Equinties - in the millions

Gm, Equinauts

Well done to the 7 lucky punters who split the Tote’s Scoop 6 prize on Saturday, for a measly £2 stake they scooped about £40k each!

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUND UP

IN THE MILLIONS

The Berkshire Winter Million weekend provided a proper display of jumps racing at Royal Windsor and Ascot Friday through to Sunday, with over £1.2 million in total prize money on offer.

Saturday was the big day where the action shifted from Windsor to Ascot and featured the Clarence House Chase which stole the headlines as heavy odds on shot IL ETAIT TEMPS burned punter’s perms and the mighty JONBON collected his 11th Grade 1 for Hendo and owner JP.

Despite James Bowen’s excitement of wanting to see Harry Cobden ride JONBON for the first time (he really rates Cobden), he actually ended up getting the ride himself after Cobden was stood down injured (he’ll be out for a few days). JONBON takes James to 11 winners off last years tally.

Back to JONBON, who has always been a bit of a marmite horse - punters love taking him on, whereas purist jumps fans adore him. Despite being punters, we love him - there aren’t many horses who can win a Grade 1, let alone 11! Would we back him at Cheltenham though? Hell no! But that doesn’t take away from any of his equine greatness.

Whether you backed him or took him, he needs to be applauded. He’s one of the greatest to never win at Cheltenham - which just goes to show, it’s not all about Cheltenham. Right?

The final day, Sunday, returned to Windsor, capping off the event with big competitive fields that underscored the weekend's new status as one of January's best fixtures and the major talking point, both before and after the race, was PROTEKTORAT.

If, like us, you attempt to price up a card (or simply the horses that are on the punting shortlist, you’d have questioned the big price about PROTEKTORAT ahead of the Fleur De Lys. He was a 7/4-on shot, yet the books were giving him away at 11/10!

Was his price a warning or gift?

Quite simply, it was a gift - the bookies do give them away sometimes - as PROTEKTORAT gritted it out and won well in the end, tipping his career earnings over the magical £1m mark.

The massive milestone victory has not only highlighted the horses class—having previously won Grade One races—but also boosted Dan Skelton's seasonal earnings to over £2.8 million.

Harry stayed in the headlines as the weekend's drama extended beyond the winners' enclosure, with an altercation between himself and Sean Bowen.

Here’s the incident (and altercation below):

In short, despite Harry’s grievances with Sean’s aggressive move, he was in the wrong.

You must always check the mirrors (twice) before manoeuvring, Harry!

MORE FIGHTING TALK

The Skelton Bowen spat wasn’t the only bad mouthing this weekend as Barry Connell was quick to call the Clarence House Chase a Micky Mouse race lmao.

In a sport where most personalities involved would sooner keep their mouth shut, Barry Connell can’t help but give his opinion on things and he’s never ever been shy to display just how highly he regards MARINE NATIONALE.

He basically thinks if MARINE stands, he wins the Champion Chase and to be honest, at this moment in time, we’d tend to agree with him - it’s just quite amusing (and refreshing) to see such bullishness from a trainer!

He’s 6/4 for the Champion Chase, which puts him a few clicks ahead of second fave MAJBOROUGH who can’t jump and then the rest of the field are 8/1.

Our view is Connell’s assertions might well pay out nicely, but THISTLE ASK is big at 12/1. Should he bowl along in front he might be tough to peg back on better ground!

MAD GOSHEN RETIRED

We were only wondering recently when GOSHEN was going to be seen again and as if the Moore’s read our minds, his retirement was announced.

Famous for ‘that Triumph crash out’, he was a complete enigma for the Moore yard. On his day, he was a f*cking machine. He was on a seven-timer when coming down at the last in 2020’s Triumph:

It took him three runs for his head to be right again where he absolutely honked up in the Kingwell by over 20 lengths.

Since then, he’s picked up up another four good wins, two of which were Graded races. His last win was back in 2024 and after a string of bad beats, the Moore’s have decided to pull stumps with him and give the front-running fruitcake a well earned retirement.

Well done, GOSHEN - everyone will miss you.

WEEKEND EYE-CATCHERS

JOYEUSE - SATURDAY ASCOT 13.40

She looked the winner until the last which she fluffed and stopped herself. We’d be keen to see where she ends up next as looks ready to win again over hurdles.

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