#Al Zarooni

From Hurricane Fly's fourth consecutive Irish Champion Hurdle victory to The New One brushing aside the opposition in Cheltenham's International Hurdle, it has been an exciting year of racing. As 2014 nears its conclusion racing correspondent Marcus Townend reviews the past 12 months of racing, and picks his best race of each month. JANUARY Paul…

First run on Sept. 24, 1776, less than three months after the signing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, the St Leger at Doncaster is the oldest of the five Classic races that form the backbone of the flat season in Britain. Run over 1 mile, 6 furlongs, and 132 yards, the St Leger is the longest of that classic quintet - the others are the…

Disgraced trainer Mahmood Al Zarooni was banned for eight years for instigating the biggest drug scandal in British horseracing. The 15 horses given anabolic steroids in his Godolphin stable in Newmarket have been banned from running for six months - effectively ending their season. Three other employees - an assistant vet and two yard foremen -…

Charlie Appleby saddled his third winner from the last four editions of the Craven Stakes when last season's unbeaten champion two-year-old Native Trail convincingly landed very short odds to strengthen his position as ante-post favourite for the 2000 Guineas. Earlier the same day, promising stablemate Coroebus was put through his paces in a gallop…

2 Queen Catrine (J P Spencer) 14-1 3 Wee Jean (William Twiston-Davies) 16-1 4 Graceful Grit (C P Lemaire) 25-1 24 ran Big question: Can Muteela make all the running? That's what she'd done for her last two wins and this lightly raced filly may not respond well to more restrained tactics in the toughest race she has ever faced. But leading from…

With runners in his own name and then via his elite Godolphin stable, there is no owner who has been involved in more winners of the world's oldest Classic, the St Leger, than Sheikh Mohammed. Since Oh So Sharp completed the fillies' Triple Crown in 1985 there has been a regular stream of winners - first in the famous maroon-and-white colours and…