William Hill Racing League

Apparently, Frankie Dettori makes his William Hill Racing League debut as he partners three horses for his team, Newmarket Red, at Doncaster on Thursday evening.

If you are unaware as to what the  William Hill Racing League is in a nutshell 12 teams will participate in the 'League' which will consist of 36 handicap races, taking place over 6 weeks, every Thursday, with each meeting hosting a race over 5f, 6f, 7f, 8f, 1m2f and 1m4f with 12-runners in each heat. Each team consists of: a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 4 Trainers, 3 jockeys - who will ride exclusively for one team during the competition, A squad of 30 horses - ‘squad reshuffle’ in Week 4 for fresh legs and a Team Manager - who will decide team selection for each race. Team members, including jockeys, wear team colours. Points are awarded for finishing positions and from those the League tables are produced. Some big names are involved with the likes of the aforementioned Frankie Dettori as well as Oisin Murphy, Hollie Doyle and James Doyle all riding. 

I believe Newmarket Red have shortened to be favourites for the William Hill Racing League following the opening night at Newcastle and top the league despite not actually finishing first in any of the six races! Jack Mitchell currently heads the Jockey league with a six-way tie at the top of the horses table, unsurprisingly after just one meeting.

Sky Sports Racing are flogging it for all it’s worth, and it’s a bit of fun and something different but I am not taking much notice of the league tables. As it is fairly basic stuff as well, with respect,  the races are open to horses three-years-old and over with a handicap rating of 0-90, I am as yet to have a bet in any of the races. 

One innovation that has caught my eye is the Distance Ran stats At The Races are supplying. For example, Roscioli travelled 1m 2f 34 yards in winning the 1m2f William Hill Play Responsibly Racing League Race Five race, King Of Tsavo in seventh ran 1m 2f 41 yards. In theory losing 2 lengths when actually beaten only 1¼.