Andrew Nelis racing

  Jonbon, whose stunning price tag matches his beautiful pedigree, produced a sparkling display on his rules debut in Newbury's bumper and could be something special, trainer Nicky Henderson said in his post-race debrief. A brother to the brilliant Douvan, Jonbon strolled home in a point-to-point at Dromahane for Ellmarie Holden in November and was then purchased by JP McManus for £570,000. That figure made him the most expensive point-to-pointer ever sold at auction and McManus subsequently placed his big-money buy in the care of the Lambourn-based Henderson, who had described the gelding as a "beautiful horse" and "exciting for everyone".                         Andrew Nelis racing 

Nicky Henderson  and Sir Tony McCoy led the tributes to  Barry Geraghty  following his retirement from the saddle. The 40-year-old has brought the curtain down on a glittering riding career that spanned more than two decades and included 43 winners at the Cheltenham Festival and a Grand National victory aboard Monty’s Pass in 2003. Following the enforced retirement of Mick Fitzgerald in 2008, Geraghty was appointed stable jockey to Henderson, and the pair formed a formidable partnership – winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup with Bobs Worth and the Queen Mother Champion Chase with Sprinter Sacre in 2013..

They say time flies, but it scarcely seems two minutes, never mind five years, since Sir Anthony McCoy bowed out of the saddle. Fittingly his farewell came on a horse called Box Office. The only thing the script got wrong that afternoon on April 25, 2015 at Sandown is that the Jonjo O’Neill-trained gelding did not win. For winning is was what McCoy did best – 4,348 times over jumps in Britain and Ireland to be exact, plus another 10 on the Flat. Born in County Antrim in 1974, McCoy broke virtually every record there was to be broken – and his iron will meant he bounced back from every adversity injury tried to throw at him along the way. He won all the races that mattered and was crowned champion jockey 20 times – every year he was a professional. McCoy said: “It’s very difficult to believe it is five years – some days I think it goes slowly, but on the whole it’s good and I’m very lucky. “I’m one of those very lucky people who got to do what I loved forever, and in terms ...

Any Second Now confirmed his status as a leading contender for the Randox Health Grand National with a fine victory at Naas. The JP McManus-owned eight-year-old was a well supported 3-1 chance for the Grade Three WhatOddsPaddy? Chase – a race trainer Ted Walsh had previously won with subsequent Grand National winner Papillon and his Aintree third, Seabass. Bidding for his first victory since landing the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir at the 2019 Cheltenham Festival, Any Second Now was positioned in the slipstream of last year’s winner Cadmium for much of the two-mile journey, before taking over the lead in the home straight. With the front-running Cadmium weakening tamely out of contention, 5-2 favourite Articulum emerged as the biggest threat to Walsh’s runner – who dug deep in the testing conditions to score by a length and a quarter in the hands of Mark Walsh. Sky Bet cut the winner to 10-1 for Aintree, making him their second-favourite behind the remarkable dual winner Tiger Roll...