#Sizing Europe

The Cheltenham Festival doesn't exactly have a rich musical heritage. True, the Irish folk duo who played the nearby Prince Of Wales pub every evening for seemingly 30 years did perform a wonderful rendition of The Ballad Of Dawn Run twice-a-night. And twice-a-night ratings experts took exception to the line "And Wayward Lad, he knew he'd met the…

The treats are going to come thick and fast for racing fans over the Christmas week. They include Leopardstown's four-day Christmas Festival, which begins on St Stephen's Day (December 26). This is a superb meeting with a wide array of Graded contests, competitive handicaps and informative bumpers for punters to enjoy. Danny Archer looks ahead to…

Tighthead props don't usually make for good jockeys. Henry de Bromhead was no exception. "I rode, I did hunting and pony club stuff, but I was probably poor-to-moderate as a rider," he says. Training horses is a different matter, however. Last March he secured his place in the Cheltenham pantheon by taking an unprecedented triple crown of Champion…

Tighthead props don't usually make for good jockeys. Henry De Bromhead was no exception. "I rode, I did hunting and pony club stuff, but I was probably poor-to-moderate as a rider," he says. Training horses is a different matter, however. Last March he secured his place in the Cheltenham pantheon by taking an unprecedented triple crown of Champion…

The Mirror's resident racing tipster Newsboy casts his expert eye over the field for the feature race of Day 2 at Cheltenham, the Queen Mother Champion Chase Massive favourite: All eyes will be on Sprinter Sacre in today's feature race, the Queen Mother Champion Chase SPRINTER SACRE SIZING EUROPE WISHFUL THINKING French import a Grade 2 winner in…

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…

The seven-year-old looked a superstar in the making when sprinting up the Cheltenham hill to win the Ballymore Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham two years ago, but has struggled to rediscover that brilliance. He won his first three starts over fences last term, but was fortunate to double his Festival tally in the Turners' Novices' Chase after the…

A Plus Tard, Bob Olinger, Envoi Allen, Honeysuckle and Minella Indo! Find out the latest update from Henry de Bromhead on plans for his stable stars, as well as his thoughts on their recent performances. Henry de Bromhead remains keen to head to next month's Savills Chase at Leopardstown with A Plus Tard after so far failing to find an obvious…

With Cheltenham Festival fast approaching, we have broken down the feature race of day two, the Queen Mother Champion Chase, with facts and historic analysis as well as some tips for this year's race by Marlborough. There have been many multiple winners but Badsworth Boy (1983-85) is the only three-time scorer. Altior will be attempting to emulate…

Blue Lord: 14-1 for the Ryanair Chase after his winning return at Clonmel Thursday: Clonmel Oil Chase, Clonmel Paul Townend timed it to perfection to land a sedately run Clonmel Oil Chase on Blue Lord as the dual Grade 1 winner dug deep to repel a spirited effort from King George VI Chase-winning stablemate Tornado Flyer. A 1-2 for Willie Mullins…

There are five meetings across the UK and Ireland on Thursday, four National Hunt and one Flat. Newcastle (12.00noon-3.23pm), Market Rasen (12.17-3.40), Wincanton (12.25-3.50) and Clonmel (12.42-3.53) stage the jump cards before the all-weather Flat meeting at Chelmsford (5.00-8.30) brings the curtain down. Thursday's nap has made a bright start to…