The stubborn ‘we know best and to hell with the rest of you’ nature of British racing’s rulers means that once again the Flat season on turf gets under way at Doncaster today while the 2019 Flat jockeys’ championship is pushed to one side like a piece of rotten fruit. It’s nigh on impossible to […]
DONCASTER 1.50 TAKE a chance on MOKARRIS in the Unibet Cammidge Trophy. He had some proper form as a two-year-old. His second behind top-class sprinter Blue Point – when Middle Park winner The Last Lion was back in third – shows what he was once capable of. Whether he’s up to that level these days […]
THERE was a royal rumble around Ditcheat on Thursday as the Queen came to visit our Cheltenham heroes. We all donned our best outfits in her honour and everyone was absolutely buzzing. Dad was a bit annoyed, though – Her Majesty was more excited about the Flat season starting than Aintree next week! In all […]
THE FLAT is back and I am absolutely buzzing – though it can be tricky as a punter to get your brain out of ‘jumps mode’ at this time of year. So I’ve spent a couple of days refreshing the memory and have picked out ten three-year-old’s who are musts for the tracker ahead of […]
SUMMER is here at last – well, maybe not quite – but it cannot be far away as Flat racing on turf returns to Doncaster with the Lincoln meeting. The main event features a very short-priced favourite in Auxerre for Godolphin and the money indicates he is believed to be well ahead of his mark. […]
IT’S been a quiet week but there was a fair bit of excitement in the village where my wife has her stud. A film crew descended on our corner of the Cotswolds to film Jane Austin’s Emma. I did think about offering my services to play the leading man but unfortunately my top hat and […]
BRITS are braced for travel chaos this morning as a dense fog engulfs huge swathes of the UK – before sunshine breaks through later on. The Met Office has issued a ‘severe’ Yellow warning for fog covering the south-west England, southern Wales and the border areas between Wales and England. With dense patches of fog […]
AUXERRE will bid to justify favouritism from stall 17 in the Lincoln on Saturday. The Godolphin jolly heads a field of 22 for the annual Flat season opener. Having won his last three starts in style, the four-year-old will bid to follow in the footsteps of last year’s winner Addeybb, who did the business easily off a […]
FORMER US Vice President Joe Biden has said he does not recall “inappropriately” kissing a 35-year-old political candidate and smelling her hair in 2014. Democrat Lucy Flores accused the 76-year-old of planting a “big slow kiss” on the back of her head in a first-person essay for New York Magazine. This was an incredibly difficult […]
THE long-running royal “feud” between Prince Charles and Prince Andrew has been well-documented. And experts believe the fierce rivalry stems from the fact that the Queen has a firm favourite son. Despite Charles being the first-born and heir to the throne, it’s believed that she actually has a closer relationship with Andrew, who is 11 […]
A ROCKER claimed he was offered $50,000 (£38,000) to kill Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and mysteriously died two days after the shock “admission”. Debate still rages around the circumstances of the iconic singer’s death in 1994 – even though cops officially ruled it a suicide. And now bizarre footage has emerged which appears to suggest […]
A NATIONWIDE survey has revealed the extent to which a fear of new things is holding millions back from achieving their dreams and goals. More than one in ten singletons have backed away from someone they liked in the past year, through fear of starting a relationship, according to the survey. And as many as […]
BREXIT was plunged into severe doubt on the very day Britain was due to have left the EU, after MPs shot down Theresa May’s exit deal a third time. In another crushing blow to the PM, 26 Tory hardline Brexiteers and eight Tory Remainers allied with Labour and others to defeat her by 344 v […]
INCOMPETENCE seems to have spread beyond the Government to Parliament as a whole — the fact that they simply cannot make a decision is extraordinary. Whether you believed in Remain or Leave, the only way to retain a negotiating position was to make sure, in a calm and quiet way, that the UK would take […]
THIS morning we were supposed to wake up to a new future, free from the cloying influence of the European Union. The date March 30, so we were told, was going to be etched in our history as Britain’s independence day. We would be free to make our own trade deals, designed to help UK […]
LACKING support from the Democratic Unionist Party, Theresa May’s “last chance” vote was bound to fail. The Northern Ireland party’s refusal to back her means we face the danger of a long delay — resulting in a much softer Brexit or no Brexit at all. Soft Brexit means Britain stays in the EU’s single market […]
TORY arch-Remainer Dominic Grieve lost a confidence vote in his constituency by 182 votes to 131. Following his bid to try and block Brexit, the pro-EU MP for Beaconsfield now faces possible deselection from the local Conservative Association. It followed a petition on Change.org signed by more than 38,000 urging the local association to deselect […]
LIAM Neeson has finally apologised for admitting that he wanted to kill an innocent black man. He said his comments “do not represent the person I am” and that he is “profoundly” sorry. Last month the actor, 66, told how he had once looked for a “black b*****d” to kill after a friend was raped. […]
WITH a voice that could cut crystal, baronets on both sides of the family and a filthy sense of humour, Phoebe Waller-Bridge is the epitome of the British upper crust. And now the brilliant actress and writer, who penned hit TV shows Killing Eve and Fleabag, is the toast of America. Comedy queens including Amy […]
WITH the sun shining, I’m already getting into holiday mode. Today marks three months until the start of July, so it is the perfect time to get your finances in check so they are ready for a summer getaway. With the launch of Sun Hols From £15 today, planning a family break just got a […]
IT’S home time, and wide-eyed children streaming through the primary school gates are met by a wall of noise from placard-holding protesters. As two police officers look on, demo orchestrator Shakeel Afsar bellows into his megaphone: “Our children!” A throng of around 50 Muslim demonstrators, some in black niqabs, chant back: “Our choice.” One home-made […]
THEY teach us pretty much everything – from manners and morals to telling the time and tying shoe laces. Whether we are four or 74, mums are usually the first people we turn to for advice – and maybe a cuddle. To celebrate Mother’s Day tomorrow, KATE JACKSON asks six writers to share those little […]
HOUSE prices in England have suffered their first annual slump since late 2012. The average £255,683 was 0.7 per cent less than last year — dragged down by the plunging London market. Values in the capital fell 3.8 per cent from the first three months of 2018 to the first three of 2019 — their […]
THE grieving husband of a mum killed in a smash following a police chase on the M25 has paid tribute to the “love of his life”. Jessica Michael died in a three-vehicle crash just before 10pm on Thursday and is thought to have been in a car in collision with a vehicle being chased by […]
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