A wonderful partnership, almost certainly together on a racecourse for the last time.
Lee Mottershead
28.1K posts
Lee Mottershead
@leemottershead
Racing Post senior writer. Extremely fond of food and theatre. Also extremely fond of racing.
- I really dislike grooms being denied the chance to lead in winners. At Epsom today I was stood by John Gosden, who was shouting to groom Taufique Alam: "Lead her in, Taufique, lead her in." When it was obvious that couldn't happen he waited and walked in with Taufique. A top man.Seen a lot of comment about the groom after the Oaks - here's what you might not have seen afterwards. Worth a look. Good touch from the Gosdens, all considered - thoughts in right place.
00:00 - Everyone in the racing press room adores John Hunt. You could not possibly meet a finer, kinder person. He has all our love.
- In your wildest, worst dreams, could you conceive of Willie Mullins doing that? Or Paul Nicholls? Or Nicky Henderson? The best way to begin restoring battered public confidence in racing and racing people surely must be for swift and meaningful action to be taken.
- In 67 years of BBC Sports Personality of the Year, @HollieDoyle1 is only the third racing figure to finish in the top three, joining @AP_McCoy and @FrankieDettori That’s a marvellous achievement.
- They cheer her back just as though she had won, Frankie acknowledges them in gratitude and then kisses her on the neck. Enable didn’t win but she got the reception a champion deserves @paris_longchamp
00:00 - At exactly 8am on Japan Cup day the first race was duly run at Tokyo Racecourse. There were very many winners. Some of these racegoers had been queuing for over a week. There are no racing fans like Japanese racing fans.
00:00 - The word 'unbelievable' is horribly overused. Not this time. Edwulf collapsed at Cheltenham, went into a fit, was dragged off the course on a mat, took 70 minutes to get into an ambulance and then appeared to be suffering from blindness. Now look at him.
- Sir Erec looked such a lovely, gentle soul as he stood perfectly still, his handsome head gazing all around, while the farrier attended to him before the Triumph. A desperately sad start to the day.
- Last Sunday evening we had to say goodbye to Rigby (pictured here on the left), just 17 days after losing his brother Crumble. They were 18 years old, treated us like staff and were the great joy of our lives.
- Just before this year’s Grand National I spent an hour on the phone with Trevor Hemmings. He was an 85-year-old man in his office, still working and loving life. During that hour he was fascinating, funny and also rather inspiring. Sincere condolences to all his loved ones.
- John McCririck was a man who was all the better for knowing. Once you did know him it was easy to like him - and I liked him very much indeed. This obituary seeks to do him justice. Much love to Jenny. xJohn McCririck: He knew his audience, knew what they wanted and knew how to give it to them bit.ly/2Xrmb3G
- When Soumillon was fined £52,000 for his whip use at Ascot in 2011 he said he was “very embarrassed for English racing”. If he’s not embarrassed after that horrible display on Thunder Snow he has little shame. It’s so dispiriting to see a top European jockey behave like that.
00:00 - I wrote this on Sunday and it rings ever more true now. Life may not suddenly become easier for Bryony Frost - it seldom does for whistleblowers - but she is a supremely courageous credit to her sport and deserving of its gratitude.
