Kelly Downing Jockey

Insights into national thoroughbred racing for Monday 18 November 2024 to Sunday 24 November 2024. * There were 51 race meetings held across Australia last week with 3,422 horses compe...

There were 47 race meetings held across Australia last week with 3,198 horses competing in 340 races for a total prize money purse of $19,011,500 .

There were 71 race meetings held across Australia last week with 4,512 horses competing in 499 races for a total prize money purse of $46,607,500 .

Predictions of a major downturn in yearling sales proved unfounded at the first four sessions of the Magic Millions sale with just a 16 per cent drop on 2008 figures.Aushorse Marketing said the Gol...

Talented Queensland sprinter Swiss Ace could be a surprise Melbourne visitor for the Group One Lightning Stakes and Newmarket Handicap at Flemington.Trainer Mick Mair expects to make a decision soo...

I went back to July 1990 for this month's "back to beyond" source material. The Optimist was still writing the same patter then as he is now. Fifteen years ago, give or take a few months, he was...

This is the final month of our trip back through the history of the past 20 or so years in this series. I left you last month with the promise that we'd pick up where we left off. So where exactl...

This is the final article in the series. It seems to me timely that it should occur during our 20th birthday celebrations. What I've done for this month's article is to plough back through a who...

June 1986. And my goodness, what a long time ago it seems now. I suppose that a fair percentage of my readers were still in school! I pulled this copy of PPM out of my archival vault and I flicked...

This is my first article in a new series. You, the readers, will hopefully write to Equestrian, and indicate some of your favourite "Optimist" articles from the past 20 years. You will determine...

This is the final article in our three-part series in which PPM. experts Statsman, Jon Hudson and The Optimist discuss their approaches to selecting and staking. Statsman: I'd like us to talk no...