Why are race distances measured in furlongs?

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, a furlong is an old English unit of length. The term is, in fact, derived from the old English words ‘fuhr’, meaning ‘furrow’, and ‘lang’, meaning ‘long’; in the traditional medieval farming system in England, known as the ‘open-field’ system, each ploughed furrow ran the length of an acre. The furlong was standardised to 660 feet or 220 yards – that is, one-eighth of a mile – in the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century and has been the traditional unit of measurement for British horse races since the first formal race meetings in the sixteenth century.

The furlong remained an official measurement until the Eighties but, today, is used almost exclusively in horse racing; indeed, to the layman, the furlong is probably the distance most associated with the sport. That said, aside from the fact that British racecourses are geared up to use furlongs, in terms of marker posts and the like, there is no real reason why race distances cannot be measured in metres, as they are elsewhere in Europe. However, the British racing industry is notoriously traditional and tests of distance markers in furlongs and metres have received, at best, a lukewarm reception.

Why is the height of horses measured in hands?

The hand is an ancient, nay archaic, unit of length, which can be traced back to Ancient Egypt. As far as Britain is concerned, the hand was standardised to four inches – that is, the approximately breadth of a man’s hand, including the thumb – by King Henry VIII in 1514.

Nowadays, most European countries measure the height of horses in metres and centimetres but, curiously, Britain and Ireland still do so in hands, despite the hand being obsolete for any other purpose. The height of a horse from the ground to the tallest point on the body, a section of the spinal column above and just behind the shoulders, known as the ‘withers’.

The average height of a thoroughbred racehorse is sixteen hands and one inch at the withers, which is usually written as ’16.1hh’; note that while hands are expressed decimally, they are base four units, so a horse measuring 66”, or 5’6”, would be described as ’16.2hh’, not ’16.5hh’.

Was Paul Nicholls once a jockey?

Nowadays, Paul Nicholls is best known as the eleven-time winner of the National Hunt Trainers’ Championship, with over 3,000 winners, including 45 Cheltenham Festival winners and a Grand National winner, to his name. It would be fair to say that Nicholls is a familiar, if rather portly, figure on British racecourses in his trademark tweed coat with a velvet collar, but he was, in his younger days, an accomplished National Hunt jockey.

In a seven-year riding career, Nicholls rode a respectable 133 winners, but was most closely associated with the late David Barons, for whom he was stable jockey between 1986 and his retirement, due to injury, in 1989. Indeed, it was for Barons that Nicholls recorded back-to-back victories in the Hennessy Gold Cup – now the Ladbrokes Trophy – at Newbury on Broadheath in 1986 and Playschool in 1987. Remarkably, Broadheath carried just 10st 5lb and Playschool just 10st 8lb.

However, in an interview long after his retirement from the saddle, Nicholls admitted that he often resorted to ‘cheating’, by constantly taking diuretic pills, known in racing circles as ‘pee pills’, to keep his weight down, or fiddling the scales when weighing out or in. He also admitted to having been close to anorexia during his career as a jockey.

Which jockey, who retired in 2017, was placed in seven consecutive Grand Nationals?

Whether finishing in the first four in the Grand National seven years running, without ever winning the world famous steeplechase, is an enviable, or unenviable, record is really a matter of opinion, but the jockey who did just that was Paul Moloney. Having hung up his riding boots in 2017, Moloney joined a list of exceptional jockeys, including the John Francome, Jonjo O’Neill, Peter Scudamore and, of course, Richard Johnson – although the latter is still trying, after 21 attempts, so far – never to have won the Grand National. Moloney, himself, failed to complete the course on his first four attempts in the National but, thereafter, his record was remarkable.

Moloney achieved all seven placings aboard three horses, all saddled by Vale of Glamorgan trainer Evan Williams and all carrying the familiar blue colours of William and Angela Rucker. His sequence began with State Of Play, who finished fourth behind Mon Mome in 2009, third behind Don’t Push It in 2010, and fourth, again, behind Ballabriggs in 2011. In 2012, Cappa Bleu, described by Moloney as ‘an absolute armchair ride’, picked upon the baton, finishing fourth, yet again, behind Neptune Collonges and, in 2013, finished second behind Auroras Encore. Next it was the turn of the quirky, but talented, Alvarado, who finished fourth behind both Pineau De Re in 2014 and Many Clouds in 2015.

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