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Winning Post

Episode 01

Glorious Goodwood
Glorious Goodwood was famously described by Edward VII as "a garden party with racing tacked on".  And with a more informal uniform and atmosphere than Royal Ascot, it is regarded by some as the crowning event in the Flat racing season.  But Goodwood is not just a racecourse; it’s a C21st business empire, encompassing classic cars, an organic farm and a flying school.  We sit down with the charismatic Lord March, whose family seat is the Goodwood estate, to find out how he blends the traditional with the modern.  We also hear from the Clerk of the Course about how the famous course is kept in top condition for the first-class thoroughbreds who’ll be flocking there this week.

Having a flutter
A day at the races isn’t complete without having a flutter.  But the famous ‘tic tac’ men – the rows and rows of trackside bookies vying to give you the best odds – are all but vanished.  Now you’re more likely to bet on the internet or even on your smart phone.  We speak to some of the companies powering the betting revolution – from fixed-odds behemoth Paddy Power to a new betting exchange site – and catch up with the last of the old school bookies at Glorious Goodwood.

Owning a champion
Very few of us will ever experience the thrill of owning a racehorse.  We go behind the scenes with a top racehorse owner as he experiences the highs and lows of watching his horse run at Glorious Goodwood, and rub shoulders with some of the exclusive club of top owners whose very fortunes depend on the success of their thoroughbreds.

Hayley Turner profile
Hayley Turner is widely regarded as Britain’s top female jockey – a claim she cemented with her magnificent win at Newmarket earlier this month, becoming the first woman to win a Group 1 race (the sport’s highest classification).  She’s also become something of a pin-up: as she breaks more and barriers in a traditionally male-dominated sport, so the attention on racing’s ‘golden girl’ intensifies.  But when she’s not posing for Vanity Fair, Hayley is content to let her racing do the talking.  We spend a day with her as she prepares for Glorious Goodwood – from the 5am starts to learning the secrets of her skill in the saddle – and hear from some of her trainers about what makes her the best in the game.

Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe Monday 12th September 2011

1. “Superfoal”
What happens when you put the best to the best and hope for the best? 2008 Arc winner Zarkava was bred to 2009 winner Sea the Stars, colt born in Feb 2011.  This is the racing equivalent of “Tennis Baby” (Andre Agassi and Stefi Graf’s child).  Lives at the Aga Khan’s Haras de Bonneval stud in Normandy.  We’d meet Zarkava and her foal and hear from those whose hopes are pinned on the ‘superfoal’.  We also speak to a scientist from the Royal Veterinary College in the UK about the genetics involved in such a pairing.

2. French trainer
If anyone knows how to prepare a horse to win Europe’s most prestigious horse race, it’s Christiane Head-Maarak.  “Criquette” – as she’s affectionately known – remains the only women to have trained an Arc winner (Three Troikas, 1979).  She is a very inspiration figure herself, having survived cancer.  We spend the day with her on her yard, where she has more than 100 thoroughbreds in training.

3. Equestrian art
Longchamp Racecourse is an artist’s dream.  There has been racing on the site since mid-C19th, when Napoleon III watched the first-ever race on the famous course.  It has been painted by, among others, Manet and Degas.  We visit the locations that inspired these artists and here from an art historian at the National Portrait Gallery – home to possibly the most famous image of horse racing, Stubbs’s Whistlejacket – about how racing and horses have been inspiring artists for generations.

4. And the winner is…