UK Horse Racing Tips

By his own admission, Charlie Mann is ‘never one for keeping a low profile’ and has frequently courted controversy since first taking out a public training licence in August, 1993, making something of a divisive character in horse racing circles. Mann was a successful National Hunt jockey in the North of England in the late Seventies; so successful, in fact, that he was offered, but turned down, a job with Michael Dickinson when he took over the training licence at Poplar House in Harewood, West Yorkshire from his father, Tony, in 1980. In any event, with just shy of 150 winners to his name, his riding career was effectively brought to an end in 1989, when he suffered a so-called ‘hangman’s fracture’ of his second cervical vertebra during a fall at Warwick.

Nevertheless, in 1995, Mann both trained, and rode, the ten-year-old Its A Snip to win the most challenging steeplechase in Europe, the Velka Pardubicka Steeplechase, in Pardubice, Czech Republic. He enjoyed his most successful season, numerically and financially, in 2008/09, while still at his previous base, Whitcoombe House Stables, Upper Lambourn. He has yet to come anywhere close to either total, 63 winners or £640,960 in prize money, since moving to nearby Neardown Stables in 2012, but has managed to amass at least £124,000 in prize money in every season since, bar 2019/20.

Mann has yet to saddle a winner at the Cheltenham Festival, but came as close as he ever has to doing so in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup Handicap Chase. On that occasion, his nine-year-old Merchants Friend held a 12-length lead jumping the final fence, but weakened dramatically on the uphill climb to the line and was collared in the final stride by Maximize, trained by Martin Pipe. He has, however, recorded two Grade One wins, albeit some years ago; the first came courtesy of Celibate, ridden by Richard Dunwoody, in the BMW Chase at Punchestown in 1999, and the second courtesy of Air Force One, ridden by Noel Fehily, in the Ellier Developments Champion Novice Chase at the same venue in 2008.

Not to be confused with the Rock Of Gibraltar gelding once trained by Kevin Ryan and, later, by Keith Dalgleish, George Rooke, the apprentice jockey, is a graduate of the British Racing School in Newmarket. Rooke initially joined jockey-turned-trainer Richard Hughes at Weathercock House in Upper Lambourn, near Hungerford, Berkshire on a placement in September, 2017. Rooke rode his first winner under Rules, Kath’s Legacy, trained by Hughes, at Chepstow the following July.

After just two winners in 2018, Rooke rode six winners on British soil in 2019, but also three in Jersey in July and August that year, which he failed to report to the British Horseracing Authority (BHA).Visitors to  https://www.robinroo.org/en and others will know that trust is essential in the sport and gambling world, so this is a big no-no. Consequently, although he enjoyed his most successful season so far in 2020, with 34 winners, he was stripped of five victories in races where he incorrectly claimed 7lb instead of 5lb or was ineligible to ride due to specific race conditions.

To add insult to injury, in September, 2020, Rooke received a 14-day suspension for riding a finish a circuit too soon in a two-mile handicap at Wolverhampton. Riding 11/4 joint favourite Sophar Sogood, trained by Paul D’Arcy, Rooke set sail for home after a mile and, although he realised his mistake as the field swept by, the damage was done. Sophar Sogood trailed in ninth of ten, beaten 55¼ lengths, and the stewards took a dim view of his ineptitude.

Nevertheless, Rooke has continued to ride his share of winners, clocking up 30 in 2021. Like a pro on south african online casinos the wins kept on coming. During the winter, he was involved in a ding-dong battle to become All-Weather Champion Apprentice, eventually edging out his nearest pursuers, Oliver Stammers and Rhys Clutterbuck, by a single winner. In 2022, Rooke also rode his first Listed winner, Mrs Fitzherbert, trained by Hughie Morrison, in the Conqueror Fillies’ Stakes at Goodwood in late April.

The danger with any discussion about the ‘best’ or ‘greatest’ Derby winners in history is that is subjective and biased towards events that have occurred in the recent past. However, since its inception in 1948, Timeform has produced ratings with scrupulous consistency, such that objective, quantitative comparisons between different generations are possible. Personally I’m all for evaluating odds to chance and the like, as it holds a place in both online casinos and sports settings.

Sea Bird (145)

Sea Bird, the 1965 Derby winner, ran just once in Britain, but his effortless victory at Epsom, achieved without coming off the bridle, obviously made quite an impression on the Timeform scribes. He was awarded a Timeform rating of 145, which remains the second-highest of all time, behind only Frankel.

Mill Reef (141)

Mill Reef tasted defeat just twice in his 14-race career, once at the hands of My Swallow in the Prix Robert Papin, over 6 furlongs, at Longchamp and once at the hands of Brigadier Gerard in the 2,000 Guineas, over a mile, at Newmarket. However, he proved the outstanding middle-distance performer of 1971, winning not only the Derby, but also the Eclipse Stakes, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. He was awarded a Timeform rating of 141. In leroijohnny casino en linge terms, this would be a sure thing.

Shergar (140)

Never before, or since, has the Derby such a one-sided affair as it was in 1981, when the ill-fated Shergar, ridden by 19-year-old Walter Swinburn, could be called the winner turning Tattenham Corner. Once pushed along, he stretched clear to win, eased down, by 10 lengths – still the widest winning margin in the history of the Epsom Classic – and was awarded a Timeform rating of 140.