Who is the most successful current jockey at Royal Ascot?

In the long, illustrious history of Royal Ascot, Lester Piggott is, far and away, the most successful jockey. Notwithstanding the fact that the Royal Meeting was not extended to five days until 2002 – seven years after Piggott retired for the second, and final, time in 1995 – ‘The Long Fella’ racked up a total of 116 winners.

However, the most successful current jockey at Royal Ascot is Lanfranco ‘Frankie’ Dettori, who stands head and shoulders above his contemporaries with 67 winners. Dettori rode his first Royal Ascot winner, Markofdistinction, trained by Luca Cumani, in the Queen Anne Stakes – at the time it was still a Group Two contest open to horses aged three years and upwards – as a 19-year-old in 1990. In the meantime, the Italian jockey has ridden a total of 24 Group One winners at the Royal Meeting and been leading jockey six times, most recently in 2019. Indeed, on ‘Ladies’ Day’ in 2019, Dettori rode a four-timer – a feat last achieved by Piggott himself in 1965 – which contributed to his total of seven winners.

What is a ‘syndicate’?

In horse racing, a ‘syndicate’ is a group of like-minded people that comes together or, indeed, is brought together by a syndicator – who can be an individual or a company, must be registered with the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) – to purchase ownership of a racehorse. The cost of buying and training a racehorse is prohibitively expensive for most people, at least if they do so for themselves. The idea behind horse syndication is that each syndicate member buys a fixed share, say, 2.5%, 5% or 10%, in one or more horses and makes a contribution towards the annual costs – such as farrier, veterinary and, of course, training, fees – needed to keep the horse fit, healthy and ready to run for its life.

In other words, instead of the whole cost of ownership being laid at the door of one, extremely wealthy individual, it is split between multiple part-owners. Of course, owners also share any winnings their horses accumulate during their involvement but, even so, most people consider syndicate membership as a relatively inexpensive way to enjoy personal involvement with, and a stake in, racehorses, rather than a lucrative investment opportunity. Of course, it is possible make large of sums of money from horse syndication but, for many owners, the best way to make a small fortune from horse racing is to start with a large one.

Was there once a racecourse in Newport, Gwent?

Yes, there was, although ‘Newport Racecourse’ was, in fact, in Caerleon, a suburban town on the northern outskirts of Newport. The first recorded meeting at the course was staged in August, 1845 and meetings continued until 1854. Thereafter, the racecourse fell out of favour for decades and the next recorded meeting at ‘Newport’ did not take place until November, 1899. Racing was suspended for World War I and again for World War II, but resumed in 1946 and continued until the final meeting in May, 1948.
In its heyday, Newport Racecourse briefly played host to both the Welsh Champion Hurdle and the Welsh Grand National, following the closure of Ely Racecourse in Cardiff, which was, prior to its closure in 1939, the leading racecourse in Wales. However, both principal races were transferred to Chepstow Racecourse, in Monmouthsire, following the demise of Newport Racecourse after World War II.

Who invented handicapping?

Nowadays, handicapping – that is, allocating each horse in a race weight according to its ability, such that every horse has an equal chance of winning – is performed by a team of dedicated, professional handicappers employed by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA).

However, prior to 1851, no compensation was made for horses of different abilities or different ages racing against each other. The man who effectively invented handicapping was Admiral Henry John Rous, who was elected a member of the Jockey Club in 1821, at the tender age of 26, and appointed senior steward of the Jockey Club in 1838, following his retirement from the Navy two years earlier.

In 1850, Rous published ‘The Laws and Practices of Horse Racing’ and the following year devised the first ‘weight-for-age’ scale. The weight-for-age scale, which is still in use today, describes weight allowances that younger horses receive from older rivals, over different distances at different times of year. By compensating for the lack of physical maturity in younger horses, the weight-for-age scale affords horses of different ages an equal chance of winning. Rous was renowned as an expert handicapper, especially in two-horse races, or ‘matches’, and was appointed official handicapper in 1855.

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