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Finale Juvenile Hurdle
The Finale Juvenile Hurdle is a Grade 2 National Hunt hurdle race in Great Britain which is open to horses aged three years. It is run at Chepstow over a distance of about 2 miles (2 miles and 11 yards, or 3,228 metres), and during its running there are eight hurdles to be jumped. The race is for novice hurdlers, and it is scheduled to take place each year during the Welsh Grand National meeting in late December. On occasions when the race has been postponed to January of the following year, the runners are aged four years. The race carried Grade 1 status until the 2021 running. It was downgraded to Grade 2 by the British Horseracing Authority in 2022. Records Leading jockey since 1971 (3 wins): * Mick Fitzgerald – ''Mister Banjo (1999), Blue Shark (2005), Good Bye Simon (2006) '' * Richard Johnson – ''Franchoek (2007), Le Rocher (2013), Defi Du Seuil (2016)'' * Daryl Jacob – '' Me Voici (2009), Bristol De Mai (2014), We Have A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Hunt Racing
In horse racing in the United Kingdom, France and Republic of Ireland, National Hunt racing requires horses to jump fences and ditches. National Hunt racing in the UK is informally known as "jumps" and is divided into two major distinct branches: hurdles and steeplechases. Alongside these there are "bumpers", which are National Hunt flat races. In a hurdles race, the horses jump over obstacles called hurdles; in a steeplechase the horses jump over a variety of obstacles that can include plain fences, water jump or an open ditch. In the UK the biggest National Hunt events of the year are generally considered to be the Grand National and the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Outline Most of the National Hunt season takes place in the winter when the softer ground makes jumping less dangerous. The horses are much cheaper, as the majority are geldings and have no breeding value. This makes the sport more popular as the horses are not usually retired at such a young age and thus become familiar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toby Balding
Gerald Barnard Balding Jr. OBE (23 September 1936 – 25 September 2014), known as Toby Balding, was a British racehorse trainer, one of the few to have won the "big three" British jump races—the Grand National, Cheltenham Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle. Biography He was born in the United States where his father, Gerald Barnard Balding, Sr., ran a polo team. The family returned to the UK in 1945 and Toby was educated at Marlborough College. His brother, Ian Balding, also a retired trainer, trained Mill Reef to win the Epsom Derby. TV presenter Clare Balding is his niece and trainer Andrew Balding his nephew. He achieved success with both flat and National Hunt horses. He first began training in 1956, aged 19, and his first winners were Bower Chalk at Ascot Racecourse on the flat and The Quiet Man at Wincanton Racecourse over jumps. In 1969, Balding won his first Grand National with Highland Wedding, following up twenty years later with the gelding Little Polveir. That sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan King (horse Racing)
Alan King (born 1966) is a Scottish racehorse trainer specialising mainly in National Hunt racing. He is based at Barbury Castle stables near Wroughton, Wiltshire. He worked as assistant trainer to David Nicholson until Nicholson's retirement and then took out a licence to train himself, first at Jackdaw's Castle stables, before moving to Barbury Castle in June 2000. His biggest wins at the Cheltenham Festival have come with My Way de Solzen in the 2006 World Hurdle, Voy Por Ustedes in the 2007 Queen Mother Champion Chase, Katchit in the 2008 Champion Hurdle, Oh Crick in the 2009 Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Chase and Uxizandre in the 2015 Ryanair Chase Despite a terrible year with injuries, the yard also had a 1–2 in the 2013 Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle with Medinas and Meister Eckhart. His principal stable jockey until October 2019 was Wayne Hutchinson. Cheltenham winners (16) * Queen Mother Champion Chase - (1)'' Voy Por Ustedes (2007)'' * Champion Hurdle - (1) '' Katch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrew Thornton
Andrew Thornton is a retired National Hunt racing, National Hunt jockey. Early life He was born on 28 October 1972 in Cleveland, England, Cleveland and schooled at Barnard Castle School in County Durham. He is not related to another English jockey, Robert Thornton (jockey), Robert Thornton. Riding career He rode mainly for Caroline Bailey and Seamus Mullins, he was stable jockey for Robert Alner for many years as well as riding for plenty of other trainers over the years. Thornton was one of the very few National Hunt jockeys who wore contact lenses while riding and it is for this reason that he acquired the nicknames "Lensio" and "Blindman". Thornton rode his 1000th winner on Kentford Myth at Wincanton Racecourse, Wincanton on 26 December 2016. Despite having to endure many setbacks and injuries throughout his career, by 2012 Thornton was widely regarded as one of the best jumps jockeys around. He was also very highly respected among his weighing room colleagues. Because Thornt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony McCoy
Sir Anthony Peter McCoy (born 4 May 1974), commonly known as AP McCoy or Tony McCoy, is a Northern Irish former National Hunt horse racing jockey. Based in Ireland and the UK, McCoy rode a record 4,358 winners, and was Champion Jockey a record 20 consecutive times, every year that he was a professional. McCoy recorded his first winner in 1992 at age 17. On 7 November 2013 he rode his 4,000th winner, riding Mountain Tunes to victory at Towcester. Even in his first season riding in Britain, as an apprentice for trainer Toby Balding, McCoy won the Conditional Jump Jockeys Title with a record 74 winners for a conditional jockey. McCoy claimed his first Champion Jockey title in 1995/96 and went on to win it every year until his retirement in 2015. McCoy has won almost every big race there is to win. His most high-profile winners include the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase, King George VI Chase and the 2010 Grand National, riding Don't Push It. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adrian Maguire
Adrian Maguire, born 29 April 1971 in Kilmessan, County Meath, Ireland, is a racehorse trainer and former jockey. Maguire began his career in Irish pony racing at the age of nine, in which he rode more than 200 winners. In 1990 he rode his first winner under rules, at Sligo, before his first victory in the United Kingdom a year later. In the 1993–1994 season he rode 194 winners but lost the jockeys' championship by a margin of three to Richard Dunwoody. Maguire won a total of 1,024 races in the UKMontgomery, Sue. ''Racing: Maguire resists the lure to ride his luck one last time.'' ''Independent''. 29 October 2002. Retrieved 30 December 2008. and has been descri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martin Pipe
Martin Charles Pipe (born 29 May 1945), is an English former racehorse trainer credited with professionalising the British racehorse training industry, and as of 2021 the most successful trainer in British jump racing. The son of a West-Country bookmaker, Pipe was an amateur jockey before turning his attention to training in 1974 at Nicholashayne, Somerset, near Wellington, England, at Pond House stables. Pipe is broadly credited with professionalising National Hunt racing. He made multiple simple but effective changes to what had been then the traditional methods of training racehorses, specifically those in jump racing. His training innovations included using interval training, using daily blood tests to assess fitness, and keeping horses lean during the racing season, all intended to ensure his horses were at peak fitness for races. His methods came into broad use during the period he was training. Pipe was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Elsworth
David Raymond Cecil Elsworth (born 1939) is a retired horse trainer living in the United Kingdom. He was the trainer of Desert Orchid, 1988 Grand National winner Rhyme 'n' Reason, and 1990 Queen Mother Champion Chase winner Barnbrook Again; three horses among a number of top-class performers for over jumps and on the flat. Daivid Elsworth was champion national hunt trainer 1987–88. Elsworth also trained Persian Punch to win multiple staying races on the flat, whilst his sole classic success came with the 1990 Irish 1000 Guineas with In the Groove. Elsworth began his training career as an assistant to Ricky Vallance at Bishops Cannings in Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ... in the early 1970s. When Vallance lost his training licence Elsworth took a jo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jonjo O'Neill
John Joseph "Jonjo" O'Neill (born 13 April 1952) is an Irish National Hunt racehorse trainer and former jockey. He is a native of Castletownroche, County Cork in Ireland. Based at the Jackdaws Castle training establishment in England. O'Neill twice won the British Champion Jockey title (1977-78 & 1979-80) and won the Cheltenham Gold Cup on the mare, Dawn Run who became the only horse to complete the double of winning the Champion Hurdle and the Gold Cup at the Cheltenham Festival. He won 900 races as a jockey. At the 2009 Cheltenham Festival, Wichita Lineman, an O'Neill trained horse, won the William Hill Trophy. dailyrecord.co.uk, 11 March 2009, accessed 11 March 2009. On 10 April 2010, Jonjo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stan Mellor
Stanley Thomas Edward Mellor (10 April 1937 – 1 August 2020) was a National Hunt jockey and trainer who was the first jockey to ride 1,000 winners and Champion Jockey three years in a row from 1960 to 1962. Riding career Riding style Mellor was an intelligent jockey, rather than a physical one. He once bemoaned the effect this had on public perception of him: "If you win with strength people see it, and if you win with style people see it, but if you win with guile people don't see it." He rode at a weight of 8 st 10 lb, not much more than a modern flat jockey. Victory against Arkle Mellor was one of the few jockeys to experience beating Arkle, often regarded as the greatest steeplechaser of all time. His victory against Arkle came in the 1966 Hennessy Gold Cup on 25-1 outsider Stalbridge Colonist. Because of the handicapping system, Arkle was regularly forced to compete conceding huge amounts of weight to other horses, and his defeat is often attributed to that. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hywel Davies (jockey)
Hywel Davies is a retired Welsh professional National Hunt jockey. He rode for 16 years with 761 wins in the UK and he ended his riding career in 1994. Early life Davies is a Welsh speaker and didn't speak English until he was 7 years of age. He attended Cardigan Comprehensive School from 1969 until 1975. Racing career Davies was the retained jockey for Tim Forster for 8 years at his Letcombe Bassett stables near Lambourn in Berkshire. He became a freelance jockey and rode for several other trainers like Josh Gifford and Nicky Henderson. He won the 1985 Grand National on Last Suspect a 50-1 outsider. He retired from riding at the age of 37 in 1994. Since retiring Davies has been the UK representative Gain Horse Feeds. Career after racing Davies has been a guest horse racing commentator on At the Races, Channel 4 Racing, BBC Cymru BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Nicholson (horse Racing)
David Nicholson (19 March 1939 – 27 August 2006) was a British National Hunt jockey and trainer. He was British jump racing Champion Trainer in the 1993–94 and 1994–95 seasons. Family and early life Nicholson was born at Epsom in 1939. His father Frenchie Nicholson, was also a successful jockey and National Hunt trainer. Nicholson's mother, Diana, was the great-granddaughter of William Holman, who trained three Grand National winners. He went to Haileybury College but was mainly educated for a horse racing career in his father's stable. As a young lad Nicholson was nicknamed 'The Duke' by other stable staff because of his manner and his inability to carry out menial work at the stable due to asthma and allergies. The nickname remained with him throughout his life Horse racing career Nicholson began as a flat racing jockey from the age of 12 but switched to National Hunt racing where his 6-foot height was better suited to the heavier weights carried by National Hunt joc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |