Q&A: Peter Entwistle

Name

Peter Entwistle

Role

Freelance horse racing writer/school teacher. Currently working two days a week at Timeform as a Racing Analyst.

Date you joined Timeform

July 1989

What did you do immediately before joining Timeform?

I joined Timeform straight from university. I had just completed a Special Honours degree in Pure Chemistry at Sheffield and joined the organisation in July, ‘89. I was the first editorial member to join after the death of the company’s founder Phil Bull.

What was your first role at Timeform?

My first role was to read out race scripts for the Raceview service, which I thought was very funny given my strong northern accent. I just hoped all our southern subscribers could understand me!

There’s a hell of a lot to learn about horse racing. What has stuck with you most about what you learnt during your Timeform years?

Learning how to read a race correctly and how horses are handicapped properly. Once you’ve got that cracked it’s all about watching races and studying hard.

There’s pluses and minuses with moving to a new town, what are your lasting memories about your time living in Halifax?

Lots of good memories of living in Halifax but mainly going out with all the editorial lads after work for a pint. Thursday nights were the best when everyone would play five-a-side straight after work then go out.

Thinking back, what was the job you enjoyed doing most while you were at Timeform?

Being in charge of Timeform’s 50 to Follow for the Flat. I used to love poring over hundreds of races and reports before sifting out the 50, hopefully unearthing one or two real nuggets too.

What was your final role at Timeform?

My final role was helping with Timeform's first foray into sports betting. Working alongside Keith Elliott and exploring the US golf markets and the emerging spread betting in various sports was exciting.

Date you left Timeform?

2000

What was the first job you had after leaving Timeform?

I left Timeform in 2000 to join the Press Association as a mainline sports journalist so I could cover other sports as well as horse racing. But racing has always been my first love so I am now back freelancing!

Favourite racecourse/meeting and why?

I like lots of racecourses but my favourite is probably Haydock as I used to go there often with colleagues, mainly James Willoughby, and have lots of fond memories there. But I always love going to Newbury, especially for the Hennessy meeting. Market Rasen is a great track, too, in my opinion.

Best race seen live and why?

One Man dropping back in trip to win the Champion Chase in ‘98 having been written off in some quarters. Such great connections and such a great horse. And Dayjur winning the Nunthorpe at York in ’90 was special too when all the crowd began applauding two furlongs out as he powered clear. I was lucky to be at Sandown, too, when he announced himself as a top-notch sprinter.

Horse you have fondest memories of and why?

My favourite horse is tough to choose but Henry Cecil is by far and away my favourite trainer and when he teamed up with Steve Cauthen in the ‘80s those were special times. I always loved Henry’s fillies like Oh So Sharp and Indian Skimmer but Reference Point would have to be my favourite of theirs and his ‘87 Derby win was brilliant. I was a student at the time, so it also helped that I had backed him as a two-year-old over the winter at long odds and it kept the wolves from the door that year!

I must also add another recollection, albeit now very bitter-sweet.  

Paul Morrell was, without doubt, the biggest influence on me at Timeform. He taught me the ropes and we enjoyed some big punting wins together. Indeed, the longest-priced winner I ever backed was with Paul when Spanish Don landed the Cambridgeshire at 100/1. We enjoyed a very good night after that!

Tragically, that was the last bet we shared together as Paul became very ill and is now no longer with us. He loved going to York so whenever I am at the Knavesmire I always raise a glass to my old pal and mentor.

Morrelli was the shrewdest of judges but would not mind me saying that the same could not be said of his driving. The first Timeform report I ever did was at Wetherby on Charlie Hall day and I was sharing the meeting with Martin Greenwood. Paul had recently passed his test and offered to drive us there. But when he turned up at the office in a car looking like it had come straight out of The Dukes Of Hazzard we feared the worst. And he then proceeded to drive it like The General Lee all the way to Wetherby.

How we got there in one piece I will never know. Both me and Greeny arrived white as sheets and Martin was in such a state he couldn’t even stomach his usual pre-race large Yorkshire pudding.

Me and Martin still laugh about it to this day and so wish Morrelli was still around with us.

What piqued your interest in the sport?

My dad got me interested in racing as he liked a bet and he always used to take me to the Doncaster Leger meeting at school half-term. I was already following Henry Cecil (who had Joe Mercer as his stable jockey at the time) and one day I got HRA’s autograph there and was hooked from then.

Give us a successful horse you spotted early on their route to the top?

Sheikh Albadou. He ran only once as a two-year-old when eighth in a 6f Newmarket maiden but to my eye shaped unbelievably well so I included him in Timeform’s 50 to Follow and gave him a great write up as a sprinter to follow. His three-year-old season couldn’t have gone much better as he landed a massive office gamble in the William Hill Golden Spurs at York on then Timeform Charity Day before returning to the Knavesmire to land the Nunthorpe! It didn’t always work out like that!

Give us a horse you thought was going to reach the top but never quite made it?

It’s going back a fair bit but the horse that never quite made it for me was Vicario Di Bray. I was at Haydock when as a six-year-old he beat Celtic Shot and I thought he was going to be a monster and a certain Champion Hurdle winner in waiting.

But he got turned over at odds-on for the Tote Gold Trophy at Newbury next time and unbelievably never won another race!

What factor/factors do you think punters place too much emphasis on?

I think punters place too much emphasis on specific ground preferences for horses and miss out on winners as a result. Clearly, it is something you need to factor in, particularly extremes of going, but pontificating over good to soft or good for an in-form selection and clinging onto those ground beliefs for too long isn’t the way to get ahead. Some trainers do it too and it drives me mad!  

What factor/factors do you think is largely overlooked by punters?

A factor greatly overlooked by punters in my opinion is the importance of the pedigree, over the jumps as well as on the Flat, and its vital use in understanding what a horse’s best distance is likely to be.

It is especially important in spotting the progressive handicappers on the Flat when the margins between winning and losing are fine. The shrewd trainers use it to great effect (John Gosden and William Haggas are two fine exponents of the art) but with all horses it is often the key to working them out early and knowing when to back them successfully.

There are hundreds of examples but a classic illustration in every sense was Commander In Chief winning the Derby. His pedigree suggested strongly he was a staying mile-and-a-half horse and his first two wins suggested that too.

But when he was dropped to a mile and a quarter and won only narrowly in his Derby trial at York a lot of people read into that he was a bit disappointing and wasn’t going to be up to it at Epsom.

The correct way to view that effort, in my opinion, was he had done well to win dropping back to an inadequate trip, especially at a fast track at York, and Epsom’s stiff mile and a half would be right up his street.    

Shock, horror all round in the media when he comfortably landed the Derby at 15/2 with his odds-on stablemate Tenby well held.

What one piece of advice would you give to someone analysing a horserace?

Clearly, as well as the breeding, there are other factors to consider along with the latent ability hidden behind a pedigree. Watching how a horse travels under the conditions is vitally important for me as it helps me to fully understand individual horses.

The time (overall and sectional) of the race and the strength of the form are other key ingredients. A recent example of how that influenced my thinking and punting was with Mums Tipple. He won first time out over Ascot’s stiff 6f and was clearly a promising juvenile but what really struck me about him was how strongly he travelled in front for a long way on that stiff track before just holding on by a neck.

My immediate post-race thought was that when he encountered much less testing conditions there was an awful lot of improvement to come and he would be made for York’s fast, flat track.

I didn’t expect him to go to York and win by such a wide margin but I thought he was a great bet at the Ebor festival and it wasn’t a surprise at all to see him win stylishly with conditions now very much playing to his strengths.

Analysing races in this way and learning your horses individually has always been the way to go for me. Indeed, two of the best bets I’ve been most confident of used that principle. I thought the much greater stamina test would suit Native River when he won the Welsh National at Chepstow, and that the lesser stamina would suit Lochsong when she won the Stewards’ Cup at Goodwood having bombed along before finishing fourth in the Wokingham at Ascot.

What would you change about the sport?

To introduce 48-hour declarations for both codes. And I would love to see Cheltenham go back to the original three-day meeting but I know that will never happen!

Give us a trainer you think is underrated?

A tough one as I think there are plenty at the moment. Ian Williams is certainly a trainer I like, especially with stayers, and over the jumps I do think Chris Gordon is on the up too.

Give us a young jockey you think will reach the top?

A young jockey that has really impressed me of late is George Rooke and I can see him winning more than the all-weather championship in his career.

Give us a Horse To Follow for when we are back up and running?

Starcat, who recorded a very good time when landing a useful 1m juvenile novice at Kempton in December on his only start. The race has already thrown up three winners and Hughie Morrison’s big, rangy son of Lope de Vega impressed with his style of victory too, stylishly mowing down Charlie Appleby’s odds-on shot Eastern World late on.

Entries in the 2000 Guineas and Derby suggest he’s smart and he’ll have no problems staying middle distances.

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Martin Greenwood

Ben Fearnley

David Johnson

Pat Jupp

Dave Yates

Andrew Sheret

Martin Dixon

Graeme North

Dan Barber