Blog Archive

In the UK, we really shouldn’t moan when a bit of decent weather comes along – after all, beggars cannot be choosers. This week it is being predicted that a heatwave from Africa is on its way, with temperatures as high as …

The pre-season period is one where supporters of football clubs up and down the land await news of their side making an exciting signing or two. These summer months are where most outfits will unveil their new kits for the season ahead …

The long-awaited return of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe to Longchamp in 2018 went down like the proverbial flatulence in an elevator with British and Irish punters. The reopened Paris track had promised much fanfare for their flagship race, but those …

It’s the restricted access United States Air Force base where conspiracists believe the government is playing host to all sorts of spooky goings-on. Area 51, deep in the Nevada desert, has long been the centre of rumours about exactly what goes on …

‘It’s all in the genes’ they say, as a young racing superstar in the making begins to make their mark. That was certainly the case for Sprinter Sacre, the brilliant two-mile chaser who is ranked by Timeform as the third best horse …

Death, taxes and Frankie Dettori winning….those are the three givens in life. The flat racing supremo continues to do the business for John Gosden and his range of other employers, and that was the case once more over the weekend when he …

It’s been rumoured that John McCririck has been battling serious illness for some time, and the sad news was confirmed on Friday when it was announced he had passed away at the age of 79. The hirsute broadcaster, a mainstay of Channel …

It’s the kind of news that anyone with an interest in the art of bookmaking dreads: William Hill have announced that more than 700 of their high street betting shops are being forced to close in a company reshuffle. More than 4,000 …

There is a myth that betting firms are simply money-grabbing powerhouses who have no interest or care in the wellbeing of their customers. For the most part, nothing could be further from the truth, and five of the industry’s giants have proved …

Six winners in one bet is the kind of punt most gamblers can only dream of, and yet that’s exactly what David Smith managed to do three weeks ago, or at least thought he had done. Expecting a return of £212,000 the …

For a while there, it looked as if Frankie Dettori was going to achieve something equally as momentous as his ‘magnificent seven’ all those years ago. The champion jockey won the first four races of a pulsating Ladies Day at Royal Ascot, …

Some of the UK’s biggest gambling firms are joining forces to pledge more than £100m to help tackle the issues associated with problem gambling. The likes of Coral Ladbrokes, Betfair Paddy Power, William Hill and bet365 will put competitive differences to one …

It was the great fear of many of the 200,000 punters who will descend on the Berkshire town of Ascot for the regal race meeting this week. Strike action from many of South West Railway’s (SWR) workers have led to a scaled-back …

As if the monsoon-like weather that has struck the UK in the past week wasn’t enough to dampen the spirits of race-goers, now railway workers are having a go at making life a misery for punters. The South West Railway (SWR) system …

Kempton Park’s all-weather meeting on the evening of Wednesday the 12th June has had to be cancelled after a burst water pipe in the area left the course without water. Racecourse officials made the announcement after they couldn’t guarantee when the supply …

Just another day, another tiny popstar calling out a middle-aged actor and challenging to an MMA fight. Quite what triggered Justin Bieber’s decision to call out the Top Gun star is anybody’s guess, but his tweet is still available for all to …

Behind every great man there’s a great woman, as the old saying goes. And behind every great horse racing trainer there’s a head lad earning their stripes by keeping his employer’s horses in fine fettle. That’s the role that Albert ‘Corky’ Browne …

It was a move designed to increase the amount of revenue the bookies were making on midweek meetings. And for online bookmakers, that has certainly proven to be the case with the BHA experimenting with 12pm starts for a number of meetings. …

Tickets for the Champions League final between Liverpool and Tottenham were rarer than rocking horse excrement. Thanks to UEFA’s bone-headed decision to give roughly 50% of the available tickets to their corporate buddies, it meant genuine Liverpool and Spurs fans had to …

There was concern for all amongst racing yesterday when the Animal Health Trust (AHT) confirmed they had been experiencing an increase in the number of equine flu cases being reported. The AHT has expressed anxiety of their own in the rise in …