Competition & Events

This time last week, I reflected on a genuine tragedy — the devastating loss of Many Clouds. This week, we face up to the news that two more of Willie Mullins’ stable stars, namely Min and Faugheen, are out of the Festival. Frustrating as this is, not least for punters but much more so for […]

BY coming up with a formula designed to boost global participation in horse sports at future Olympic Games, has the FEI, the international governing body for equestrian disciplines, shot itself in the foot where safety is concerned — particularly with regard to eventing, that most risky of all horse sports? “More nations” is the mantra […]

A fixture described as “the best show ever” will take new shape this year as Ponies Association (UK) has announced that its Summer Championships will be amalgamated with the 2017 Winter Championships at Bury Farm. Although an email message appeared to state that “council have decided not to organise a Summer Championships in 2017, all […]

I remember being at Ascot when the ill-fated Rewilding broke his leg a few years ago; it was a sickening sight and one I will not forget in a hurry. That day, trainer John Gosden spoke eloquently to the Channel 4 cameras about the pain of equine death in a manner which remains unforgettable. I […]

Breaking a young horse to saddle is rarely easy, but imagine trying to do it with a broken foot. Lorna Blake backed her four-year-old Lowmoor Years of Grace (Gracie) then put her away for a year while she had an operation on her foot, having sheared off her heel in a jumping accident. She brought […]

It was the jump three hurdles out that clinched it at Haydock. Spirits were damp — frozen even — on Saturday morning as Ascot succumbed to the icy temperatures so the Merseyside racecourse needed something special to warm the spirits. Noel Fehily and Neon Wolf at Haydock, Getty Images And in the end, we got […]