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Raleigh Gilbert
Walter Raleigh Willock Gilbert, known as Raleigh Gilbert (28 February 1936 – c. February 1998) was a British horse racing commentator active for 40 years. Early life Born in Devon and educated at Sherborne School, Gilbert rode as an amateur while living in Kenya in the mid-1950s, and began his journalistic career as racing correspondent for the East African Field and Farm in 1956 before returning to Britain and writing for the Sunday Post in Scotland. Commentary career Gilbert began his career as a racecourse commentator in 1958, and eventually became the first person to commentate at every racecourse in the UK. In the early 1970s he worked briefly for the BBC, commentating on the 1971 Grand National for BBC Television, but the dominance of Peter O'Sullevan and Julian Wilson on TV and Peter Bromley and Michael Seth-Smith on radio blocked his way, and in January 1972 he joined ITV as a commentator. From that year until the end of 1980 he was one of the commercial channel's ...
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Horse Racing
Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic premise – to identify which of two or more horses is the fastest over a set course or distance – has been mostly unchanged since at least classical antiquity. Horse races vary widely in format, and many countries have developed their own particular traditions around the sport. Variations include restricting races to particular breeds, running over obstacles, running over different distances, running on different track surfaces, and running in different gaits. In some races, horses are assigned different weights to carry to reflect differences in ability, a process known as handicapping. While horses are sometimes raced purely for sport, a major part of horse racing's interest and economic importance is in the gambling associated with ...
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Epsom Oaks
The Oaks Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs over a distance of 1 mile, 4 furlongs and 6 yards (2,420 metres), and it is scheduled to take place each year in late May or early June. It is the second-oldest of the five Classic races, after the St Leger. Officially the Cazoo Oaks, it is also popularly known as simply The Oaks. It has increasingly come to be referred to as the Epsom Oaks in both the UK and overseas countries, although 'Epsom' is not part of the official title of the race.) It is the third of Britain's five Classic races to be held during the season, and the second of two restricted to fillies. It can also serve as the middle leg of the Fillies' Triple Crown, preceded by the 1000 Guineas and followed by the St Leger, although the feat of winning all three is rarely attempted. History The event is named after ...
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Chester Cup
The Chester Cup is a flat handicap horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years or older. It is run over a distance of 2 miles, 2 furlongs and 147 yards () at Chester in May. History The event was established in 1824, and it was originally called the Tradesmen's Cup. It was initially a limited handicap with a minimum weight of . For a period the race was known as the Tradesmen's Plate. During this time it was open to horses aged three or older. The race was renamed the Chester Trades' Cup in 1874. From this point it was often referred to as the Chester Cup, and that became its usual title in 1884. The Chester Cup was formerly contested over 2 miles, 2 furlongs and 77 yards. It was abandoned in 1969, and extended by 20 yards in 1970. The distance of the race was changed to 2 miles, 2 furlongs and 117 yards in 1992. It was increased to its present length in 1994. Reco ...
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Satellite Information Services
Sports Information Services (SIS) is a company which provides content and production services to the betting industry; such as horse racing and greyhound racing, to betting shops in the United Kingdom and Ireland and other worldwide destinations. Previously, they provided news gathering services and specialised broadcast solutions to clients beyond betting industry. It was formed in 1986 as Satellite Information Service, when bookmakers took the opportunity to broadcast live racing in their shops for the first time – previously only live audio commentary was broadcast to licensed betting offices (LBOs) and a 'whiteboard' man transcribed the shows and results in the LBOs. The service was launched initially in Bristol on 5 May 1987 and subsequently rolled out to approximately 10,400 bookmakers in the UK and Ireland. SIS is owned by Ladbrokes 23%, Caledonia Investments 22.5%, Alternateport Limited 20.5%, William Hill Organisation 19.5%, Fred Done (co-owner of Betfred bookmake ...
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Newmarket Racecourse
Newmarket Racecourse is a British Thoroughbred horse racing venue in Newmarket, Suffolk, Newmarket, Suffolk, comprising two individual racecourses: the Rowley Mile and the July Course. Newmarket is often referred to as the headquarters of Horse racing in the United Kingdom, British horseracing and is home to the largest cluster of training yards in the country and many key horse racing organisations, including Tattersalls, the National Horseracing Museum and the National Stud. Newmarket hosts two of the country's five British Classic Races, Classic Races – the 1,000 Guineas and 2,000 Guineas, and numerous other Group races. In total, it hosts 9 of British racing's List of British flat horse races#Group 1, 36 annual Group One, Group 1 races. History Racing in Newmarket was recorded in the time of James VI and I, James I. The racecourse itself was founded in 1636. Around 1665, Charles II of England, Charles II inaugurated the Newmarket Town Plate and in 1671 became the fi ...
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Channel 4 Racing
''Channel 4 Racing'' was the name given to the horse racing coverage on the British television stations Channel 4 and More4. History The first transmission of racing on the channel was on 22 March 1984 from Doncaster, as it took over midweek coverage which had previously been on ITV. On 5 October 1985, it took over ITV's Saturday afternoon coverage (previously ''The ITV Seven'') when '' World of Sport'' finished. From the beginning of 1986, however, the amount of racing covered, especially on Saturday afternoons, was substantially reduced and focused on Newmarket, Epsom, Doncaster, York, Sandown Park, Kempton the core tracks with visits to Ayr for the Scottish Grand National and Ayr Gold Cup meetings and Newcastle for the Eider Chase, Northumberland Plate and Fighting Fifth Hurdle meetings dropped would be the small/medium tracks that were covered by World Of Sport Warwick, Nottingham, Market Rasen, Ripon, Beverley, Towcester, Stratford, Catterick, Redcar, Thirsk, Hereford, ...
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Cheltenham Festival
The Cheltenham Festival is a horse racing-based meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, with race prize money second only to the Grand National. The four-day festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Racecourse in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. It usually coincides with Saint Patrick's Day and is particularly popular with Irish visitors. The meeting features several Grade I races including the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase and Stayers' Hurdle. Large amounts of money are gambled; hundreds of millions of pounds are bet over the course of the week. Cheltenham is noted for its atmosphere, including the "Cheltenham roar", which refers to the enormous amount of noise that the crowd generates as the starter raises the tape for the first race of the festival. History Origins The Cheltenham Festival originated in 1860 when the National Hunt Chase was first held at Market Harborough. It was initially titled the ...
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Royal Ascot
Ascot Racecourse ("ascot" pronounced , often pronounced ) is a dual-purpose British racecourse, located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, which is used for thoroughbred horse racing. It hosts 13 of Britain's 36 annual Flat Group 1 horse races and three Grade 1 Jumps races. Ascot Racecourse is visited by approximately 600,000 people a year, accounting for 10% of all UK racegoers. The racecourse covers , leased from the Crown Estate and enjoys close associations with the British Royal Family, being founded in 1711 by Queen Anne and located approximately from Windsor Castle. Queen Elizabeth II used to visit the Ascot Racecourse quite frequently, sometimes even betting on the horses. Ascot currently stages 26 days of racing over the course of the year, comprising 18 flat meetings between April and October, and 8 jump meetings between October and March. The Royal Meeting, held in June each year, remains the highlight of the British summer social calendar. The prestigious King Geo ...
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Polo
Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ball through the opposing team's goal. Each team has four mounted riders, and the game usually lasts one to two hours, divided into periods called ''chukkas'' or "''chukkers''". Polo has been called "the sport of kings", and has become a spectator sport for equestrians and high society, often supported by sponsorship. The progenitor of the game and its variants existed from the to the as equestrian games played by nomadic Iranian and Turkic peoples. In Persia, where the sport evolved and developed, it was at first a training game for cavalry units, usually the royal guard or other elite troops. A notable example is Saladin, who was known for being a skilled polo player which contributed to his cavalry training. It is now popular around ...
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Greyhound Racing
Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Track racing uses an artificial lure (usually a form of windsock) that travels ahead of the greyhounds on a rail until the greyhounds cross the finish line. As with horse racing, greyhound races often allow the public to bet on the outcome. In many countries, greyhound racing is purely amateur and solely for enjoyment. In other countries, particularly Australia, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, greyhound racing is similar to horse racing in that it is part of the gambling industry. Animal rights and animal welfare groups have been critical of the welfare of greyhounds in the commercial racing industry for many years which has contributed to the reforms of the industries in recent years. A greyhound adoption movement spe ...
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Eclipse Stakes
The Eclipse Stakes is a Group races, Group 1 Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Sandown Park Racecourse, Sandown Park over a distance of 1 mile, 1 furlong and 209 yards (2,002 metres), and it is scheduled to take place each year in early July. History The event is named after Eclipse (horse), Eclipse, a celebrated 18th-century racehorse. It was established in 1886, and the inaugural running was won by Bendigo (horse), Bendigo. At that time, it was Britain's richest ever race. The prize fund of £10,000 was donated by Leopold de Rothschild at the request of General Owen Williams (British Army officer), Owen Williams, a co-founder of Sandown Park. The Eclipse Stakes was contested by high-quality fields from its inception. It was won by Ayrshire, the previous year's Epsom Derby, Derby winner, in 1889. The first three finishers i ...
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Irish Oaks
The Irish Oaks is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 1 mile and 4 furlongs (2,414 metres), and it is scheduled to take place each year in July. It is Ireland's equivalent of The Oaks, a famous race in England. History The event was established in 1895, and it was originally contested over a mile. It was extended to its present length in 1915. The field usually includes fillies which ran previously in the Epsom Oaks, and several have won both races. The first was Masaka in 1948, and the most recent was Snowfall in 2021. The leading participants from the Irish Oaks sometimes go on to compete in the following month's Yorkshire Oaks. The last to achieve victory in both events was Snowfall in 2021. Records Leading jockey (6 wins): * Johnny Murtagh – ''Ebadiyla (1997), Winona (1998), Petrushka (2000), Peeping Fawn (2007), Moonstone (2008 ...
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