Equinties - the roundup

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I’m shocked Lingfield isn’t on today when the whole of the UK is 11 degrees but, that’s said, the big thaw is well underway and I can smell the mud already.

Let’s go.

Headline Roundup

Thurles Review 

Finally, after what felt like a week of clucking to get a bet on over the birch, we had some jumps racing over the weekend as Thurles opened its doors yesterday and there were some seemingly nice horses on display. 

RAMILLIES

The Willie Mullins charge of useful novice chasers has started to hit the track as RAMILLIES, owned by the same connections as his ex-stablemate AL BOUM PHOTO, made a perfect start to his career over fences. 

The seven-year-old grey was sixth in the Grade 1 Albert Bartlett at Cheltenham having travelled like a dream into the race and he did the same yesterday to comfortably beat his stablemate TENZING by two lengths – the pair kicked the rest of the field into touch, including INDIANA JONES, a horse who was mixing it with CAPODANNO and BUSSLETON last season. 

William Hill was the first up with prices and they made him 14/1, however, other firms responded quickly and he is as big as 25/1 with Coral and Ladbrokes.

Dancing into the night 

The mares novice hurdle produced a new fancy for the big race at Cheltenham in March as LIBERTY DANCE tritted up, providing jockey Davy Russel with his final ever ride/win of his career (we’ll get onto this later). 

The 6/5 favourite travelled effortlessly into the race, jumped the second last in the lead, and never saw another rival – the horse in second, BELLE THE LIONESS, clattered the final two obstacles but still stayed on to finish well. One to watch potentially?

The five-year-old mare is as short as 6/1 for the Jack de Bromhead Mares’ Novice Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival but some places are as big as 12/1. 

John McConnell’s Bartlett contender? 

One horse who could be something to keep on the right side of going forward is GRAND SOIR for John McConnell as he won the 2m7f novice hurdle under Simon Torrens. 

Completing a lovely hattrick for connections, the six-year-old had to give eight pounds away to the second and ten pounds away to the third - despite this, he moved into the lead with a sense of confidence and won easily – bookmakers have gone 33/1 about him for the Albert Bartlett indicating they weren’t as impressed with him as it looked.

Legends of our sport 

Two icons of horse racing decided to announce their retirement from the saddle over the weekend, but they are both going about it in a different way.  

Let’s start with Frankie’s farewell tour. 

On Saturday, the 16-time British Classic-winning jockey announced that the 2023 Flat season will be his final campaign as a professional jockey. 

Despite Frankie’s small spats with trainers, owners, and the press, the Italian is the beating heart of modern day horse racing and the most recognisable character this sport has – if you ask someone who knows nothing about racing to name one person, they will say Frankie. 

Revealed on ITV Racing, the 52-year-old said: "I've been facing the facts – as I started to get closer to turning 52, it kind of hit me. I started asking myself, how far do you want to go? 

"Making the announcement is the first step – and I think it's only fair that the public knows what I'm planning because I want what comes next to be a celebration. I really want to give it one last go.” 

There are countless rides that could be talked about throughout his career, and we still have a whole season left to enjoy him, however, Dettori’s 25,095/1 seven-timer at Ascot back in 1996 has to be up there. 

Let’s enjoy him while he’s still around. Thank you, Frankie.

And as for the second jockey, well, it was another big one. 

Yesterday at Thurles, Legendary Irish jockey Davy Russel called time on his riding career after his victory onboard the Gordon Elliott-trained LIBERTY DANCE. 

Where to start with Davy. There are simply no words. 

He comes from the ‘golden era’ of jump jockeys: McCoy, Walsh, Johnson, Geraghty, Fehily, Carberry, and many more – he was deemed to be the last of the legendary group and he was certainly a jockey loved by a lot of people in the industry. 

From TIGER ROLL to SOLWHIT, LORD WINDERMERE to PRESENTING PERCY, Davy encapsulated the hearts and minds of racing fans from across the world thanks to his uniquely amazing personality, endless knowledge, and sublime riding quality. 

Like the way Ruby did it all those years ago, he rode off into the sunset after a trip to the winner’s enclosure. But what were some of his best rides and moments? We have linked them down below. 

Even in defeat on Tiger Roll, he was masterful on the legendary horse.

The horse racing community has lost a good one from the saddle this weekend, and one moment will always stick out to us as a brilliant ‘Davy Russel moment’. 

At a Cheltenham Festival preview evening in 2017 in Cork, Russel phoned up the course to see whether it was raining at the time of the event in relation to UN DE SCEAUX’s chances that year. The lady at Cheltenham obliged and made sure to check outside, away from her desk, to tell Davy what the situation was. Priceless moment. 

Predictably, UDS would go on to win the Ryanair that year. 

If you have a spare two minutes, give this a watch. 

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