Welcome to our seventh annual racing-related quiz of the year, which will start shortly at 1pm. You can still see last year’s quiz here, in case you want to warm up with some old questions.
All 50 questions will appear on this page, sharp at 1pm, as we did last year. The old system of releasing them in batches seemed to favour only those with a zippy internet connection.
If you think you know the answer to a question, post your answer as a comment below, clearly stating the number of the question you’re answering and doing your best to spell the answer correctly (I may allow some latitude).
So, for example, if the first question was “Which horse was obviously on his way to winning this year’s Grand National before suffering the softest and least necessary fall in the history of unnecessary falls” the answer would be:
“1) The Druids Nephew, tipped by those clever folk at The Guardian”
Although the real questions will not tend to be quite so subjective as that.
The first person to correctly post the answer to a question gets a point. At the end of the quiz, whoever has most points will win:
a £100 bet from Betfair!
and I will email that person today to sort out their prize.
The quiz will end when all of the questions have been answered correctly, or at 3pm, whichever comes first. If there’s a tie for first place, I’ll post a tie-breaking question at 4pm and the first person, from among those that have tied for first place, to post the correct answer will be the winner. If no one has posted the correct answer by 5pm, the prize will go to whichever of those in contention was first to post any correct answer on this page today.
If any one person posts multiple answers to the same question, I will only accept their first answer. All questions relate to events in 2015 unless otherwise stated.
You may submit as many answers as you want in one posting, so long as it’s clear which questions are being answered. But speed is going to be important, as each answer will only earn you a point if no one else has given it already, so you’ll probably be better off posting one answer at a time.
In the event of any dispute, my decision is final on everything, so don’t be starting any aggro. Otherwise, usual Guardian competition rules apply. I hope you enjoy this wee test of your racing knowledge.
All questions will appear here at 1pm. Good luck!
Questions
Which former champion jockey . . .
1) bred a Grade One winner at the Cheltenham Festival?
2) bred the Irish Derby winner?
3) rode in a race at Goodwood in his stockinged feet because he would have had to put up overweight if he kept his boots on?
4) now trains Flat horses from a stable that sent out a 40-1 Grand National winner 20 years ago?
5) was discussed in these terms by his own agent: “I got a text from him the other day, but that’s about it and that number isn’t working now so I have no way of contacting him. I’ve just got to wait until he contacts me.”
Calling The Horses
In each case, name the race and the year which produced these familiar bits of commentary from Sir Peter O’Sullevan, who died this summer.
6) “And Dick Pitman, coming to the elbow now ... He’s got 250 yards to run and Crisp just wandering a little off a true line now, he’s beginning to lose concentration, he’s been out there on his own for so long...”
7) “Already they’re coming up towards the mile marker at a really blistering gallop, still, with Highest going on from Kinglet ...”
8) “It’s Wayward Lad, the veteran, trying to break his Cheltenham hoodoo ... As they race to the line and the mare’s beginning to get up! And as they come to the line, she’s made it! ... Jonjo O’Neill punches the air as the mare has made turf history...”
9) “They’re willing him home now, the 12-year-old ... being preceded only by loose horses, being chased by Churchtown Boy ... He’s coming up to the line to win it like a fresh horse in great style. It’s hats off and a tremendous reception, you never heard one like it at Liverpool...”
10) “They’re still both full of running, still going great guns, both of them ... Now they’re rounding the home turn and this is it. Willie Robinson’s got his whip out ... This is the champion. This is the best we’ve seen for a long time ...”
Horses
11) Name the 50-1 shot who ended Golden Horn’s unbeaten run.
12) Which horse, the beneficiary of a wind operation since his previous run, gave the jockey David Bass a first success at the Cheltenham Festival?
13) In which month did Gleneagles score his most recent victory?
14) Prince Bishop, the eight-year-old 14-1 winner of the Dubai World Cup, had run without success on the same card for the previous four years. What was his best placing from those four previous shots at the big money?
15) Which horse took off a stride too early at the final flight on day one of the Cheltenham Festival, supposedly saving the bookmakers a £50m payout?
16) Before Coneygree, who was the most recent novice chaser to win a Cheltenham Gold Cup?
17) Name AP McCoy’s final winner at the Cheltenham Festival?
18) Which giant juvenile filly won the Queen Mary and ran second in the Nunthorpe?
19) Which filly, whose name translates as “explosive”, won the Irish Guineas and the Yorkshire Oaks?
20) Which horse became the first to win the Melbourne Cup under a female jockey?
Jockeys
21) Which jockey won his first Group One on Derby day at the age of 37?
22) Which jockey became a news sensation in the spring when, having his first ride over fences, he was unseated just before the last at Wincanton, hit it with his chest and completed two somersaults before landing on his back, essentially unharmed?
23) Which US-based jockey, criticised by Jeremy Noseda for the ride he gave one of his horses in the Hollywood Derby, responded: “He can kiss my ass!”
24) Which jockey replaced the injured Cathy Gannon at the Shergar Cup?
25) And which jockey owed her Shergar Cup place to the fact that Sophie Doyle turned down an invitation to take part?
26) Which male jockey won two races at the Shergar Cup? (clue: both winners came from last to first)
27) Who started the year on a low note, learning that he would be charged with a whip offence for a race that had taken place two weeks before, in which his winning ride had been praised by the BHA chief executive?
28) Leighton Aspell won the Grand National for the second year in a row. Name the last jockey to win the Aintree race in consecutive years on different horses.
29) 444 horses ran at Royal Ascot. How many were ridden by women?
30) Silvestre De Sousa rode a Group One winner for David Elsworth in August. Before that, which jockey provided Elsworth with his most recent Group One Flat winner in Britain?
Adieu, Treve
31) Attempting to become the first horse to win three Arcs, in what position did Treve finish in her final race?
32) Apart from Longchamp, Treve has only been beaten at one other racecourse. Name it.
33) Name her Derby-winning sire.
34) Which jockey, riding her in her final race, was said by some to have undermined her chance by taking a conservative route around the outside?
35) Frankie Dettori has been the only other jockey to ride Treve. How many races did he win on her?
Ragbag
36) The start time of which major European Group One race was brought forward by 65 minutes just two days in advance so as to provide the runners with ground that had not been churned up by earlier races?
37) Which British track staged no action until late August because of problems growing their grass?
38) Aidan O’Brien didn’t train any of the first three home in the Derby. In which year did that last happen?
39) He did win the Oaks, though, with which 50-1 shot?
40) Which Doncaster-loving rider has won the last two St Legers and the last three Racing Post Trophys?
41) Which jockey lost the ride on Postponed just before the horse won Ascot’s King George?
42) How many winners did Ryan Moore ride at Royal Ascot, setting a new post-war record?
43) Which jockey was placed in the Grand National for the seventh consecutive year?
44) Which jockey crashed out of the Grand National at the first Canal Turn, then grabbed a checkered flag to help direct the field around the injured Balthazar King when they came round on the second circuit?
45) At a particular point in early December, one trainer had won nine of the previous 18 races held at Sandown. Who?
Who said it?
46) “Haydock now has one of the sharpest hurdle tracks in the country; Carlisle has lost its good winter hurdles track; Wetherby is half the course it once was and, in the main, Newcastle puts on bad races for bad horses. So where are you supposed to run and educate quality horses in the north?”
47) “I’m heavier this morning than I have been my whole life”
48) “Everyone thinks I’m going to cry but I don’t feel like crying.”
49) “It just happened so quickly and I was just really annoyed that I was right at the back and on the wrong side when the flag went down. I was like, ‘Oh, pants’. I had a lot of work to do before I’d even started but I guess you live and you learn and that’s experience. Next time, I’ll make sure I’m not there.”
50) “I’m enjoying it, I’m fit and well, so why not? Fifty is only a number. I’ll go as long as I can.”
The result...
It’s a three-way tie!
DrKelso 11
10CNewton 11
jusnicks 11
Bacciodilupo 6
Quizzie 5
JohnWathenBerry 3
sandiuk 3
Triggering our tie-break procedures. I will post a tie-breaking question at 4pm. The first out of DrKelso, 10CNewton or jusnicks to post the correct answer will win this quiz. If none of them posts the correct answer by 5pm, jusnicks will win by dint of having been first to post a correct answer on here today.
See you back here at 4pm, contenders.
The tie-break question...
TIE-BREAKER: Which horse started as favourite for the 2015 Grand National?
Jusnicks wins by a matter of seconds. Well played to the others, especially 10CNewton, who has been beaten by the narrowest of margins.
Jusnicks, I’ll be in touch by email
Answers
1) Frankie Dettori
2) Willie Carson
3) Seb Sanders
4) Richard Hughes
5) Kieren Fallon
6) Grand National 1973
7) King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes 1975
8) Cheltenham Gold Cup 1986
9) Grand National 1977
10) Cheltenham Gold Cup 1964
11) Arabian Queen
12) Darna
13) June
14) Seventh
15) Annie Power
16) Captain Christy
17) Uxizandre
18) Acapulco
19) Pleascach
20) Prince Of Penzance
21) Pat Dobbs
22) Lewis Ferguson
23) Kent Desormeaux
24) Sammy Jo Bell (or Samantha Bell)
25) Hayley Turner
26) Jamie Spencer
27) Aidan Coleman
28) Bryan Marshall
29) Two
30) Cash Asmussen
31) Fourth
32) Ascot
33) Motivator
34) Thierry Jarnet
35) One
36) Irish Champion Stakes
37) Yarmouth
38) 2008
39) Qualify
40) Andrea Atzeni
41) Adam Kirby
42) Nine
43) Paul Moloney
44) Ruby Walsh
45) Gary Moore
46) Donald McCain
47) AP McCoy
48) Hayley Turner
49) Victoria Pendleton
50) Frankie Dettori
Scoring
These folk were the first to give the correct answers:
1) DrKelso
2) 10CNewton
3) Quizzie
4) jusnicks
5) Quizzie
6) 10CNewton
7) 10CNewton
8) Bacciodilupo
9) Bacciodilupo
10) 10CNewton
11) jusnicks
12) jusnicks
13) jusnicks
14) 10CNewton
15) jusnicks
16) Bacciodilupo
17) jusnicks
18) Quizzie
19) jusnicks
20) 10CNewton
21) DrKelso
22) 10CNewton
23) 10CNewton
24) Quizzie
25) 10CNewton
26) jusnicks
27) JohnWathenBerry
28) JohnWathenBerry
29) JohnWathenBerry
30) 10CNewton
31) Bacciodilupo
32) DrKelso
33) jusnicks
34) DrKelso
35) Bacciodilupo
36) DrKelso
37) DrKelso
38) sandiuk
39) jusnicks
40) DrKelso
41) sandiuk
42) jusnicks
43) DrKelso
44) DrKelso
45) DrKelso
46) sandiuk
47) 10CNewton
48) DrKelso
49) Bacciodilupo
50) Quizzie
Many thanks for playing, folks. Have a happy Christmas and New Year.
