Pacifiers - look a bit like blinkers but with mesh covers for the horse's eyes. Also known as eyeshields.

An Australian invention first seen in this country when sported by Choisir in 2003.

Queen Anne Stakes. Established in 1840, originally called the Trial Stakes and open to 3yo+ horses it was renamed in 1930 in honour of the founder of Ascot racecourse. It became a group 3 race in 1971 under the pattern system, a group 2 in 1984 and a group 1 in 2003 when it was restricted to 4yo+ horses. It is the now first race on the opening day of Royal Ascot. It was last won twice by the same horse over a hunded years ago and is unlikely to be again and certainly not this year. A southern hemisphere 4yo runner gets an additional 1lb allowance.

Rare Treble - in 1984 Chief Singer won the St James's Palace Stakes (by 8 lengths) before dropping back in trip to take the July Cup then going back up to 8f to take the Sussex Stakes.

Is there a board on DS that shares tips and advice I used to be a horse punter but switched to football, and have nothing to bet on just now, the Timeform horses to follow used to throw up some good winners.

Dose anyone remember a trainer called Michael Hanes, I remember in the early 80s he had a horse named Vorvados it was mostly ridden by Richard Fox, but then out of the blue Willie Carson would take the ride and always won, now I'm not saying won quite a lot I am literally saying it won every single time Carson was booked I was amazed that it was never noticed by anyone else, it ran in 5-6 furlong sprints and had to be held up till well into the final furlong.

There's a thread for general horse racing discussion here: http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1783001

Stella Artois- sponsor the card at Chester on June 29th

Temple Stakes, Haydock

Up late, 11:36pm was the time of the off for yesterday's Belmont Stakes, the last leg of the US Triple Crown,

Vowels - I'd be surprised if that wasn't the only Classic winner ever to lack a vowel or a 'y' in its name.

Whippet...the nickname of 1905 champion jockey Elijah Wheatley

Foxhall. One of only three horses to have completed the Cesarewitch and Cambridgeshire double, in the latter he carried a 14lb penalty and gave 35lbs to the second and 19lbs to the third.

Young Eclipse....won the second ever derby in 1781

Zarathustra. The first, in 1957, of Lester Piggott's 11 Ascot Gold Cup wins.

Anthony St Leger....devised the race that bears his name

BBC - radio broadcasts of horse racing began in 1927 with the Grand National but the early programmes lacked an ingredient most would consider essential today.

The Corporation was practically paranoid about the subject of betting. They got around the problem by simply refusing to mention it. It wasn't until the late 1940s that the BBC gave the barest minimum of information i.e. starting prices for the winner and placed horses. Before then I guess you listened to the race on the radio then went out and bought a newspaper to find out how much you'd won or lost.

Curlin. One time US equine superstar who has won more prize money than any other North American horse, over $10m. He has had a less than stellar career at stud to date and his fee has dropped from $75k to $25k but his son Palace Malice won the Belmont Stakes this month.

Duke, The: won the first two unofficial Nationals in 1836 and '37

Eclipse of the sun. The one that occurred on 1 April 1764 was the reason a colt foaled during it was given the name Eclipse. Unraced until 5 he was unbeaten in 18 starts and was retired as the phrase "Eclipse first, the rest nowhere" meant just that. A great grandson of the Godolphin Arabian and a great great grandson of the Darley Arabian he was painted by George Stubbs. It is estimated he is a tail-male ancestor of 95% of all thoroughbreds.

Ferguson, John - bloodstock manager to Sheikh Mohammed. Moonlights as a jumps trainer at Cowlinge, about 10m SE of Newmarket.

Has a strike rate of 24% (57/238) over two and a bit seasons and might be a trainer going places.

Guineas wins....9 for Sir Henry Cecil. RIP legendary trainer

Wolver Hollow who gave Sir Henry Cecil his first group 1 winner in the Eclipse in 1969.

Indian Skimmer....winner of several top group one races for HC including the Prix De Diane over Miesque

Just a dozen. The number of winners Cecil trained in the 2005 flat season when his career was at its lowest ebb.

Khalid Abdullah, Prince - deserves a mountain of credit for staying with Sir Henry during the Lean Times when others in his position might easily have jumped ship.

do 3 horses count...placepot wise....in an 8 horse race? i.e 8.00 lingfield