Sweeping around Oak Tree Corner and into the undulations and road crossings of the back straight…

Two and a half miles. Yesterday’s opening contest. A fine spectacle as stalls used for the first time in this race. Slap bang in front of the enclosures…

Gooloogong and young Isobel Chalmers slipping into a fine rhythm and sitting upsides that cool handicapper Alphonse Le Grande. Through the binoculars, our boy still hard on the steel and enjoying his afternoon’s hunting in the sun. A mile to go and the big guns massing. We’ve gone well, and this will tee him up nicely for that hurdle race at Cartmel at the end of the month…

But then a few behind start pushing and shoving. And our unconsidered 100/1 shot keeps galloping. And a few of the fancied ones cry enough. And our boy keeps galloping. And galloping…

“Briefly went second over one furlong out….” Racing Post comment…

Very rarely does 3rd place in a horse race mean much. 3rd place will never define. But 3rd place at Glorious at 100/1 against this lot was pretty cool. Love Gooloogong. What a star he is for us and for Mark and Lavinia Sherwood…

Dust will settle, and chats will be had. But Cartmel joined in the conversation with Cesarewitchs now…

Perigord Noir gelded recently, but still “colty” and a bit of a goon to saddle. But he is learning, and he is work in progress, and I think he is pretty decent. Which he will show down the line…

Goodwood golden brown. Save for the green swathe of racing turf. Harvest being harvested in the distance. Dust trails as tractors meander. England, Their England. Seen from a high box with great friends. These are the days…

Curtain call today…

NESTHORN (Benoit up) in the first. Stepped up to a mile and six furlongs as we harbour Ebor dreams down the line. Lovely horse. Handles all ground, but ideally won’t want it too quick…

Then the return of the superstar in The Stewards Cup. GET IT (Pat Cosgrave up). A horse who owes us literally nothing. First run back from injury. Does the fire still rage ? We shall see. High draw, point and go….

A horse who has given us the greatest days. A horse who will have a fabulous home with us for life when racing days are done. A horse who has changed my life…

Did I ever tell you about the time he won The Stewards Cup ? Did I ever tell you about the time he won The Wokingham…..??

ALCARAZ and THINTHREAD our curtain call in the lucky last. Hong Kong legend Vincent Ho and Pat C doing the steering. Massive prices. And 100/1 shots don’t get in the frame at Glorious do they…..??

Pep talks. “One last push, come on, we can get this over the line…”

Day Four dawns fresh and a little grey. Rare sighting of high clouds, and it actually rained for about 20 seconds yesterday evening. But nil sign of the biblical storm that swept across high Sussex Downs last year. Ground changing in minutes, and canny plans tossed to several winds…

No runners high on that hill for us yesterday. Gentler. Calmer. An odds on shot who owes us nothing turned over at Epsom. Leading to the inevitable and hysterical and mind boggling barrage of social media abuse. And telephone calls from “No Caller ID”. And text messages with words in the wrong place and loaded with vitriol. Those brave brave keyboard warriors…

Tallulah enjoys answering the “No Caller ID” ones and giving them what for….?!

IMPERIAL CULT has won 3 out of 5 since turning up at Downs House. Owes nobody nothing. We will freshen him up, look after him, and go again when he tells us…

Two runners today at Glorious. Kenergy will wait for easier ground. “This is England, it will rain…”

Will it…??

GOOLOOGONG is a real favourite. Four time winner under both codes. But having arrived with us rather dead in the eye and pretty “puffed out” having chased and been chased by Ballydoyle battalions, it took a while for him to decide that this game might be fun again…

Patience. Patience. And then a little more patience. Thankfully, in Mark and Lavinia Sherwood, he has fabulous owners who know how this game is played. GOOLOOGONG a million to one in the betting, and young Isobelle Chalmers having her first ride for us. He will do his best – and if his best is not good enough to be involved today, there is a cool hurdle race at Cartmel at the end of August….

PERIGORD NOIR in the 6 furlong Nursery. John Egan up after Barney Baker did some excellent jockey agent hustling through yesterday morning. Lightweight jockeys do not grow on trees…

Tough. Hardy. Still learning. Prone to allow the mind to wander. Cheekpieces today. A million to one in betting. The Gooloogong / Perigord Noir double pays seventeen billion to one, and see you for the after party in Mustique if these two land…

Two lovely horses. Who have good days ahead…

Today’s poor house “stabs” – DEFIANTLY (with a just in case £ on Gooloogong), TALK OF NEW YORK, TRIBAL CHIEF and BUNYOLA BAY in the Golden Mile, JM JUNGLE and RUMSTAR, DIVIDEND each way, THE DANCING PIRATE (with a just in case £ on Perigord Noir), WATERFORD CASTLE each way, ROOM FOURTEEN….

That seems like an awful lot of horses. Hey ho….

“May remove their coats….”

Thankfully, nothing more. Coats. Not Jackets. Potatoes have jackets…

Panama hats aplenty. Fans fanning. Heavy air. Hotter than Panama City…

A race for the ages. A Sussex Stakes that will live long in the memory. For a stride or ten, Billy looked caught in one of those ghastly Goodwood pockets. Hard to see where the seam of daylight and clear sailing was going to drop. Opera Ballo and William Buick gone for home and seemingly gone for all money…

Gstaad grinding away. But then the eye was drawn to a streak of yellow burrowing into open space and flying fast and wide and fabulously well. An arm raised in jubilation but also relief. Some horse…

BOW ECHO is very very good. He has claimed brilliant victory from the jaws both at Ascot and now Goodwood. Billy The Kid, the new wunderkid, and a mount that is defining his early career. And who is helping him out when the chips are firmly down and the sporting Gods are making it very hard to find clear passage…

Genuinely, one of the best horse races of recent times. Remarkable. Superb. Brilliant. A little exhausting…

Our Day Two runner TEX causing a bit of a stir as a “nationwide gamble” saw his odds tumble. By the off, he was vying for favouritism. 6 furlongs was always going to be a big ask, and so it proved. Nearly last not much more than a furlong out, he took off through the closing stages. Passing horse upon horse and gaining on the leaders. Too late. Beaten just over 3 lengths…

But a horse going places. Which did not necessarily look the case a short week ago. A winner at Ascot on Friday and now a massive Glorious eyecatcher. Exciting horse…

In calmer waters at Leicester, CALAFRIO making all under Benoit de la Sayette to keep our name up in lights and on hot lists. Huge congratulations and thanks to patient owners Ged, Yvonne and Josh Hill. Their filly won well and easily…

Nothing “Glorious” today. IMPERIAL CULT (Neil Callan) to Epsom. Three wins from his last four…

Today’s “stabs”. Mainly in the dark…

CIARRAI ABU, ADAAY OF SCARLETT ew, ENCELADUS, DIAMOND NECKLACE, OLD IS GOLD, LEAVE THE BAG IN (strange name..??), SO LOVELY, ELECTRIC DREAMS…

A gatecrasher. Party pooper. Uninvited guest. Wrecking ball…

Yesterday’s Gold Cup “Duel On The Downs” was torn asunder by an uninvited guest. A dull interloper in the form of poor Amiloc from whose back Hector Crouch had slipped as the stalls opened…

The horse did what centuries of breeding have imbued into his being – he galloped amidst and then ahead of his rivals, ears pricked and unencumbered. Sussex’s green racecourse acres rolled out in front of him. The dull bit came when he steered himself across and towards the protagonists who looked set to knuckle down for that final push to the line…

But just as battle was joined, the wrecking ball of the party gatecrasher played his unscripted part. Game Over. For Trawlerman. As Scandinavia bounded clear. “First the winner, second daylight…”

To my mind, the Scandinavian grind was just beginning to go into overdrive, and he looked the best horse to me. But “what if’s” and “maybes” litter this game, and another added to the litany…

Not quite Fury versus Anthony Joshua – but here’s hoping that there is a Round Three on a level playing field in the months ahead…

Dr Rascal fabulous for Team Cole, and Lake Forest grinding it out in the Lennox ahead of a possible bit-part role in today’s Sussex Stakes…

Our runners. DESERT COP in the 5 furlong sprint. A bump and bore and another rolling into our path. Benoit easy on him when chances gone. We will keep tipping away whilst ground allows, and then a short break ahead of Bahrain winter…

PERDY IN PARIS young and talented and will have learnt plenty. Tough and hardy and decent, her best days lie ahead, and may they be plentiful…

ATLANTIS BLUE flattered for a moment at the “cutaway”. But slow early fractions were not for her, and early keenness told close home. “Ready to win next time”. Luke Morris. Here’s hoping…

One runner today. TEX in a 785 runner 6 furlong handicap. You take your chances…

Today’s “stabs” in the dark, BAY ROYALE each way, DIVINE WHISPER each way, AWAKEN and RADIANT BEAUTY at big prices each way, ADONIUS for Clancy (come on Man….!!!), GSTAAD at the prices but one to watch and savour, Arab race (???!!!), TEX each way paying 47 places, impossible last race – PELLITORY each way…

A beautiful hill. Sussex’s Garden Party…

Gentler than Ascot. Breeze off the Solent. Sussex by the sea…

Day One. Duels on The Downs aplenty through the week…

Starting off with Scandinavia and Trawlerman. The race of the Royal meeting. An Ascot Gold Cup for the ages. The Ballydoyle heavyweight prevailing by the barest of margins. The Godolphin horse is a pound better off this afternoon. A pound make a difference over this trip….??

Handicap puzzles. Luck in running. Head for the cut away or steer wide and true ? Bumping and boring and boxed in for some. Clear sailing and wind in the sails for others. Conundrums and conjecture as form books are pored over by plenty. Others alighting on a name or some cool silks and making mugs of the “professionals….”

A 5 day summer dance. Grey skies right now – but not for long, and soaring temperatures and deep blue skies will form a heat hazy backdrop…

Picnics. White table cloths. Sunflowers plucked at dawn. Enough bottles to sink a battalion or an Armada. Ticket touting. “Any spare badges ?” a constant refrain through our week. Juggling…

Our runners today at the bottom of betting lists and most likely rightly so…

But the team in raging form, and we will roll several dice through the week ahead…

DESERT COP (Benoit de La S) in the 5 furlong handicap. A million to one with the bookies. Well, not quite, but big and ignored and seemingly with nil chance. They are probably right. Probably…

ATLANTIS BLUE (Luke Morris) and PERDY IN PARIS (Kieran O’Neill) in the Fillies Handicap. Atlantis Blue running a huge second in this race a year ago. An “unlucky loser” according to those clever Racing Post folk. This race has pretty much been the plan ever since. A light weight. Ideally, a bit more juice in the ground, but nothing that we can do about those Weather Gods…

Perdy In Paris is cool and young and progressive. Straight into deep waters, but she is talented and will not be disgraced…

On we go. A mighty fine week. A trip that will take some getting…

Duels on The Downs to be witnessed. This was one of the best. You can see the moment when Canford Cliffs cried enough and turned away from the battle. Frankel, the Wonder Horse…

Of rain. In southern parts and atop high Downs…

Rain yesterday in Sussex. Fleeting. Short and sharp and wet. But several furlongs away from being ground changing…

The Sunday before Goodwood. Course walk. The place looking fabulous as hammers banged and drills drilled to finish the final touches. A green carpet set amidst baked Serengeti brown. England, their England….

The most beautiful racecourse. A biased view of course. But hard to beat that view to the north over ancient downland. A view that will not have changed much in centuries. An old barn in the far distance, but barely a dwelling in sight. A pedigree herd of cattle in the shadow of trees at the bottom of the valley. Dust trailing as a tractor trundles….

To the south, The Isle Of Wight picked out crystal clear away over the Solent. Countless boats of all shapes pottering hither and thither…

England, their England…

Ed Arkell and his team have done a fabulous job. Taps have been turned full on to produce fast but fair summer ground. Warming up again through the week, and Ed’s weather watch of weather Apps will tell of mid thirty degrees by midweek…

Let These Games Commence…

My favourite meeting of the year. A full house of Barney and Tallulah’s mates. Wine stores raided – and probably will be again through the week. Great friends. Placepot pontificating. Some fabulous racing. Inevitable hard luck tales. But for some the luck will fall fine and happy and good. High boxes with generous hosts…

England, their England…

What fun…

Spins you around, rips at the heartstrings, tears at the emotions, punches you hard in the solar plexus…

Roll with the punches. They say…

Whoever “they” are ?! A simplistic view of life on occasions…

“Months of misery for a moment of bliss” – Alastair Down’s text after a good day….

The inevitable injuries. The disappointing runs. The headscratchers. People behaving badly. The headwinds…

And then days come along…

MARSH BENHAM on Thursday evening was fun. TEX at Ascot yesterday. And then IMPERIAL CULT at Sandown. Fine rides from Benoit de la Sayette, Pat C and Jack Callan..

Hat trick…

A good day in our office…

DESERT COP (Benoit) to Ascot later…

First Lot pulling out. Work morning. Must dash…

Rogues…

Good fun to be around. Sometimes in small doses. Exhausting if you have to deal with their whims and vagaries on a daily basis…

I have used this analogy before…

If MARSH BENHAM were a person, he would be very good fun to bump along with at the pub…

But if your daughter brought him home, you would be nervous…

Eccentric. Full of attitude and opinion. Keeping those who get legged up on him on their wits. Prone to throw a Marsh shape for no apparent reason. Cheeky. Quirky. Fun and funny…

He has it in him to dig his heels in when the stalls open. He has it in him to do no more than meander through the motions at the back of the field before making a cursory and wholly inadequate effort through the closing stages…

But thankfully he also has it in him to win the occasional horse race. Usually one or two times a year…

Yesterday at Sandown, under Benoit de la Sayette, Marsh was on a going day. Head held high as he mounted his challenge widest of all, the “will he or won’t he” moment of truth. For whatever reason, the old fool decided to go through with it…

Fantastic effort from those at home who have to put up with his “Marsh moments” on a daily basis. Plenty of conjecture and chat through the morning as “Firm” crept into the going description, but jockeys calling it lovely summer ground. And so we ran – and so we won…

All credit to Clerk Of The Course Andrew Cooper (Good Morning Andrew…!!) and his team for producing lovely fair ground. An article in yesterday’s Racing Post about the conundrums and decisions Clerks have to make as weather patterns become more and more variable. The second toughest (maddest..??) job in racing – after being a racehorse trainer…

To Goodwood yesterday evening. Ed Arkell has produced a fabulous green swathe of turf set amidst the baked brown of high Sussex…

A Preview Evening for “Glorious”. Hayley Moore, Jim Crowley, Ed, David Stevens of Coral and me. Several words. Few of them very wise I suspect – certainly from my corner…

Double header today…

Imperial Cult to Sandown’s beautifully watered ground (Jack Callan up). Tex (Pat C) to Ascot…

Here’s Marsh doing Marsh stuff…

“And slowly away Marsh Benham and having to be ridden along….”

https://www.thejockeyclub.co.uk/the-racing/race-replays/2026/07/23/sandown/#billy_ocean_live_at_sandown_park_29_july_handicap

“The crew member who does not row but directs the boat….”

Apt. Our new man at the BHA helm, Simon Cox, will not be riding novice hurdlers down to the first at Cheltenham or booting a 2-year-old out of the stalls at Glorious next week…

But he is charged with steering our unwieldy ship away from jagged rocks and, we fervently hope, to calmer waters…

A background in the Brewery Industry will help at the racecourse bar – but of greater moment is his experience of the coalface as an Owner and a Breeder…

The headwinds rage. And Mr Burnham and his cronies don’t look to be hugely on side. And the Gambling Commission continues to confound with flawed and average logic. And employer costs rise across the board as minimum wages climb and National Insurance responsibilities increase. And the cost of transporting racehorses to racecourses to provide their product ticks upwards almost by the day as fuel prices soar. And the drift to the Black Market and the impact on Levy revenue becomes a tsunami as folk are not prepared, understandably, to disclose personal data just so that they can have £50 each way on one that they fancy…

Align the above with the daily challenges of keeping horses sound and owners happy. Add a worrying conundrum or three – tales to be told further down the line…

Some gig….??!!

But when the going and the tough fall into the same sentence, there ain’t much option other than to keep battling away. Dreams can, thankfully, sometimes mask reality. Dreams are also sometimes total nightmares. Just occasionally, they come true. Did I ever tell you about the time……??

I look forward to meeting Simon Cox. He has horses with my good mate Ian Williams who, I’m sure, will not have given him the rose tinted version…

“Rose tinted” being still what several wear – invariably those associated with the big days that we all love, but days that should not mask the travails and tribulations of our sport’s shop floor…

Too fast for DON PABLO COLINA at Lingfield last night. “Good to Firm” varies from venue to venue. MARSH BENHAM (Benoit) to Sandown later. Andrew Cooper waters well and hard, but still the word “Firm” creeps into the description…

This is England, it will rain. Won’t it….??

I have posted this on more than one occasion previously. But the wonder of this race persists down the decades. “I was there”. Captivated. That mighty Australian chaser Crisp and Grundy and Bustino, you have a lot to answer for….

Did BHA Chairmen….?!

It appears that they do….

“Former Brewery Boss Simon Cox is set to be announced as BHA Chairman…”

“Announced” by plenty of media outlets – but not officially by the BHA as yet. Unless I have missed it, which is entirely possible. Much more possible than the BHA being slow out of the traps…?!

Good luck Simon !! An Owner and a Breeder and a racing fan. Here’s hoping that this is an inspirational appointment, and that Simon is the man to drag the vested and the self-serving around that table to pull together for the greater good…

We will learn more about why the appointed Committee deemed Simon to be the man for the “poisoned chalice” when the BHA formal announcement comes out. Probably the week before Cheltenham….??!!

I’m being facetious and fatuous which is not clever…

Finally, we have white smoke billowing out of BHA Towers, and as a sport and an industry we look forward to hearing from Simon in the days ahead…

And I fervently hope that he will be dedicating his week to the role, and not involved on a piecemeal “two day a week” basis whilst juggling several other positions across other industries…

Wolverhampton last night. The 9.00pm race. Racing at that hour because it is what punters and betting shop staff and stable staff and jockeys and trainers are yearning for…..??!!

Horseboxes will have been pulling back into stable yards in the very wee small hours up and down the land. And lads and lasses will have had their alarm bells ringing almost as soon as heads hit pillows…

MASSIMO BLUE (Jack Callan) caught a little wider than ideal which probably made the difference between 2nd and 3rd place. A winner in first time blinkers that did not look an obvious one before the race. We bumped into one…

Lingfield this evening. DON PABLO COLINA (Oisin Murphy). A good 3rd at Epsom recently. A four runner “trappy” contest tonight with all of the runners holding claims…

Another King George. Another superstar. As with Shergar, I was there…

Home of The Brave…

Extended coverage. Voices from my youth…

What a gathering of Legends is called ?

A legacy of Legends ? A folklore of Legends ? A mythology of Legends…..?

Another Legend gathered. Kevin Keegan. One of the greatest goalscorers of all time. A racing man. Passionate, uncompromising, blessed with natural talent, much loved and now much missed…

Time waits for no man, and as the years roll by, so the Legacy of Legends grows more numerous. But what fun they will all have, comparing notes and tales and glory days…

“The only thing I fear is missing an open goal in front of The Kop….”

Never happened….

Back here on English soil, golden brown dawn over scorched earth. Talk of August heatwave. Fabulous. We could do with rain of course, but ideally between 2.00 and 3.00 in the morning. Plans made and discussed and inked into diaries are being tweaked and twisted as “Good To Firm, Firm in places” is the daily going report mantra…

Patience. This is England, it will rain. I think…

A lovely bunch of 2-year-olds here at Downs House, but they are not for bouncing off fast and firm and rock hard. There will be plenty of days for them further down the line. And too firm for plenty of the older horses as well. Bouncing old legs off concrete makes no sense either…

Lighter on runners because of the Weather Gods. But this was always going to be a time of transition. The old friends who did us a favour or three when we first moved to Epsom have played their hands and the handicapper is, as ever, slow to relent. The handicapper hates horses running up sequences…

Older horses not a million miles ahead of their mark and young horses that will not run on this ground. Equals quieter on the runner / winner front, but no surprise there. The young blood coming through, and the yearlings that will join in the months ahead, the bedrock for the years ahead…

Patience. The long game. Take guard and dig in. No fanciful slashes outside the off stump. Patience the key…

And sometimes it is even rewarded….!!

This time next week, that fantastic drive across glorious Sussex towards high Downs…

King George weekend ahead of that…

One of the greatest. I was there, and can see it in my mind’s eye as if it were yesterday…

Shergar…

Jimmy Lindley – “racing on ground as perfect as you will find for flat racing…”

For another four years. What might and perhaps could and should have been…

The wait goes on. 60 years…

Dust settles and opinions evolve and change, but a “Bronze” medal should not, to my mind, paper over the tactical blunders of that semi-final. A meaningless 10 goal “thriller” against the French was good viewing (apparently…), but utterly irrelevant in the bigger scheme…

I said I would not mention that war again. Sorry. We move on. QPR’s season is just around the corner. That is something to look forward to…

Elsewhere, Ryan Fox showed the steely All Black resolve of his fly half father to knock in the winning birdie putt at Royal Birkdale. Champion Golfer of The Year, and by all accounts a thoroughly likeable and popular fellow…

Cricket. Plenty of it for me…

Saturday. Late arrival at Warnford for me having worked several here at Epsom under Neil and Henry Callan and Benoit de la Sayette. On the field for 10 minutes before the umpires removed the bails for lunch. Perfect timing…!!

Then it went like this…

The opposition and home side, The Hampshire Hogs, piled on over 300 runs on a hard baked outfield that was like glass. Balls racing to all boundaries. Fielders in vain pursuit. Lost balls in thick hedges and harvested fields. Tweaked groins and hamstrings. Tea and cakes and sandwiches. Valiant pursuit of the 300 plus. Local ale. 40 odd needed off 5. Became 5 needed off two balls. A chance of glory. But I could muster no more than a badly timed “thunk” to mid off. Number eleven survived the last ball. Draw. And then more ale as the sun set…

England, Their England…

Lords yesterday. Well over 700 runs. Beer. England batting superbly. And winning…

Now what….??

That midsummer frenzy of sport is over. Thankfully, Glorious looms large…

The dull bit. Still no white smoke from BHA Towers. Not much bated breath, more trepidation as we await news of the “two day a week” appointment as Chair. Lord Allen was brought in in large part because of his Labour affiliations and lobbying prowess. Fat lot of good that did, and the Government seems intent on holing our sport midships with the mad and bad Gambling Commission decisions…

A couple of candidates who would have committed full time were not even interviewed because of their politics. Bonkers, naive and clearly misguided. Some of those who are charged with this appointment appear to have very limited racing experience, and this is another job on the side of their real job…

Trepidation. But maybe there is a positive surprise in the offing, and a fabulous selection will be announced. And we will have somebody we can all row in with as he / she drives us forward and away from nasty rocks and scary precipices…

Goodwood memories. Gold Cup…

“Punch got it….”