SANDRACER.COM ~ ALL WEATHER RACING BLOG

Bob Olinger rides off into retirement with victory in the Champion Stayers Hurdle on day three of the Punchestown Festival....

Bob Olinger rolled back the years to land the Ladbrokes Champion Stayers Hurdle at Punchestown on the final start of his long and glittering career....

Lossiemouth bids to put the seal on another excellent season in the Boodles Champion Hurdle at Punchestown on Friday....

Jim Bolger has listed his training base at Glebe House on the Kilkenny-Carlow border on sale for €4m as he consolidates his operation and prepares to move to his farm in Rathvilly....

Owners Shadwell have announced the hugely promising Raaheeb will not run in the Betfred Derby next month....

Bow Echo and Gstaad head 15 runners in the Betfred 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday, but Aidan O'Brien has decided against running Puerto Rico....

A veteran Aussie jockey is recovering after a horrific development since he was severely hurt in a trackwork accident....

There's no let-up in the action at Punchestown, and the feature race on Day Three is the Ladbrokes Champion Stayers' Hurdle....

Gaelic Warrior races clear to claim the Punchestown Gold Cup....

Gordon Elliott reaches for blinkers to aid Teahupoo's hat-trick bid in the Ladbrokes Champion Stayers Hurdle at Punchestown on Thursday....

Newsboy fancies his nap, Del Corso, to win at Yarmouth and also hopes Style King can score at Southwell and complete his Daily Double...

Gaelic Warrior confirmed his status as this season's elite staying chaser as he added the Punchestown Gold Cup to his Cheltenham title with another brilliant performance....

Andy McNamara previews the action on the third day of the Punchestown Festival, where Kopek Des Bordes bids to deliver on his formidable talent....

There will be no French representation in Saturday's Betfred 2000 Guineas after Francis-Henri Graffard's Samangan was ruled out of a trip to Newmarket....

Where else to start today but with the Ladbrokes Punchestown Gold Cup, the best race of the week. It's the rematch between Gaelic Warrior and Fact To File....

Newsboy rates an Iain Jardine handicapper to score a fourth success in 2026 at Musselburgh (5.00) and he also fancies a Jennie Candlish sprinter to deliver in the 3.15...

Peerless Punchestown plays out the final chapter in the story of Ireland's '25/'26 National Hunt Season. New champions have emerged in every major equine division....

With his wads of cash, vast self-confidence and access to private jets, Robert Heneghan exudes the air of an all-conquering horse racing tipster and is extremely keen to let the world know about himself....

Catterick Racecourse, in collaboration with Racing Welfare, will celebrate the sport’s rich heritage with Racing Reminiscence Day on Monday 11 May, set against the backdrop of a thrilling Flat racing fixture. Falling within Mental Health Awareness Week (11–17 May), Racing Reminiscence Day is inspired by Racing Welfare’s regular coffee mornings...

I’m Becky Mason, and I’m delighted to be taking part in the 2026 Macmillan Ride of Their Lives at York Racecourse.   Taking part in the Macmillan Ride of Their Lives is a huge honour. It represents a personal challenge, a lifelong ambition and an opportunity to give back. I am very much looking forward to race day...

We're all set for a great Punchestown Festival this week to close the National Hunt season, the weather looks good and the racing should be even better....

Newsboy fancies his nap, Ancient State, to win at Lingfield and also hopes Luna Beaux can score on the same card and complete his Daily Double...

Newsboy expects an Seamus Mullins handicapper to bounce back to form at Lingfield and he also fancies a Grace Harris charge to score at Bath...

Dan Skelton has been the man of the moment this season....

Britain's leading jumps rider for the second year in a row, Welsh jockey Sean Bowen, has called for changes to racing's "stupid" calendar....

Havaila wins the Bet365 Gold Cup on the final day of the jump racing season at Sandown as Sean Bowen is crowned champion jockey and Dan Skelton champion trainer....

Before Sean Bowen there were only 10 other champion jump jockeys since 1976 - how many can you name?...

Fourteen have been declared for tomorrow's bet365 Gold Cup (3.30 Sandown), with four - Ask Brewster, Montregard, Our Power and Road To Home - re-routed here having being withdrawn from last Saturday's Scottish Grand National at Ayr on account of the heavy ground. Gabby's Cross took his chance in that...

Champion trainer Dan Skelton bids to round off a tremendous season with Thistle Ask in the bet365 Celebration Chase and Newsboy thinks the transformed thoroughbred will get the job done...

Our tipster is going for a longshot in the big race of the day and makes two other selections at Sandown Park and Haydock as the National Hunt season draws to a close...

Holding a handy position throughout, Cracking Rhapsody stayed on up the famous Cheltenham Hill under Craig Nichol to claim fourth place in the County Hurdle at 50/1, a price that reflected the strength of the opposition – most of which was behind him......

Goodwood Racecourse is delighted to announce an inspirational line‑up of riders for this year’s Markel Magnolia Cup, raising money for Education Above All Foundation.  Representing a wide range of backgrounds, these women have taken on the immense challenge of preparing for a competitive horserace. Their journey has demanded early mornings riding out, rigorous...

One of the most enjoyable experiences in my time in horseracing was being involved with Racing to School – now celebrating 25 years’ of supporting young people. What a joyous sight it is to see young learners dressed in racing silks revelling in outdoor education. What a genius of an idea and...

Goodwood Racecourse is delighted to announce that this year’s Markel Magnolia Cup will welcome its first ever American competitor.    Exchanging the thrills of motorsport for the adrenaline of pure horsepower, Audrain Group Executive Zoey Schorsch will line-up under starters orders and race down Goodwood’s home straight on Thursday 30 July.   The prestigious charity race is the...

Enjoy Racing to School’s spring newsletter below. As we welcome spring in Racing to School’s 25th anniversary year, we reflect on a record-breaking start to 2026. Across 132 events at racecourses and other key horseracing venues, we have already supported the learning of 4,683 young people, and the team is...

Noble Yeats, who won the Grand National as a 50-1 outsider in 2022, dies after a bout of colic....

Kap Vert causes a 20-1 shock by storming to a surprise win in the Scottish Grand National at Ayr....

David Smith, economics editor of The Sunday Times, wrote in Wednesday's edition of The Times: "One of the jibes made against economists - and there are many - is that they see something working in theory and then wonder if it will work in practice."  I'm no economist but that sentiment struck...

On Buccleuch Cup Day we shall be celebrating the valorous life of Adam Scott, a north-country soldier and sportsman whose dramatic story, woven like a golden thread through the rich heritage of the northern racing scene, ended in a tragic fall at Kelso......

A Grand National trainer is sentenced for the "appalling" beating of a dog walker with a hockey stick....

I’m Alice Cosgrove, Clerk of the Course at Market Rasen Racecourse, alongside my role as Industry Engagement Executive for The Jockey Club more broadly. While my day-to-day responsibilities don’t directly focus on community engagement, it’s an area I’m passionate about, particularly when it comes to supporting the engagement and development...

With the British trainers championship out of reach this season, Willie Mullins has largely kept his better horses at home post-Cheltenham....

An Aintree punter with deep pockets is now an awful lot richer after I Am Maximus's Grand National victory....

DOMINIC KING AT AINTREE RACECOURSE: There is a world that Zack Polanski envisages in which none of this would have occurred. No joy, no history, no opportunity to say 'I was there'....

It is a Grand National to savour for Irish trainer Willie Mullins as he celebrates his third consecutive victory in the race at Aintree - equalling the record set by legendary trainer Vincent O'Brien....

The Grand National (4.00) is a different race these days. This represents the third renewal with a reduced field of 34 runners. Nine of the past ten winners have been aged either eight or nine, with the exception Noble Yeats who won the 2022 renewal when seven. 22 of the 34 runners...

Second to Grey Dawning in the bet365 Premier Steeplechase last year, Iroko will be the only runner in this year’s Grand National to have set foot on the track at Kelso......

On Ladies' Day, a tip for the Topham (4.05) run over two miles five - and the National fences. At the time of writing 29 are set to face the starter at 4.05; Pour Les Filles, Jipcot, The King Of Prs, Primoz, Indiana Jones and Excello all race from out of...

Aintree Racecourse today presented Wendy Humphrey-Taylor with the trophy for the Rose Paterson Community Sportswoman Award in 2026. Launched by the racecourse in partnership with BBC Radio Merseyside at the 2021 Randox Grand National Festival, the award remembers Aintree’s late Chair Rose Paterson, who sadly passed away in 2020. Its aim is to...

Every year the team from York Racecourse donate a day of their time and expertise to support local partners. In March 2026, thirty people helped both Brainkind and the Clements Hall Trust with outdoor projects that will improve the lives of residents. At the neurological hospital, which is both a...

A quick post with a suggestion for the Foxhunters' Chase on the first day of the Grand National meeting. The going on both the Mildmay and National courses is described as good to soft. The opening juvenile hurdle (1.45) sees five from last month's Triumph Hurdle renew rivalry: Maestro Conti (second at...

Rachael Blackmore, who made history when becoming the first female jockey to ride the winner of the Randox Grand National, will be inducted as a Grand National Legend for 2026. The 36-year-old retired rider will join the likes of Ginger McCain, Jenny Pitman and JP McManus as well as equine...

When I published the first blog post on Monday 3rd April 2006, nobody told me it was going to end up like this. Ten Years of PG's Tips covered the first decade; a short summary of what has happened since follows.  Back in 2016 I described this undertaking as 'an exercise in self-indulgence with...

It's Easter weekend and the talk on the radio is all chocolate eggs, daffodil's, and lambs gamboling in the sunshine......