Author: G C

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Like a flutter on the horses? Try your luck with top racing slots

We spend over £4.3 billion betting on horse racing each year. But the racetrack isn’t the only place punters can get their kicks these days. If you like a flutter on the horses, why not try backing a few horse racing-inspired slot games online?

You’ll find hundreds to choose from at casino sites like bgo.com. Join eight-time champion jockey Peter Scudamore for a spin of Scudamore’s Super Stakes. Designed by NetEnt, this slot features a Classic Cup Bonus, where it’s possible to win up to 5,000 times your stake. Or soak up the excitement of Royal Ascot playing Ascot: Sporting Legends. Any spin of this Playtech slot could see you ride away with the Daily, Weekly or Sporting Legends Jackpot.

Excited to find out more about these and other racing slots? We’ve got good news for you. To celebrate Royal Ascot happening this month, we’ve teamed up with the guys from bgo to bring you a list of all the top racing slots out there right now. Check it out below and see what’s worth a spin. Good luck!

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What Are The Highlights Of The 2019 Cheltenham Festival?

We are just weeks away from the start of the 2019 Cheltenham Festival, the biggest meeting in National Hunt racing by some distance. There are 28 races scheduled across four days this year, with the Cheltenham Gold Cup the feature contest. Here are some of the horses and races to look out for at Prestbury Park next month.

Altior Puts Unbeaten Record On The Line In Champion Chase

After three successful outings so far season, Altior is now unbeaten in 12 races over fences as his domination of the 2m chase division continues. Nicky Henderson’s stablestar will look to retain his crown in the Queen Mother Champion Chase where he is the odds-on favourite at 2/5.

 

The challengers to Altior include recent Grade One Dublin Chase winner Min, Footpad and Un de Sceaux but it would be a huge upset if the nine-year-old did not win his fourth straight race at the Festival this year.

Buveur D’Air Bids For Hat-Trick In Champion Hurdle

Another horse who has been so successful in his respective division at the Festival is Buveur D’Air who is on the verge of a hat-trick of Champion Hurdle victories. The 2017 and 2018 winner of the 2m contest, which is the feature race on day one of the meeting, has tasted defeat this season, though, as he was second behind Verdana Blue in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton.

Henderson’s hurdler started his campaign in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle which he won for a third time in a field which included Samcro and Summerville Boy. Those two novices both went into the race with big reputations, however, the defending champion was a comfortable winner as proved his class with a seven-length success.

Buveur D’Air bounced back from his Kempton defeat to claim the Contenders Hurdle on his latest start. He is as big as 2/1 in the Champion Hurdle betting and victory once again in the race would help cement his name alongside some of the greats of the sport which have won this contest three times.

Presenting Percy Takes On Older Horses In Gold Cup

Presenting Percy goes into the Cheltenham Gold Cup at a top price of 7/2 with the bookmakers listed by Oddschecker for the 3m2f contest on the final day of the meeting, despite only having the one run so far this season.

 

Patrick Kelly’s chaser ended the 2017/18 campaign as the leading novice chaser in the UK and Ireland. The Irish horse was an impressive winner of the RSA Chase which immediately put him in the frame for the 2019 Gold Cup.

With just the five runs under his belt over fences, Presenting Percy will be one of the least experienced horses in the field this year. He will be taking on last year’s winner Native River, former King George VI Chase winner Might Bite and Road To Respect. Although those runners have been there before, none of them have really stood out this season, therefore, the opportunity may be there for Presenting Percy to seize on the biggest stage of them all.

Stayers’ Hurdle The Target For Impressive Paisley Park

The star performer in the 3m hurdle division this season has been Paisley Park, who has just got better with every run. The seven-year-old has appeared four times in the campaign and he has done enough in those appearances to earn the spot as the 2/1 favourite for the Stayers’ Hurdle.

Emma Lavelle’s horse stood out after claiming the Grade One JLT Hurdle at Ascot just before Christmas where he finished ahead of West Approach and Top Notch respectively. He then featured at Cheltenham in what was arguably an even better performance in the Cleeve Hurdle as his margin of victory was 12 lengths on that occasion.

The Stayers’ Hurdle is an interesting race this year as it features a former Champion Hurdle winner in Faugheen, Unowhatimeanharry, who has had so much success in the division over the last couple of seasons, and last year’s winner Penhill, who is going straight into the race again without a preparation run.

If Paisley Park repeats what he has shown this season, he will be difficult to beat, however, we have seen a number of surprises in this race before so it is sure to make for fascinating viewing.

Look out for the final declarations for all 28 races 48 hours prior to each day’s action, especially if the horse you are looking to back has multiple entries across the week.

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Racing: A Year in Review

It’s been an exciting year in the world of racing, both at home and abroad. There have been a few stand out performances or progressions that have really caught my eye though. British thoroughbred Enable, who had already had massive success in 2017 (with wins in the Epsom Oaks, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe etc) took her ability to the next level with 2018 wins in both the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and the ultra competitive Breeder’s Cup Turf. This display of excellence really sets the middle distance runner apart from the rest and highlights her as something special, and with £8,000,000+ already to her name in prize money, the future looks bright indeed.

 

Another horse that impressed in 2018 is Native River. This Irish born thorougbbred is a firm favourite with the betting public. He had experienced a stellar year in 2017 with wins in competitive races such as the Hennessy Gold Cup and Welsh Grand National (which he won at betting odds of 6/4) and third place in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. In 2018 he went one, or perhaps two (places) better, by winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Due to his obvious ability he had started second favourite in the horse racing betting odds with bookmakers at 5-1, and didn’t disappoint. Fending off a challenge from Might Bite in quite some style really did endear Native River to the racing crowds and those who placed a bet on him. Might Bite was at betting odds of 4-1 with bookmakers, and so had been favoured to win.

 

In non UK news, 2018 was also a special year for Winx, trained by Chris Waller. The Australian thoroughbred had already done all there is to do in racing following a string of wins from 2015 onward in Group one races. In 2017 Winx had been indicted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. This year was the real record breaker though, when a win in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick meant that Winx had equalled the record of 25 consecutive wins set by Black Caviar. Winx has since gone on to win four more races, the most recent of which was in the Cox Plate, held at Moonee Valley racecourse in Melbourne, and with prize money of a staggering $5,000,000 Australian dollars. What’s amazing is that this was the forth time Winx had won the race, the first horse to ever do so. It’s no surprise then that Winx is currently top ranked horse in multiple world’s best horse rankings.

 

I wonder what the story of Enable, Native River and Winx will be in 2019? You never can quite tell in racing, but if past form is anything to go by, it will take something quite special to mount a challenge against any of the three!

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Pegasus World Cup

With a purse of 12 million dollars the Pegasus World Cup has the destinction of being called the richest horse race in the world, surpassing the Dubai World Cup. It is a thoroughbred race for horses four years and older whose inaugural run was held on January 28, 2017, at the Gulfstream Park which is situated in Hallandale Beach, Florida. A grade one horse race, it runs over a dirt course at a distance of 9 furlongs with participants allowed to carry 124 pounds along with an allowance of three pounds for fillies and mares.

In 2017 the prize money set aside for the Pegasus World Cup was $12 million, in 2018 this rose to $16 million. In 2019 though the prize money will reduce to $9 million, with the remainder set aside for new Pegasus World Cupturf race.

The idea behind the race was first proposed by Frank Stronach through the Thoroughbred Owners Conference conducted at Gulfstream during January 2016. The proposition consisted of an annual 10-furlong race to be run by the riders which were planned to be held in either Gulfstream or the Santa Anita Park. The time period from mid to late January for the race was proposed so that it did not conflict with the Breeders’ Cup and the Dubai World Cup. Also, it was deemed important to give a fair opportunity to the horses to run the last race during the North American breeding season before retirement.

After a series of back and forth discussions the official announcement was made for the race to be run at a distance of 9 furlongs in mid 2016. The initial running of the race acquired Grade one status and there was extensive promotion done by using the titles of California Chrome who had won the American Horse of the year twice and Arrogate who had been ranked by IFHA as the World’s Best Racehorse in the year 2016. The 2017 race was indeed later won was by none other than by Arrogate who won by almost five lengths, showing his class in the process. Shaman Ghost finished in second place.

In the 2018 Pegasus World Cup was won by Gun Runner ridden by Florent Geroux and trained by Steve Asmussen. They took home $7,000,000 in winnings. West Coast trained by Bob Baffert finished second. Baffert of course also trained the winner of the previous year’s Pegasus World Cup, Arrogate.