The BHA Podcast

Tommy Churchyard sat down with BHA Handicapper Mark Olley for his thoughts and updated ratings following a memorable Ebor Festival at York Racecourse. Kalpana and Colin Keane landed the Legends Global Yorkshire Oaks in dramatic style on day two, handing trainer Andrew Balding and Juddmonte the second of their two Group 1 wins at York Racecourse. The Park House Stables team would end the week with six winners in total.Meanwhile Maltese Cross and Tom Marquand produced Mark's 'performance of the week' when winning the Sky Bet Great Voltigeur Stakes for trainer William Haggas and owner George Waud. He became the highest rated winner of the race this century.

The BHA’s Head of Handicapping Dominic Gardiner-Hill joins us once again to confirm the official ratings following the Juddmonte International Stakes at York last Wednesday, won by the Juddmonte-owned Item for Andrew Balding and Colin Keane.

Item won the Juddmonte International on the opening day of the Ebor Festival at York Racecourse, beating Almaqam by a head under jockey Colin Keane for the Andrew Balding team. Constitution River and Ombudsman finished third and fourth respectively.Tommy Churchyard sat down with Dominic Gardiner-Hill, the BHA's Head of Handicapping, to get his initial reaction to the thrilling race. 

Goodwood was glorious!We take a look back at a sensational week at the Qatar Goodwood Festival with the BHA's Head of Handicapping, Dominic Gardiner-Hill, who shares his revised ratings for the leading horses.He reflects on Bow Echo and Billy Loughnane's upward trajectory following a thrilling Sussex Stakes and Diamond Necklace's imperious 'career best' showing in the Nassau Stakes.Plus how do you go about rating a race as eventful as the Goodwood Cup, which promised a real duel on the downs but ended with Trawlerman impeded and Scandinavia powering to victory?=====You can find all published handicap ratings for horses running in Britain on the BHA website, each week on Tuesday morning: https://www.britishhorseracing.com/regulation/official-ratings/ratings-database

Bow Echo stretched his unbeaten run to six with another sensational victory, this time in the Visit Qatar Sussex Stakes under jockey Billy Loughnane for trainer George Boughey.The BHA's Head of Handicapping Dominic Gardiner-Hill shared his immediate thoughts on Wednesday's showpiece race at Glorious Goodwood, won in thrilling style to land the £1.5 million prize and the most valuable mile race ever run in Europe.

Kalpana landed a thrilling victory in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot Racecourse on Saturday. The five-year-old mare saw off the challenge of Calandagan, Benvenuto Cellini Masquerade Ball and Lambourn under jockey Colin Keane for trainer Andrew Balding and Juddmonte.BHA Handicapper Mark Olley sat down with James Giblett to assess the 1m 3f race and share his revised mark for the Kingsclere-based horse.

Join host Nick Lightfoot as he sits down with Simon Cox for the first time on the BHA Podcast, following last week’s announcement that Simon will be the new Chair of the BHA. Simon talks about his passion for racing, his previous career experience and how nothing could ever keep him away from the Cheltenham Festival.===Simon Cox appointed new BHA Chair (22 July 2026)Simon Cox has been appointed as the new independent non-executive Chair of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA). He will assume his position on 1 October 2026.A passionate owner-breeder and accomplished business leader, Cox has a deep understanding of the British racing and breeding industry, combined with extensive board-level experience and large-scale commercial expertise.Cox has been a member of the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association (TBA) board of trustees since November 2021 and chairs the BHA’s Jump Pattern Committee, which makes recommendations to the BHA Board on how to continually strengthen the Jump Pattern and Listed programme.A former Professional Jockeys Association (PJA) board member, Cox is a member of the industry’s High Quality Horse group, which is contributing to wider work to grow the number of horses – and particularly top-class horses – being bred, owned, trained and raced in Britain.An owner of racehorses for more than 15 years with four horses currently in training, Cox has established himself as a thoroughbred breeder, with 10 broodmares stationed at Shade Oak Stud – also home to St Leger winner-turned-stallion Logician, in whom he owns shares.Read the full release: https://www.britishhorseracing.com/press_releases/simon-cox-appointed-new-bha-chair/

The BHA’s Cathy O’Meara, Robbie Supple and Shaun Parker join host Nick Lightfoot to discuss the announcement of recommendations designed to improve the starts at Cheltenham and across wider Jump racing. ======Fewer false starts and clearer starting processes are the aims of recommendations from the review of starts at the Cheltenham FestivalFewer false starts and clearer starting processes among the objectives of recommendations from the review of starts at the Cheltenham Festival. The follow detailed consultation with jockeys, trainers, broadcasters, officials and bettors. Course configuration, starting procedure changes and enhanced regulation are amongst the five recommendations. They include Cheltenham-specific layout changes alongside others which apply to Jump racing as a whole:1. Optimise as far as possible the track layouts at Cheltenham’s two most problematic starting points (2 mile and 2 1/2 mile) to reduce natural field congestion and acceleration.2. Change current wording within the rules as to the maximum pace at which a horse can approach the tapes from a "walk or jig-jog" to “walking pace” to apply to all Jump races.3. To improve clarity for all involved, explore the concept of a physical, highly visible "start zone" at starts across all racecourses.4. To increase the deterrent to rule breaches, consider the implementation of a tiered penalty increase specifically targeting Class 1 and Class 2 races across all courses.5. Explore introduction of a live audio recording system to capture communications and instructions given by starters to jockeys, with a direct feed to the stewards' room.Prior to any implementation all of these recommendations will now be scoped out in more detail. This includes further discussion with participants, assessment of racecourses where there are proposals for physical changes, and consideration of trial periods.Read the full details at https://www.britishhorseracing.com/press_releases/fewer-false-starts-and-clearer-starting-processes-are-the-aims-of-recommendations-from-the-review-of-starts-at-the-cheltenham-festival/

The LONGINES World's Best Racehorse Rankings have been updated today, with Ombudsman and Ka Ying Rising sharing top billing on a rating on 131.BHA's Head of Handicapping Dominic Gardiner-Hill plays a leading role in compiling the global rankings and sat down with us to explain the thinking behind the ratings.