Simon Holt

Senior Product Manager, Content Accessibility at Elsevier

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Articles

Epsom Derby preview

2 days ago | sportinglife.com | Simon Holt

Simon Holt sets the scene ahead of Saturday's Betfred Derby and he reckons there's a Yorkshire-bred colt with just about every box ticked for Epsom. Some things run through families. The men in the Royal Family go bald and three of my cousins all became teachers like their mother and father.
Dante Festival at York preview

3 weeks ago | sportinglife.com | Simon Holt

This week’s Dante meeting marks the start of another season at York, one of the finest racing venues in the country. The course usually looks immaculate with long straight cuts of the turf producing distinctive lines of dark and light green down the home straight. Back home, the old lawnmower is deployed to produce a similar effect but a wonky front wheel leads to a certain amount of hanging so that a slightly psychedelic design is the less than satisfactory end result.
Simon Holt on the Chester May meeting and influence of the Classic trials

1 month ago | sportinglife.com | Simon Holt

The late Alastair Down, whose career began at 'The Sporting Life' newspaper before he moved onto the 'Racing Post' and 'Channel4 Racing', was one of racing’s finest writers but Aidan O’Brien sometimes left him nearly lost for words. Reporting with golden prose on so many of the big meetings, where the Ballydoyle trainer often seemed to win everything, Down would try to find something different to say.
2000 Guineas preview: Simon Holt on the first Classic of the 2025 Flat season

1 month ago | sportinglife.com | Simon Holt

It's Betfred Guineas weekend at Newmarket and Simon Holt has his eye on an Irish challenger in the colts' Classic on Saturday. Every March, during the Cheltenham Festival, the great Irish horsewoman Jessica Harrington boards with Nicky Henderson at Seven Barrows. The two trainers have enjoyed a long friendship and one imagines they share a bit of information, and maybe a few confidences too, over the four days.
ITV Racing Tips: Preview and selections for Saturday March 29

2 months ago | sportinglife.com | Simon Holt

Simon Holt is back to preview the ITV Racing action this weekend and he's backing Karl Burke to land the William Hill Lincoln.
Simon Holt on the challenges facing the Randox Grand National

2 months ago | sportinglife.com | Simon Holt

For many a child of the sixties and seventies, the Grand National was an annual televisual treat and, hopefully, ITV viewers still feel the same. In those days, the BBC did a great job with their big-race build up fronted over many years by big name sports presenters like Frank Bough, David Coleman and the unbelievably suave Des Lynam whose 'twinkle in the eye' interviews with Jenny Pitman became an annual event.
Simon Holt on the future options for Constitution Hill

2 months ago | sportinglife.com | Simon Holt

In a dramatic Champion Hurdle earlier this week, the increasing vulnerability of Constitution Hill, the nation's favourite racehorse, was only too plain to see. The eight-year-old's heavy fall at the fifth flight was accompanied by a massive groan from the stands but, for those who had closely watched his previous two races this season, such a calamitous mistake should not have come as a total surprise.
Cheltenham Festival preview: The best of the British team

Mar 4, 2025 | sportinglife.com | Simon Holt

Will the British team enjoy more success than of late at next week's Cheltenham Festival? Simon Holt looks at their main hopes. WHEN one peruses the entries at next week's Cheltenham Festival, the firepower and sheer numbers of the Irish invasion, headed by Willie Mullins, is truly terrifying.
Simon Holt wonders if taking the Mares' Hurdle away from the Cheltenham Festival would be a positive move?

Feb 25, 2025 | sportinglife.com | Simon Holt

A small piece of history was made last week when, at the Tattersalls Cheltenham February Sale, Edith Pelham became the first British trained top lot at a point-to-point auction. Moreover, the £180,000 bid by Gloucestershire trainer Fergal O'Brien also made the daughter of Blue Bresil, a fluent winner at Sheriff Hutton last month, the most expensive British point-to-point filly or mare.
Simon Holt on why the current

Feb 18, 2025 | sportinglife.com | Simon Holt

Simon Holt on why the current whip rules still cause him concern ahead of the Cheltenham Festival. AS always at dread times like these, the tragic death of 24-year-old Michael O'Sullivan as a result of a fall at Thurles serves as a sobering reminder, just three weeks away from a meeting where the speed, the danger and the desire are never greater, of the extreme risks taken by jockeys every day.