Two hundred horses process through the town accompanied by cheering crowds. At the head of the cavalcade is a young man bedecked with a huge blue and white rosette, and a sash bearing the town’s crest, the words on which read “Dae Richt, Fear Nocht”…

Twelve years before the establishment of the United States of America a chestnut foal, with a narrow blaze and long white stocking on his off-hind leg, entered the world at East Ilsley in Berkshire.

Foaled in dim light as the moon passed directly between the Sun and the Earth, he was named Eclipse and he became one of the most influential horses in history…

It may seem deeply unpatriotic, but there will be plenty of British racecourse managers hoping that the English and Scottish soccer teams return from the World Cup soon…

A racecourse was built at Bromford Bridge in 1894. Located on flat water meadows beside the River Tame, the course was popular with spectators – making it an ideal target for Suffragettes, who burnt the grandstand down in 1914…

A warm breeze blows across the racecourse at Kelso, carrying with it the sound of drills, saws and angle-grinders. The groundstaff have removed several steeplechase fences from the track and are in the process of stripping them down to be refurbished…

There is a story that Scottish bred horses in the early 17th Century were speedier than their English counterparts due to ancestors that had escaped, to the Ayrshire shore, from shipwrecked remnants of the Spanish Armada…

If falling off horses and living with a degree of back pain can be considered part of anyone’s life-dream, then it’s reassuring to know that horseracing remains a sport which is capable of delivering fairytale endings…

Some people dress to express their own sense of individuality, some to boost confidence, others to evoke a mood – such as formality or celebration. Most mornings I simply reach for whatever’s nearest and likely to keep me warm…

I’ve received some accolades in my lifetime: a Modern Pentathlon badge in 1982, cross-country team colours in 1987, and a certificate for running the London Marathon in 1996, but not once have I been given a sticker for bravery in the face of a dentist…

Some days I wish I could be 18 years old again: drinking pints of Harvey’s Nut Brown Ale, listening to The Who’s “My Generation”, and dancing like I wasn’t a dad…