Who was Dream Alliance?

While, perhaps, not quite in the same league as the fairytale triumph of Aldaniti and Bob Champion in the 1981 Grand National, the story of Dream Alliance was considered sufficiently uplifting to be made into the documentary ‘Dark Horse: The Incredible True Story of Dream Alliance’ in 2015 and the feature film ‘Dream Horse’ in 2021.

Around the turn of the twenty-first century, Cefn Fforest barmaid Janet ‘Jan’ Vokes hit upon the unlikely idea of buying a thoroughbred mare with a view to breeding a racehorse. Jan and her husband, Brian, duly acquired the mare Rewbell for the princely sum of £350 and sent her to the unheralded sire Bien Bien, who was standing at Kirlington Stud in Oxfordshire for a stud fee of £3,000. The resulting foal, Dream Alliance, was born and raised on an allotment on a disused coal tip before entering training with Somerset handler Philip Hobbs as a three-year-old.

Vokes recruited a disparate group of 22 local, working-class people – each of whom contributed £10 a week towards training costs – to form the so-called ‘Alliance Partnership’, supervised by local accountant and ‘racing manager’, Howard Davies. The name ‘Dream Alliance’ derived from the fact that, as Vokes put it, ‘We’re all an alliance, and this is our dream.’

The rest, as they say, is history. Dream Alliance won twice over hurdles in 2005/06 and twice over fences in 2006/07. The 2007/08 season started well enough, with a second place finish behind Denman in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury in November but, the following April, Dream Alliance suffered a near-fatal tendon injury. After revolutionary stem cell treatment and an absence of 18 months, he returned to racing and, remarkably, on his second start back, completed his rags-to-riches tale by winning the Welsh National at Chepstow at odds of 20/1.

Why are horses disqualified?

Horses can be disqualified before or after a race for a variety of reasons, some of which are more common than others. Far and away the most common reason for disqualification is that, by accident or design, a horse causes interference to one or more of its rivals, to such an extent that it affects the result of the race, as far as the winner and placed horses are concerned. Depending upon the severity of the interference, the placings may be reversed or the offending horse may be disqualified.

Following a race, a horse may be subject to an objection by the Clerk of the Scales, for example, if a jockeys fails to ‘weigh in’, at all or, for whatever reason, the horse is considered to have carried less weight than it should have done, according to the race conditions. Occasionally, a horse may be disqualified, before or after a race, because it is found to be ineligible to run or, after a race, because its jockey is ineligible to ride. If a horse is subject to a routine examination and subsequently tests positive substance, it can be disqualified long after the race has been run. Other, more obscure reasons for disqualification include a horse that is leased, rather than owned outright, running in a selling or claming race without the written consent of the lessor.

As you can see these are nuanced issues of which knowing the ins and outs of can benefit us. The better your understanding the more likely you are to come away from it as a winner!

What is point-to-point racing?

What is point-to-point racing? Point-to-point racing is essentially grassroots steeplechasing for amateur jockeys and trainers. Point-to-point race days are organised at a local level by a hunt, or a recognised club or association, and staged on a variety of racecourses, approved, but not licensed, by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA). Jockeys riding in point-to-point racing must be members of, or subscribers to, a recognised hunt and horses qualify by virtue of being owned by members or subscribers and having a registered ‘hunter certificate’.

Traditionally, point-to-point meetings are staged February and May, which corresponded to the period outside the main fox hunting season, in the days before it became illegal to hunt foxes with packs of dogs in Britain. A meeting typically consists of six or seven steeplechases, the vast majority of which are run over a distance of three miles and a minimum of 18 brush fences, although shorter and longer distances are possible, depending upon the specific type of point-to-point race being contested. All point-to-point courses have basic facilities, including a bar and toilets, but there is no dress code and, overall, the atmosphere is friendly, relaxed and informal.

Since World War II, which jockeys have held the world record for most winners?

In the United Kingdom, the most successful jockey of all time was Sir Gordon Richards, who retired in 1954 with 4,870 winners to his name. Indeed, Richards set a world record, but it lasted only until 1956, when broken by fellow Englishman John ‘Johnny’ Longden. Born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, Longden emigrated to Canada with his family 1912 and subsequently moved to California to pursue a career as a jockey. Based at Santa Anita Park, Longden retired from race riding in 1966 with 6,032 victories, thereby setting a new world record for career wins.

Longden’s record stood until 1970, when it was broken by Texan-born Willie ‘Bill’ Shoemaker. Indeed, even though Shoemaker rode his last winner in 1990, taking his career total to 8,833,

he would continue to hold the world record for most wins until 1999. At that point, Shoemaker ceded the all-time record to another West Coast jockey, Panamanian-born Laffit Pincay Jr., who had been riding in the United States since 1966.

Like Shoemaker, Pincay Jr. continued to hold the record for most career winners until his retirement, at the age of 56, in 2003, by which time his tally stood at 9,530. In fact, Pincay Jr. would not be surpassed until Canadian-born Russell Baze chalked up win number 9,531, courtesy of Butterfly Belle at Bay Meadows in San Mateo, California in December, 2006. Thereafter, Baze frequently traded the all-time record with Brazilian-born Jorge Ricardo, but continued riding until June, 2016, when he brought his stellar, 42-year career to end. At the time of his retirement, at the age of 57, he had ridden 12,844 winners and wrested back the record from his South American rival.

Remarkably, Ricardo, who turned 60 in September, 2021, is still active as a jockey. He equalled Baze’s record at Hipodromo da Gavea, in his native Rio de Janeiro, in February, 2018, before breaking it at Hipodromo de San Isidro in Buenos Aires, Argentina the following day. At the last count, ‘Ricardinho’, as he is known to his fans, had ridden‎ 13,122 winners and, after 45 years in the saddle set a record that will surely never be beaten by anyone other than himself. He once said, ‘I keep riding because it is my life. Honestly, I can’t live without it.’

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