If all the best horses miss the Classic trials the beginning of the season is heading the same way as the declining Craven The first cuckoo, daffodils in full bloom and the Craven meeting at Newmarket. For racing fans, it was always hard to say which of the three was the most compelling sign that spring had finally arrived. But times change, the daffs have usually been and gone before Cheltenham these days, and Guineas trials now seem to have been consigned to history too. Four of the 11 runners in Saturday’s Greenham Stakes, including Esquire, the winner, were geldings, and therefore unable t ..read more

The 18-1 shot edges Surrey Quest in photo finish at Ayr Willie Mullins is all but certain to win first UK jump trainers’ title It was perhaps for the best that Willie Mullins did not make it to the top of Ayr’s grandstand in time to see the first 30 seconds of the Scottish Grand National. Mr Incredible, the shortest-priced runner among his six-strong challenge for the richest race left in the 2023-24 jumps season, in effect refused to race, while another, We’llhavewan, unseated his jockey at the first. And even as Mullins’s six-year-old Macdermott flashed past the winning post neck-and-neck ..read more

An Irish-trained horse has not won of the most coveted prizes in UK jumps racing since Queen Victoria was on the throne In the spring of 1869, Queen Victoria was approaching the halfway mark of what would eventually be a 64-year reign, Sir Henry Morton Stanley was preparing to head for Africa to seek out Dr Livingstone, and a horse called Huntsman won the third running of the Scottish Grand National at Bogside, a now-defunct racecourse on the banks of the River Irvine in Ayrshire. More than a century-and-a-half later, Huntsman is still the last horse trained in Ireland to win Scotland’s bigges ..read more

Richard Hannon’s horse romps home yet trainer remains coy Stablemate Rosallion labelled ‘a horse with an awful lot of speed’ There was a time in the not-so-distant past when a three-and-a-half length success in the Craven Stakes over the same course and distance as the 2,000 Guineas in 16 days’ time would have fast-tracked the winner to the top of the Classic betting. Haatem, by contrast, can be backed at 20-1 for the Guineas on 4 May, despite powering well clear of his field in Newmarket’s traditional Classic trial on Thursday. This was still a race that offered some clues ahead of the Clas ..read more

Trainer optimistic about improved crop of three-year-olds Nell Gwyn Stakes runner-up still on course for 1,000 Guineas He had just seen his filly Dance Sequence, the third-favourite for the 1,000 Guineas, beaten in her Classic trial by the 18-1 outsider Pretty Crystal, but Charlie Appleby was still in a highly positive frame of mind after the Nell Gwyn Stakes at Newmarket on Wednesday, about Dance Sequence and life in general. The 2023 campaign was, by any measure, a disappointing one for Appleby, the Godolphin operation’s principal trainer, and especially so in the UK. He registered just tw ..read more

The race’s ability to adapt to changing attitudes over the course of nearly 200 years has been one of the secrets of its survival For the first time in a while – since April 2018, in fact – Grand National day at Aintree on Saturday was, for this spectator at least, an almost entirely positive experience. It was a race with all the drama and spectacle that got many of us hooked on racing in the first place, but no fallers, no serious injuries and a winner, I Am Maximus, whose breathtaking turn of foot on the run-in will live long in the memory. The contrast to the frenetic scenes over the first ..read more

Auctioneer targets social media-obsessed youngsters with prospect of entering the parade ring at Royal Ascot Henry Beeby has an enticing pitch for young super-rich tiktokkers and instagrammers. “Come to Kensington Gardens on the Monday, buy a racehorse and by the Tuesday you will be in the parade ring at one of the world’s most famous racecourses [Royal Ascot] alongside members of the British royal family and other royal families, with your own racehorse in your colours.” Beeby, the chief executive of the thoroughbred racehorse auctioneers Goffs, said: “That is the dream we are selling,” as he ..read more

Trainer adds I Am Maximus’s success at Aintree to his Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle wins at Cheltenham this season lA gentlemanly nod of the head. An appreciative tip of the cap. That is the way Willie Mullins likes to celebrate his major triumphs. Such is his preternatural calmness, you half‑suspect the arrival of the Four Horseman of Apocalypse would be greeted with a simple shrug of the shoulders. Yet on a raucous afternoon, the 67-year‑old Irishman was bellowing every bit as loudly as anyone else in the 70,000 crowd. It came as the 7-1 joint favourite, I Am Maximus, soared over th ..read more

Joint-favourite streaks clear after the last fence Last year’s winner Corach Rambler unseats rider at the first A Grand National that was in the ­balance until after the final fence was decided by an irresistible burst of finishing speed. I Am Maximus, who takes his name from a fictional gladiator, landed the decisive blow with half a furlong to run under an impeccable, ground-saving ride by Paul Townend. The 7-1 joint-favourite did not hit the front until just past the Elbow, but finished to such effect that he was seven and a half lengths clear of Delta Work at the line, with Minella Indo ..read more

Favourite won an incredible race at Aintree for Willie Mullins Race reportTom Jenkins’s best images from Aintree And they’re off … Johnson’s Blue leads in the early stages with two laps to go! … Classic Concorde is now challenging the early leader … Johnnywho is in a good position … Landrake has badly lost his place and Ramo is already in trouble at the back … Storm Nelson is being pushed along … favourite West Balboa is in midfield … Bold Endeavour is in third behind the leaders … West Balboa is making ground … turning towards home and Classic Concorde leads … Gwennie May Boy leads at the l ..read more