All posts tagged: Horses

Grand National runners, favourites and odds for 2026: Key horses to note

Grand National runners, favourites and odds for 2026: Key horses to note

Published by Sam Flores

A maximum field of 34 horses will line up at Aintree for the Grand National on April 11, but the initial list of entries features 78 potential horses. The initial entries are listed below in best-odds order. These will be whittled down over the course of the jump-racing season. Grand National 2026: Full list of entries Iroko (Fra) 8yo Owner: Mr John P. McManusTrainer: Oliver Greenall & Josh GuerrieroOdds: 15/2 (Fav)Verdict: Stayed on from quite far off the pace to finish fourth, seven-and-a-half lengths behind Nick Rockett, last year, which sort of left you wondering how he might have fared ridden closer to the pace. In good form this season, campaigned over two miles, five furlongs, to keep his rating down presumably. Beaten by The Jukebox Man first time out, then beat Firefox. Worthy favourite at this stage. I Am Maximus (Fra) 10yo Owner: Mr John P. McManusTrainer: W. P. MullinOdds: 12/1Verdict: The winner in 2024 and a very gallant second under a big weight last year, which makes him a bit of an Aintree …

Slow Horses star: “More to uncover” about Gary Oldman’s Jackson Lamb

Slow Horses star: “More to uncover” about Gary Oldman’s Jackson Lamb

Published by Daniella Wilson

The fifth season of Slow Horses ended on a dramatic, poignant note for Gary Oldman’s Jackson Lamb, as more of his was revealed to the audience. Earlier in the season, Lamb had told a story about an an agent who had withstood brutal torture, alongside his pregnant lover, for information he ultimately never knew in the first place. In the final moments of the finale, it was revealed that Lamb was, in fact, that agent. Given this, and the fact that previous seasons have also dropped hints about Lamb’s past, it seems there is still plenty more to learn about the enigmatic character – and that’s something Roddy Ho star Christopher Chung has affirmed. Chung was in attendance at the Radio Times Covers Party 2026, when he was asked about what was in store for Oldman’s character in the upcoming season 6. While Chung admitted that it had been a long time since he filmed it, as production on season 7 is now underway, he did tease: “I think what’s really great about the show …

The extreme sport of skijoring, where horses pull skiers at 40 mph

The extreme sport of skijoring, where horses pull skiers at 40 mph

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. The high-adrenaline winter sport of skijoring, derived from the Norwegian word for “ski driving,” takes so many forms that it even defies uniform pronunciation. “If you go to France, it’s skijoering, pronounced SKEE-zhor-ing. In German, it’s skijöring, pronounced SHEE-yuh-ring,” says Loren Zhimanskova, founder of Skijor International and Skijor USA. “In Norway, it’s skikjøring, pronounced SHEE-shuh-ring. Every culture has its own version, and that’s part of what makes the sport so special.”  This changeability goes beyond umlauts and accents—it’s at the heart of the evolution and modern practice of this eclectic sport. At its core, skijoring is a winter sport in which a skier is pulled across the snow by a horse. In European competitions, the horse typically runs riderless, while in Western-stye competitions a mounted rider steers the horse through a fast-paced obstacle course. “It’s that free-flowing, wildhearted diversity that makes our sport so attractive,” Zhimanskova says. But that diversity is also why skijoring may never again grace the …

Only Fools and Horses’ Del Boy Trotter was nearly played by legendary Harry Potter star

Only Fools and Horses’ Del Boy Trotter was nearly played by legendary Harry Potter star

Published by Daniella Wilson

Fans have been tuning in to Only Fools and Horses since it first aired back in 1981, with fans loving the iconic characters brought to life by David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst and Buster Merryfield. However, despite being synonymous with the role now, Sir David wasn’t the first choice of producers, with Jim Broadbent, who later played Professor Horace Slughorn in the Harry Potter film series and antiques shop owner Samuel Gruber in the Paddington series, being an early favourite. During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show in 2022, Jim revealed that he turned down the role of Del Boy as it conflicted with his appearance in a West End show. “Originally, I was the second choice for Del Boy,” he explained. “The first choice was Enn Reitel, but he didn’t fancy it and I couldn’t do it because I was doing a show in the West End.” The actor confessed to The Observer in 2022, that he felt the show wouldn’t have succeeded in the way that it did had he been cast in the …

Forest Service rescues 24 stranded, starving wild horses near Mammoth Lakes; several die

Forest Service rescues 24 stranded, starving wild horses near Mammoth Lakes; several die

Published by Sam Flores

The Sunday before last, Blake DeBock snowmobiled out to nine wild horses he was told were stranded in deep snow north of Mammoth Lakes. “As soon as I saw them, it really confirmed that they were in a very serious situation,” the Bishop resident said. For the record: 2:24 p.m. Jan. 22, 2026An earlier version of this article misspelled photographer Blake DeBock’s last name as DeBok. Two horses were dead when he arrived, including a foal that appeared stillborn or miscarried. Christmas storms had dumped 5 feet of snow and he surmised that’s when they got stuck — and hadn’t had anything to eat or drink in the weeks since. About a mile or two away, another group of roughly 20 horses was in the same situation. As another week passed, bittersweet news arrived. The U.S. Forest Service rescued 24 of the horses and took them, temporarily, to a corral in Bishop. One later died from “extreme emaciation” and three were euthanized due to what the agency described as “critically poor body condition,” according to …

Horses really can smell fear, new study claims, and it changes their behaviour

Horses really can smell fear, new study claims, and it changes their behaviour

Published by skeptic

Humans have long believed horses can “smell fear”. Nervous riders are often told to “relax, or the horse will feel it”. Until recently, though, there was little scientific evidence to show whether this was anything more than folklore. A new study has found that this belief is no myth. Its results show that horses can detect chemical signals linked to human emotions, and that these signals can influence their behaviour and physiology. Previous research has pointed to a form of emotional contagion between humans and horses. This is a phenomenon in which the emotional state of one person or animal influences the emotional state of another. But this is the first study to find evidence horses can detect human fear using their sense of smell. Horses rely heavily on their sense of smell to understand the world around them. Their olfactory system is far more sensitive than ours, allowing them to detect subtle chemical differences in the environment. There is scientific evidence that horses can select the most nutritious food by smelling it. A 2016 …

Horses leap through flames and pets go to church in Spanish animal rituals honoring St Anthony

Horses leap through flames and pets go to church in Spanish animal rituals honoring St Anthony

Published by Sam Flores

SAN BARTOLOME DE PINARES, Spain (AP) — Hundreds of Spaniards watched horses gallop through towering flames, hours before pet owners in Madrid on Saturday took their dogs and cats to church to be blessed with holy water. The contrasting Spanish traditions take place every January to honor St. Anthony the Abbott, the patron saint of domestic animals. And despite criticism from animal rights groups, the horse-and-fire spectacle draws loyal crowds ever year. Las Luminarias is a centuries-old tradition that takes place in the Spanish village of San Bartolomé de Pinares — population 500 — about 100 kilometers (60 miles) outside Madrid. Riders guide horses through bonfires in the middle of the street in an act believed to purify the animals in the coming year. “In the old days, it was held because it was believed that the branches and the smoke blessed the horses and donkeys, which were used for farming, as a form of healing to prevent them from getting sick and to ensure they continued working in the fields,” said attendee Antonio Patricio, …

Slow Horses star on inheriting “iconic” Scrooge role from Doctor Who stars

Slow Horses star on inheriting “iconic” Scrooge role from Doctor Who stars

Published by skeptic

London’s Old Vic Theatre will soon be hosting another run of their smash-hit adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Penned by Adolescence writer Jack Thorne, this version has been held for nine straight Christmases, always pulling in a high-profile actor like Doctor Who’s Christopher Eccleston and John Simm. This year, it’s the turn of Slow Horses actor Paul Hilton, who spoke exclusively to RadioTimes.com about preparing for the role, in particular, how to keep it feeling fresh. “I’m absolutely loath to repeat somebody else’s performance, so I’m resisting obvious choices and trying to really connect it to my own life experience, because in Jack’s version, it’s a very domestic, 21st Century psychological, realistic account. “So I’m just looking for the truth of every connection, every line, and I don’t feel a pressure to have to do anything other than the work that I would normally do on any role.” He continued: “I’ve got this thing that Scrooge is an everyman character, that we all have aspects of Scrooge. We all recognise the curmudgeonly, the emotionally detached, …