Racing Rewind with Steve Mullington
It was a long time coming but Victoria Pendleton finally got the losing monkey off her back on Wednesday afternoon when she won aboard Pacha Du Polder at Wincanton.
A bold front-running ride in the Betfair 'Switching Saddles' Hunter Chase by Pendleton paid off as the 5/4 favourite coasted clear to win by 29 lengths.
The dual Olympic champion cyclist set out with the aim of riding in the St James's Place Foxhunter Chase at this month's Cheltenham Festival when embarking on the 'Switching Saddles' challenge just over a year ago. After a few rides on the Flat and some regular mounts on the point-to-point circuit, Pendleton made her first start under Rules when teaming up with her intended Cheltenham mount Pacha Du Polder at Fakenham just under two weeks ago.
However when Pendleton was unseated at that day many people questioned whether she was actually good enough to compete in amateurs' equivalent of the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Former champion jockey, John Francome, said she was “an accident waiting to happen”, whilst former Champion Hurdle winner, Steve Smith Eccles, said she was “very loose in the saddle”, and suggested she hang back another year before tackling the Cheltenham race.
Pendleton said after the victory: "It was fantastic. I really just wanted a good round. I wanted to get round on the horse and give him a ride he deserved because he's Pacha Du Polder and he is a lovely horse.
"I feel very honoured and lucky to be allowed to ride such a wonderful animal.
"I was very frustrated (after Fakenham) but also I know that this sport is full of thrills and spills - that can happen, it's racing.
"When I started this challenge, people said, 'You know you're going to fall off, don't you?' and I said, 'Yes, I know', but it's a very small price to pay for the joy you get in riding a thoroughbred racehorse."
So the naysayers were forced to eat humble pie on Wednesday evening and what are the odds that Victoria Pendleton was thinking to herself “On your bike you lot!” on Thursday morning? Very high I would think.
Pacha Du Polder is 16/1 for the Foxhunters at the Festival and an announcement on Pendleton’s participation in the race will be made at a press conference on Monday morning.
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News broke this week that online betting companies based outside of Britain will be subject to a reformed horse racing levy, the UK government has said.
The culture secretary John Whittingdale said that the government intends to “introduce a new funding arrangement for British racing by April 2017”.
“We will create a level playing field for British-based and offshore gambling operators, and will ensure a fair return for racing from all bookmakers, including those based offshore,” Whittingdale said. “The racing industry will be responsible for making decisions on the spending of the new fund. We will make further announcements shortly.”
Whittingdale's announcement was welcomed by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), the official governing body of British horseracing. Steve Harman chairman of the BHA, said the development was “an important step”.
The new measure to replace the existing horse racing levy will require state aid approval by the European Commission before it can be implemented. In June 2013 the Commission approved a French proposal for a "parafiscal levy" on online horse race betting, so a precedent has already been set.
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Star miler Solow overcame trouble in running to make a winning seasonal debut in the Prix Montjeu at Chantilly on Thursday.
Freddy Head’s popular grey, who is now unbeaten in his last ten starts, used this one-mile race on the Polytrack as a stepping stone towards the Dubai Turf at Meydan last year. He is now set to follow a similar path after that victory.
The win was not with incident as Maxime Guyon and Solow were momentarily trapped for room by Vadamos on the rail, but Solow’s class soon came to the fore as Guyon switched him out and they ended up winning comfortably.
A delighted Freddy Head said. “He is certainly as good as last year and maybe a little bit better. He is in a class of his own and is ready go to Dubai now. He won’t do much before then, as this will have done him a lot of good and set him up perfectly.”
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Ascot announced on Sunday that this year's Gold Cup at the Royal meeting will celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday.
The two-and-a-half-mile feature, which was famously won by Her Majesty's Estimate in 2013, will be run as the Gold Cup in Honour of The Queen's 90th Birthday on June 16th.
Johnny Weatherby, Her Majesty's representative at Ascot, said: “We are delighted to be celebrating the Queen's 90th birthday in the race title of the Gold Cup.
“The Gold Cup, recently won of course by the Queen herself, is the historic centrepiece of Royal Ascot, and is very much the race which resonates most with the public.”
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The Last Samuri trained by Kim Bailey is now Aintree bound after an emphatic win in the Grimthorpe Chase at Doncaster on Saturday.
Bailey’s runner is now as low as 12-1 co-favourite, alongside last year's winner Many Clouds and Silviniaco Conti, for the Grand National.
Bailey's assistant, Mat Nicholls, said after the race: “That couldn't have gone any better.
“He was ready for today and I'm not going to say he'll improve a stone fitness-wise, but I do think he'll improve for better ground.
“Our job now is to keep him in one piece. There's not much more to say as he did everything you would have wanted him to do.”
Kim Bailey is no stranger to winning the Grand National having lifted the prize in 1990 with Mr Frisk, who to this day still holds the track record for the fastest finishing time in the race.
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Top jump jockeys (last 14 days): D.Bass (6/16), F.O’Toole (3/8), R.Walsh (4/11), H.Skelton (7/24).
Top jump trainers (last 14 days): B.Ellison (6/14), J.Candlish (3/7), N.King (4/10), W.Mullins (5/14).