Welcome to our sixth 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 55 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 racecourse will be the death of me one day” the answer would be:
“1) The all-weather circuit at Lingfield”
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 £50 bet from Stan James!
and I will email that person today to sort out their prize.
In a new development, there will be a consolatory prize for the runner-up, who will get a copy of McCoy: In The Frame, a collection of photographs of Tony McCoy as taken during his career by the Racing Post’s award-winning snapper, Edward Whitaker.
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 (or second), 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 a 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 2014 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!
Horses
1) Which British-trained horse had to be reshod before the Irish Oaks because her shoes did not comply with local regulations?
2) Which horse, fancied for a major handicap at Glorious Goodwood, had to miss the race because his horsebox broke down and then won a Group Three a fortnight later?
3) Name the only male horse to have finished in front of Taghrooda.
4) Which horse managed the rare feat of leading over the last in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and finishing unplaced?
5) Which horse now holds the record for prize money won by a horse who has raced only in Europe?
6) Which horse “absolutely smashed” Australia in a pre-Derby gallop, according to a rumour started by a bookmaker?
7) Which horse, sporting a first-time hood, somehow won the Arkle Trophy at 33-1?
8) The most expensive yearling of 2012 finally made it to the track, finishing sixth of nine at Newmarket in May. He has not run since. Name him.
9) Which horse, sold out of a champion trainer’s yard for 25,000 guineas last year, won a Group One this year?
10) Which stallion, whose first crop are now three-year-olds, sired the winners of the Dante, the French Derby, the Irish Champion and the St Leger this year?
Favourites
Which horse started favourite for…
11) The Champion Hurdle?
12) The World Hurdle?
13) The Oaks?
14) The King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes?
15) The Betfair Chase?
Trainers
16) Which trainer had the most runners in Britain during the Flat season that ended in November?
17) Marcus Tregoning finished the season with £356,101 in win prize money, three-quarters of it supplied by which tough handicapper?
18) Which Newmarket trainer had a Grade One double in Canada in September?
19) Which trainer, whose only Group One win was 11 years ago, came within a nose of landing the Breeders’ Cup Classic?
20) Which trainer had one of the biggest successes of his career taken away from him last month because his horse’s ineligibility was spotted only after it had been allowed to run?
Jockeys
21) Which Flat jockey bred the winner of the Tingle Creek?
22) For the second year in a row, the Grand National was won by a jockey who had retired and then made a comeback. Who was it this time?
23) Which 18-year-old apprentice finished fifth in the Derby on a 100-1 shot, less than a year after riding his first winner?
24) Which 49-year-old jockey won the 2,000 Guineas on a 40-1 shot?
25) Which jockey claimed he learned only while watching TV that he had lost the mount on a horse who was then second-favourite for the Derby?
Those we lost
26) What horse did Toby Balding train to win the 1986 Stewards’ Cup and Ayr Gold Cup?
27) On which horse did Dessie Hughes win the 1977 Cheltenham Gold Cup?
28) Which horse, trained by Oliver Brady, was leading the 2009 Triumph Hurdle field when running out at the second-last?
29) Michael Scudamore set a jockey’s record for the number of consecutive Grand Nationals in which he took part. How many?
30) John Hills trained Wind In Her Hair to run second in the Oaks of 1994. Which jockey rode her?
31) Which Grand National winner carried the colours of Sir Eric Parker?
32) Peter Luff’s Grand National winner, West Tip, famously had a long scar on his hindquarters, caused by what?
33) Christine Feather, owner of Silver Buck, was the mother of which Group One-winning trainer?
34) The green and red colours of Brian Kilpatrick were carried for a decade by which star who beat Desert Orchid at Wincanton when both were 12?
35) Lady Herries’ best horse, Celtic Swing, won the French Derby under which jockey?
Bad news
36) After Wigmore Hall was put down at Doncaster, which newspaper provoked outrage by printing pictures of the incident on its front page one Saturday?
37) Three men were banned from Worcester after an incident in which a beer can was allegedly thrown at which jockey?
38) Which jockey defended himself against a drink-driving charge by claiming he had been sleep-driving?
39) Following a rule change in June, how long will a horse be banned from competing in Britain if it tests positive for an anabolic steroid?
40) Which two jockeys were allowed to ride on in Britain, despite being put on the forfeit list by the Emirates Racing Authority? (1 point for the first person to name both in a single post)
Ragbag
41) Which racing broadcaster, while still at school, was assessed by Jeeves and declared superior to Sherlock Holmes?
42) Which independent jumps track sold seven of its 17 annual fixtures to a racecourse group?
43) Name the Royal Ascot handicap that has been killed off to make way for the new Group One sprint for three-year-olds.
44) At which appropriately named course did the German runner Berlin Berlin get his only success of the year?
45) Which jockey finished last in three races on Shergar Cup day?
Who said it?
46) “As much as I love race riding, it is not something I want to do for the rest of my life and, while I am not necessarily ready to retire now, I feel at a stage when I am ready for a change.”
47) “I’m very fond of the whole Hannon family and there’s plenty of teasing and banter. They’re just great fun. I regard the whole thing as a fun ding-dong but I think I just got a ding.”
48) “The first person I talked with was Frankie. He is a very nice man and he said it was my decision and that was it. He’s a great jockey, there’s nothing to do with Frankie, more the filly than anything else.”
49) “This is from the bottom of my heart … I am serious about this … I don’t want to talk about it. I have a reason for saying that. It’s a distraction from what I’m trying to do. It’s over now, we’ve done it. And it was very satisfying.”
50) “I feel a great deal of remorse and regret about what I did and the shame of it still lingers. I know my reputation in British racing is in ruins and I want to try to repair it. I’ve done everything I can to prove what I did was a mistake and one I won’t repeat. I’m a disgraced jockey and I have to live with that.”
Who am I?
51) I’m famously first on the gallops in Newmarket each morning, reasoning that “horses tend to work more honestly in the dark”. A trainer since 1972 and the first in my town to have an equine pool, I was a Group One winner at Royal Ascot this year.
52) I was training Cheltenham Festival winners back in the 80s, sometimes ridden by my brother, but there have been some lean times since then, so it was an emotional experience when I won the Hennessy Gold Cup for the first time in 24 years this autumn. Thankfully, I was there to see it, despite being hospitalised the previous weekend after choking on a bit of beef.
53) The 40th anniversary of my notable success at Cartmel was celebrated by the course in August. I was pretty well backed in betting shops on the big day back in ‘74, though my ‘connections’ were at pains to make sure none of that money was sent on to the course to shorten my odds. They even rubbed soap flakes into my coat before I entered the paddock to make it look as though I was sweating. Thank goodness such deception is a thing of the past!
54) I’m a star in Canada, where my mounts have earned over $57m, but I made a mark in England for the first time this summer, riding a double at Ascot. Alas, I was narrowly denied a third win in a race in which I dropped my whip. I returned to Woodbine to find my seat in the weighing room covered in rubber bands, under a sign saying ‘For added security, use with whip!’
55) Having won just one British Group One in my career before this year, I added three more in the space of 50 days this summer. They were good ones too, including a Classic, and helped answer the doubters who wondered whether I could make it as a big-race jockey, having concentrated on quantity rather than quality in the past. My year ended on a low note when I broke a collar-bone in a claimer at Wolverhampton.
3pm And the winner is . . .
DrKelso! Who built up a big early lead, then seemed to run out of puff at about halfway and darn nearly got collared.
Many thanks to all who took part. Happy Christmas to all and do please drop in on us at Talking Horses during the festive season, when we’ll be glad of the company as we try to dig out a wintry winner or two. DrKelso, we’ll contact you by email.
Scores
DrKelso 12
sslf365 11
lmungovan 10
23skidoo 9
ged1 6
Harrytheactor 3
MrWinnersSonInLaw 2
Ormrod76 1
Toby Parmenter 1
Answers
Horses
1) Volume
2) Captain Cat
3) Flintshire
4) Silviniaco Conti
5) Treve
6) Geoffrey Chaucer
7) Western Warhorse
8) Hydrogen
9) G Force
10) Mastercraftsman
Favourites
11) Hurricane Fly
12) Annie Power
13) Marvellous
14) Telescope
15) Cue Card
Trainers
16) Richard Fahey
17) Bronze Angel
18) David Simcock
19) Jamie Osborne
20) Neil Mulholland
Jockeys
21) Frankie Dettori
22) Leighton Aspell
23) Oisin Murphy
24) Kieren Fallon
25) Silvestre De Sousa
Those we lost
26) Green Ruby
27) Davy Lad
28) Ebadiyan
29) 16
30) Richard Hills
31) Seagram
32) A collision with a lorry
33) William Haggas
34) Sabin Du Loir
35) Kevin Darley
Bad news
36) Daily Mirror
37) Tony McCoy
38) Tom Queally
39) 14 months
40) Pat Cosgrave, Silvestre De Sousa
Ragbag
41) Nick Luck. See here for explanation.
42) Towcester
43) Buckingham Palace Handicap
44) Baden Baden
45) Frankie Dettori
Who said it?
46) Jamie Spencer
47) John Gosden
48) Criquette Head-Maarek
49) Barney Curley
50) Fergal Lynch
Who am I?
51) Clive Brittain
52) Oliver Sherwood
53) Gay Future
54) Emma-Jayne Wilson
55) Paul Hanagan
Scoring
These people were first to answer the numbered question correctly:
1 lmungovan
2 lmungovan
3 ged1
4 DrKelso
5 sslf365
6 lmungovan
7 sslf365
8 DrKelso
9 lmungovan
10 sslf365
11 lmungovan
12 sslf365
13 lmungovan
14 lmungovan
15 DrKelso
16 ged1
17 ged1
18 lmungovan
19 DrKelso
20 DrKelso
21 Harrytheactor
22 DrKelso
23 DrKelso
24 DrKelso
25 lmungovan
26 ged1
27 ged1
28 lmungovan
29 Harrytheactor
30 sslf365
31 23skidoo
32 23skidoo
33 sslf365
34 23skidoo
35 sslf365
36 DrKelso
37 DrKelso
38 DrKelso
39 sslf365
40 sslf365
41 sslf365
42 23skidoo
43 23skidoo
44 sslf365
45 MrWinnersSonInLaw
46 23skidoo
47 Ormrod76
48 Harrytheactor
49 ged1
50 23skidoo
51 23skidoo
52 Toby Parmenter
53 23skidoo
54 MrWinnersSonInLaw
55 DrKelso
