Three days of top class racing, luxury dining and Champagne: it must be Newmarket. This year’s racing culminated in the July Cup on the Saturday – won by Harry Angel who was given a great ride by Adam Kirby, beating the favourite, Caravaggio.

The Wine Tipster spent the festival presenting on Newmarket Course TV and ITV, as well as showcasing some wonderful wines in the Summer House Restaurant and at the daily Moët and Chandon Champagne paired lunches alongside a fabulous menu.

The 2017 Festival marked the launch of this Champagne and Dining experience by The Jockey Club, which was a huge success. It was a great example of how well Champagne can be paired, with dishes such as the Fish Duo of Trout Mousse and Lemon Cured Salmon.

It was great to see so many familiar faces in the Summer House this year, as well as amazing support for English Wines, especially Bolney Estate Foxhole Vineyard Pinot Gris, Nyetimber Classic Cuvée MV and Chapel Down English Rosé.

The Wine Tipster also did well on the tipping front this year, with Tangled at 8:1 on the Friday, and Medahim at 12:1 on the Saturday, both trained by Richard Hannon.

Overall, the 2017 Moët and Chandon July festival was a massive success, with attendances up on last year. The Wine Tipster will be returning next year – don’t miss him!

This weekend saw the 2017 QIPCO Guineas Festival at Newmarket: the first two features of the five Classics for the three year old racehorses. The Wine Tipster attended both the 2000 Guineas on Saturday for the colts, and the 1000 Guineas on Sunday for the fillies, and enjoyed, like the other spectators, the excitement around this festival and the chance to discover the talent of the three year olds. After a fabulous weekend of racing, we are sure to have true champions for the 2017 season.

Saturday 6^th May: The first day of the festival highlighted that Churchill, trained by Aidan O’Brien, has carried on from his two year old days and justified favouritism by winning the 2000 Guineas in impressive style. There were also strong form lines from this race with Barney Roy, Al Wukair and Eminent chasing him home. This leaves Churchill 7-4 favourite for the Derby, and we’ll have to hope he takes his place at Epsom.

Sunday 7^th May: This race saw the favourite, Rhododendron, have a troubled passage, and failing to collar her impressive stable mate, Winter, who travelled superbly throughout the race, showing the potential to be a real champion. Despite her difficult run, Rhododendron showed a fantastic turn of foot and will definitely be winning races in 2017. The Wine Tipster fancied her to win not only for her amazing performance at Newmarket last year, but because, as Alan Titchmarsh says, May is the best month for Rhododendrons. The 1000 Guineas race day also saw good performances from Frontiersman and race debutant, Way of Wisdom.

The Wine Tipster spent the weekend presenting in the Chez Roux Restaurant with fantastic dishes prepared by the legendary Albert Roux. Popular wines throughout the Guineas Festival included Bolney Estate Foxhole Vineyard Pinot Gris, and Prophet’s Rock Dry Riesling.

The Wine Tipster also presented on the course TV, promoting the ‘racecourse experience’ featuring the Purely Prosecco Bar with high quality and stylish Proseccos from the famous producer Bisol. As well as enjoying some bubbles, there were some very tasty Powter Sausages from Newmarket, who were established in 1881 and have been associated with the racecourse for 50 years; A delicious way to celebrate the Guineas.

The other three Classics coming up are Oaks and the Derby at Epsom in June, and the final Classic, The St Leger at Doncaster in September. The Wine Tipster is looking forward to seeing how the runners from the Guineas perform in the coming months.

Betfair Tingle Creek Chase Day is one of the highlights of the Sandown Park calendar. The day combines two Grade 1 races, the Henry VIII Novices’ Chase and the Betfair Tingle Creek Chase, both run over 2 miles providing a great day out for everyone.

The meeting is named after a steeplechaser who started his career in the USA and moved to the UK in 1972 to be trained by Tom Jones at Newmarket. Tingle Creek developed an affinity for Sandown Park contesting 6 consecutive runnings of the Sandown Pattern Chase. He never fell in 49 starts over fences in Europe and won a total of 23 races. Even in his retirement, he lost none of his enthusiasm and until 1955, returned ever year to parade past the stands prior to the race named after him.

This year, Sire De Grugy nearly made it three Tingle Creek wins, however after an epic battle, the winner was Un De Sceaux. The Sire De Grugy owners were so proud and sporting even in defeat.

Other highlights came from Altior on the Saturday for Nicky Henderson with an eye-catching success from Messire Des Obeaux and please don’t forget about the second, the very talented Ballyandy. Stunning performances.

During the day, The Wine Tipster was presenting in the Equus restaurant. The star wines were Bolney Estate Pinot Gris 2014 from Sussex, the Morgan Winery Twelve Clones Pinot Noir 2010 from St Lucia California and Brunello di Montalcino 2009 from Banfi in Tuscany. The Equus restaurant gives you a great dining experience as well as great viewing point for the whole of the course, including the famous railway fences.

The Wine Tipster’s winners included the impressive Dino Velvet 8/11, Dashing Oscar 7/2 and Back At Midnight at 10/1, which certainly pleased guests in the Equus restaurant.

The Wine Tipster will be presenting at the William Hill King George Festival on the 26th and 27th December at Kempton. You can also catch The Wine Tipster at Warwick on New Year’s Eve.

Finally a big shout out to Martina Flood and Hannah Bevan from Jockey Club Catering who have done such a top job at Sandown and have been great to work with. All the best for the future.

Cheers!