Which Horses Will Win the Biggest Races in 2024?

Which Horses Will Win the Biggest Races in 2024? Horse racing fans have plenty to look forward to in 2024, with the upcoming calendar packed with a ton of top-class action taking place across the world.

Next year undoubtedly looks exciting in the United Kingdom and Ireland, with top trainer Aidan O’Brien set to unleash a horse that looks to be a potential superstar.

Australian horse racing fans also have a stellar year lined up, with the Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse in November the undoubted highlight.

Picking the potential winners of races this far in advance is no easy task, so punters would be well advised to ensure they keep a close eye on respected tipping sites.

When it comes to reliable information, whether you are looking for horse racing tips tomorrow or a little further down the line, OnlyRacing.com.au has all the bases covered.

With that mind, we take a closer look at two horses we believe will deliver sizeable winning returns to punters when they contest the biggest races in 2024.

City of Troy – Epsom Derby

O’Brien spoke in glowing terms about City of Troy after the horse produced a devasting performance to turn the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket Racecourse into a procession last month.

The son of Justify is now odds-on with some betting firms to win next year’s 2000 Guineas at the same venue, while he is priced at 3.50 to win the Epsom Derby.

O’Brien says that City of Troy is ‘the best two-year-old he had ever trained’ – high praise given the number of quality performers he has previously had in his stable.

Timeform handicapper Simon Baker gave the horse a rating of 125p after that victory, which places him in the same bracket as a previous superstar of the sport.

“City of Troy’s Dewhurst win was the best performance in the race since Frankel, and while we could wait a lifetime and not see anything in that league again, there can be no doubt that City of Troy is a tremendous prospect in his own right,” Baker said.

“Not all recent high-achieving Dewhurst winners have advanced their form markedly at three, but everything about City of Troy, from his powerful physique to his strong-galloping style, suggests he can go on improving, which makes him just about the most exciting horse around for 2024.”

Balance Play – Melbourne Cup

The recent Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale at Newmarket may well have produced an early pointer for a potential winner of the 2024 Melbourne Cup.

Balance Play was bought by McKeever Bloodstock, Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott for AU$1.155 million and has been touted as an ideal candidate for ‘the race that stops the nation’.

The horse was rated 101 going into the session, having won three of his six starts in high-class handicaps during his three-year-old campaign.

Balance Play is from the same family as Bauer, who famously missed out on winning the 2008 Melbourne Cup by a nose for trainer Luca Cumani.

Claudia Miller, bloodstock manager for Tulloch Lodge, says she was under ‘strict instructions’ not to leave the sale without the horse and was delighted when the hammer came down.

“He is a lovely three-year-old – lightly raced, very consistent and effective on all going,” Miller said. “He is just the exact profile of the horse we look for at this sale. We are very excited to get him.”

Which horse was Ruby Walsh’s first winner on British soil?

Rupert ‘Ruby’ Walsh announced his retirement, with immediate effect, after winning the Punchestown Gold Cup on Kemboy, trained by Willie Mullins, on May 1, 2019. He thus brought to an end a riding career that began at Leopardstown on May 17, 1995 – three days after his sixteenth birthday – and yielded 2,767 winners in Britain and Ireland combined. Walsh remains the third most successful National Hunt jockey in history, behind only Sir Anthony McCoy and Richard Johnson.

Born in Kill, Co. Kildare, Walsh was champion jump jockey in his native land on twelve occasions between 1998/99 and 2016/17 but, as far as a British audience is concerned, was best known for his exploits at the Cheltenham Festival. Thanks to fruitful associations with Willie Mullins and Paul Nicholls – multiple champion trainers on their respective sides of the Irish Sea – Walsh rode a record 59 winners at the March showpiece and won the leading jockjey award eleven times between 2004 and 2017.

Walsh rode his first winner in Britain, Major Jamie, trained by Arthur Moore, in the William Hill Hurdle at Sandown Park on December 6, 1997, while still riding as ‘Mr. R. Walsh’. Indeed, he did not turn professional until the 1998/1999 season, by which time he had already ridden his first Cheltenham Festival winner, Alexander Banquet, trained by Mullins, in what is now the Weatherbys Champion Bumper, in March, 1998.

 

 

 

How many racecourses are there in Wales?

The short answer is three. Chepstow Racecourse, home of the most valuable race run in Wales, the Coral Welsh National, is probably the best known of the trio. Situated in Monmouthshire, South East Wales, close to the border with England, the dual purpose course consists of a left-handed, undulating oval, 1 mile 7 furlongs around, plus a straight mile course, which joins the round course at the top of the home straight. The National Hunt course features 11 fairly stiff fences, or seven flights of hurdles, per circuit.

Not to be confused with Bangor, the cathedral city in Gwynedd, North West Wales, Bangor-on-Dee Racecourse is situated to the south-west of the village of the same name near Wrexham, North East Wales. Established in 1859, Bangor-on-Dee is a National Hunt course, consisting of a left-handed, flat circuit, 1 mile 4 furlongs in extent, with sharp bend and six hurdles, or nine fences, per circuit. The course has the distinction of being the only one in Britain without a grandstand; viewing takes place from a sloping grass bank, which surrounds the racing surface.

Ffos Las Racecourse, situated near the former mining village of Trimsaran in Carmathenshire, West Wales, was built on the site of what was, at one time, the largest open cast mine in Europe. The dual purpose course, which opened, to much fanfare, in 2009, is similar to Bangor-on-Dee insofar that it consists of a left-handed, flat oval, approximately 1 mile 4 furlongs around, but is essentially galloping in character, with wide, easy bends.

Can Willie Mullins Bash the Bookies at the 2024 Cheltenham Festival?

Can Willie Mullins Bash the Bookies at the 2024 Cheltenham Festival? Willie Mullins is generally a trainer to follow at the Cheltenham Festival, with his tally of 94 winners at the meeting putting him well clear of his nearest rival.

Mullins topped the trainer standings with six winners at this year’s event and has plenty of fancied runners lined-up for the 2024 edition of the meeting.

A measure of the strength of his stable can garnered by looking at the latest ante-post markets, which paint a worrying picture for other trainers in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Of the 20 races which have already been priced up by the betting sites featured on horse-racing.ie, Mullins has the favourite in more than half of them.

With that in mind, we have scoured the lists to assess the chances of some of Mullins’ runners, starting with one who has already been well backed by punters.

Bunting – Triumph Hurdle

Barely a season goes by in racing without at least one of Mullins’ horses being touted a potential future superstar and this year is certainly no different.

Bunting has been backed from 20/1 to 12/1 for the 2024 Triumph Hurdle, despite never running over obstacles during his short career.

The horse won its solitary start at Fontainebleau on the flat over eleven furlongs earlier this year before being purchased by Brighton & Hove Albion owner Tony Bloom.

He is well known for wagering on his horses and his latest acquisition could be extremely tough to beat when the Triumph Hurdle is staged next March.

Redemption Day – Supreme Novices’ Hurdle

Several horses from the Mullins stable are towards the head of the betting in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and it would be no surprise is one of them won the race.

However, looking a little further down the list there is another Mullins runner who leaps off the page as a potential value bet at odds of 25/1 in the opening race of the meeting.

Redemption Day was heavily touted for the 2022 Champion Bumper, but failed to live up to expectations on unsuitably heavy ground.

He went on to finish second at the Punchestown Festival before missing last season through injury, but could take high order over hurdles if Mullins can keep him fit.

Allaho – Ryanair Chase

Two-time Ryanair Chase winner Allaho produced a stunning performance to win the Punchestown Gold Cup in April 2022 before suffering a bleed on his spleen.

After missing the whole of last season, the horse recently returned to action in the Clonmel Oil Chase and barely broke sweat on his way to an effortless victory.

Mullins has never made any secret of how highly he rates Allaho and he looks a good bet at odds of 10/3 to win the Ryanair Chase for a third time.

British trainer Paul Nicholls will fancy his chances of winning the race with Stage Star, but his horse could find it difficult to topple Allaho.

Ile Atlantique – Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle

After finishing third on his hurdles debut in France, Ile Atlantique was a stylish winner of a bumper for Mullins at Leopardstown in December 2022.

The horse subsequently finished second in two bumpers at Naas and Fairyhouse, although there was no disgrace in either of those defeats.

Ile Atlantique looked to have grown into his frame on his first start over hurdles at Gowran Park this month, roaring home 19 lengths clear of his rivals.

That performances saw the Bloom-owned horse slashed from 33/1 to 14/1 for the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle – odds which still look decent value.

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