#Neil Mulholland

Wednesday's racing schedule has been hit by the abandonment of the National Hunt meeting at Leicester, leaving just two Flat cards standing. Both take place on the Polytrack, with Lingfield (12.45-3.45pm) and Kempton (5.00-8.00) comprising the double-bill. Wednesday's nap is a Simon & Ed Crisford-trained contender seeking to back up what amounted…

The New Year has certainly seen an upturn in the fortunes of the Tony Carroll string and that augurs well for the chances of Poetic Force in the 1.10 at Lingfield. He's comfortably the oldest in the field but his efforts at Wolverhampton before Christmas confirm that he's no back number just yet, beaten just a short-head and nose when third in…

The crowds are about to descend on Aintree - the Grand National is finally upon us. Bookies will hold their collective breaths at 4.15pm, hoping for one of the outsiders to storm to the front and be first past the post. All of the best jockeys have a horse. The departing AP McCoy is on the favourite, Shutthefrontdoor, while Ruby Walsh will be…

The Sky Sports News presenter will be providing us with her fancies throughout each week Alex Hammond provides us with her daily double from today's racing and she is hoping that both Harry Fry and Richard Johnson enjoy an upturn in fortunes after the former saw stable stars Neon Wolf and Unowhatimeanharry hit the frame at the Cheltenham…

The Druids Nephew has won the 2:40 USB Handicap Chase at the 2015 Cheltenham Festival. Annacotty made the early running in the third race of the day, tracked by Grand Jesture, with just 20 lengths separating the whole field after a circuit. But as Tony McCoy's Pendra faded after the last hurdle, 8/1 shot The Druids Nephew raced clear to deliver the…

Nigel Twiston-Davies has leading hope I Like To Move It in Saturday's Unibet International Hurdle, but he also has a couple of decent chances on Friday in the same Anne-Marie and Jamie Shepperd colours as the Greatwood Hurdle winner. Master Chewy was bought for £300000 by Twiston-Davies's son Willy at Cheltenham last November and he returns to the…

Dusart: heads the betting for this novice handicap chase This card features the Grade 2 Future Champions Novices' Chase but the highest-rated novice running at Ayr tackles this handicap instead. The 147-rated Dusart has long had a big reputation at Seven Barrows and rightly so. Simonsig's half-brother was sent off the 5-2 joint-favourite for the…

One of the biggest race meeting in the British sporting calendar is returning to Ayr Racecourse this weekend. Action at the Scottish Grand National in 2012 Last year local hero Mighty Th under, trained by Kinross-based Lucinda Russell, was first over the line in the Scottish Grand National - the first home-grown winner in a decade. It completed an…

Galvin, Conflated and Fil Dor are among the big names set to be in action for Gordon Elliott over the festive period as the Cullentra handler shuffles his pack for Leopardstown's Christmas Festival. Elliott has enjoyed huge success at the four-day meeting in recent years, with Galvin's thrilling Savills Chase victory over A Plus Tard a clear…

There is a simple but effective example in the Plate of the sort of trends worth noting and those that are stories, which are of use to the casual viewer but not to punters. The link has been made from Celebre D'Allen to Salut Flo and Ballynagour, who both won this race in the same colours early in the 2010s. You would have heard less often that…

Success in a feature Saturday race is the dream for any first-season trainer and Joe Tizzard has three live contenders in this prestigious handicap chase worth £250000. Grand National fifth Fiddlerontheroof finished a half-length second to Cloudy Glen in this event last year and returns off a 5lb higher mark with cheekpieces fitted and Brendan…

The Grand National isn't the most prestigious horse race in the world for nothing. It's an incredibly challenging course, featuring 30 jumps (16 fences, with 14 of those being jumped twice) on the four-mile and two and a half furlong race. But, while safety improvements have been made in recent years, the Grand National remains a challenging task…

Can the Skeltons land the Scottish Champion Hurdle with West Cork? The Scottish and English Grand National meetings have flip-flopped in the calendar this season and a change in the pattern means Ayr precedes Aintree. The 30-day gap between the County Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival and Scottish Champion Hurdle in 2021 is reduced to 15 days this…

The Randox Grand National takes centre stage on the third and final day of the Aintree Festival - and what a race we have in store. The world's greatest steeplechase is woven into the fabric of the sporting year - an occasion when once-a-year punters get to pit their wits against the bookies, while more dedicated racing fans will look at the race…

Frodon and Enrilo: Paul Nicholls-trained stablemates head the market for the Badger Beer Testing ground at Down Royal forced Paul Nicholls into rerouting stable legend Frodon to this valuable handicap from the Grade 1 Ladbrokes Champion Chase. The three-time Grade 1 winner had been trained specifically for the Down Royal race that he landed 12…

Can up-and-coming hurdler Knappers Hill (right) take Sceau Royal's crown at Wincanton? If Sceau Royal wins this race again then it wouldn't be a surprise if it were to be named after him at some point in the future, because the ten-year-old has dominated the contest in recent years. He won his first Elite Hurdle off a mark of 149 when it was a…

Entries have been revealed today for the £160000 Paddy Power Gold, the highlight of The November Meeting at Cheltenham (Saturday 12th November). Staged over two and a half miles, the Premier Handicap Chase was inaugurated in 1960 and is the first big race of the Jump season. Sponsor Paddy Power has three 7-1 co-favourites - French Dynamite (Mouse…

The presence of Bob Olinger and Galopin Des Champs has produced some Cheltenham Festival history as Thursday's four-runner Turners Novices' Chase (1.30) will be the first all-Irish race at the meeting. It is the smallest field at jump racing's showpiece event in almost 30 years and the race's lowest field since introduced in 2011. There were 16…

channel to stay up to date on breaking news coverage The horse racing NAP of the Day for Tuesday, 13 September with SportsLens tipsters is Throne Hall. He runs in the extended 1m 7f novices' hurdle at Uttoxeter today (2:25). Next Best, meanwhile, is Belle Na Bann in the novices' handicap hurdle over that trip later on the same card (3:35). Both of…