Inside Track

Canford Cliffs left trailing by a stunning five lengths in Sussex Stakes victory which confirms colt's reputation

Well, at least the weather was authentically British.

Absurdly, three of the seven Group One races staged at Royal Ascot this week were over within 80 minutes on Tuesday. Sure enough, not a single Group One winner is on view today, with just three of the fillies lining up for its only elite contest having even made the podium at that level.

The Brian Viner Interview: He rode his first winner at 12, his 4,493rd at 58. He also won the Derby nine times. Now a dapper 75-year-old, he is simply the greatest jockey who ever lived

So many people seem to have decided that Carlton House only has to turn up to win the Investec Derby – and a meteoric piece of work yesterday did little to discourage them – that it seems proper for them to be reminded that for the moment he remains behind another colt in his own stable. The reappearance of Workforce at Sandown this evening should perhaps be treated as a timely corrective to the hype. For there appears to be every chance you will be offered roughly the same sort of price against Workforce to beat Group Three rivals for the Piper Heidsieck Brigadier Gerard Stakes as against Carlton House at Epsom on Saturday week. Yet Workforce not only won the Derby last year, he careered home by seven lengths, and then proceeded to add the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe on only his fifth start.

US Hall of Fame jockey prepares for the fresh challenge of royal meeting with a recce of Folkestone. Chris McGrath hears why

Inside Track

Recital, one of Ballydoyle's leading Epsom contenders, lost his unbeaten record on his reappearance at Leopardstown yesterday. The Montjeu colt, fast-tracked from a maiden success to win a Group One in France last autumn, was only third as Banimpire proved herself a tough filly typical of those trained by Jim Bolger.

The Turf's superpowers have called a truce to divide the spoils at the world's richest fixture

If it's January, it must be time to go for a gong. And never mind the Oscars, never has the result of America's thoroughbred equivalent, the Eclipse Awards, been so eagerly debated. Late on Monday night in Miami came the result that had them whooping in the aisles: the people's darling Zenyatta was finally and justly granted the coveted Horse Of The Year title at the third time of asking.

With 2010 drawing to a close, we asked our sport correspondents to cast their minds back over the last 12 months in their specialist fields to recount their moment of the year.

Incongruous as it seems to be suddenly engrossed by jumps racing, so soon after one of the epic occasions in Flat history, in a way it is the only possible solution. How else could you tolerably follow the deeds of Goldikova and Zenyatta, at Churchill Downs last Saturday, than with a complete shift of focus?

Whether he jumped before he was pushed is open to debate, but one of the sport's worst-kept secrets – the deteriorating relationship between those who run Ballydoyle and their stable jockey Johnny Murtagh – was finally made official yesterday with the rider's resignation from his post.