The BBC's racing correspondent Cornelius Lysaght looks ahead to 2009 with his tips for success and the key stories likely to unfold.
Jump horse - Sublimity  Sublimity, Kauto Star and Denman will make it a strong year for jump racing |
It is usually marketing people who come up with a generally suspect phrases like 'a golden age for...' but when it comes to the current state of jump racing, they are correct. Kauto Star, Denman and Master Minded are three of many stars in a buoyant sport, but my eye is drawn to Sublimity, with the Cheltenham Festival's Champion Hurdle in March in mind. The winner of the race back in 2007, he ran a cracker in fourth place last time around and a highly satisfactory recent win at home in Ireland, where he's now trained by Robbie Hennessy, put him bang on course for Cheltenham. Flat horse - Fantasia 2008 could not be described as a vintage year for British Flat racing, not at the highest Group One level anyhow, with Ireland's Aidan O'Brien leading an overseas charge. Only two out of the five British Classics didn't go abroad, but in 2009 I can see a filly called Fantasia helping to redress the balance. Okay, she's trained by an Italian in Luca Cumani, but after way over 30 years based at Newmarket he is an adopted Briton. The winner of two races before going down at Ascot in September to Rainbow View, the winter favourite for the 1000 Guineas, she's an improver, with bags of potential for the 2009 Guineas and Oaks, and could easily turn the tables on her Ascot conqueror. Owner - The Queen After literally years in which allegations of corruption filled much of the public's perception about racing, the sport craves as many positive headlines as it can muster. And big race success for the Queen, racing's best known and longest standing patron, would be just what the doctor ordered. The Royal silks could be carried over jumps in March's Cheltenham Gold Cup by Barber's Shop, who won a steeplechase at Sandown in December impressively. That's all very nice, but the Queen is most associated with Flat racing, and has famously never been better than runner-up in the Epsom Derby. Her Royal Ascot winner Free Agent, from the Richard Hannon stable, will be fancied by many to fill that gap in the owner's racing scrapbook, while the filly Enticement looks all set for the Epsom Oaks. Jump trainer - Willie Mullins  Mullins has the impressive Hurricane Fly and Cousin Vinny in his yard |
So many to choose from, but Ireland's Willie Mullins seems to have a very strong team in his County Carlow stables, particularly of young horses like the ex-French Hurricane Fly and Cousin Vinny, winner of the Cheltenham Festival's ever-competitive Bumper race last March. Mullins hardly ever leaves Cheltenham without further feathers in his cap, and it looks very likely that once again that will be the case in 2009. Jump jockey - Dominic Elsworth The standard set by AP McCoy and Ruby Walsh at the moment is impressively high, but if you are searching for less well-known reliability, then look no further than Dominic Elsworth. The thoughtful 28-year-old cut his teeth at the stables of ex-show-jumper Harvey Smith and his wife Sue in his native Yorkshire before seeking further opportunities in the south where he has gained many admirers. Riding horses for the thriving strings of trainers Lucy Wadham, Oliver Sherwood and Paul Webber will ensure Elsworth - no relation of Desert Orchid's trainer David - continues to make his mark. Flat trainer - Tom Dascombe Lambourn-based Tom Dascombe is a trainer to follow after a whirlwind time during 2008 whose highpoint was two prestigious winners at Newmarket's July Meeting.  | 606: DEBATE |
Classic Blade took the valuable July Stakes the day before Firth Of Fifth stormed to victory in the Superlative Stakes. The Bristol-born 35-year-old ex-jockey (with the shrewd Martin Pipe stable) will have around eighty horses under his care for 2009, and is absolutely certain to be winning more important prizes. Flat jockey - Hayley Turner It has to be Hayley Turner (though I do think that rising star Tom Queally is a very close second). Turner, 26, became the first female rider to partner 100 winners in a calendar year when successful in a race under the floodlights at Wolverhampton in the last week of December. Obviously being a woman making a name for herself in a male-dominated sport, she is bound to attract many headlines, but Turner is about much more than that. Forget for a moment her triumphant overcoming of prejudice, she's still had to come up with the goods, and has done that spectacularly. A century of winners is impressive in anyone's book, and many more (of better quality) can be expected in 2009. There has also been talk of a role riding for the Maktoum family, the ruling family of Dubai, and probably the most influential group in world racing. Watch this space. Racing return - Kieren Fallon
 Fallon has not ridden in Britain since July 2006 |
Kieren Fallon will be back in action in September after serving an 18-month long worldwide ban for failing a cocaine test taken in France in 2007. Ironically, only weeks before the suspension was imposed, 43-year-old Fallon had walked free from the Old Bailey when the so-called Race-fixing Trial dramatically collapsed. In all, the six-times champion jockey and punters' favourite, has not ridden in Britain since July 2006 when the charges that led to court were brought by police. The absence of Europe's outstanding Flat jockey of modern times has left a notable gap, so his return - and how it will be greeted within the industry - is much anticipated. Racecourse - Ffos Las, Llanelli In June 2009, Britain's 61st racecourse is due to open at Ffos Las near Llanelli in south west Wales, and it will be yet another indication of how racing in Wales is booming. Providing a reminder of the industry which used to dominate in that part of the world, the �20m track has been constructed by racehorse owner and businessman Dai Walters on the site of an old open cast mine. It will be staging both Flat and jump racing, and will be hoping to attract many runners from (close by ferry) Ireland as well as from the rest of Britain. Racing officials - The British Horseracing Authority The British Horseracing Authority may well be a very hard-working, successful and dogged leader of British racing. There is only problem: few within the industry believe that's the case. 2009 is the year that the Authority's well-paid officials must demonstrate their, well, authority.
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