Christmas Clinic
Saturday 28 December 2024
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Is there ever a dull year in the world of UK horse racing? If there is, we can’t remember when it was. Despite being one of the world’s oldest sports, horse racing continues to delight and entertain. This year, we’ve had a few standout moments that will live long in the memory. Check them out below.
Jockeys dream of racing at the Grand National. Some are brave enough to dream of winning the Grand National. But to win the world’s greatest steeplechase in your final ever race as a jockey? That’s a fairytale ending that would be beyond any jockey’s wildest dreams. Well, except if your name is Sam Waley-Cohen. The popular English jockey announced that the 2022 Grand National would be his final race, and then only went and won the race with Noble Yeats. He was a 50/1 outsider, too.
Stradivarius, the legendary Irish thoroughbred, was retired at the end of the 2022 season, but the fan-favourite sure did go out with a bang. At one point in the season, he led the way in the Royal Ascot betting odds, showing how highly rated the horse remained even in his eight-year-old season. In the end, he and rider Franki Detorri finished 4th, though it was a close finish. His final race came in the Goodwood Cup, when he finished second, before a foot injury put his racing career to bed for good.
You have to admire Rachael Blackmore, who proves again and again that she’s one of the world’s greatest jockeys. The Irish jockey doesn’t just win races. She puts on a show for the fans. Nowhere was that more evident than at the 2022 Cheltenham Festival, when she came out of nowhere to win the Gold Cup. It was one of the most thrilling endings that Cheltenham has seen in many a year, and you have to think that only Blackmore and a handful of other jockeys could have pulled it off.
Without a doubt, it’s been a great year for UK horse racing, and we hope that we’ll see more of the same in 2023.
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