Following on from his surprising defeat by Madison Du Berlais at Kempton on Saturday, the owners of the Paul Nicholls trained, Denman have decided to pull him from the John Smith’s Grand National and focus their attention on the defence of his Cheltenham Gold Cup crown next month. Apart from the effect this will have on horse race betting fans of the Grand National, now open to a number of potential winners, the condition of the horse is bound to remain the subject of intense discussion prior to his participation in the premier race of the Cheltenham Festival.

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The legendary Denman leads the field of 123 runners entered for the 2009 John Smith’s Grand National which will be run at Aintree on April 4. Denman is one of nine runners from the Irish stable of Paul Nicholls who is anxious for a first win at this, the most prestigious of all of the jump races. Horse racing betting fans with an eye for the history of the sport will know that, should Denman be successful, the horse would become only the third mount to have won both the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National in company with Golden Miller (1934) and L’Escargot (1970/71).

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Horse racing betting enthusiasts are still holding their breath after Ruby Walsh rather unsportingly rode a treble at Taunton last Tuesday and thwarted Tony McCoy in his bid to be the first jump jockey to achieve three thousand wins. On Thursday he managed to get within two of the target at Wincanton. Then on Friday his Chepstow meet was abandoned and at Sandown, on Saturday, Walsh had the nerve to beat McCoy in his two big races and further delay the great man’s ascent to these previously unknown heights of jockeydom.

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This coming weekend will provide much food for thought for horse racing betting fans, their eyes on the Cheltenham Festival, as key runners reveal their strengths or weaknesses in the Festival Trials Day at Cheltenham on Saturday. Top of the list at this meet is the 3m, Grade 2 Byrne Group Cleeve Hurdle in which Punchestowns will be the one to beat following the shock retirement of Inglis Drever. This Nicky Henderson trained horse won by eleven lengths at Ascot in December in the Grade 1 Long Walk Hurdle over 3m1f and, at even money, is a generous gift from the bookies. And don’t worry about the weather – shrewd observers of his recent triumphs will have noted that Punchestown has an uncanny knack of delivering, whatever the going.

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Last week, at the Free Bets Blog, we touched on the pros and cons of all-weather horse racing tracks. Continuing with that theme, we wanted to look at the state of Horse Racing venues and what the future holds. Not far from where I live, barely a couple of miles, is an old abandoned racecourse called Bogside. The track is still visible in parts, but the stadia has eroded into a rubble landscape. At one time, Bogside racetrack served a number of communities and plenty of great meets were held there, including The Scottish Grand National. Now it lies in a silent, forgotten place. My trip down memory lane does have a point, however, when you realise that over the last eighty years only 1 new racecourse has been built.

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This coming Saturday sees the end of the Flat Racing season in this country – or does it? All- weather racing surfaces have been promoted for some time in Britain but there has been much resistance form both trainers and horse racing betting fans to this innovation. Punters were suspicious that trainers and owners were putting forward inferior horses for this kind of racing.

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You have to wonder why, some people do the things they do. A few days ago, Dean McKeown, had his Horse Racing licence revoked. McKeown, was recently banned for 4 years after alledgidly being found to defraud punters by holding horses back in races. He was given special permission to keep racing from the British Horseracing Authority while he appealed against the decision. Then on Monday, Dean McKeown, while riding at Southwell on a horse called, “Rascal in the Mix”, a pre-race favourite, rode the horse home in fifth position.

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The other day I came across an old interview in which top flat racing jockey, Frankie Dettori and 13 times champion jump jockey, Tony McCoy, discuss the relative merits of the two horse racing platforms. For me, it’s always been the Flat that’s been the draw. I’ll never forget the days spent on the Heath at Ascot watching a tight pack of horses thunder by with speed and control the only factors determining the outcome – in the same sort of way that they do in Formula 1 racing. The odd occasions I went to a National Hunt meet, half the time my selection fell at an early fence without having the chance to demonstrate its worth.

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The first time I wandered into a bookies, back in 1968, was with a betting friend, a horse racing fanatic, and I was curious to see what it was all about. Passing through a dangling plastic curtain, nobody looked up when we entered this austere, smoke filled-room. Eyes were too busy scrutinising the pinned up back pages from the Daily Mirror and Sporting Life to worry about us. A scratchy, emotionless commentary crackled from a single speaker on the wall as we crunched failed betting slips underfoot.

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The 2nd biggest payout of any sporting event in the World is about to take place in the next couple of days. The 2008 Breeders’ Cup World Championship comes to Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California this Friday the 24th October and Saturday the 25th October. A staggering $25.5 million, will be awarded as prize money over the 2 day horse racing betting event. When your talking that kind of money it is no wonder that it draws in only the best thoroughbred horses worldwide.

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