In a corner of a hidden Scottish field, there stands a scruffy, woolly, wintery mare. There has been a frost of minus three, so she has fluffed up her coat like a Teddy bear, to capture the warmth generated by her huge heart. Her chestnut colour is singing russet and scarlet in the sunshine. Her [...]

This is about horses and racing and Christmas, but I want to start with football. I know nothing about football. I do know, however, that it is a thing of profound passion. I sometimes wonder how people can follow their teams, week in, week out, and stand all the heartbreak. (I have a friend who [...]

For weeks before the Guineas meeting there will have been talk about the ante-post favourites, the big stables, the rich and famous owners. There will have been acres of press about the betting markets and the numbers and every single journalist will have tried to squeeze some clue out of the trainers, who don't want [...]

Racing is famously described as living in its own little bubble. (People often say this crossly, with exasperation.) And it is, in many ways, a world of its own. It is so specialised and so absorbing and so difficult to understand for those outside it. It even has its own language – arcane technical terms [...]