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The National Horseracing Museum (NHRM) in Newmarket has accepted three large historic equine portraits by the renowned British artist John Wootton (1682-1764), which will be on public display from Thursday, April 23. The paintings were acquired through the Arts Council's Acceptance in Lieu Scheme and were commissioned by Sir John Dutton in the 1720s, part of a series of seven equine portraits for his home at Sherborne Park in Gloucestershire. The horses depicted - Lord Bridgewater's Ashridge Ball, Lord Harley's Bloody Shouldered Arabian and the Duke of Devonshire's Flying Childers...

The multiple Grade 1-winning National Hunt trainer Evan Williams has been jailed for three years for attacking a dog walker who was on his land. Williams, 55, is reported to have repeatedly struck Martin Dandridge, 72, with a hockey stick during the assault. Mr Dandridge, from Swindon, Wiltshire, suffered injuries including a fractured arm in the incident which took place in Llancarfan, Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales, on the evening of December 4 in 2024. The defendant denied a charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, but was convicted...

NEWMARKET, UK -- On the kind of morning one dreams about all winter, the wraps came off a clutch of Guineas hopes as George Boughey and Charlie Appleby made good use of the Rowley Mile ahead of the start of the three-day Craven meeting.  Boughey, who trains less than a mile from the racecourse in his new base at the appropriately named Craven House Stables, declared himself to be thrilled with the progress of Betfred 2,000 Guineas favourite Bow Echo (Night Of Thunder), who is already familiar with the track...

2.25 Newmarket, Cond, 3yo, 7fT TALK OF NEW YORK (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) returns to Europe with high expectations judged by his current position as second favourite for the 2,000 Guineas despite having won a Kempton maiden and finished third in the Jumeirah 2,000 Guineas. Charlie Appleby puts a hood on the keen traveller and saddles a possible pacemaker in the Woodcote winner Maximized (GB) (Mehmas {Ire}), so it is fair to say that it is time for the son of the high-class Usherette (Shamardal) to show why he has...

Tuesday, Chantilly, France, post time: 16:50, PRIX SIGY-G3, €73,200, 3yo, 5 1/2fT Field: Moojeed (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}), Afjan (Fr) (Mehmas {Ire}), Street Show (Fr) (Showcasing {GB}), Kailani (Fr) (Goken {Fr}), My Calyx Cen (Ire) (Calyx {GB}), Argentine Tango (GB) (Mattmu {GB}), Yaupon De Replay (Yaupon), Kimi Rey (GB) (Kingman {GB}), Kathy Light (Ire) (Earthlight {Ire}), Kathy Style (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}), Jeudixx (Fr) (Hello Youmzain {Fr}), Pearl Fortune (Ire) (Blue Point {Ire}), Soul Love (GB) (Starman {GB}). TDN Analysis: A fascinating renewal stacked with accomplished sprinters headed by the...

The trials are already well underway in France and Ireland, and with a week of important action to come in Newmarket followed by Newbury, the Classics are now uppermost in people's minds. In the early days of breeze-up sales, there would have been no immediate connection between those auctions and potential Classic horses  but that has now changed quite significantly.  Twenty years ago, the DBS breeze-up graduate Speciosa (Danehill Dancer) became the first to go on to win a British Classic when veering across the Rowley Mile for a memorable...

Joe Fanning's long and illustrious career in the saddle is on hold after the veteran rider revealed that he has undergone surgery for prostate cancer. The 55-year-old, who has ridden almost 3,000 winners and won the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot aboard Subjectivist in 2021 for his long-time boss Mark Johnston, has not been seen in competitive action since November. "I think it started in December 2024 and then they kept doing my PSA (Prostate-Specific Antigen blood test) and it spiked a bit in December just gone," Fanning told the...

The irony is not lost on Jake Ballis, co-founder of Black Type Thoroughbreds, that his ownership group has played something of a shop window for the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale despite the fact that the American native has never even set foot on the complex at Park Paddocks.  It is in the Black Type racing silks that Azizam (Havana Grey), who finished third in last year's Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot, and live Kentucky Derby contender Six Speed (Not This Time), have raced lately. Both horses were picked up...

Constitution Hill (Blue Bresil) features among 10 entries for Saturday's Dubai Duty Free Finest Surprise Stakes at Newbury, with the multiple Group winners Al Aasy (Sea The Stars), Convergent (Fascinating Rock) and Pride Of Arras (New Bay) headlining the potential opposition as the former Champion Hurdle hero prepares for the toughest test yet of his Flat career. Trained by Nicky Henderson for owner Michael Buckley, Constitution Hill is unbeaten in two starts since switching codes, first running out the nine-and-a-half-length winner of a novice at Southwell in February and then...

1.52 Leicester, Novice, 3yo/up, 6fT RAILWAYMAN (IRE) (Blue Point {Ire}) makes his belated debut for the Karl Burke yard, having cost 420,000gns at 2024 Tattersalls October Book 1. Carrying the colours of the late Sheikh Mohammed Obaid, the half-brother to Mayson's King's Stand and July Cup hero Oxted is up against three winners including Godolphin's Crimson Rose (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), a Charlie Appleby-trained daughter of the G3 Prix de Saint-Georges winner Ideal Beauty (Invincible Spirit) who was impressive when last seen at Newmarket's July Festival.

A course-and-distance winner in December's G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies, Star Anise (Drefong) picked up where she left off after a four-month absence to overpower her 17 rivals in Sunday's G1 Oka Sho (Japanese 1,000 Guineas), the first leg of the fillies' Triple Crown in Japan. Heading the betting for this Classic ahead of the G3 Queen Cup heroine Dream Core (Kizuna) and the unbeaten Lily Joie (Silver State), Star Anise raced enthusiastically from the outset in the hands of Kohei Matsuyama, soon finding cover in mid-division as longshot Longing Celine...

All eyes were on the returning Pierre Bonnard in Sunday's G3 P.W. McGrath Memorial Ballysax Stakes, but it was another of Ballydoyle's sons of Camelot who stepped forward into the Derby picture in Christmas Day. While the former showed how short of a peak he was in a lethargic seventh, last year's G3 Eyrefield Stakes winner delivered under Wayne Lordan to cause an 11-1 upset at the chief expense of another stablemate in Endorsement (Wootton Bassett). Aidan O'Brien had warned before the established Derby trial that last year's Criterium de...