Julie Camacho has provided a positive update on how her former stable star Shaquille has settled in at stud, leaving his new handlers “pleasantly surprised” by his friendly manner.

Shaquille rose through the sprinting ranks to claim Group One glory in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot and Newmarket’s July Cup, overcoming tardy starts in impressive fashion.

He is now standing at Dullingham Park and is proving popular with broodmare owners ahead of the new mating season.

“I know I’m biased but he is a lovely horse,” said Camacho. “He’s a good-looking horse, he’s got a lovely walk on him, but they weren’t quite expecting that from him.

“I think they have been pleasantly surprised with his temperament as well. I think they were all expecting him to be a bit of a nutter, but he’s not and they’ve found out at Dullingham what a lovely person he is.”

Camacho got off the mark for 2024 with well-backed Newcastle winner Dingle, who fittingly carries the purple and white colours of Martin Hughes, just as Shaquille did.

“It’s nice to get going,” added Camacho on Sky Sports Racing. “The horses have been running well but we’ve just been hitting the goalposts rather than the back of the net, but he’s a grand horse is Dingle.

“He’s just moved into Shaquille’s old box and whereas Shaquille was a lovely person, he’s grumpy when I go in to see him in the morning – but you don’t mind when he does that.”

After a quiet winter, Camacho is looking forward to building her Malton string back up.

She said: “We’ve got a few on the go and the other horses will start coming back in.

“We’ll have maybe a dozen two-year-olds, most of them are still in pre-training, including a few we’ve bred ourselves – maybe there will be another Shaquille, we can hope at this stage!”

Iroko, who had initially been ruled out for the season following a flawless novice chase debut at Warwick, has been handed surprise entries in the Arkle and the Turners Novice Chase events at the Cheltenham Festival.

Trained by Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero, the six-year-old was a winner at the meeting last season in the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle.

He went on to be placed in Grade One company at Aintree and looked set for a big campaign, only for injury to get in the way.

The Martin Pipe has a history of throwing up top-class winners, with Sir Des Champs, Don Poli, Galopin Des Champs and Saturday’s Kempton winner Banbridge on the roll of honour.

Iroko is one of 24 in the Arkle, 17 of which are trained in Ireland, with Gaelic Warrior, who has three options, Found A Fifty and Barry Connell’s odds-on favourite Marine Nationale entered up.

“The betting suggests Marine Nationale has the Arkle at his mercy, with only Constitution Hill a hotter favourite for a Festival race right now,” said Coral’s David Stevens.

“Although perhaps the bigger surprise is that Willie Mullins doesn’t train the Arkle favourite, as he does with the other three novice chases.”

A total of 42 have been entered for the Turners over two and a half miles, with Gaelic Warrior a clear ante-post market leader here.

Corbetts Cross, Colonel Harry, Fact To File and impressive Kauto Star Novices’ Chase winner Il Est Francais are among the other contenders.

The three-mile Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase has attracted 38, a whopping 21 of which are trained in Ireland, including the fancied Mullins pair of Grangeclare West and Fact To File.

Dan Skelton’s Grey Dawning and the Paul Nicholls-trained Stay Away Fay catch the eye from the home contingent at this stage.

There are 26 in the National Hunt Chase over three and three-quarter miles for amateurs, including Flooring Porter, a dual winner of the Stayers’ Hurdle.

Officials at Lingfield have admitted they will need “the best of the forecast” after calling an inspection for 8.30am on Wednesday ahead of day one of the track’s Winter Million Festival on Friday.

The Surrey circuit is due to play host to a quality three-day fixture, with high-class jumps cards on Friday and Sunday sandwiching a morning all-weather meeting on Saturday.

The Grade Two Lightning Novices’ Chase and the £100,000 Weatherbys Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide Hurdle are due to take place on Friday – but with parts of the track frozen on Tuesday afternoon and further sub-zero temperatures forecast, the card appears to be under serious threat.

“We got down to minus 7C last night and we have frost under the fleece that we used to cover the whole track on Saturday,” said clerk of the course Stephanie Wethered.

“We’ve called an inspection following that, and with the ongoing freezing temperatures this week. We’re forecast minus 2C tonight and then minus 5C on Wednesday and Thursday night.

“We’ll need the best of the forecast for Friday’s fixture.”

Temperatures are due to rise later in the week, giving Wethered optimism that the weekend action will go ahead as scheduled.

She added: “The weather is going to change for Saturday and Sunday’s racing, hopefully.”

The current cold snap will have a major impact on the jumps racing programme across the country in the coming days, with Tuesday’s National Hunt meetings at Chepstow and Plumpton both abandoned due to frozen ground.

Hopes of any racing over obstacles taking place on Wednesday hinge on a precautionary 8am check at Southwell, with the team at Newbury making an early decision to draw stumps on Tuesday afternoon ahead of their scheduled fixture.

Thursday’s meetings at Newcastle and Wincanton have already been called off, while Fairyhouse’s card on the same day is subject to a noon inspection on Wednesday.

Brendan Sheridan, IHRB clerk of the course, said on Tuesday morning: “The track is currently unfit for racing due to overnight frost.

“Parts of the track are frozen following two nights of low temperatures, with last night getting down to at least minus 3C.

“We don’t have the most favourable forecast with temperatures only rising to a high of 2C for a couple of hours today before dropping again tonight back to minus 3C.

“In light of that forecast, and due to the current ground conditions, we will have a 12pm inspection on Wednesday to assess the prospects of racing here at Fairyhouse on Thursday.”

Harry Fry is keeping his fingers crossed Lingfield’s Winter Million Racing Festival beats the cold snap to give Love Envoi the opportunity to get back on the winning trail.

Despite finishing second to Not So Sleepy on her seasonal reappearance in the rescheduled Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Sandown last month, Fry admits his star mare’s performance was laboured.

The Dorset handler is now preparing the eight-year-old to take on the boys in the Weatherbys Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide Hurdle and is hopeful she will be sharper for her comeback run.

“If you’d said when they passed the stands the first time that she’d finish second (in the Fighting Fifth), we’d have jumped at that result, as from the word go she never looked to be travelling or jumping,” Fry told Sky Sports Racing.

“It looked like she was going round with the handbrake on and Johnny (Burke) said it felt like that, so for her to get herself involved between the last two and hang on for second was not a bad result in the end, but obviously it wasn’t her very best run and we’re hoping to take a big step forward.”

Love Envoi’s main target is the Mares’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, in which she finished second to the retiring Honeysuckle last season.

Fry added: “The whole season is geared around going back for the Mares’ Hurdle. She was just ready to get started in the Fighting Fifth, she looked a bit ring-rusty and she was coming back from an injury that she picked up at Punchestown.

“I’m pleased to say she seems to have taken a step forward at home in her work and her schooling, so we’re hoping to see that on the track.”

The trainer is also beginning to formulate future plans for two of his other stable stars in Boothill and Gidleigh Park.

Boothill will look to bounce back from a fall in Kempton’s Desert Orchid Chase early next month, with a trip to Leopardstown for the Dublin Chase or the Game Spirit Chase at Newbury his two options.

“He’s absolutely fine, schooled on Friday and schooled again this morning, just to give him a bit of confidence again after an uncharacteristic mistake,” said Fry.

“Jumping has always been a real strong point, but even the best make mistakes sometimes. The main thing is he’s all okay and we can make plans for him again moving forward.

“The entries (for the Dublin Racing Festival) closed last week and we thought why not give ourselves the option and have a look? You’ve also got the Game Spirit the following weekend at Newbury.

“Hopefully, the Clarence House goes ahead this weekend and you’ve got the two heavyweights in the division (El Fabiolo and Jonbon) due to take each other on, so we thought we’d have a look at those two options in early February and make our minds up.

“It would be great to go over to Ireland, but you want to do so knowing you can be competitive, as it’s a pretty tough environment to go and compete in. We’ve done it in the past and with the right horse we’re prepared to do it again. We’ll see nearer the time before making a final decision.”

Gidleigh Park has been hugely impressive in winning a bumper and twice over hurdles for the team and he is set to have his sights raised in a Grade Two novice event at Cheltenham next weekend.

Fry added: “He has obviously impressed so far this season, he’s unbeaten to date and we’re looking forward to hopefully taking him to Cheltenham on Trials Day.

“He’s certainly one that gets us excited in the morning and has schooled well under Jonathan Burke today. We’re looking forward to seeing him step up in grade next weekend.”

Members of Old Gold Racing appear to have a trip to Cheltenham to get excited about with Apple Away – but connections are yet to agree on which race she will contest at the Festival following her Warwick second on Saturday.

Trained by Lucinda Russell, the Grade One-winning hurdler continued her education over fences when stepped up to Grade Two level for Warwick’s Hampton Novices’ Chase.

Although ultimately no match for an on-song Grey Dawning, Apple Away bravely plugged on once headed to finish a fair runner-up, leaving her team contemplating their next moves.

Russell is in agreement that Apple Away deserves to take her chance at Prestbury Park in the spring and is eyeing the three-mile Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase, for which she is now as big as 33-1 with some bookmakers.

However, the trainer’s partner and assistant Peter Scudamore appears to have other ideas and is keen to consider stretching out to three-mile-six for the National Hunt Chase, or even racing in handicap company at the March showpiece.

“I think with hindsight, it is a very quick track at Warwick and, as Patrick Wadge said afterwards, maybe she needs a stiffer track and a step up in trip,” said Old Gold CEO Ed Seyfried.

“Lucinda said she could think of a track that is very testing and undulating and when I asked did that begin with ‘C’, she said yes.

“So, we are very much headed for Cheltenham and Lucinda is still very much headed for the Brown Advisory, whereas Peter Scudamore is headed for every other race at Cheltenham apart from the Brown Advisory.

“He is looking at the Ultima, Scu is also thinking about maybe the Mares’ Chase and even the three-mile-six amateur novice, so there will be massive discussions at Arlary and we will be told what is going to happen.”

Seyfried went on: “With a horse like Apple, you hope you have the best horse in the world, and she didn’t get found out, but she made a couple of rookie errors jumping and this track clearly suited Grey Dawning better.

“The track and going was too quick for her and we came up against a better horse on the day. We have met Grey Dawning three times and won the time he came down, so maybe he is super special?

“The plan was here, then Ascot, then Cheltenham – and given the going here won’t have taken too much out of her, it could be that they think ‘let’s have another race’.

“She will have learnt a lot (at Warwick) and those five fences come thick and fast – it’s a proper test.”

Maughreen has bounced out of her stunning debut win in great shape but future plans for the exciting mare have still to be discussed.

Out of an unraced half-sister to 2015 Champion Hurdle winner Faugheen, there was always going to be plenty of attention on her when she hit the track.

She did not let members of the Closutton Racing Club down with a perfect performance at Punchestown, cruising clear under Patrick Mullins to win by 11 lengths.

Like Faugheen, she is trained by Willie Mullins – and James Fenton, who manages the syndicate, is happy to leave future targets up to the champion trainer.

“From day one, she was always professional. She’d been working well at home but had never shown us as much as that,” said Fenton.

“There’s never been any fuss with her, she’s been very straightforward. Obviously, she’s by Walk In The Park and she has the size, scope and pedigree to match.

“I pay a lot of heed on the cross of the stallion to the dam’s sire. Her dam’s sire is Goldmark and that cross works for me.

“I actually didn’t know what her pedigree was; once I like an individual, I like them and I just knew she was a Walk In The Park. When I looked into her pedigree, it was a bonus.

“Genuinely, I normally leave the planning up to Willie. I’d be up for keeping her to her own sex.

“There’s a lot of talk about Cheltenham but we had a very good bumper mare two years ago in Ashroe Diamond and she fits a similar profile for me (went on to win at Aintree). Ultimately, Willie will make the decision and we’ll discuss it over the next few weeks.”

Crucially, Maughreen has taken her first race in her stride.

Fenton said: “She’s come out of her race well, they are very happy with her and again, she’s just been very professional. There’s a lot of valuable mares’ bumpers and we wouldn’t be over-racing her this year in the hope she comes back good and strong next year.

“There’s 100 shares in the syndicate. Every year, we throw the few quid that we make into a dividend and start from scratch again.

“A couple came over from England yesterday and there’s great camaraderie in the club, over the last few years we’re working at a strike-rate of about 40 per cent and everyone is really enjoying it.

“Last year, we had Shewearsitwell, she was third in the Grade One but was coming towards the end of her career and I just had to say we might be a bit slow now as I needed to rebuild the stock.

“In fairness, they understood and were patient. We’ve seven mares in training and hopefully they’ll all be out in the next few months.”

Fenton was, though, keen to clear up where Maughreen’s name came from.

“There’s a lot of people think Maughreen is named after Maureen Mullins but that’s not the case, I said to her I wouldn’t like that pressure on her,” said Fenton.

“She’s named after a next-door neighbour of mine called Maureen O’Brien from Castlelyons.

“It was an emotional day for me yesterday, as she was like my mother growing up and she died a couple of years ago.

“I always told her someday I would have a horse named after her and her favourite horse was Faugheen and it just happened the way it worked out.”

Cervical cancer charities are set to receive the support of Old Gold Racing as they syndicate a horse donated by breeder Peter Pritchard in memory of his daughter Katie.

The horse in question is the four-year-old filly Katie Sunny Dancer, bred by Pritchard out of his broodmare Earcomesannie and by the stallion Passing Glance.

Katie, who the filly is named after, was an NHS nurse manager and a mother of two who was only 37 when she lost her life to cervical cancer in June 2023.

Her family are keen to raise funds for two cervical cancer charities, The Lady Garden Foundation and Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, and honour her memory in partnership with the successful Old Gold Racing syndication company.

Pritchard has offered his home-bred mare for the Katie’s Legacy Syndicate and it is hoped the initiative will raise £40,000 to be split between the two charities.

Alex Hales will train the mare, who is yet to run, and the funds gathered will go towards research and support for those diagnosed with cervical cancer.

In addition to that, Old Gold Racing have pledged £9,000 of the fee they earn from creating and managing the syndicate to The Myton Hospice, who cared for Katie in her final days

Peter Pritchard said: “While nothing can replace the void Katie’s passing has left behind, we want to honour her life and her story by spreading awareness about this deadly disease, which so many disregard the early signs of.

“By combining Katie’s love of horses with our ambition to make a difference, we hope Katie’s Sunny Dancer will contribute to the advancement of research into cervical cancer, so others do not have to go through Katie’s ordeal.”

Jenny Halpern Prince MBE, co-founder and chair of The Lady Garden Foundation, added: “We are so moved to have been selected as the beneficiaries of this charitable drive – especially upon hearing Katie’s tragic story.

“In the UK, around 3,100 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year and it’s the most common cancer in women under 35 years old.

“It is so important that this cause gets as much funding as possible and we are incredibly grateful to Peter and his family for helping us on our mission”.

Louise Newton, trustee at Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, was equally grateful for the support, saying: “We are so very saddened to hear the devastating news that Katie lost her life to this cancer, as did my wonderful friend Jo, 25 years ago.

“We are honoured to be part of celebrating Katie’s life and we are dedicated to improving outcomes for people like her and her family. Our mission for the last 25 years has been to support and inform all of the many women who are diagnosed with cervical cancer every year in the UK.

“Our vision for the future is of a day when cervical cancer is a thing of the past. This initiative will help us to work towards that goal.”

Anyone wishing to find out more information about the Katie’s Legacy Syndicate can head to https://oldgoldracing.com/horses/katie-sunny-dancer

John Quinn is eyeing further top-level success with Highfield Princess after confirming his superstar sprinting mare will stay in training this year.

The seven-year-old memorably completed a Group One hat-trick in 2022 with wins in the Prix Maurice de Gheest, Nunthorpe and Flying Five Stakes before rounding off her campaign with a fourth-placed finish at the Breeders’ Cup.

Owner John Fairley sportingly elected to bring his pride and joy back for another season last year and was duly rewarded, as Highfield Princess was placed twice at Royal Ascot and blitzed her rivals at Goodwood before bagging a fourth Group One success in the Prix de l’Abbaye at ParisLongchamp.

She could only finish sixth on her most recent outing in Hong Kong, but while connections could quite easily have retired the daughter of Night Of Thunder for breeding purposes in 2024, Quinn is delighted to report her racing career will continue.

“Highfield Princess is going to stay in training this year and I’m delighted,” he told the PA news agency on Tuesday morning.

“She retained her enthusiasm all year (last year) and keeps doing it. She won another Group One, was placed in three Group Ones and won a Group Two, so it’s not as if she had one outstanding run and four or five runs below par.

“She had one disappointing run in the Curragh when she slipped, apart from that she was second in the Duke of York, placed twice at Royal Ascot, fantastic at Glorious Goodwood, second in the Nunthorpe and put up a tremendous performance in the Abbaye.

“She ran creditably in Hong Kong from a wide draw and the owners have decided they’d like to race her again this year, which is great.”

While Highfield Princess is currently enjoying a well-earned break, Quinn has already started to formulate plans for her comeback.

He added: “She’s having a break now and will be back in (training) on February 1.

“I think she’ll kick off in the Duke of York again. It might be cold and snowy this morning, but it will soon come round, and then we’ll aim for Royal Ascot.”

Charlie Deutsch feels Royale Pagaille will need to produce a performance akin to his Betfair Chase success if he is to win the Sky Bet Peter Marsh Chase for a third time on Saturday – should Haydock beat the freeze.

The Venetia Williams-trained 10-year-old came up with a career-best display last time out when winning at the highest level for the first time, beating Bravemansgame in the process.

That was his fourth win at Haydock, and he was also second in the 2021 Betfair Chase, so his love for the course is evident, but Deutsch is well aware that off a mark of 166, he will be giving lumps of weight away.

“I’ve not sat on him since the last day I rode him, but every day from what I see on the gallops he looks good and well. I’m looking forward to getting back on board him again,” said the jockey.

“You would have to be optimistic about his chances if the meeting is on, as we know he likes the track and hopefully he is in the same form as he was in the Betfair Chase.

“This will still be a test and take a bit of winning, so he needs to be in good form, as he is going to be giving a lot of weight away.

“I’d be very surprised at his age if he gets better again but, although it is easy to say now he has won his Grade One, on Betfair Chase Day he definitely felt at his best.

“It would be great if he could win this for a third time, and it would be a similar performance to his one in the Betfair Chase, as it takes a very good horse to carry that sort of weight to victory.”

Seven-time Paralympic champion Hannah Cockroft feels it is time for the world to “move on” from London 2012 nostalgia and stage another Games worthy of the athletes.

The wheelchair racer won T34 100m and 200m gold in the capital, a Paralympics still widely viewed as the most successful in the history of the now nearly 64-year-old event.

Cockroft, also a 14-time world champion, is optimistic the Paris 2024 Paralympics have a chance of setting a new bar, overtaking a London Games that, without sacrificing any of their considerable significance, can now also be viewed from the perspective of stalled progress.

Asked if this summer could finally establish a new exemplar, Cockroft told the PA news agency: “I hope so. I’d love that. Even though I’m so proud that I got to compete at London 2012, and I get to sit there and say that I competed at the best Paralympic Games ever, it’s also kind of embarrassing saying that an event that happened 12 years ago was the best one of that event ever.

“From what I’ve seen, the support the athletes are getting, the support I got this year, is bigger than what I had going into London, so this year is really big.

“We’re seeing big brands get involved, ticket sales are going really well, I think Paris could be huge if they do it right, and so far they’re doing it pretty well.”

Last week, three-time British-Canadian Paralympic medallist Stef Reid took to social media to express her disappointment after seeing the Olympics promoted on a list of 2024’s big events to watch, while the Paralympics were not mentioned.

Though Reid’s concern stemmed from one particular article, the omission is by no means an isolated incident. At best, Cockroft observed, “people group them together and say them as one word, ‘OlympicsandParalympics’, or they just use Olympics and assume it covers it all.”

She added: “As Paralympians we’re so proud of the movement we’ve built, so it is frustrating when that gets forgotten about and when that doesn’t get highlighted. We’re at a point where so many Paralympic athletes are household names.

“People actually know who we are and what we do, and we need to celebrate that because we’re actually one of the only countries in the world that treat our disabled athletes that way, and it’s such a privileged place to be that we need to shout about it more and celebrate it more.”

‘Hurricane Hannah’ will defend her London 2012 T34 100m gold for a third time in Paris as well as the back-to-back 800m T34 medals she won in Rio and Tokyo.

In February, Cockroft set four new world records in three days, some of which she has even already since broken.

Gold in Paris will set Cockroft on the road to an as-yet elusive and coveted feat – holding world, European, Paralympic and Commonwealth titles at the same time.

The 31-year-old, who has swapped both coach and chair since Tokyo, is certainly showing no signs of stopping, but when the time does come hopes she, like London 2012 and perhaps Paris 2024, has set an example for what happens when disabled children are dared to dream.

She added: “I just want to open up opportunities for people. I was told people like me didn’t play sport.

“I hate that we’re in 2024 and I still meet kids that are being told they can’t do sport because they have a disability. Sport is for everyone.

“We need more people bending the rules and not telling people what they can’t do, but telling them what they can.”

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There will be no National Hunt racing in Britain on Tuesday after scheduled fixtures at both Chepstow and Plumpton were abandoned due to frozen ground.

An 8am inspection was called ahead of racing at Chepstow, but with temperatures dipping just below minus 6C overnight officials were able to make an early call.

It was a similar story at Plumpton, where frost sheets deployed across the whole courses were not enough to save the day.

An inspection was scheduled for 8.30am, but the decision was made at around 6am to draw stumps, with temperatures in Sussex also getting down to minus 6C.

Thursday’s jumps meeting at Newcastle has already been called off following a Tuesday morning inspection, while Fairyhouse’s card on the same day is subject to a noon inspection on Wednesday, with the course declared unfit for racing on Tuesday morning.

Brendan Sheridan, IHRB Clerk of the Course, said: “Ahead of declarations this morning for racing on Thursday, the track is currently unfit for racing due to overnight frost.

“Parts of the track are frozen following two nights of low temperatures, with last night getting down to at least minus 3C.

“We don’t have the most favourable forecast with temperatures only rising to a high of 2C for a couple of hours today before dropping again tonight back to minus 3C.

“In light of that forecast and due to the current ground conditions, we will have a 12pm inspection on Wednesday to assess the prospects of racing here at Fairyhouse on Thursday.”