India’s Usha Stud, a review of the Dublin Racing Festival and a look at a potential new Hong Kong superstar featured on the Nick Luck Daily podcast this week.
Leopardstown’s Dublin Racing Festival (DRF) spilled into this week when the impacts of Storm Chandra necessitated Saturday’s card moving to Monday, with Sunday’s offering sticking to its scheduled slot.
Josh Stacey introduced a DRF review podcast from Ireland on Monday, with analysis from Lydia Hislop, Daryl Jacob and Mark Boylan, perhaps best known for his work at the Irish Field.
Gordon Elliott reflected on the performances of his runners, not least Brighterdaysahead, who carried the Gigginstown colours to an Irish Champion Hurdle victory on Sunday.
Tom Stanley was in for Nick on Tuesday, joined by Newsboy Dave ‘The Bedford Fox’ Yates.
The DRF was again on the agenda, with discussion largely focussing on the success of outgoing JP McManus number one jockey Mark Walsh, winning rider in half of the meeting’s eight Grade 1s.
Lee Mottershead, who was on the ground in Brazil, shared his experience of Frankie Dettori’s final flourish at Gávea and it was off to India via a conversation Nick had recorded with Usha Stud’s Ameeta Mehra for the Weatherbys global bloodstock segment.
Back in Britain, Aamilah Aswat had on Monday made history as the first black female jump jockey to ride a winner and Mat Nicholls, part of the duo who train her mount, Guchen, was on hand to explain more.
Rishi Persad was the sidekick on Wednesday, with Nick back in the hotseat.
The pair set off with talk of the Racing Digital project, which has faced delays and was thrown back into the spotlight when its outgoing chairman sent a stinging letter to the Racing Post, stating that he had “grave concerns” about the ability of Weatherbys and the BHA to deliver the project this year “on time, on budget and to the desired quality.”
The BHA and Weatherbys rejected Batterham’s claims in a joint statement.
Nick Alexander, NTF President, had his say on the matter before Nick and Rishi turned to talk of an apparent stalemate between BHA Chairman Lord Allen and racecourse over data rights.
Flat and jump racing were both topics of discussion later in the podcast.
Jumping through conversations with Stewart Andrew, owner of Nick Rockett, and with Paul Nicholls, who reflected on a successful spell for his yard. The Flat through talk of last weekend’s headline-grabbing Hong Kong Classic Mile hero Little Paradise.
JA McGrath, delivering his weekly Hong Kong bulletin, gave some background on the gelding’s trainer and sire.
Newsboy was back on Thursday, when Nicky Henderson updated Nick on Sir Gino’s recovery.
Ben Pauling, Paul Nolan and Ciaran Gethings also joined the show and talk of Little Paradise continued through a chat with Vincent Ho towards the end of the episode.
Mangan stepped up to discuss the latest with Nick today, including the acquittal of Philip Byrnes, who had been accused of deliberately falling off Redwood Queen in a race at Wexford last year.
There were updates on apparent BHA governance issues, as well as a look at the latest on the longstanding dispute between Steve Parkin and Joe Foley over Yeomanstown resident Sands Of Mali.
Talk of upcoming racing in Britain and Ireland followed, before Bren O’Brien, founder of The Straight, was brought on to discuss the black market in Australia and Japan.
Listen to every episode of Nick Luck Daily via our sister product
View the latest Global Rankings for horses, owners, breeders, trainers and jockeys
