Racing Nerd

 We were treated to a performance of the highest quality from Mishriff yesterday on the opening day of the Ebor Festival. He stamped his authority all over a strong field, who admittedly had their various limitations exposed. Still, it has hard to take away from the winner given the manner of the victory and he has been an exceptional horse for connections, particularly David Egan.  Hopefully we will see more of the same in the Yorkshire Oaks today. Snowfall has already produced a "wow" performance at Epsom this year. That performance has since been the subject of much debate and the question remains is she as good as she looked on that occasion. While she was impressive both prior and subsequent to that Oaks win, it certainly appears a standout piece of form and there may have been mitigating circumstances that led to the margin of victory. That performance aside, there isn't too much between herself and Wonderful Tonight. She faces a major question mark of her own of co

 I have been rather quiet on here due to other commitments recently, but I am looking forward to a wonderful week of racing at York this week for the Ebor Festival. I will hopefully have something each day but a week like this really is about enjoying the quality on show. There are so many intriguing contests throughout the week it is hard to pick one. I simply cannot wait to see Snowfall take on Wonderful Tonight (hopefully) in the Yorkshire Oaks and the Nunthorpe looks mouthwatering too.  More on those later in the week but there is a quality card today too, not least the emerging talent in the Acomb Stakes, that looks a Group 3 in name only. Ehraz is a horse that I have like since his promising debut effort behind the re-opposing Noble Truth at Newmarket. He confirmed that promise with an effortless win at Ascot next time. While the jury is still out on the form of that Ascot win, the closing sectionals suggest it was the performance of a Group horse, backing up the visual impressio

 Undoubtedly, there are mixed opinions about the benefits of the Shergar Cup to racing. Team events within the sport are even more in the spotlight at the moment with the recent addition of the Racing League. What I will say on the matter is that we need to attract more people to have an interest in the sport. As I have a number of friends who are not interested in racing, I believe the "team aspect" can have some impact in that regard.  While the colours may confuse regular racing followers, it certainly makes it easier for those that do not spend their Saturday's regularly watching the racing. I am reserving judgement on the racing league and am slightly disappointed by the wealth of criticism it has received. What is the alternative? To simply continue down the same road. We must be willing to change, adapt and attract new people to the sport. Anyway, attracting new people to the sport is (probably) not going to be solved today but we might be able to find a winner at