and so it begins, wishy-washy, scourge of the sport, ride of the meeting, perhaps.

​At my age, perhaps it is the same for anyone with either a flaky personality or a depressed state of mind, I always need something to look forward to. I am 71 today. Pity me, do not wish me well. How this has happened I cannot imagine. I was supposed to be dead before I got old, and no, I was never a Who devotee or pot-smoker. If only the young realised they have every possibility ahead of them in life they might make more of an effort to do good, to become someone out-of-the-ordinary.
It will not be so bad if I survive until next October, when the sun goes off on its travels and the Racing Post starts its journey around the big hitters of the National Hunt world. Yes, I have the Irish National to look forward to, the Old Whitbread meeting and, of course, Punchestown, yet after the Irish season draws to a close, all there is mega-money flat races involving, in the main, immature colts and fillies owned by billionaires and trained by the same old faces, shiny blue-bloods that fleetingly will criss-cross the racing firmament only to disappear like a once-in-a-hundred-year visit of a comet. Journalists and commentators will get all gooey-eyed over a nascent talented colt with one run under its belt, elevating classic winners from potential to greatness and it will have the look of yesteryear. Same old, same old. Oh, for the days of my youth when I knew less than I do now, when I too falsified probability into classified wonderment. At 71, I no longer believe Nijinsky was one of the best horses of my lifetime. Nor do I believe Sea The Stars deserves to be included in the list of greatest horses of my lifetime. Frankel, yes. Brigadier Gerard, yes. But please let us not get a repetition of the laurels placed at the hooved of City of Troy last season. Was it propaganda or pre-emptive marketing of a stallion-to-come. Whatever it was, it was unedifying. 

Simon Bazalgette, former C.E.O. of Jockey Club Estates (is it estates?) took up the mantle as guest columnist in the Racing Post today. His opinion is as valid as your opinion or mine and any contribution on the topic of whether the sport is well-managed by the B.H.A. is useful to hear. Yet, I must admit, his take on things came across as wishy-washy, a stab at supporting the hierarchy, perhaps his friends. 
To defend the present leadership by reminding readers that their hands are tied by the indisputable fact that the sport has far too many ‘stakeholders’ is laughable when you realise the B.H.A. were integral to the agreement that brought about this whole stakeholder fiasco. You would not know it but the ties that bound the B.H.A. have been loosened, yet still we have intransigence and no real leadership. If racecourses did not have so heavy an influence on the B.H.A. the stated aim for separate changing facilities for both sexes would not have been put back five-years. A scandal uncovered, I suggest. 
The sport will never go forward if people like Simon Bazalgette, now Chair of horseracing management consultancy G.V.S. EQ (no idea what they do or why) simply say ‘it is harder than you think to govern a sport’, without putting forward any ideas of how it could be done better.

I must be in a bad mood, worst than usual, anyway, as I took issue with Ed Dunlop, writing the Another View column in the Racing Post, suggesting all-weather racing should be better championed through the winter as it is such a success. Give me strength! Look, I realise that all-weather saves the day when the elements scupper National Hunt and that it gives employment to people and gives opportunity for trainers and owners to make a buck during a time of the year when in years gone-by they would have had no opportunities. But to remind everyone, all-weather racing was sanctioned in the first instance to provide a safety-net for racing as it brought in betting revenue when snow, frost and hurricane prevented jump racing from taking place.
Now, incrementally, it is taking over, with all-weather racing taking place even on soft, balmy nights in the middle of summer. National Hunt suffers because of the all-weather. Horses that now run on the flat through the winter would, at least a good few, in the good old days have run over hurdles. I believe the all-weather is a worst curse on National Hunt than the horses sold abroad. Although I see a value in having two or three all-weather racecourses, in the main I see it as a scourge on the sport and wish its importance lessened, not inflated.

Although it is odds-on that Sean Bowen will win both the jockeys’ title this season and the ride of the season, though which one, Booster Bob or Shared? it struck me after Harry Cobden’s ride on Captain Cody, and remembering pitch perfect ride on Caldwell Potter at the Cheltenham Festival, that in the spirit of promoting our jockeys, perhaps every festival and major meeting should have an award to the ‘ride of the meeting’, with a cash prize, obviously, and a donation to an equine charity of the winning jockey’s choice.