Brocklesby Stakes

By Emma Berry and Tom Frary Whatever your preference, as long as you are a fan of the Flat, there is something to whet your whistle this weekend. From early this Saturday morning there is top-class fare to entertain us. Have your alarm set for Dubai Honour (Pride Of Dubai) and Vauban (Galiway) in the G1 Tancred Stakes at Rosehill, where 4,800,000-guinea Yulong purchase Barnavara (Calyx) also makes her return in the G2 Neville Selwood Stakes. For those with the stamina of a Gold Cup contender, the GI Florida Derby...

What is it they say about never meeting your heroes? To work in racing is a labour of love -- at least it should be -- and in the course of that work there are times when heroes are all around. Some disappoint, some delight. Adam Kirby was perhaps an unlikely hero in his riding days. He certainly would have cast a sardonic look at anyone who called him a hero in his earshot, for he was a jockey firmly in the Ryan Moore school that rebuffs flummery and fanfare....

As always, Ireland and France have been quicker off the mark when it comes to the Flat turf season, and Britain joins them this Saturday with the opening meeting at Doncaster, which always provides plenty of interest, not least through the Brocklesby Stakes. This year, fittingly, the first two-year-old race in Britain is run in memory of Bill Turner, whose name was a standing dish in the Brocklesby entries and who died last August at the age of 78. With six victories between 1996 and 2013, Turner holds the record...

Gone is the mud, the horses' coats are on the turn, and the blossom is abundant. What's more, there's good racing on the telly - and lots of it. If you're reading this in a European time zone, here's hoping that your Saturday morning begins good and early in order to be conscious, if not out of bed, in time for Australia's G1 Tancred Stakes at 5.35 (or a more leisurely 6.35 for those on the continent). You'll find lots of familiar names among the 14 runners, not least Dubai...

The British Flat season will officially get underway on Saturday with the sight of 17 unraced juveniles barrelling down the Doncaster straight for the traditional curtain-raiser that is the Brocklesby--the starting point for subsequent Group winners such as Hearts Of Fire (GB), The Last Lion (Ire) and Persian Force (Ire) since the turn of the century. Here, we've provided everything you need to know about this year's contenders, from trainer quotes to a pedigree nugget or two. AHEAD OF FASHION (GB) Dream Ahead--Fashion (GB), by Lope De Vega (Ire) Sales/pedigree...

The training game may be a tough one but that doesn't stop new young hopefuls  joining the ranks each year. Getting early winners on the board counts for everything and that is something Alice Haynes managed from the outset. Now, just over three years since she sent out her first runner, her string has grown steadily in number and she has taken on the historic Machell Place Stables in Newmarket in addition to her original base just across the road at Cadland Cottage Stables. Despite having all of Newmarket's expansive...

Saturday may be April Fools' Day but there will be no fool's errand for the 17 juveniles charged with getting their racing careers off to a bright start in Britain's traditional turf season opener, the Pertemps Network EBF Brocklesby S. Love it or loathe it, the Brocklesby carries with it that great sigh of relief from Flat fans that winter is at last over and 'proper racing' can now commence. For the men and women behind the stallions with their first runners this season, it is also an important marker,...

For many years it was a tradition that the British Flat racing season would start on the Carholme at Lincoln towards the end of March and then finish at Manchester (and at Lingfield, which raced on the same afternoon) in November. Lincoln and Manchester have both now been lost in the mists of time, each having closed its doors in the 1960s. Happily, the season's first big race (the Lincolnshire H., as it became known in 1860, having previously been known as the Lincoln Spring H.) and its last big...