John Hammond

Trainer John Hammond, who trained G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe heros Montjeu (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) and Suave Dancer (Green Dancer), has been appointed racing manager to Gerard Augustin-Normand, Jour de Galop reported on Wednesday. Sylvain Vidal remains an advisor to Augustin-Normand, who raced Le Havre (Ire) (Noverre) and stands him at Haras de Montfort et Preaux. The rest of the staff maintain their current positions. Augustin-Normand told the JDG regarding the appointment, "I always appreciated and followed the work of John Hammond. More recently, I have appreciated his human...

For the first time in my memory, maybe since the war, there is a complete shutdown of racing in France, Ireland and the UK. It goes without saying that we in racing live in our own little bubble and the effects of the coronavirus are considerably more dramatic on other areas of society. We are in unchartered territory however. So, for the moment, all we can do is to hunker down and ride out the storm. 'Our magnificent triviality' was the description used by the much missed Hugh McIlvanney, Scotland's...

Black Maestro: The Epic Life of an American Legend By Joe Drape A fascinating story about Jimmy Winkfield, a black American jockey riding around 1900. He rode the winner of the Kentucky Derby twice before he was 20. At that time racing was the best attended sport in the US (hell, what happened?). It also had more skulduggery than today. Run out of America by the Irish jocks who ganged up on him, he fled to Europe. First Poland, where he became champion jockey and learnt Polish, then Russia where...