fantastic big-race double for Mark Johnston (who trained for Reed for a while) with Universal, under a confident ride from Joe Fanning, landing the Princess of Wales' Stakes G2 and Maputo taking the following £43,575 boylesports.com Download Our App Handicap by six lengths. Ollie Pears also landed the closing race to make it an excellent day on the July Course for the Yorkshire raiders. Ruth Carr and John Balding both had winners at Doncaster and Tim Easterby did likewise at Warwick. Evening racing saw another winner for Johnston this time at Epsom. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 09/07/2013 | Yet again the thoroughly admirable Ladys First couldn't quite live up to her name at Pontefract today when second in the Pipalong Stakes L for Richard Fahey. There were however winners for Mark Johnston, David Barron and Micky Hammond whilst Brian Ellison had a double at Wolverhampton. Evening racing sees winners for Philip Kirby and Simon West at Uttoxeter whilst Declan Carroll scores at Southwell. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 06/07/2013 | A cracking display by the Yorkshire runners in the big 'caps today with the highlight coming in the Old Newton Cup Handicap at Haydock where Mark Johnston's Star Lahib led home a Middleham 1-2-3 ahead of Elaine Burke's Tepmokea and Johnston's Fennell Bay. Earlier on the same card David O'Meara's Louis The Pious was the winner of the £15,562 bet365.com Conditions Stakes. It was a similar story at Sandown with Tom Tate's gallant Prince of Johanne running on in the last 50 yards to deny Mark Johnston's Es Que Love in the £46,688 Coral Challenge Handicap. In the next David O'Meara's Private Alexander (odd name for a filly!) was a decent third in the Coral Distaff L. At Beverley there were local winners for Richard Fahey, Philip Kirby, Declan Carroll, Geoff Harker, Ollie Pears, Mark Johnston and David Barron ; a clean sweep ! Meanwhile Richard Fahey and David O'Meara both had winners at Leicester. Our thoughts are with the Toomey and Ryan families with jockey Brian Toomey still in intensive care following his fall at Perth on Thursday. Evening racing saw wins for James Bethell, Tim Easterby, David O'Meara and Mark Johnston at Carlisle and for John Balding at Nottingham. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 29/06/2013 | Northumberland Plate day up at Newcastle and Mark Johnston's Oriental Fox is just denied in the big one by a short head, picking up £27,810 for second place. Earlier Richard Fahey's Majestic Myles was fourth in the Chipchase Stakes G3 whilst Julie Camacho and David Barron won the two races after the Pitman's Derby. Johnston had a winner at Newmarket, but the star turn was Tim Easterby's Ventura Mist, who confirmed her promise when staying on strongly to be second in the Empress Stakes L. Johnston also had a winner at Chester (not to mention four yesterday). Over at the Curragh Elaine Burke's Libertarian beat only one in the Irish Derby G1, presumably his last run for the Middleham handler, ironically the winner was Trading Leather who finished second to Libertarian in the Dante. However Declan Carroll saw a good performance from Whozthecat who was second in the £48,780 Paddy Power Sprint and David O'Meara's Move In Time was fourth in the Sapphire Stakes G3. Evening racing at Doncaster saw winners for Ann Duffield, Micky Hammond and Tim Easterby. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 27/06/2013 | Today Elaine Burke's Exactement put up the best performance of her career to date when second in the Eternal Stakes L at Warwick. A race like the Oak Tree at Goodwood is possibly on her radar now. Kevin Ryan also had a winner at Warwick whilst there were winners for Richard Fahey, Tony Coyle, Ruth Carr and Julie Camacho at Newcastle and David Nicholls and John Quinn scored at Yarmouth. Evening racing at Hamilton resulted in a double for Mark Johnston (seven in two days!) as well as for David Nicholls and Paul Midgley whilst Ollie Pears provided our sole winner at Leicester. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 26/06/2013 | Carlisle's biggest day of the year (.... on a Wednesday .... ?) sees Easterby dominance in the big two races with Tim Easterby landing the £18,113 Carlisle Bell with Silvery Moon and Uncle Mick Easterby victorious in the £18,113 Cumberland Plate Handicap. The support act included winners for Mark Johnston, Kevin Ryan and Richard Whitaker (another Hellwood homebred in the form of Avon Breeze). Evening racing saw Mark Johnston with two runners at Bath and two at Kempton ; and they all won ! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 22/06/2013 | OK, so I was wrong, it would appear that Royal Ascot winners are like buses, at least for Kevin Ryan ; with the Hambleton trainer recording his second victory of the meeting when York Glory landed the £93,375 Wokingham Handicap very handily indeed, having had a perfect trip. So that's two for Kevin Ryan, precisely two more than any other Yorkshire trainer managed. Earlier Mark Johnston's Universal was third in the incident packed, and ultimately tragic, Hardwicke Stakes G2 which was won by Sir Robert Ogden's Thomas Chippendale (a good Yorkshire name) who sadly died of a heart attack after passing the post. Possibly Universal was hampered when Ektihaam came down, although it didn't seem to unsettle him too much in the immediate aftermath. Johnston's star juvenille Somewhat could only manage fourth in the opening Chesham Stakes L, which was won by Berkshire, a son of Kinnaird, formerly trained by Patrick Haslam. Up at Ayr Bryan Smart's Excelette was yet again a close fourth in a listed race, this time the Land O'Burns Fillies' Stakes L but we did annexe the supporting races with Tim Easterby's Off Art and Kevin Ryan's Capaill Liath landing both the £15,562 Handicaps and Tim Easterby taking the last with Maven, bred by the Easterby's. No joy at Newmarket although the Mick Easterby and David Barron runners did occupy second and third places in the main race on the card. On home soil at Redcar there was a double for David O'Meara as well as winners for George Moore, Geoff Harker, Richard Whitaker (the Hellwood bred Tumblewind), John Quinn and Kristin Stubbs. Mark Johnston's Scatter Dice was third in the Ulster Derby at Down Royal whilst evening racing yielded no winners. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 21/06/2013 | It would appear that Royal Ascot winners are not like buses, however we must be happy with one winner and it finally came in the last race of the penultimate day with Kevin Ryan's 25-1 shot Lightning Cloud landing the £46,687 Buckingham Palace Handicap very tidily. We can claim a double of sorts as the winner is by Beechwood Grange stallion Sleeping Indian ! Earlier, somewhat unbelivably, Richard Fahey had yet another Royal Ascot second with his 7/4 favourite Sandiva filling the runner-up berth in the Albany Stakes G3. There was a close call in the Queen's Vase G3 with Mark Johnston's Mister Impatience just nudged out of third by a nose. John Quinn, Richard Fahey, Marjorie Fife, Edwin Tuer and David Barron all had winners at Redcar, whilst Mark Johnston scored on Newmarket's evening card. It was announced today that Catwick trainer Ian McInnes has been banned for three years for running Commando Scott nine times after a de-nerving operation, the BHA's investigation had commenced following a tip off from the horses subsequent trainer Declan Carroll. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 20/06/2013 | A poor day with just two sixth places (scraping the barrel now!) to show for 'our' efforts at Royal Ascot today. Richard Fahey, Ollie Pears, Geoff Harker, Micky Hammond and Jason Ward provided the local winners at Ripon whilst Kevin Ryan had a winner at Warwick. Tomorrow we have two runners in the Albany, three Johnston hopes in the Queen's Vase and quite a few runners in the supporting races. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 19/06/2013 | Don't panic ! Still three days of Royal Ascot remaining, with the likes of Universal and Windhoek yet to run, not to mention numerous relatively unexposed juvenilles and runners in the big handicaps, but as yet there are still no Yorkshire winners. More placings for Richard Fahey however with Garswood fourth in the opening Jersey Stakes G3 and the admirable Ladys First a very good second in the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes G2 (which used to be the Windsor Forest Stakes). David Nicholls' Don't Call Me was also fourth in the Royal Hunt Cup. Up at Hamilton there were winners for David Barron, Paul Midgley, David Nicholls and Ann Duffield. The evening action took place at sunny Ripon with winners for John Quinn, Ann Duffield, Ruth Carr, Richard Whitaker and David O'Meara. The big news of the day however is that Godolphin have announced that they have bought Derby runner-up Libertarian. The son of New Approach will stay with Elaine Burke until after his run in the Irish Derby but then, most likely, he will be shipped to Newmarket. How predictable, and sad. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 18/06/2013 | Day One of Royal Ascot 2013 and whilst we didn't have any winners we certainly had a better start than we did to the Grand National Meeting at Aintree (and look how that finished up!). The Irish were dominant but our first, and best, placing came in the King's Stand Stakes G1 in which David Barron's star sprinter Pearl Secret lived up to his promise by finishing a good third, he's still in Saturday's Golden Jubilee, but after 298 days off the course this was an excellent result by any standards. In the St.James's Palace Stakes G1 Kevin Ryan's Glory Awaits was a faintly disappointing fifth. Later on the card Richard Fahey was unlucky not to win one of the juvenille races with Parbold second in the Coventry Stakes G2 and Supplicant filling the same position in the Windsor Castle Stakes L in a finish where the winning distances were a neck, a short head, a neck and a neck ! Meanwhile at not-so-Royal Thirsk there were winners for Richard Fahey, Elaine Burke, Alan Brown, Mark Johnston, David Nicholls and Philip Kirby. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 15/06/2013 | York Day Two sees a notably relieved Tim Easterby land the main race of the day, the £62,250 Macmillan Charity Sprint Trophy Handicap, with Body And Soul who was so consistent last season, her neck victory coming at the expense of Bryan Smart's Moviesta, a very decent second, with Richard Fahey's Heaven's Guest back in fourth. Earlier Easterby just missed out in the £17,466 ladbrokes.com Handicap with his bottom-weighted pair Silvery Moon and Maven second and third respectively, whilst local horses were dominant in the fifth and sixth races won by Brian Ellison and Richard Fahey. Pretty much the same protaganists were involved up at Musselburgh with Tim Easterby landing a double (including Clockmaker in the £12,938 William Hill New iPad Handicap) to make it three for the day and Brian Ellison's Capellanus taking the £16,172 William Hill - iPhone, iPad, iPad Mini Handicap (who thinks of these names?!). Bryan Smart and Richard Fahey also had winners up in Scotland whilst there were three runners in the penultimate race, all trained in Yorkshire, but we didn't manage a clean sweep as Mark Johnston's Dorfman unseated Adrian Nicholls, but luckily stablemate Royal Skies won. Unfortunately the only Mussselburgh race we didn't win was the big one ; the £43,575 William Hill Scottish Sprint Cup Handicap but Brian Ellison's Racy was only just denied on the line finishing second ahead of Richard Guest's (brother-in-law to Sir Henry Cecil) Barnet Fair who was third. All the way down at Bath Kristin Stubbs had her third winner in this her first season. Evening racing at Leicester saw winners for Richard Fahey and Nigel Tinkler. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 14/06/2013 | Day one of York's traditional pre-Royal Ascot meeting and David O'Meara leads the way for the locals with Grandorio landing the £16,172 Neptune Investment Management Handicap by a slightly dismissive eight lengths from Tim Easterby's Lilac Time. O'Meara scored again later on the card whilst there were also winners for Kevin Ryan, Mick Easterby and Brian Ellison. There was a minutes silence before racing, and the jockeys wore black armbands in memory not only of the late-great Sir Henry Cecil (Newmarket resident, proud Scot, but honorary Yorkshireman and owner of the Cliff Stud) but also of Joe Mulhall who used to train on the Knavesmire and who also died this week. Meanwhile up at Musselburgh Mark Johnston had a double and Declan Carroll also landed a winner. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 08/06/2013 | Not a fantastic day of racing in the run up to Royal Ascot and our best win came at Chester where Richard Fahey's Area Fifty One added another valuable win to his CV when taking the £32,345 Crabbie's Strawberry and Lime Handicap under top weight. Also on the Roodeye Ruth Carr's Al Muheer won the £18,903 Crabbie's Scottish Raspberry Handicap and Richard Fahey made it a treble by taking the first and last whilst David O'Meara and Mark Johnston also had winners. There was no Yorkshire training success at Newmarket but Nocturn, bred by John Ellis' Bolton Grange Stud, landed the £19,407 Betfair Supporting The Animal Health Trust Handicap. At Catterick there was a double for David O'Meara as well as winners for David Nicholls and Ruth Carr whilst Brian Ellison had a double at Beverley where the other local winners were provided by Mick Easterby and that man O'Meara. Meanwhile news filters out the Khalid Abdullah is planning sell off as yet unspecified parts of his racing and breeding empire, with the Aga Khan (who likes to buy his bloodstock 'en masse') and the Qatar Royal Family no doubt amongst the front runners. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 03/06/2013 | A Bank Holiday in Ireland and Richard Fahey's Sandiva lands the Coolmore Stud EBF Fillies' Sprint Stakes L at Naas by a comfortable two lengths, a good tonic for Tom O'Ryan ! David O'Meara had a winner at Leicester whilst Ann Duffield had a double at Carlisle's evening meeting where Karen Tutty and Tim Easterby also had winners. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 01/06/2013 | Today we got incredibly close to a long awaited Epsom Derby winner when Elaine Burke's Libertarian surged home in the dying strides to be a fast finishing second to Ruler Of The World, two seconds in the two colt's classics ; hard to credit! The son of New Approach was only sixth with a furlong to go and for a while it didn't look like he was going to improve his position until William Buick finally coaxed the the after-burners to life resulting in Libertarian flying home in the dying few strides, an extra 100 yards and he would almost certainly have won. Whether it was a slight lack of tactical speed or his handling of the unique Epsom bends and undulations which just found out Libertarian will probably be discovered next time out ; possibly at the Curragh or Ascot (or both), either way he looks a very sound prospect for the St. Leger. It's worth noting of course that Libertarian is trained by the Burke's at Spigot Lodge from where Chris Thornton sent out Guy Reed's Shotgun to be fourth in Shergar's 1981 Derby, albeit the son of Warpath finished somewhat further behind ! In the previous race David O'Meara's Smoothtalkinrascal was only denied by a neck to finish second in the Investec Specialist Bank 'Dash' Heritage Handicap, picking up £18,640 for his efforts (compared to Libertarian's £296,592), whilst Richard Fahey's Arctic Feeling won the closing £15,562 Voyage By Investec Handicap and Mark Johnston's Greeleys Love was second in the opener. Julie Camacho had a nice result at Doncaster with Diescentric winning the £12,938 Ladbrokes Handicap, whilst Tim Walford also had a winner on Town Moor. Up at Musselburgh Kevin Ryan's Sleeper King won the £12,450 Edinburgh Castle Stakes and David O'Meara landed a double, whilst Sue Smith also doubled up at Hexham. Evening racing saw a double for Mick Easterby at Newcastle where Richard Fahey, Tim Easterby, Malcolm Jefferson and George Moore also had winners whilst Mick Easterby also scored in the last at Lingfield ..... a long drive home ! We still have hopes of a Yorkshire Derby winner this weekend with Ann Duffield's Willie The Whipper running in the Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly tomorrow. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 31/05/2013 | And so to Oaks day. We had no runners in the main event (although it made me very happy to see Talent, a member of the Felucca family developed by the late Dick Hollingsworth at Arches Hall, win for Hollingsworth's nephew) and didn't win any of the 'black type' races but it was still a pretty good day starting in the opening Princess Elizabeth Stakes G3 in which Richard Fahey's Ladys First ran her usual good race to be third. Next was the £31,125 Investec Wealth & Investment Handicap in which Fahey's Area Fifty One was second and David Barron's Tres Coronas was third. We finally had a winner in the last with Richard Fahey's Heaven's Guest landing the £15,562 Investec Asset Management Handicap. More mundane events at Catterick which yielded a double for Tim Easterby as well as winners for David Barron, Alan Brown, James Turner and Philip Kirby, with the later also striking over hurdles at Market Rasen where soon to depart these shores Ferdy Murphy also had a winner. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 30/05/2013 | More quality evening racing points to it almost being summer, even if the weather doesn't, and Richard Fahey's Eastern Impact put up a decent performance to be third in the National Stakes L at Sandown this evening whilst closer to home there were winners on Wetherby's evening card for Sue Smith (a double) and Ashley Dodgson. Earlier Kevin Ryan had a winner at Hamilton and Mark Johnston did likewise at Lingfield. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 29/05/2013 | Tim Easterby's Ventura Mist landed the £15,562 Hilary Needler Trophy at Beverley this evening, sadly this is no longer a listed race but it was a good result for the Great Habton trainer anyway. Other winners on the card were supplied by Richard Fahey, Kevin Ryan and Mick Easterby whilst John Quinn and David Barron had earlier had winners at Cartmel and Nottingham respectively. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 27/05/2013 | Typical Bank Holiday cards and lots of Yorkshire winners but the only one worthy of particular note was that of Clon Brulee, trained by the in-form David Barron, who landed the £16,172 Zetland Gold Cup at Redcar where there were also winners for Mark Johnston, Geoff Oldroyd, Micky Hammond and Edwin Tuer. Elaine Burke, Tim Easterby, Brian Ellison, Richard Fahey and Bryan Smart had to go to Carlisle for their winners, although Kevin Ryan and John Quinn landed theirs down at Leicester. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 25/05/2013 | The result of the day came at the Curragh where David Barron's Hitchens bounced back to form to land the Greenlands Stakes G3, staying on to land the spoils by a neck. Meanwhile over the Irish Sea at Haydock his stablemate Newstead Abbey was beaten by a head into second place by Mark Johnston's Shebebi in the £40,462 betfred.com Silver Bowl Handicap, whilst David Nicholls provided the only other Yorkshire winner in Lancashire. Mark Johnston also had a winner and a couple of decent placings at Goodwood where Brian Ellison also found his way to the winners enclosure. Kevin Ryan (a double) and David Barron provided the only local winners at York although Richard Fahey's Address Unknown was third in the Stowe Family Law LLP Grand Cup L and Kevin Ryan's almost aptly named York Glory was second in the £31,125 32red.com Sprint Handicap. Chester provided further winners for both Brian Ellison and David Nicholls. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 17/05/2013 | Yet another good day at York with Richard Fahey's 25-1 shot Glen's Diamond staying on well to land the Yorkshire Cup G2 by a nose. Earlier Brian Ellison's maiden Classy Lassy had finished third in the Marygate Stakes L whilst Bryan Smart and David Barron each landed one of the supporting races later on the card. Evening racing at Hamilton saw Brian Ellison's Beaumont's Party run a good second in the Braveheart Handicap L whilst there were doubles for Alan Swinbank and Richard Fahey as well as a winner for David Nicholls. To recap then Yorkshire trained horses have so far this year won the Grand National, Dante, Yorkshire Cup, Jockey Club and John Porter Stakes, the Lincoln, the City & Suburban and the Chester Cup not to mention the Newmarket Stakes and the £200,000 Tattersalls Millions 3yo Trophy and places in both the 2,000 Guineas and Champion Hurdle. Wow. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 16/05/2013 | A much better day at the Dante Meeting today, albeit perhaps not in the way that most of us were anticipating. Proceedings certainly started well with Mick Easterby's Ancient Cross landing the £16,172 Betfred Mobile Sports Handicap by a neck. Next up was the Middleton Stakes G2 and this saw Richard Fahey's Ladys First run a thoroughly creditable third, only a neck out of second place. So much for the starters, the main course was the Dante Stakes G2 itself and this was landed by Elaine Burke's 33-1 shot Libertarian who again ran green, but seems to be getting better with every run. Mark Johnston's Windhoek only managed fifth. There seems to be a general lack of enthusiasm for the winner in the Derby market (although somewhat more in the St Leger market), but even if he doesn't make a show at Epsom ...... although hopefully he will ...... who cares? This historic £85,065 contest is a 'result' in it's own right. Next was the Hambleton Stakes L and this saw local runners fill four of the first five places home, although not the winning slot, with Tom Tate's Prince Of Johanne and David O'Meara's Anderiego filling the second and third berths. The big three year old sprint, the £19,407 British Stallion Studs EBF Conditions Stakes went to David O'Meara's Smoothtalkinrascal by a nose and a head, whilst Richard Fahey won the juvenille maiden. No joy elsewhere. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 15/05/2013 | Some reasonable minor placings on the opening day of York's Dante Meeting but the only really notable result came from Richard Fahey's Romantic Settings who graduated from handicap company to finish second in the Musidora Stakes G3. Sue Smith had a double at Uttoxeter whilst Mark Johnston had a winner on Bath's evening card. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 13/05/2013 | David Nicholls' Don't Call Me was second in the Royal Windsor Stakes L at ...... well, Windsor, this evening. Earlier daytime racing witnessed a double for Richard Fahey at Doncaster where Julie Camacho was also amongst the winners. Up at Musselburgh it was Mark Johnston with the double and Alan Brown providing the supporting victory and David Griffiths had a winner at Wolverhampton. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12/05/2013 | Only one result of note today with David O'Meara's Move In Time (bred at Yapham Mill Stud) second, beaten only a head, in the Prix de Saint-Georges G3 at Longchamp. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 11/05/2013 | A fairly tame day on the track by the standards of recent Saturday's but the big news away from the track is that Ferdy Murphy is to sell Wynbury and relocate to France, continuing training on a smaller scale and building up his bloodstock interests, buying and selling young horses and breeding. Arguably Yorkshire's most successful National Hunt trainer of recent times he has had ten Cheltenham Festival winners (plus a second in the Gold Cup with Truckers Tavern) as well as victories in the Hennessy and Paddy Power Gold Cup, three Scottish Nationals, two Whitbread's, a Kerry National, Midlands National and the Eider Chase. Appropriately he had a winner with Or D'Oudairies (a portent if ever I saw one!) at Hexham today, with Ashley Dodgson, Sue Smith and James Turner supplying the other Yorkshire winners at the track. At Ascot Mark Johnston won the opening maiden whilst David Barron's Bertiewhittle was second in the £52,912 Victoria Cup. No joy in any of today's listed races although Mark Johnston and Kevin Ryan both had fourths in such events whilst Johnston also had a winner at Nottingham and Elaine Burke at Haydock. Evening racing at Thirsk netted winners for David O'Meara (a double), Robin Bastiman, David Nicholls and Richard Fahey whilst the later also had a winner at Warwick. Roll on the Dante meeting ! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 09/05/2013 | Some reasonable placings at Chester today starting with Richard Fahey's Gabrial who was third in the second race, the Huxley Stakes G3, beaten out of second by only a neck. The next was the Chester Vase G3 in which Mark Johnston's Mister Impatience improved on his last run to finish second, albeit six lengths behind the winner Ruler Of The World. David Barron's Tres Coronas won the last and there were decent placings for Brian Ellison, Mark Johnston and Richard Fahey in some of the supporting races. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 08/05/2013 | A good start to the Chester meeting with a Richard Fahey 1-2 in the £74,700 Chester Cup, Fahey debutante Address Unknown (formerly with Ian Williams and Dermot Weld) coming home half a length in front of old servant Ingleby Spirit. In the next Tim Easterby's Captain Dunne was second in the £15,752 Stellar Group Handicap, but after that 'our' results on the Roodeye dried up. John Weymes had a winner at Southwell and there was a Ferdy Murphy double at Kelso where Malcolm Jefferson and George Moore also had winners, with the later doubling up at Newcastle's evening meeting where the last two were taken by Ben Haslam and David O'Meara, the evening fixture at Kempton meanwhile resulted in winners for Elaine Burke and Mark Johnston. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 05/05/2013 | Another good day at HQ for Kevin Ryan with Hamza taking the £28,012 Timeform 'European Champion Two-Year-Old' Harbour Watch Handicap (an early contender for worst race name of the year). Earlier David O'Meara's Penitent ran OK to finish just out of the money in the Champions Mile G1 at Sha Tin. The Tyke stables dominated up at Hamilton with wins for Kevin Ryan, David Nicholls, Richard Fahey, John Quinn, Mark Johnston and Alan Swinbank. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 04/05/2013 | A fantastic, if not quite perfect, day for the Yorkshire raiders at Newmarket today. Proceedings got off to a reasonable start with Bryan Smart's Tangerine Trees a decent third in the Palace House Stakes G3. Next up was the Jockey Club Stakes G2 in which Mark Johnston's Universal, under a brilliant ride from Joe Fanning, yet again put one over on his better fancied rivals to tenaciously hold on for nice victory, having been headed before the two furlong pole. Onwards and upwards, perhaps the Coronation Cup next for this son of Dubawi, or maybe Royal Ascot. The next race was the big one, the 2,000 Guineas G1, and there was no surprise about the winner, Dawn Approach, but battling on gamely in second place, having blazed out of the stalls, was Kevin Ryan's unheralded Glory Forever, a 150-1 shot who picked up £86,000 for his efforts, the Curragh next no doubt. Finally at HQ the Johnston/Fanning partnership struck again with Windhoek maintaining his unbeaten record to annexe the Newmarket Stakes L comfortably, despite ducking left in the closing stages, by over three lengths. This son of Cape Cross doesn't hold a Derby entry, but there's always the supplementary stage ...... Local action at Thirsk yielded winners for Tim Easterby (a double), Kevin Ryan, David Barron (Norse Blues in the Thirsk Hunt Cup) and David O'Meara whilst Sue Smith had a winner at Uttoxeter. Evening racing sees winners at Doncaster for Kevin Ryan and Mick Easterby and at Hexham for Philip Kirby, Sue Smith and Ferdy Murphy. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 01/05/2013 | Mark Johnston's Sir Graham Wade ran reasonably today to be third in the Sagaro Stakes G3 at Ascot. Meanwhile at Ponty there were winners for Richard Fahey, Alan Swinbank, Ollie Pears and Mick Easterby. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 27/04/2013 | The last day of the jumps season (the first day, inexplicably, is tomorrow!) sees Philip Kirby land a decent prize when his Stopped Out takes the £15,640 bet365 Handicap Hurdle at Sandown. On home soil there are winners at Ripon for Bryan Smart and David O'Meara whilst our sole evening winner comes at Doncaster courtesy of David Nicholls. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 24/04/2013 | A good result at Epsom today when Richard Fahey's Area Fifty One landed the £31,125 City & Suburban Handicap, with Kevin Ryan's Clayton back in second. Fahey's Gabrial's Kaka was earlier third in the Investec Derby Trial whilst he also had a winner at Catterick where Lawrence Mullaney, Mark Johnston and Ann Duffield also scored. Yorkshire horses won all the chases at today's Sedgefield meeting with a double for Sue Smith and a winner for Ferdy Murphy. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 20/04/2013 | All Mark Johnston's geese may not be swans but they are certainly placed that way until events prove to the contrary as was the case today when the unheralded Universal made the jump from handicap to pattern company when landing the John Porter Stakes G3 at Newbury, having been headed in the run in he fought back bravely in a tight finish to win by a head and head and odds of 11-1. No further joy at Newbury although Haaf A Sixpence, winner of the £28,012 Spring Cup is by Beechwood Grange stallion Haafhd. No luck in the big jump races at Ayr either, although Brian Ellison landed the opener whilst Mick Easterby had a winner over fences at Bangor. Closer to home at Thirsk there were winners for Paul Midgley, Ruth Carr, Mick Easterby (Itlaaq in the £12,938 James Herriot Hall Handicap) and Mel Brittain. Evening racing saw Mark Johnston cap a good week with a winner at Nottingham. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 19/04/2013 | Brian Ellison's Bocciani lands the £15,640 Hillhouse Quarry Handicap Chase up at Ayr, with Sue Smith's Mr Moonshine back in second. Bryan Smart's tough Excelette makes her seasonal debut at Bath but can only manage fourth in the EBF Whitsbury Manor Stud Lansdown Fillies' Stakes L, albeit only beaten a neck out of third, but there was a win on the card for Smart whilst Ruth Carr took the last and Brian Ellison also had a winner at Southwell. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 18/04/2013 | Second day of the Craven meeting today, and a much better day (at least financially, if not prestige wise) for Mark Johnston with his Windhoek taking home the £111,008 first prize in the £200,000 Tattersalls Millions 3-y-o Trophy. David O'Meara's Move In Time (bred at Yapham Mill Stud) was a decent enough third in the Abernant Stakes G3. Locally at Ripon there was a treble for Richard Fahey and winners also for David Nicholls, Richard Guest and Tim Easterby. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 17/04/2013 | For many Newmarket's Craven meeting, which started today, represents the true start to the flat season, and our fortunes today were somewhat mixed. The good news was that Richard Fahey's Garswood comfortably landed the European Free Handicap, albeit with Mark Johnston's lesser fancied Heavy Metal finishing only one place off last, Garswood holds a 2,000 Guineas entry. The bad news was that Mark Johnston's Baileys Jubilee finished well down the field in the Nell Gwyn Stakes G3, although she didn't receive a particularly clear passage and may be better next time out ..... or may just not stay seven furlongs, Elaine Burke's Exactement was fourth. In the Feilden Stakes L Kevin Ryan's Glory Awaits was a promising third, just ahead of Johnston's Alta Lilea. Johnston faired better at Beverley with three winners, whilst the other local winners came from Brian Ellison, David Nicholls and Mick Easterby. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 13/04/2013 | The locals narrowly failed to go through the card at Doncaster today, only failing to take the last race. Mark Johnston kicked off proceedings by landing the opening juvenille maiden before an excellent 1-2-3 in the Doncaster Mile L with Richard Fahey's ever quirky Gabrial coming home in front of David Nicholls' Don't Call Me and David O'Meara's Stand My Ground. Fahey also took the following race whilst in the £31,505 bet365 Handicap it was David O'Meara's turn for glory with Move In Time (bred at Yapham Mill Stud) landing the spoils with David Barron's Hitchens back in third. Brian Ellison and David Barron then took the next two at Town Moor. Not so good at Kempton but Mark Johnston's Es Que Love managed to take the £12,450 Betfred Mobile Lotto Handicap. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 06/04/2013 | It was a terrible Aintree Grand National meeting for
the Yorkshire trainers up to today, with not a hint of
any sort of success. Finally things started to perk up a
little in the race before the big one, the John Smith's
Handicap Chase L, in which Malcolm
Jefferson's bottom weight Mac Aeda was a decent
second. In the Grand National Gd3 itself
we only had two runners, both trained by Sue
Smith , and incredibly one of the duo Auroras
Encore, second in last years Scottish National, ran the
race of his life to land the £547,267 prize by a facile
nine lengths at odds of 66-1. This fantastic victory was
'our' first win in the great race since Neville
Crump's Merryman tooks the spoils in 1960, by
incredible coincidence I had only taken delivery of
Crump's biography yesterday. Furthermore this victory
catapult's Auroras Encore into the all-time Yorkshire
Trained Top Ten winningmost list, as shown below, the
only National Hunt horse on the list, and throwing Fruits
of Love off the bottom. This wasn't the end of the day
though and in the following race John Quinn's Cockey
Sparrow landed the £25,024 John Smith's Handicap Hurdle
(Conditional & Amateur Riders) to cap what turned out
to be our best Aintree for many many years. All we need
now is a recent Derby and Oaks (I'm not worrying about
foreign races too much at the moment!). Anyway there was
racing elsewhere and at Lingfield Mark Johnston's
Universal took the £12,291 Vines BMW Handicap
from Elaine Burke's Tepmokea and Richard
Fahey's Unsinkable was a decent third in the
International Trial Stakes L. Up at
Newcastle there were winners for Alan Swinbank,
Brian Ellison, Richard Fahey and Tony
Coyle, whilst evening racing at Wolverhampton
yielded winners for John Weymes and Ian
McInnes.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 01/04/2013 | Standard Bank Holiday Fayre ; what happened to the Kempton meeting with the Easter and Masaka Stakes? I suspect I might be showing my age, but I wish they'd stop messing around with the fixture list. Anyway the locals went through the card at Redcar with wins for Ron Barr, John Quinn, David Nicholls (a dead heat), David Barron, Richard Fahey, Richard Guest and Paul Midgley. Fahey had a double at Yarmouth, of all places, whilst Philip Kirkby had a treble at Newcastle (where there were also winners for Chris Fairhurst and Malcolm Jefferson) as well as a winner at Huntingdon. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 31/03/2013 | Off to Musselburgh where Alan Swinbank's Lady Kashaan wins the £16,172 Musselburgh Gold Cup, the trainer having also won the opener, and Mark Johnston and David Nicholls wrap up the last two races. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 30/03/2013 | A fairly good start to a belated Lincoln Day at Doncaster with Elaine Burke's Boots And Spurs only going down by a head to be second in the Spring Mile Handicap and Kevin Ryan's Captain Ramius running well to be second in the Cammidge Trophy L. Things got even better in the £62,250 Lincoln Handicap itself though with Malton trained horses filling the first four places in a tight finish with John Quinn's Levitate coming home victorious in front on Brian Ellison's Global Village and Richard Fahey's duo of Brae Hill and Justonefortheroad. Fahey then went on to land a double later on the card. Up at Musselburgh David Barron landed the spoils with Newstead Abbey running out the winner of the £31,125 totepool.com Royal Mile Handicap, whilst Bryan Smart's Tangerine Trees landed the £12,938 Totepool Borderlescott Sprint Trophy and there were also winners for Paul Midgley, Philip Kirby, Richard Fahey and David O'Meara. At Kempton Mark Johnston's Universal was second in the historic Rosebery Handicap. Over jumps Brian Ellison's Fleet Dawn landed the £32,490 Betvictor Jockey Club Grassroots Hurdle Series Final at Haydock with stablemate Mubrook back in third and Sue Smith's Cloudy Too was third in the £32,490 Betvictor.com Levy Board Handicap Chase. At Carlisle there was a double for Tim Easterby and a winner for Malcolm Jefferson. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 23/03/2013 | Talk about a damp squib, the flat season splutters out almost as soon as it starts and the only meeting to survive the snow today is at Southwell where there are winners for Alan Swinbank, Bryan Smart and Richard Fahey. The Lincoln card will be run next Saturday ...... weather permitting ! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 22/03/2013 | Hurrah, it may not look like it but it's Spring and the opening day of the flat season at Doncaster sees Mark Johnston first off the mark amongst the Yorkshire trainers when winning the second race. Later there are winners for Richard Fahey (a double), Brian Ellison and Mick Easterby, whilst Fahey and Johnston both have winners at Wolverhampton's evening meeting and Chris Fairhurst has a winner at Sedgefield. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 16/03/2013 | At least some joy on the flat with Geoff Oldroyd's Ladies Are Forever (homebred at Yapham Mill Stud) making it two listed wins in a row when taking the Hever Sprint Stakes L at Lingfield this afternoon. David O'Meara won the opening two races on Wolverhampton's evening card. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 15/03/2013 | Pah, not a good Cheltenham for the Yorkshire raiders. Not a good Lingfield for Mark Johnston either with three seconds and a third ! Kevin Ryan won the last at Fakenham whilst John Wainwright had a winner at Wolverhampton. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 14/03/2013 | No joy again at Cheltenham ; a lot is riding on a very unlikely victory for Cape Tribulation tomorrow ! But it's not all doom and gloom ; Elaine Burke's Exactement was a good third in the Prix Ronde de Nuit L at Chantilly this afternoon and she followed up by landing the opener at Wolverhampton's evening meeting, where David Nicholls also had a winner. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 13/03/2013 | No glimmer of Cheltenham joy today, although Sprinter Sacre was simply stunning in the Champion Chase Gd1. Philip Kirby and Richard Fahey had winners at Huntingdon whilst Southwell saw victories for David Nicholls, David O'Meara, Mark Johnston and Declan Carroll. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12/03/2013 | Let battle commence. Cheltenham Day One doesn't see any Yorkshire winners, however John Quinn's Countrywide Flame stayed on well to finish a very creditable third in the Champion Hurdle Gd1 ; his sixth win or place in a Grade One event. At a more mundane level Brian Ellison had a winner at Southwell whilst Richard Guest hit the target at Wolverhampton's evening meeting. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 02/03/2013 | A good day at Kelso for Sue Smith with two winners including Mwaleshi who held on gamely to land the totepool.com Premier Kelso Novices' Hurdle Gd2. No joy in the big races at Doncaster although John Quinn and Philip Kirby did win the last two on the card. At Meydan David Nicholls' Don't Call Me was fourth in the Zabeel Mile G2. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 23/02/2013 | With Newcastle off there was no joy over jumps today but at Lingfield Geoff Oldroyd's Ladies Are Forever (homebred at Yapham Mill Stud) ran out well to land the Cleves Stakes L whilst Elaine Burke's Tepmokea was third in the Winter Derby Trial L. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 16/02/2013 | A good raiding party into Lancashire today for the Haydock meeting sees winners for Micky Hammond and Sue Smith whilst Tim Easterby's Trustan Times is a good second in the Rendlesham Hurdle Gd2. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 04/02/2013 | John Quinn's Countrywide Flame put up a good performance to be second in the 32red Hurdle L at Doncaster today, a race in which Cheltenham favourite Darlan was sadly fatally injured. There were winners for Tim Etherington and Brian Ellison on the all-weather at Wolverhampton. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 02/02/2013 | A good show by the locals at Wetherby today with a double for Sue Smith (including Cloudy Too in the £11,574 Play Totescoop6 At Totepool.com Handicap Chase) and a bumper winner for Richard Fahey whilst Tim Walford's Fentara is a good third in the Towton Novices' Chase Gd2. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 26/01/2013 | You wait ages for one bus ...... Malcolm Jefferson's Cape Tribulation continued his rise up the chasing ranks today when smartly landing the Argento Chase Gd3 at Cheltenham. On the flat Mark Johnston trained the winner of the opener at Lingfield and Richard Guest the last at Wolverhampton. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 24/01/2013 | Almost February and the first bit of worthwhile news of the year when David Nicholl's Don't Call Me is second in the Meydan Beach Trophy Handicap at Meydan. |
2024 ~
2023 ~ 2022 ~ 2021 ~ 2020 ~ 2019 ~ 2018 ~ 2017 ~ 2016 ~ 2015 ~ 2014 ~ 2013 ~ 2012
2011
~ 2010 ~ 2009 ~ 2008 ~ 2007 ~ 2006 ~ 2005 ~ 2004 ~ 2003 ~ 2002 ~ 2001 ~ 2000 ~ 1999
All information provided on this
site is given on a 'best endeavours' basis. No guarantee as to
the accuracy of the data is implied nor should it be assumed. For
clarification please contact the relevant parties.
If you have any comments, corrections, suggestions, pictures or
(most importantly) information please email me.
Copyright 2013 Stephen George-Powell
If you can't see a toolbar at
the top of this page either you have an in-compatible browser of
you have accessed
this site via an old link, please use www.yorkshire-racing.co.uk instead.