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Daily Telegraph
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Telegraph
Stand-alone pioneer Hawkesbury Race Club deserves a big-money feature
Don't miss out on the headlines from Horse Racing. Followed categories will be added to My News. The Hawkesbury stand-alone meeting, the pioneer of the popular and successful concept, deserves to have a big-money race. Hawkesbury celebrates its 20th anniversary on Saturday and boasts the strongest program of all the stand-alone meetings with three Group 3 races worth $250,000 prizemoney each and a Listed race of $200,000. But the stand-alone meetings at other venues have bigger prizemoney races including $1 million features at Newcastle (The Hunter) and Kembla Grange (The Gong), and $500,000 races at Wyong (The Lakes) and Gosford (The Coast). • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! Perhaps the era of stakes increases is over for the immediate future but Hawkesbury is entitled to have a principal race with at least $500,000 prizemoney. While Hawkesbury Race Club chief executive James Heddo acknowledged the quality of the current race program, he said: 'I'm more than happy at the appropriate time to sit down with Racing NSW to see if there is an opportunity to add a new race to the card.'' ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ I felt for Shane Dye after he was lambasted on social media for daring to declare Ka Ying Rising a better sprinter than the legendary Black Caviar or former Hong Kong champion Silent Witness. Dye, a Hall of Fame jockey, is certainly entitled to his opinion and whether he is right or wrong, only time will tell. But I decided to ask Timeform guru Gary Crispe for his expert view on the comparison as he was trackside for Ka Ying Rising's win in the Chairman's Sprint Prize in Hong Kong last Sunday. • Smith's 'unbelievable' win on game-changing day for NSW racing 'Ka Ying Rising is a very good horse but my first impression was that he reminded me of Hay List,'' Crispe said. 'My opinion is Black Caviar would be too good for Ka Ying Rising, just as she was always too good for Hay List.'' The Timeform ratings supported Crispe's assessment with Black Caviar earning a lofty 136 figure while Kay Ying Rising is on 132, the same peak rating returned by both Hay List and Silent Witness. ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Newgate Farm's super sire Extreme Choice is standing at an equal Australian record fee of $330,000 in the spring breeding season. Extreme Choice, only the second stallion to sire the winners of the Golden Slipper (Stay Inside, 2021) and Melbourne Cup (Knight's Choice, 2024), has the same fee Redoute's Choice commanded in 2007 and 2008. Extreme Choice will stand for an equal Australian record fee of $330,000 at Newgate Farm. Picture: Supplied This means Extreme Choice has the highest fee of any stallion in the southern hemisphere with Widden Stud's Zoustar and Darley's Too Darn Hot next on $275,000, then Arrowfield's Snitzel at $247,500 and Yarraman Park Stud's I Am Invincible at $220,000. The only other stallion to sire the winners of the Golden Slipper and Melbourne Cup was Sir Tristram. The legendary New Zealand-based Sir Tristram sired three Melbourne Cup winners with Gurner's Lane (1982), Empire Rose (1988) and Brew (2000), plus a Golden Slipper with Marauding (1987). ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Racing Australia this week announced the increase of the mandatory minimum ban for any person found guilty of using an electronic device more commonly referred to as a 'jigger' on a racehorse. From Thursday, May 1, the amended rule means the minimum penalty period for jigger use is five years (up from two years). In other major rule changes, stewards Australia-wide have been given additional and wider powers on the frequency a horse is allowed to race. Under the new rule, a horse will not be allowed to race on consecutive days without approval from a Principal Racing Authority or its panel of stewards. ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Trainer Ian Wilkes is attempting to become the first Australian to win the famous Kentucky Derby with Burnham Square at Churchill Downs on Sunday. Burnham Square was an impressive last start winner of the Blue Grass Stakes and is among the early favourites at $9.50 behind Journalism at $3.50 for the 'Run for the Roses'. Wilkes, whose brother Wayne is a leading NSW country trainer based at Taree, said Burnham Square has done well this week in the build-up to the three-year-old classic. • Shayne O'Cass's race-by-race tips, analysis for Hawkesbury on Saturday 'Everything is good, he is keeping a lid on it which is good,'' Wilkes told American reporters. 'He has to handle everything, the crowd, the long post parade. The mile and a quarter (a2000m) is no issue, it is just whether he is fast enough.'' Wilkes, 59, began his professional career working at Lindsay Park under legendary Hall of Fame trainer Colin Hayes before moving to America in the late 1980s. He teamed up with trainer Carl Nafzger and was associated with two Kentucky Derby winners, Unbridled (1990) as trackwork rider and then Street Sense (2007) as assistant trainer. Wilkes then started training in his own right with his biggest win in the 2012 Breeders Cup Classic with Fort Larned. He's also had Derby runners before but Burnham Square is clearly his best chance yet to win America's biggest race. 'I'm happy with the horse and I couldn't ask for a better draw (nine),'' Wilkes said. 'I'm seeing a horse that is thriving, he's moving forward and improving every time.'' Burnham Square will be ridden by Brian Hernandez who won last year's Kentucky Derby on Mystic Dan and the Kentucky Oaks with Thorpedo Anna. Originally published as Hawkesbury's strongest stand-alone program deserves to have a big-money race
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
New bands prove to be a hit at this year's Bolt Stock
A rock gig held for charity in Bolton earlier this month went down a storm. Bolt Stock took place on, at The Roundhouse on Kenton Close in Halliwell. The charity gig, which is in its third year, is a showcase for young, independently formed, original bands who give their time and effort freely. This year, it supported Bolton-based Backup North West, which helps homeless young people to be safe, stable and develop skills for independence. Bolt Stock raised a whopping £1080 for the local charity. Bolt Stock 2025 (Image: Henry Lisowski) Hosted by Bolton FM's Rachel Darne, who promotes fresh new musical talent on her show, the event featured talented, young, independent local bands from the North West, playing their own brand of indie and rock-based music. The Lakes, F3INT, The Velvetines and Radio Addicts, billed as aspirational, young, powerful bands performed on the night. Read more: Emerging indie bands to take to the stage in Bolton Read more: Former member of famous band holding festival to celebrate 50 years of music Read more: Roy Orbison Story brings Barry Steele to Bolton and Burnley Bolt Stock 2025 (Image: Henry Lisowski) The Lakes are a tight, contemporary indie band, F3INT produce their own brand of technical, contemporary alt-rock, The Velvetines play great, upbeat modern indie and Radio Addicts play pseudo-punk style musings. Claire Hand, fundraising and events coordinator at Backup North West, said: 'I attended Bolt Stock which was an incredible event that showcased four local bands. All bands were fantastic. "All proceeds from the ticket sales and raffle on the night were donated to Backup North West and a whopping £1080 was raised. "I want to thank the organisers of the event, Pete and Natalie. Thank you so much for organising, and thank you to the wonderful bands." Local freelance photographer, Henry Lisowski, headed down on the night and took plenty of stunning pictures of the action, showing off the bands and the crowd. A selection of his photos are in the gallery at the top of the page.
Wales Online
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
BBC adds 'stonking masterclass' of '90s drama with amazing cast and raunchy scenes to iPlayer
BBC adds 'stonking masterclass' of '90s drama with amazing cast and raunchy scenes to iPlayer 1997 BBC drama The Lakes starring John Simm was considered as a coming-of-age series for many 1990s TV viewers Kaye Wragg, John Simm and Emma Cunniffe in The Lakes (Image: BBC ) If you watched TV in the late 1990s - and were over 15 - you'll have definitely tuned into Jimmy McGovern's The Lakes. The pedigree of McGovern's screenwriting, from the likes of Cracker to Hillsborough, still makes his shows a must-watch to this day and he continues turning out class act series like Time, Accused and Broken. The Lakes saw new star of the moment, John Simm, as Danny Kavanagh, a Scouser with a gambling problem who runs away to the Lake District, gets a local girl pregnant - lets her down by gambling and ends up on the sharp end of the local community's anger after three girls die after sneaking out on a boat at the rental company he's got a job at. Despite wasting no time trying to save the schoolgirls, his reticence in revealing that he was on the phone to a bookie at the time they took the boat sees him become an easy scapegoat and the four-part drama follows the web of blame and bad behaviour that ultimately leads to the girls' death. Now the show is back on the BBC thanks to iPlayer, almost 30 years after it first aired and with few repeat viewings it's a real treat for TV fans. It's a gripping and bleak affair but with stupendous performances from Simm and a supporting cast of familiar faces. Emma Cunniffe stars as Emma, Danny's wife, you'll recognise her from long-running shows like Silent Witness, Unforgotten and she was recently in Call the Midwife. Article continues below Welsh duo, Charles Dale and Robert Pugh play sex addict Chef and Father Matthew, respectively. Tenby-born Dale, who's nothing like on-screen bully Chef, is one of those faces you'll know from Corrie, The Pembrokeshire Murders, Unforgotten and he was Casualty's Big Mac for more than a decade. Pugh, also recently seen in Casualty, was Craster in Game of Thrones and has starred in Hollywood films like Master & Commander and Robin Hood. John Simm shared the news on his Instagram and said the show was a 'masterclass in screenwriting' as he effused the show was a lifechanging experience - he went on to star in Human Traffic, Life on Mars and ITV's Grace, which is currently airing its fifth series. He writes: "It was special for Jimmy because it was autobiographical and it was special for me because it was the game changer in my career. I was 26 years old and having the time of my life in the Lake District playing the wonderful role of Danny Kavanagh with an amazing cast & crew, the best director (David Blair) and of course the greatest writer of them all. I'll be forever grateful for this opportunity." Content cannot be displayed without consent Fans of John and the series itself didn't hold back in praise of the show. One wrote: "Not seen since first airing - when I think I watched it with my parents . What a stonking show." Another commented: "Amazing ! Can't wait to watch this again absolutely brilliant ! & Jimmy McGovern was my English teacher inspirational." Simm's famous followers also revealed themselves to be fans of the show. Doctor Who boss, Russell T Davies said: "Oh amazing, what a brilliant show." Daniel Mays, famed for his roles in Line of Duty, A Thousand Blows and Mrs Biggs added: "Amazing show." Article continues below As well as reairing the first series, series two isn't streaming yet, BBC iPlayer also have a mini-documentary with Jimmy McGovern who revisits the show. Both The Lakes and Jimmy McGovern Remembers are on BBC iPlayer, now. For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter .
Telegraph
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
The English whisky distillers ruffling Scottish feathers
A robin perches on the gates of The Lakes Distillery, watching a funnel of steam drifting lazily into the unseasonably blue winter sky. She flits away with a chirp, and the gates – decorated with barley husks and juniper berries in wrought iron – swing open. Once a dairy farm, this 18th-century building had stood empty until 2011, when the current owners moved in, removing the local slate walls to bring in the traditional copper still, before painstakingly rebuilding them, not a stone out of place. It's against this backdrop that Sarah Burgess has worked to formulate Signature, the distillery's first permanent whisky expression. 'The past ten years have been about getting to this point,' says Burgess who joined The Lakes as head whisky maker in 2023. She's sitting in the tasting room overlooking the River Derwent, whose clear waters form the foundation of the spirits made here. 'Since the distillery opened its doors, there have been something like 43 different expressions. The introduction of Signature [...] is about bringing some stability to the brand, demonstrating our craft and expertise.' I take a sniff. On the nose, it combines leather with dried fruit and toffee. There's an underlying sweetness from the sherry cask maturation, but there's an American oak influence that adds fresh fruit: apple and pear, plus hints of vanilla. European oak brings raisins and figs, plus notes of cocoa and underpinning it all is a warm, buttery mouthfeel. Scottish makers cry foul Despite having been a decade in the works, Burgess's efforts will be decried as heresy by some. Her crime? Distilling on the wrong side of the border. 'There are some whisky drinkers who find the idea of English whisky totally intolerable,' chuckles Burgess. 'I once went to the Spirit of Speyside – a huge whisky festival in the heart of Scotland's distilling area – and held a tasting event with The Lakes whisky. One guy had bought tickets without realising it was English whisky and he was very, very unhappy when he found out. He was outraged. There's a lot of that.' According to the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), the earliest account of whisky distillation in Scotland comes from 1494. By contrast, The English Distillery became the first to be registered south of the border when it opened in Norfolk in 2006. But though English whisky is half a millennium behind its Scottish counterpart, it has been racing to catch up. In the 19 years since The English Distillery opened, 54 more have launched, from Cornwall to Northumberland. The English whisky boom 'The increase in distilleries is interesting,' says Dawn Davies, buying director at The Whisky Exchange. 'We know the gin boom helped. People were often using gin as a vehicle to give themselves a bit of cash-flow before they created whiskies, so we're seeing that [...] now resulting in whiskies coming out. Covid has also helped open the doors for English whisky – while people were stuck inside, they were buying a lot of spirits and were more open to trying something new.' All that success however, is starting to ruffle feathers over the border. The SWA has reacted furiously to English whisky's application for protected geographical status for its single malts. 'The proposal to define 'single malt' English whisky only requires distillation at the single distillery location and not the creation of the spirit from malted barley at a single site,' a spokesperson said. A break with tradition Under the current application, English distilleries could buy spirit from elsewhere and distill it on site, whereas Scottish single malts must be made, distilled and matured at a single location. An SWA spokesperson says, 'It would be very damaging for the reputation of single malt whisky from the UK, and by extension single malt Scotch whisky, if English whiskies were described as 'single malt' despite being produced in a different manner to the established process and long-standing traditions of the Scotch whisky industry.' Burgess, who hails from Speyside herself, and has spearheaded English whisky's geographical indication (GI) application as a board member of the English Whisky Guild, thinks the fears are overblown. 'At The Lakes Distillery, we have absolutely no desire to damage the reputation of Scotch whisky and, in fact, we follow the whisky making methods that they stipulate. Our hope is that having a GI for English whisky will only help to strengthen the reputation of the UK-wide whisky industry.' Fields of gold Indeed, at many distilleries, English whisky can boast more of a claim to an 'integral connection to place' than Scotch. 'Some English distilleries are owned by farmers who are using their own barley such as the Spirit Of Yorkshire Distillery, and The Witchmark Distillery in Wiltshire,' explains Daniel Szor, who founded The Cotswolds Distillery after being inspired by seeing the vast barley fields in the area. At his distillery, all barley is grown within 15 minutes' drive of the distillery and malted nearby too. That isn't always the case for Scotch, Szor says. 'There are rules dictating how and where Scotch whisky can be made and aged but there's no rule about where the barley is grown: it could come from Sweden, Ukraine, France, anywhere around the world,' he explains. Big whisky Szor, a self-confessed 'whisky geek', boldly claims English is better than Scotch. 'The average Scottish whisky distillery has probably been around a long time, probably belongs to some large group, some PLC – Diageo, Pernod Ricard, William Grant, etc. – but the way those big brands run is completely different to a new distillery with a lot to prove,' he opines. 'They have huge budgets for brand building, advertising, marketing, and on-trade offers. They're very cost conscious because of the huge volumes they're making. Every penny they can save on the production process is a huge number. 'If you look at English whisky as a group, we're brand new. We have to be completely and utterly focused on quality. Almost all of us are making premium products, in terms of price. Most of it is single malt which is considered to be the higher end of the whisky spectrum, and none of us have age. We can't celebrate our spirits being 15 or 20 years old, so for us, it's all about quality and flavour; that's all we've got to go on.' Going for gold Nascent though English whisky may be, it is already earning itself a reputation for quality. The Lakes Distillery's Whiskymaker's Reserve No 4 was named World's Best Single Malt at the World Whisky Awards in 2022, The Cotswolds Distillery's Bourbon Cask Single Malt won gold at the prestigious San Francisco World Spirits Competition, and The English Distillery's The English Sherry Cask won World's Best Single Malt at the World Whisky Awards in 2024. Bending the rules Since English distilleries can't fall back on the prestige associated with releasing a whisky aged for decades, it's no wonder many are exploring the flexibility available to them in existing outside of the SWA's strict regulations. 'If you were to take our setup and drop it over the border, then that would definitely attract attention,' notes Joe Clark, whisky director at the Spirit Of Yorkshire distillery whose Filey Bay whisky has won seven golds at the Spirits Business World Whisky Masters Awards. 'We use something called a four-plate rectifying column,' Clark explains. 'It's just a slight addition to the distillation process which allows us to make a lighter, more delicate style of whisky. Filey Bay is light and fruity as a result. It's a bit like being in a band: you might sound good with a singer, guitarist and drummer, but if you add a keyboard player you could be even better. In Scotland, keyboards are banned! If we were to use the same distilling technique over there, we'd have to call it a 'malt spirit' rather than whisky.' New World vs Old World Despite being located within touching distance of the world's two oldest whisky producing nations, England's distillers are expanding the category in ways more comparable to other New World whisky producers such as India, Taiwan, Australia, and the Nordic nations, according to Eric Heerema, CEO of the Nyetimber Group, which bought The Lakes Distillery in 2024 for £71m. 'It's an Old World product with a New World approach and that's what really excited us,' Heerema says. 'There are a lot of parallels to what we had at the time with Nyetimber. Half a century ago, people didn't accept New World wine. Even more recently, people resisted English wine and certainly English sparkling wine. But by relentlessly chasing quality, we have won over the critics and now there's a lot more openness. The same is happening with English whisky.' Good things take time Any suggestion that English distillers are out to make a quick buck, by piggybacking on the reputation of Scotch, is at odds with reality. Not a single distiller who spoke to The Telegraph had turned a profit yet. 'The making process is long, it's very expensive' says Heerema. 'We expect that as we continue, the margins will be high enough to make it profitable. [...] This is not a tech business where you can get in, make something and then sell it at a huge profit. This requires many years of endeavour and persistence.' The coming years could be tricky for English distillers, suggests Davies, whose sales data point to turbulent times ahead for the category. 'A lot of them have been doing the short term thinking of limited release after limited release,' she says. 'They have to build brands now. That's why The Lakes is doing Signature, so there's a core product that will be the same again and again. 'I would say we'll probably see a few brands close in the next few years, brands which don't have the staying power to do it,' Davies says. 'In tough times you need a strong foundation, a strong base, and a good core of customers who are loyal to English whisky. It's about critical mass. There are enough distilleries producing in England to make it stand out. If they work together, put in legislation focusing on what it actually means to be an English whisky, then they stand a chance of creating something special.' Five English whiskies to try 'The reason I'm liking English whisky at the moment,' says drinks consultant and bartender Will Meredith, 'is because they can use expressions or styles of whisky from around the world and put a spin on it based on the terroir and processes of English distilling.' Here he chooses his favourite bottles to try. Will Meredith is head bartender at Sprout which launches in Earl's Court, London this April.
