It’s really quite difficult to pin your favourite racehorse down to just one when you’ve watched the sport of horse racing for nigh on 40 years, but that esteemed accolade for me has to go to the Yorkshire sprint handicapper, Chaplins Club.

Trained by the late David Chapman (Ruth Carr’s grandfather for those of you born this side of the millennium), in North Yorkshire, Chaplins Club was a prolific winner in the 1980’s.

As tough as they come, Chaplins Club clocked up a total of 24 victories, including winning nine handicaps in a season twice, in both 1985 and 1988.

To a 13-year-old boy, brought up on a diet of watching my father and grandfather betting on Chapman’s other horses such as Soba and Glencroft, Chaplins Club was an absolute hero of a horse to me and he raced with such regularity too, unlike many horses today.

1991 Japanese Whispers H'Cap - Chaplins Club #chaplinsclub pic.twitter.com/1vkSAUU4gt

— History of Horse Racing (@roar1968) March 27, 2022

In fact, in 1988 alone, Chaplins Club ran a total 27 times and enjoyed a particularly fruitful summer. In a 19-day period between July and August, he won seven races, including the Tote Sprint Trophy Handicap at Ayr.

During that amazing winning spell Chaplins Club recorded two victories in the space of 24 hours TWICE, at Redcar and Doncaster on July 26th and 27th, then did the same at Ayr and Pontefract on August 2nd and 3rd.

If that wasn’t enough, he also recorded back-to-back victories at Haydock Park, my local track on September 30th and October 1st. What a hero!

1988 was quite some season and I vividly recall being allowed to put some minimal each-way bets on Chaplins Club out of my pocket money each time he ran,  placed with either my Dad or Granddad.

Those are always great memories to have from your informative years and probably one of the main triggers as to why I got involved in horse racing.

Chaplins Club was owned by Peter Savill, who later went on to be the Chairman of the British Horseracing Board (BHA) and was ridden for almost all of his racing career by the Yorkshire ace – Kevin Darley.

It was more than fitting that Chaplins Club won on his 160th and final start, as a twelve-year-old, in a seven furlong selling handicap, at Redcar in 1992.

Rated just 45, but still ridden by Darley, he rallied under pressure to lead close home and won by three-quarters of length at odds of 12/1 in the betting.

Chaplins Club came to the end of his career in the July of 1992 and in the September of that year I went off to University.

David Chapman’s horse had filled my teenage years with lots of euphoric highs and nothing could ever trump those special moments when the newscaster would read out his name as being the winner of his race on those hourly racing bulletins broadcast by BBC Radio 2.

That is what we poor punters had to do before the days of being able to place horse race bets online.

Ahhh, I can still hear it now. Spoken in beautiful Queen’s English “And the result of the 3.45 at Pontefract is... first, Chaplins Club 33/1”. Get in!

*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*

FIRST PUBLISHED: 5th July 2022

WHEN I was growing up in the 1970’s, the world of football was totally different to the slick polished product that supporters enjoy nowadays. 

Looking back, some of the aspects of our national game were extremely primitive indeed. Here are a few examples…

MUDDY PITCHES 

Modern day football pitch technology means that playing surfaces are always in pristine condition. But 50 years ago, clubs like Derby County, Queens Park Rangers and West Ham United used to ply their trade on absolute mud heaps.  

I recall that teams were happy to play in all conditions and the players used to get on with it. Those quagmire pitches invariably added to the matchday excitement with defenders wildly sliding through puddles to win the ball.  

Even if there was heavy snow, supporters would gather at the stadium early on a Saturday morning to sweep the pitch markings clear.

Then a distinctive orange football would be deployed to make sure everyone could see what was happening on the snowbound surface. 

From my own experience, QPR’s Loftus Road headquarters had the worst pitch of the lot. This was because it had originally been a waste ground for many years before being used for football for the first time in 1904. 

So a layer of clay around four feet thick had been dumped on the land with household refuse, thistles and other weeds accumulating on top of it!

The clay had come from excavations during the construction of the Central Line underground railway from Shepherd’s Bush to Bank. Therefore it was always going to be problematic for that site to become a decent football pitch. 

HEAVY TACKLES

Contemporary football has almost become a non-contact sport. Any hint of foul play results in a yellow or red card. 

But when I was a lad, tackles flew in from all angles with the studs flying. In fact, challenges that became known as ‘reducers’ were commonplace and escaped punishment by referees.

These saw big centre-halves cynically booting their opponents in the back of the leg during the opening minutes of a match.

The idea was to make attacking players feel worried or nervous about their wellbeing for the rest of the game. 

MAGIC SPONGE 

In the current era of health and safety, football injuries are taken very seriously. And quite rightly so.  

As soon as a footballer needs treatment, the game is stopped and two physios sprint on to the pitch with a club doctor. They all carry fully equipped medical bags. Then there are qualified first aid attendants standing by with a stretcher. 

But in the 1970’s, there were no football physios or doctors. All we had was what was called the ‘trainer’. 

This was perhaps an ex-player who had been kept on by the club after retirement.

His unsophisticated duties included making sure the squad were fit by sending them running up and down massive hills in pre-season. He also had to deal with injuries on a matchday. 

I can still picture some of the trainers now. They often had pot bellies, bandy legs and rudimentary comb-over hairstyles. 

So a player would go down injured and the old trainer would come wobbling on to the pitch very slowly.

All he would carry with him was a grey metal bucket full of freezing cold water with a soggy yellow sponge floating around in it. This was known as the ‘magic sponge’… as it could reputedly cure all known football ailments.

What I miss most in football: 

Muddy pitches 
Strong tackles 
Special trains 
A to Z half-time scoreboards 
Saturday evening newspapers 
Clubcall

— Tony Incenzo talkSPORT (@TonyIncenzo) January 14, 2016

In effect, the trainer would ask the player what part of his anatomy was injured, take the magic sponge and slap this icy water on to the relevant section of the body. 

Then the trainer would utter those immortal words…  

“There you go son. Get on with the game!” 

The player would quickly jump up to his feet and resume his involvement in the match as he simply didn’t want to be accosted by that obnoxious chilly water ever again. 

However, if there was a major problem that the magic sponge couldn’t rectify – such as concussion or a broken leg – the afflicted footballer would be carried off the pitch by a couple of his team mates and unceremoniously dumped on the sidelines so that play could continue.  

That scenario is most certainly not allowed these days and badly injured players cannot be moved without expert supervision.

Therefore football matches – particularly at Non-League level – are frequently abandoned due to significant injury whilst an ambulance is called to attend.

*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*

FIRST PUBLISHED: 4th July 2022

Expert Steve Mullington gives his daily racing tips, including a NAP, NB and a Longshot. Scroll down now to find out horse racing tips Thursday 7th July at Newmarket...

Today's NAP (Best Bet)

1.50 Newmarket – Masekela

Masekela was runner-up in the Listed Feilden Stakes on reappearance and then showed improved form for the step up to 1m4f in the Derby, outrunning his huge odds.

He immediately looked one for the Bahrain Trophy on the back of that performance and duly takes his place in the line up today.

Andrew Balding’s youngster is once again partnered by Andrea Atzeni and supporters of the El Kabier-gelding should get a decent price in our horse racing online bets market if they punt early enough on the day.

Today's NB (Next Best)

2.25 Newmarket – Persian Force

Richard Hannon’s Persian Force has an outstanding chance of emulating his sire Mehmas by putting his narrow Royal Ascot defeat in the Coventry Stakes to bed and capturing this Group 2 July Stakes.

The Amo Racing owned-two year was beaten for the first time at the Royal meeting when finishing runner-up to Bradsell, but that form still looks very strong.

A reproduction of his debut run at Doncaster up Newmarket’s July Course incline would see him very hard to peg back under ace jockey Rossa Ryan.

Of the others Little Big Bear has to be on any sports betting shortlist for Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore.

Today's Longshot

3.00 Newmarket – Anadora

The three-year-old filly Anadora has been in fine fettle for the Kevin Ryan stable so far this season and can make her presence felt in this six furlong Heritage Handicap.

Already a winner and a runner-up on the other Newmarket course, Anadora finished towards the rear of the field last time out at Ayr but she was only a handful of lengths away from the overall winner.

Shane Grey takes the ride and at 16/1 in our betting market, she looks like great each-way value off her handicap mark of 8st 6lbs.

Dangers: Khanjar and Samburu.

*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*

FIRST PUBLISHED: 4th July 2022

• Lewis Hamilton will have to wait until 2023 at the earliest if he hopes to win an eighth world title

• After winning eight consecutive Constructors’ Championships, Mercedes are winless through 10 races in 2022

• Should the Silver Arrows star retire at the end of the season?

The 2021 Formula One season ended in immense frustration for Mercedes. The 2022 campaign has provoked similar emotions amid porpoising issues and a severe lack of pace in comparison to Ferrari and Red Bull.

Mercedes have not been at the back of the midfield like the Scuderia endured in recent years, yet they have been comfortably third-fastest on the grid.

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have generally unable to get near Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in qualifying. They have required fortune to get near the podium.

Hamilton delivered his best drive of the season at Silverstone, but the celebrations for a third place finish illustrate where their expectations are right now.

Mercedes and Hamilton are a non-factor when looking at race winner odds in Formula 1 betting. The seven-time world champion is facing his first season without a win.

Massive changes to the regulations often alter the dynamic at the top of the sport.

Mercedes still have decent raw pace if they can combat porpoising, but there is a considerable risk that the gap between themselves and the top two is not going to be closed significantly even by next season.

Hamilton will be 38 years old at the start of the 2023 campaign. He already has the most wins, poles, podiums and laps led in the sport’s long history.

How much desire is there to persevere without the chance to win an eighth title? Does Hamilton want to race through 2023 and maybe longer as no more than a betting outsider for podiums?

13 podium finishes at Silverstone!

Sir Lewis Hamilton is never done 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/4xjm5VE0OB

— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) July 3, 2022

The demands of the F1 calendar are only getting greater. Hamilton is a fearsome competitor, and his drive at the British Grand Prix did not reflect a man ready to wave goodbye to the sport, even 15 years after his rookie campaign.

Yet, where others live for racing, Hamilton has other projects, other hobbies that must become more appealing when race wins are almost off the table.

Of course, there is no rush for a retirement decision.

Hamilton will always be able to go out on his terms – there’s no need to make a call on 2023 until the end of this season. Maybe Mercedes can close the gap, elevating their chances of title contention next year.

There is also the minor subplot of Russell outdriving Hamilton thus far this season. Perhaps this is just the younger of the British F1 drivers adapting to the car.

Even if it is, it’s a reminder that Hamilton will have a genuinely competitive teammate for the first time since 2016 if the Mercedes can give them a title-winning car.

Hamilton will be battling with the new era of Formula One stars in Russell, Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.

His performance in the second half of 2021 demonstrated that Hamilton can still be a champion if provided with the right equipment.

The coming weeks will determine whether the Silver Arrows can do that for him in 2023, and that might be what decides if this is the end of the greatest career in Formula 1 history.