Grand National

His roots may be deeply entrenched in National Hunt racing and just this spring he won the most famous jumps race of them all--the Grand National with Noble Yeats (Ire) (Yeats {Ire})--but Emmet Mullins has now netted himself yet another major payday--this time on the Flat with a filly that he bred, owned and trained to win a maiden at his local track before selling her for six figures.  Thebestisyettobe (Ire) (Elzaam {Aus}) became the second 2-year-old winner of Mullins's career when sluicing up in the opening seven-furlong maiden at...

The British Horseracing Authority has confirmed an outbreak of Equine Herpes Virus (EHV) at the yard of Grand National-winning trainer Dr Richard Newland in Worcestershire. Movement restrictions have been placed on the yard to limit any future spread while further sampling is under way to determine the exact strain, which has yet to be confirmed but is thought to be EHV-1. As of yet the BHA is not aware of any confirmed cases in any other yards but trainers and vets have been asked to be vigilant to clinical signs...

Hollie Doyle has described Nashwa (GB) (Frankel {GB}) as being "everything you want in a racehorse" ahead of her bid to become the first female rider to win a Classic when she partners John and Thady Goden's rapidly-improving filly in the Cazoo Oaks at Epsom on Friday.  Doyle is well used to breaking boundaries at this stage, with her tally of 152 winners in 2021 surpassing her own record of winners in a calendar year for a female jockey. She has also ridden two five-timers, became the first woman to...

The Far Hills Race Meeting Association has increased the purse of the American Grand National by $100,000, giving it a bump from $150,000 to $250,000 for the 2022 edition, which will be held Saturday, Oct. 15. The increase will make the race, which will be contested for the 101st time, the richest on this year's National Steeplechase Association (NSA) schedule. "This will really put an exclamation point on steeplechasing's biggest day and the overall season," said Far Hills Race Meeting chairman Guy Torsilieri. "On Oct. 15, all eyes will be...

Former jump jockey Jeremy Mahot will honor the late Liam Treadwell by participating in the cross-Alps bicycle race. Mahot, 39, rode more than 70 winners before retiring in 2016 and now acts as head lad at the Oxfordshire yard of Noel Williams. Treadwell, winner of the 2009 Grand National, suffered a head injury following a fall at Bangor in 2016. The Transalp Race spans 355 miles over (570 kilometres) seven days, including uphill ascents that total more than 18,000 altitude metres. Beginning on Sunday in Nauders in Austria and crossing...

Trainer Jessica Harrington has been banned from attending the races for two weeks and fined €3,500 after breaking COVID-19 protocols at Aintree's Grand National meeting, the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board announced on Monday. Harrington "acted in a manner which was prejudicial to the proper conduct or good reputation of horseracing" the IHRB hearing found and her ban will last until May 24. Harrington, who had both Magic of Light (Ire) (Flemensfirth) and Jett (Ire) (Flemensfirth) in the Grand National, did not stay in the 'Irish Bubble' set up for the...

My fellow Americans, I put it to you that the 2021 Liverpool Grand National was an epoch-making sporting event --like the sub-4-minute mile of Roger Bannister in 1954 or the first MLB game of Jackie Robinson in 1947. In the 1944 movie "National Velvet" a very young Elizabeth Taylor faints and slides off her beloved horse Pie after having crossed the finish line first in the Grand National--that mad race where 40 horses and riders are to jump 30 high fences over 4 1/2 miles. The after-the-finish fall is what...

Goffs has 68 confirmed entries for its Online March Sale on Mar. 24, including three horses with entries for the Randox Grand National on Apr. 10. The sale will be a timed auction, meaning there will be no auctioneer and bidding on each lot will close in accordance with the times noted on their catalogue pages. The three Grand National entries to be offered are the multiple graded winner Alpha Des Obeaux (Fr) (Saddler Maker {Ire}) (lot 47); the G1 Ryanair Chase winner Balko Des Flos (Fr) (Balko {Fr}) (lot...

Three-time Grand National-winning trainer Gordon Elliott is fully cooperating with the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB)'s inquiry into a disputed photo allegedly displaying Elliott sitting on a dead horse, the BBC reported on Sunday. The image, which some believe to be digitally altered, appears to show Elliott making a peace gesture while sitting on a dead horse lying on its side and captioned "new work rider". "I'm aware of a photo circulating on social media," the trainer tweeted late on Saturday night. "The IHRB have been in contact with me...

The racing world has lost one of its most popular and respected characters with the passing at the age of 77 of former Grand National-winning jockey Pat Buckley, who ranks as one of the most influential administrators in the history of racing in the United Arab Emirates. Born and raised in Ireland, Pat Buckley spent his entire riding career based in the north of England in the Middleham stable of Captain Neville Crump, who was then one of the country's leading National Hunt trainers and to whom Buckley worked firstly...

Nicholas Wrigley, currently chairman of investment bank N M Rothschild & Sons Limited, has been named to succeed the late Rose Paterson as chairman of Aintree Racecourse. Wrigley was appointed as a Jockey Club Member in 1994 and was senior steward of The Jockey Club between 2009 and 2014. He has been chairman of The National Stud since 2019. He has been on the York Race Committee since 1992 and was chairman from 2005 to 2011. He is also a director of Pontefract Racecourse and an active racehorse owner/breeder in...

Still another track, Golden Gate Fields, was forced to stop racing last week, leaving only a precious few wagering opportunities for action-hungry horseplayers. But more betting opportunities are on their way--even if they aren't necessarily the real thing. Wagering on virtual horse races is now being offered by three ADWs and more are expected to come on board soon. The contestants are computer generated horses or greyhounds that dart across the screen in real time, battling it out against one another to see who gets to the wire first. Virtual...