Gm, Equinauts

We won’t lie, "she couldn't hold a throbbing penis on that gallop" is a trainer quote we didn’t think we’d be discussing today!

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

📱FLOOD GATE

If you didn’t know who David Flood is, you do now. He’s a trainer who has just been fined £1,300 after admitting a breach of British racing's Code of Conduct over a Snapchat video in which he said one of his female work riders, wait for it…

"couldn't hold a throbbing penis on that gallop".

It’s quite funny to be fair, but surely he must have been pissed. That’s something you say in private, not on social media.

His rant, intended to recruit new work riders (lol), continued with derogatory remarks about the two former female members of stable staff:

The video, shared with around 500 followers and labelled a "recruitment video" (unbelievable), included a series of insulting comments about the former employees and as such (and by no surprise), a BHA judicial panel found the trainer had breached conduct rules.

Flood, who only resumed training in 2025 after a three-year break, has saddled five winners this season and declined to comment on the ruling.

Obviously, what he did was highly inappropriate and unprofessional, but we kind of get where he's coming from. Every trainer is struggling to find competent work riders right now - most of them can't ride and will just let the horse bolt off while they hang on for dear life. This is seriously rife in every yard and it makes obtaining accurate info about how horses are working difficult.

📈RECORD BREAKER

We imagine he absolutely already knows who he’s sending but Aidan O'Brien will wait until the middle of the week before deciding whether French Derby winner CONSTITUTION RIVER or runner-up HAWK MOUNTAIN will represent Ballydoyle in Saturday's Eclipse at Sandown.

CONSTITUTION RIVER heads the betting following his Prix du Jockey Club success, while HAWK MOUNTAIN could instead be redirected to Sunday's German Derby if he misses the Sandown feature. O'Brien said both colts will complete their final pieces of work before a decision is made, with the trainer keen to assess them before confirming plans.

O'Brien has enjoyed a huge 2026 campaign already, matching his best-ever start to a season: he’s on 11 Group 1 victories and eight Classic wins across three countries. Bookies have installed him as the favourite to surpass his own record of 28 Group 1 victories in a calendar year, set in 2017.

The strength in depth of the Ballydoyle squad, built up over decades of breeding, is the major factor behind their success, demonstrated by the fact seven different horses have contributed to his Classic haul. They also have a small army of top 3yo’s still targeting major races later in the season. And then there’s the 2yo’s… loads are future Group 1 horses.

The Eclipse marks the season’s start of clashes between the Classic generation and older horses (3yo’s verses 4 plus), and so the second half of the campaign will prove crucial as to whether O'Brien can surpass his own WORLD RECORD.

As well as chasing another landmark Group 1 tally, unbelievably Aidan is also in contention for championship honours in France.

Amo have a long way to go if they are even to sniff the arse of Ballydoyle, let alone lay upsides as a serious breeding operation.

👊 400 NOT OUT

Dan Skelton is currently operating at 75% strike rate and has had 10 winners from his last 27 runners. They’ve landed at some juicy prices too.

Why the hell aren’t we just backing him blind!?

Dan’s been very vocal about his ambition to break Martin Pipe’s record of most wins in a single season, and his bullish start to the campaign continued yesterday as PLAYFUL FOX provided the CHAMPION trainer with his 50th winner of the season.

That win saw big Dan surpass £400,000 in prize-money…before the end of June! That’s a milestone the yard did not reach until October last season. Insane.

He’s not the only Skelton with such a target, Harry Skelton is quietly gunning for champion jockey too.

More:

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