Recent content by Big Dipper

Ron, I'm sorry but I don't feel criticism is appropriate. The forum works for those for whom it was initially set up - clearly most of you got acquainted on the 606 racing forum and when that site went tits up you quite naturally wanted another place to air your views and discuss matters...

This is my take on the forum. Not that there's anything wrong with it - it just doesn't appeal to everyone who opens the door and peers inside. (I loved the piece about Brown Jack, though. I can't recall who wrote it but I was motivated to buy the biography of the horse, which I had...

There used to be a racecourse at Tenby but it closed in about 1937, a few years after a betting coup was landed involving a horse called Oyster Maid. The execution of the coup took the form of the much loved 'lack of available phonebox/phonebox engaged' trope.

Without a doubt, Blackpool's 3-2 victory against Cardiff City in the 2010 Championship playoff final at Wembley.

I'm wondering if this book contains the story of how the QM came by The Rip, 13-time winner for her. According to Brough Scott she went to the Red Cat pub at Wootton Marsh near Sandringham one day. It was her first visit to licensed premises, and whether it was planned or whether she was just...

I'd like to sell you a half-share in a colt by Schwarzenegger out of Total Recall. Cyclonic, that's a great piece about a wonderful horse. I'm pretty sure Steve Donoghue went on record as saying Brown Jack's 6th win in the QA was a race he savoured above any of his Derby victories. I think...

While looking at a recently discovered blog written by a former apprentice jockey, I came across this newspaper clipping from 30 August 1935. It's about halfway down the page. I love that last sentence. Anyway, this short article surely asks more questions than it answers. I'm guessing that the...

As you mention Guineas Trials it might interest you to know (unless you already do) that in 1854 the 1,000 Guineas winner Virago had an interesting preparation for her classic. She took in both the City & Suburban (10f) and the Great Metropolitan (18f) at the April meeting followed by two...

As some of the above euphemisms are in fact metaphors, similies or simple ironic understatement I'd like to add, "the favourite's got a lot of work to do if he's going to win from there", which invariably means you've done your money on the jolly.

I'm curious to know how the current standings have been arrived at. To take Frankel (136) and Pour Moi (66) as examples, is it possible to find an exact breakdown of the number of points the former earned for each of his three G1s and his G2 this season in comparison with Pour Moi's one G1...

Bustino, the Great Metropolitan would have been run over 18f at that time. I'm quoting from a course gazeteer that explains what happened to truncate the trip to 12f. It also describes the geography of the race.

Sure - I was around when the pattern was introduced and in fairness I did say 'what are now Group 1 events'. Without exhuming my biography of Fred Archer from the attic I'm pretty sure Ormonde saw off some very useful opposition, Minting for one, but since I can't do that right now you can...

I think that's a little unfair on Ormonde. Of his 16 victories 7 came in what are now Group 1 events (including a Triple Crown, of course) plus a couple of Group 2 races. The remainder were pretty normal contests with the exception of a single match race.

I remember him from 1970. The horse won the Great Metropolitan that year as, I believe, a 4-y-o. He started 5/2 or thereabouts and obliged comfortably. If memory serves in the same season Hills had Golden Monad, winner of the Dee Stakes and maybe a couple of other decent races. You'll...

An excellent article. It seems churlish to concentrate on Pretty Polly's two defeats but, if I may, I can add a little to the story. A contemporary of Gilpin, Maher and Pretty Polly was George Lambton and it his from his book Men and Horses I Have Known (first published 1924) from whence the...