Tony Stafford

This is the time of year when we like to see Derby form franked as we move into the lucrative end-of-season international racing action around the world, writes Tony Stafford. Initially, we didn’t and then gloriously at Saratoga on Saturday night, we did. There were suggestions that Lambourn’s Derby win had been in some ways

One of the enduring funniest moments in all of racing to my mind was the time when jockey Adam Beschizza was called into a stewards’ inquiry at Newmarket, writes Tony Stafford. Not one of the “faces” among the jockeys at the time, the lead in the stewarding panel asked him his name. “Beschizza”, he replied,

I recently wrote about the sad decline in the attraction to trainers of Newmarket’s Cambridgeshire Handicap, run two weeks ago with a first prize of £90k, writes Tony Stafford. On a track where they could easily accommodate 35 horses and room for five or six London buses in between up the straight it looked a

In this game it’s never too late, writes Tony Stafford. As the rain poured down rendering Saturday’s Cheltenham card in jeopardy after an awful drowning Friday, one Irish trainer was firmly keeping his fingers crossed that the much-vaunted drainage system of Prestbury Park would pass muster. It did, enabling both the Saturday and Sunday cards

When you happen to be 78 years of age and own a racehorse that not only is the best you’ve ever had but also could be a future steeplechase champion, it’s hard not to be impatient, writes Tony Stafford. It must have been excruciating for Harry Redknapp to have to wait 331 days for his

Few UK trainers have been as consistent over recent years as the Crisfords, father Simon and son Ed, writes Tony Stafford. Between 2022 and last year they maintained a strike rate not far off 20%, consecutively earning £1.3million, then £1.7million, and then £1.4 million the last twice. Those four campaigns brought a total of 294