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3 weeks 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.
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4 weeks 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.
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1 month 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.
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1 month ago | 
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.
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1 month ago | 
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.
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2 months ago | 
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.
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2 months ago | 
sportinglife.com | Simon Holt
The depressing news that Sir Gino is out for the season has blown a hole through next month's Arkle Trophy, robbing the Cheltenham Festival of what could have been a memorable clash with Majborough. It is pure bad luck for Nicky Henderson and his team that a minor injury has become something a lot more serious, and few of us need reminding of how fragile jumps horses can be.
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2 months ago | 
sportinglife.com | Simon Holt
Not for the first time, some of the performances at the Dublin Racing Festival last weekend will have had British trainers back home watching from behind the sofa. While Willie Mullins again ran riot, visitors were in lamentably short supply and full marks to Harry Derham, Patrick Neville, Henry Daly and Warren Greatrex who at least made an effort to be competitive albeit unsuccessfully.
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Oct 15, 2024 | 
sportinglife.com | Simon Holt
Simon Holt reckons punters would be unwise to overlook the French stars heading to Ascot for QIPCO British Champions Day this weekend. Those French lads took one hell of a beating at the recent Arc weekend going down by eight wins to three to Britain and Ireland in the feature races, but Saturday's Qipco Champion Stakes promises a much tighter 'tete-a-tete’.
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Sep 29, 2024 | 
sportinglife.com | Simon Holt
Can Shin Emperor end the fabled Arc de Triomphe hoodoo for Japan? Simon Holt feels he may be capable of delivering. Online, there is some split-screen coverage available of the 2012 running of Sunday's Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in which a group of Japanese men, in a darkened room lit only by the TV screen, are cheering home their great hope Orfevre.
