Does Shishkin have wind problems?

At the end of the 2020/21 National Hunt season, Shishkin was the highest-rated novice chaser in the country, according to Timeform. Owned by Joe and Marie Donnelly and trained by Nicky Henderson, the seven-year-old won all five starts over fences in 2020/21, including the Arkle Challenge Trophy at the Cheltenham Festival, and is currently favourite for the 2022 Queen Mother Champion Chase.

In September, 2021, shortly after announcing the retirement of his former stable star, Altior, Henderson was keen to make it known that Shishkin had undergone a minor wind operation. A routine examination of his upper respiratory tract – performed with a device called an endoscope and therefore known, colloquially, as ‘scoping’ – revealed that Shishkin might need a wind operation at some point. So, rather than interrupt his training programme once the season was underway, connections chose to schedule surgery sooner rather than later.

Explaining the rationale behind the ‘safety first’ approach, Henderson said, ‘You don’t want to run in the Tingle Creek [his intended target for Shishkin’s seasonal reappearance, at Sandown in December] and find that there was a problem and stop and start again.’ Nevertheless, he played down the procedure, describing it as ‘nothing out of the ordinary’ and added that Shiskin had done ‘phenomenally well’, physically, over the summer.

Has Robert Havlin ridden a Group 1 winner for John Gosden?

The short answer is no, he hasn’t. In fact, Robert ‘Rab’ Havlin has never ridden a Group 1 winner, not for John Gosden – who, since early 2021, has held a joint licence with his son, Thady – or any other trainer. That said, at the last count, Havlin had ridden a total of 583 winners for Gosden, including 45 for the recently established partnership in 2021. Those victories include 18 at Pattern Race level, the most recent of which was Megallan in the Group 3 Sovereign Stakes at Salisbury in August, 2021.

Havlin, 47, is into the veteran stage of his career, but was stable apprentice at Manton Park, Wiltshire when Gosden succeeded Peter Chapple-Hyam as private trainer to Robert Sangster in late 1999. In the interim, he has developed into a highly accomplished horseman and remains a pivotal member of the Gosdens’ staff at Clarehaven Stables in Newmarket. The Scotsman rode his one and only Royal Ascot winner, Ardad, in the Windsor Castle Stakes in June, 2016. Fittingly, he reached the career landmark of 1,000 winners on another Gosden-trained horse, Pitcher’s Point, at Lingfield in March, 2020.

At that point, Havlin paid tribute to Gosden, saying, ‘The second half of my career has been a lot better than the first! I’ve got John Gosden to thank for that, he’s been an unbelievable friend and supporter for a long time and it’s down to him.’

 

Was Fergal O’Brien once a jockey?

Nowadays, Fergal O’Brien is a dual-purpose trainer based at Ravenshall Farm in Withington, Gloucester, approximately ten miles from Cheltenham Racecourse. Indeed, O’Brien enjoyed his most successful season so far in 2020/21, saddling 104 National Hunt winners – only Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson saddled more – and amassing over £796,000 in prize money to finish seventh in the trainers’ championship. In fact, at the time of writing, O’Brien already heads the 2021/22 trainers’ championship table, with 51 winners and nearly £350,000 in prize money and has recently joined forces with fellow Gloucestershire trainer Graeme McPherson to create O’Brien McPherson Racing.

Born in Limerick in 1972, into a family with no involvement in horse racing, O’Brien nonetheless harboured the ambition of becoming a jockey. As a teenager, he followed his older brother Brian across the Irish Sea to the yard of Doug Francis, elder brother of Dick Francis, in Malpas, Cheshire. In early 1989, O’Brien completed a nine-week course at the British Racing School and subsequently joined Tim Forster in Letcombe Bassett, near Lambourn, with whom he would spend the next three and a half years. Having discovered that his ambition outweighed his talent, as far a race riding was concerned, O’Brien joined up-and-coming trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies in Naunton, Gloucester, where he remained for the best part of two decades before embarking on his own training career.

When did Laffit Pincay beat Bill Shoemaker’s record for the most winners ever?

Born in Panama City, Panama in December, 1946, Laffit Pincay Jr. rode his first winner, Huela, in his hometown in May, 1964, at the age of 17. However, it was in the United States – to which he travelled, under the auspices of legendary owner/breeder Fred W. Hooper, in 1966 – where he would find his fame. After initially plying his trade in Florida, Chicago and New York, Pincay Jr. settled in California, where he would eventually be recognised as the natural successor to Bill Shoemaker on the West Coast racing circuit. Indeed, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1975, at the age of 28.

Shoemaker eventually retired in 1989 with 8,833 winners to his name, thereby setting a world record for career victories that would stand for a decade. However, on December 10, 1999, Pincay Jr., 52, surpassed Shoemaker’s total on Irish Nip at Hollywood Park. Reflecting on his achievement, he said, ‘ The record means a lot because Shoemaker is the greatest jockey I ever rode against. It’s a record I never thought anybody could come close to.’

Pincay Jr. retired in April, 2003, with 9,530 winners to his name. Once again, it was mooted that his own record may never be broken, but it has been, twice, by Canadian Russell Baze, with 12,844 career victories, and Brazilian Jorge Ricardo, with 13,069.

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