​The ‘Another View’ column in the Racing Post is becoming a veritable treasure trove of illuminating ideas. Today it was David Carr’s turn to propose what on paper seems an idea worth pursuing. 
Ratings, to my mind, are at best educated opinion and at worst a load of old bollards. Ratings are pseudo-science; flawed pseudo-science at that. Too many horses are ruined because of one above-ability run which the handicapper takes as gospel and the poor horse is lumbered for several seasons with a rating it has little hope of ascending to. Horses need to be accessed on no more than five previous runs, though I would prefer three-runs, with the average rating for the previous five (or three) runs prevailing.
But I digress. David Carr was writing about the Longines World’s Best Ratings, to be published any day soon, with racing journalists agog with excitement to see who is judged the best of the best. He believes, and he will be pleased and relieved to know I agree with him, that one win in one major race is sometimes all that is needed to be awarded top marks for the year, which leads to very few flat horses dancing all the right dances during the previous season.
He proposes, in order to encourage owners and trainers to run their best horses more often, to award owner of the ‘bestest horse in the world’ more than just a trophy. £1-million-quid should be given as the magnet for achieving top marks, to give the Longines World’s Best award a more meaningful reason for existing. More runs in the qualifying races, the more points gained, the better the chance of scooping the bonus.

In an age of raising costs everywhere you look, high inflation and governments around the world, though not now the U.S. (we all need a Trump in our lives) determined to do nothing to halt the devaluing of the pound (or euro or whatever) in our pockets, horse racing in this country seems awash with real or proposed £1-million-quid bonuses. The latest splurge comes from the uniting of Ascot, Goodwood and York, who have come up with the bonus in an attempt to attract foreign owners and trainers to the idea of supporting the King George & Queen Elisabeth, the Sussex and Juddmonte International Stakes.
I am lukewarm about this initiative as I prefer the big British prizes to stay with British trainers. But if it increases field sizes and competitiveness, perhaps it should be applauded. (I even get bored and cross when Aidan O’Brien snaps up all the juicy prize-money, though not his genius son, Joseph or the more mortal Donnacha).

Fingers crossed for weather less dramatic this weekend. Friday is forecast to be blighted by high winds, cold temperatures, rain, with snow on hills. It is ‘Trials Day’ at Cheltenham this Saturday and though it is a meeting that often proves of no impact on the Festival itself, and wish it could be elevated into a Gloucestershire version of the Dublin Racing Festival, this year we are tantalised by another clash between Constitution Hill and Lossiemouth. The mare, remember, must travel by boat and high winds might temper Willie Mullin’s enthusiasm for the trip, and heavy ground, it is presently good-to-soft, might temper Nicky Henderson’s enthusiasm for running Constitution Hill. So, as I said earlier, crossed-fingers is the order of the day and the following few days.

Greyhound racing is none of my business and not part of the remit of this website. But one cannot but feel saddened by decline in a sport that shows no sign of coming to a halt.
I only glance at the headlines in the greyhound section of the Racing Post and have never attended a greyhound meeting. But I do wonder if the sport is too attached to its past and whether the sport needs an entrepreneurial spirit to improve its chances of survival. 
I do wonder if it is a country sport locked-in by tradition to an urban arena. Perhaps the demise might be a sign to look at a redevelopment of the sport. I understand that in the main greyhound racing is a sport for betting purposes and that perhaps it is time, as horse racing is beginning to do, to put the emphasis on the greyhound itself, to show the outside world that its greyhounds are not throw-away items but that they are loved and respected.
Why not take the sport to the racecourse and stage races up the long straights, following the lead of pony racing. Greyhounds jump hurdles and this too might spark the interest of race-goers. Carlisle holds a trail-hound race every year and is very popular.
The rot I suspect will not stop until those charged with leadership of the sport step out of the shadows and display some entrepreneurial zeal.

​The success of the Berkshire Millions weekend is a win for me as I have long advocated that regionalised ‘festival’ meetings is the way forward. Summer festival race-meetings form a comprehensive narrative to Irish racing, with many of them tied to local and historic fares. Horse racing gained its popularity in its formative years through local fares, with horse races central to the fun and entertainment. Why is it not possible, for example, for Worcester, Stratford and Hereford to get together to put on a similar, if lower grade, festival. The area abounds in local tradition, with the Three Choirs Festival just one that comes to this tired mind of mine.
The Berkshire Millions three-days is proof-positive that people can come together in this sport for the good of the sport.

Another win for me is the success I.T.V. are making of their terrestrial coverage of horse-racing. I made the bold claim that the sport was in safe hands after watching the first episode of ‘The Morning Show’. I write this in light of the feature in Sunday’s edition of the Racing Post documenting how Channel 4 ‘stole’ the Cheltenham contract from the B.B.C. At the time I was on the mortified side of bemusement that the grand old B.B.C. was being sidelined by the sport. On that occasion I was wrong to be concerned as Channel 4, minus MrCririck who I never warmed to, proved to be a cut above the B.B.C. on all fronts. Simon Holt proved to me that though he was the ‘voice of racing’, Sir Peter could not hold a candle to Holt’s professionalism. That was a sad revelation for me.

Gordon Elliott is aiming Three Card Brag at the Aintree National. What is wrong with that? He is a novice chaser who won for the first time over fences yesterday at Thurles and come Aintree will be having only his sixth run in a steeplechase. Yes. Both Noble Yates and Rule the World won the race in recent years as novices, with the latter having never won a chase, yet to my mind this is a dangerous precedent that might well come home to bite us if a novice of limited experience over fences should suffer a fatality during the race. This is yet another example of how emasculated the new Aintree National is compared to what it used to be.

The reason field-sizes in Grade 1 races over recent years have shrunk is because, as is recognised by all and sundry, there are fewer horses of that calibre around. To provide corrective change to the competitiveness of Grade I’s, action needs to take place. While the decline in Grade 1’s is apparent, there should be less Grade 1 races in all divisions of the sport, especially in the lead-up to Cheltenham, with only a single Grade 1 novice chase over 2-miles and 3 and only one novice hurdle over 2-miles and the intermediate distance between New Year and March to ensure Grade 1’s have true meaning. Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. Sometimes drastic problems need drastic solutions.

When field-sizes are debated by racing journalists, where they trot-out statistics to either prove the obvious or disprove a myth, what is regularly failed to be included in the debate is the impact of all-weather racecourses. Now cannot be compared to the time before all-weather. Before the advent of all-weather racing, stoutly-bred flat horses would often be tried over hurdles through the winter. Take Night Nurse and Attivo as two prime examples. Yet owners are no longer forced to pay training expenses while their horses stand idle between November and March as the all-weather allows them to pay training expenses for horses that can be in active service throughout the winter.
Also, a horse like Sea Pigeon who failed on the flat, became available for jumps trainers to purchase him, whereas nowadays his type would be snapped-up to race in Hong Kong, Australia or the Far East. It is just a different ball-game to how things used to be.

It fills my heart with pride to see the horse racing industry joining the battle against inheritance tax, a ploy to allow elites to buy-up our countryside, by uniting with landowners and farmers in their legitimate struggle with the progenitors of evil emanating from the corridors of power at Westminster. Yesterday’s line-up of 57-tractors at Fakenham racecourse should be the start of a concerted campaign to bring the dispute to the cameras of I.T.V. and satellite broadcasts. The future of farming coincides with the future of horse racing in this country, mark my words.

​In the ‘Another View’ column in the Racing Post on Friday, or was it Saturday? Anyway, Craig Thrake presented a half-hearted argument against the proliferation of regional Nationals. In his list of 19 such races, he included the Aintree National and the Scottish and Welsh Nationals, so he was having a moan about 16-Nationals, all of which have a right to exist, to my way of thinking.
If we were honest, even those of us who love the thoroughbred racehorse just for its beauty and comportment, the majority of the species are either very fast over a short distance of ground or very slow over a long distance of ground. If these horses are not catered for both flat racing and jumping would be much the poorer and would begin to  look very samey indeed.
With Aintree having robbed us of what a true National should be, the regional nationals now fill a void. I would argue that every race over 4-miles should be designated a national of one sort or another, and no race with the word ‘national’ in its title should be run over less than 3-mile 4-furlongs. The word ‘national’ in racing parlance should have a clear definition – a steeplechase of extreme distance.

As I have said time and again, the B.H.A. fails as it is not populated and directed by people with coal-face experience of the sport and all its facets. In today’s letter column in the Racing Post, Ged Shields, owner and friend of the sport, is critical of the B.H.A.’s latest marketing initiative, a subject Ged Shields feels they are less than efficient in. The new committee, (Ged has little faith in committees) will report into the ‘all-powerful’ commercial committee which in turn will report to the B.H.A. Board. I have no insight into business matters, though my instincts tell me that committees reporting to committees that report to a further committee seems a long-winded and perhaps overly expensive way of going about things. Ged Shields quotes David Ogilvy, a paragon in the world of marketing, apparently – ‘Search the parks and your cities. You’ll find no statues to committees’.
Why can’t the B.H.A. consult people who put their hard-earned money into our sport, either by owning horses or racecourses, people who have made their wealth from, in this instance, marketing and big business, and pay them a consultation fee for their expert advice. Why employ a committee, when one wise head already has the answers required?

A great record doth not make a great horse. That is not a quote but opinion. Mine. Jonbon is a wonderful racehorse and deserving of winning a Champion Chase. Not that a single Champion Chase will put him on a par with Sprinter Sacre who, I admit, is a grade up from being referred to as a ‘great’ and is now and for all-time will be referred to as a legend. Energumene has won two Champion Chases and overall has as good a record as Jonbon. Is he not already a great?
Accolades like ‘great’ and ‘legend’ should only be attributed at the end of a career, not before. On this day, at this time of his career, Jonbon is undoubtedly the best 2-mile chaser around. His record of 16 wins from 19-starts (or is 17 from 20-starts now) is testament to his excellence, and if I could be bothered to go search of Energumene’s career record, I suspect he has won more chases than he has lost.
Yes, they are two great horses. But what then Banbridge, is he a great horse for winning a King George? I could list a good few more but that would be labouring a contentious point that would only confirm me as a grouch. We need to enjoy these horses for the enjoyment they bring and leave their place in the pantheon to when they are retired. Jonbon, and Energumene, have great records and both are a joy to watch; let us leave it at that for now.
My opinion of yesterday’s Clarence House was that the best horse on the day won. Come March and the possibility of mud, the result might prove very different.

To return to slow horses. My top delight yesterday was Mr.Vango winning the Peter Marsh Chase at Haydock. The Bradstocks have always punched above their weight and it is a great tribute to Sara and her daughter Lily that in compliance with Mark’s wishes, they are keeping the flag flying. It is was his jumping, I believe, that won the race for Mr. Vango, as much as his unlimited supply of stamina. The dream is the Grand National and, contrary to Sara Bradstock’s comments to the press, I would not put Mr. Vango’s presence in the line-up at Aintree down to the ground being heavy as his jumping is such an asset that soft-ground and 4-miles plus could be enough for him to be competitive.

​Yesterday, 30-minutes before the scheduled start of the meeting, Ludlow held yet another inspection and on the advice of jockeys abandoned the meeting due to parts of the course still being frozen. Clerks of the Course are damned if they do and damned if they do not and no one should be under any illusions as to the intricacies and difficulties that come with the job. This meeting was called-off, no so much for the patches of frost, but due to health and safety concerns for man and beast. And that was, for all I can know, a fair judgement call.
Although the temperature had risen to only 3-degrees above freezing, while the forecast suggested it would be 6-degrees, the majority of the racecourse must have been fit to race given the stewards were giving racing every chance of taking place. What might be done in these circumstances, other than abandon, you might ask? Well, it might be a large financial investment, even if such a tool or machine exists, and if not, it is in need of invention, but in non-freezing conditions would not some form of hot-air blower be the answer?
Most diesel-powered machines create at least a limited amount of heat, so an engineer with knowledge of the problem should be able to design a tool for the job. After all, if you pour warm water on frozen ground, it soon becomes thawed and as long as the temperature remains above zero the ground will not return to its frozen state.  
Given the limited necessity for such a machine, perhaps racecourses, or racecourse owners, could band together, if such machines already exist, and purchase three or four to be dispensed around the country, with clerks able to hire one for the day a day in advance if it looks even-money their fixture falling foul to frost.
Other than that, perhaps, as would have been tried back in the day – Catterick succeeded using this method a long time ago – herding sheep around the racecourse might prove beneficial, their tiny hoofs taking the frost from the ground.

I am an advocate of ‘copying the Irish’ and following Ollie Murphy’s complaint that there are not enough Bumpers confined to conditional jockeys, I again think we should, in amended form, ‘copy the Irish.’
In Ireland, as we all know, Bumpers are confined to amateur jockeys and in modern times are organised as a benefit to Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott who between them gobble-up most of these races much like locusts denying poor African farmers healthy living. The system as it is works nicely in Ireland and they would not appreciate anyone, especially a Brit, challenging the quid pro quo. 
Yet Ollie Murphy provides a cogent argument. Bumpers would provide excellent schooling grounds for young conditional jockeys and perhaps all Bumpers, outside of Graded Bumpers, and should be off-limits to professional jockeys. Young riders are in many ways the back-bone of most stables, even if their employers might find it difficult to get them rides on the racecourse. It seems a bit mad that a teenage conditional can have his or her first experience of a horse race over hurdles or even fences but has limited opportunity in National Hunt flat races.

The more I get to know about Godolphin, the more I am impressed by their sincerity. In the U.S., Godolphin have not one but two retirement studs for their broodmares, and I assume their former stallions. In today’s breeding column in the Racing Post, we are informed that Hatoof, winner of the Newmarket 1,000-Guineas 33-years ago, is alive and well at Gainsbrough Stud, Kentucky. At 36-years of age, she might well be the oldest thoroughbred in the world. It is reported that she has wonderful feet, even though she has not had shoes on since she retired, as 5-year-old, from racing. She prefers to live outside, even in bad weather, though ice-storms forced her to sleep in a barn for two-nights recently.
Three cheers for Godolphin and their commitment to caring for their elderly bloodstock. Perhaps our government should take a leaf from their book when it comes to caring for its elderly human bloodstock?

​I believe it is time to start or restart the debate on whether female professionals over jumps should be given a 3 or 4Ib allowance once they have ridden-out their conditional allowance at 90-winners. (Or is it 75 over jumps?) In France, both on the flat and over jumps, in races of no prestige, females get a 4Ib (though it might be kilo or whatever currency they use for weights on the continent), a circumstance that might have encouraged Isaac Souede and Simon Munir to engage Bryony Frost as their retained rider in France. I may be doing Bryony an injustice and the allowance never entered the equation. 
When this subject first came to the table, as a direct result of the allowance being introduced in France, an initiative to encourage French owners and trainers to give females a sporting chance to establish themselves, Rachael Blackmore had come to the fore in Ireland and Bryony was winning Grade 1 races in Britain and the scene was beginning to look rosy in the diversity stakes. Yet, even if Rachael Blackmore has continued to add Grade 1’s to her c.v., there is no one following in her wake in Ireland – literally no one – and with Bryony now based in France, there is no female riding in any Grade 1’s in Britain and only occasionally in the major handicaps.
In itself it is not a problem, if it were not for the fact that the sport prides itself on its diversity, an equal opportunities sport where men and women compete on a level playing field. I would argue, though, and Paul Nicholls said on more than one occasion that he would give Bryony more rides if only certain owners would play ball, that there are many an owner and trainer who would say no to a female riding their horses on the racecourse, especially in races of importance.
It is for this reason, to encourage female jockeys to keep up the good fight and to give good reason for owners to say yes to a female rider, that this is a good time to kick-start the debate. The sport must thrive in all its aspects and it needs female participation at all levels. Remember, if you can see it, you can be it.
In France, females do not receive an allowance in good-class races. It is only in ordinary races where they receive the allowance. But is it fair that someone of her experience, Britain’s best and most successful female National Hunt jockey, should receive an allowance? I do not think so. Although I would support an allowance for female jockeys in Britain, I would take away the allowance once 125 or perhaps 150-winners has been achieved, though I would have the allowance for all races, excluding the Blue Riband races, the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle, for example.
Our most successful female National Hunt jockey at the moment is Lily Pinchin and you will have to look a long way down the jockeys’ championship table to discover how many winners she has achieved this season. As with many jockeys, male and female, her current total of winners does not reflect either her commitment or ability. I dare say she might say, as was said when this subject came up for discussion a few years ago, that female jockeys wanted to achieve success through their own endeavours and without favour, as Hayley Turner commentated, though, ‘if you find a five-pound-note on the ground, you pick it up.’
Lily Pinchin must be close to or above a hundred career winners and this initiative, if brought-in, would be of only limited use to her, though it might allow her a few days in the sun which without it she might go her whole career not achieving. As I say repeatedly, everyone who works hard in this sport deserves an opportunity to prove themselves. This sport needs another Bryony Frost. She proved able at the top table, as did Lizzie Kelly and Bridget Andrews when opportunity came their way. And then there is the shining example of Rachael Blackmore who was getting nowhere fast until Eddie O’Leary spotted her potential and used his influence to get people to give her a chance. An allowance would give the next Blackmore or Frost a fighting chance to establish themselves. That is all I am saying.

​Everyone has their opinion on which race Noel and Amanda should run Il Est Francois in at the Cheltenham Festival. Personally, I believe they have given themselves an unnecessary headache. Il Est Francois may have the early pace to lead a 2-Mile Champion Chase, yet unlike in his two runs at Kempton, his rivals at Cheltenham will have the ability to lay up close to him, and why are they thinking him a speed horse when only last season their objective was the Grand Steep, a race over 3-miles and more furlongs than the Gold Cup?
In my opinion, for what it is worth, if they believe the horse does not possess the stamina to be competitive in the Gold Cup, the obvious cure for their self-imposed headache would be the Ryanair, a race which requires a mixture of speed and stamina. Ruby Walsh, I believe, advocates the 2-Mile Champion Chase for Il Est Francois as his presence would set-up the race nicely for either Energumene and Gaelic Warrior to pounce at the bottom of the hill. A strong pace would also prove useful to Jonbon.
If Banbridge runs in the Ryanair, Banbridge wins. Though I hope Ronnie Bartlett will see the Gold Cup this year as perhaps his only chance of having a live chance of winning the race. Banbridge stayed on nicely at Kempton and Paul Townend is of the opinion that he sees no reason why he would not see out the extra 2-furlongs at Cheltenham, even if he thought the Ryanair would be his choice for Banbridge  at the Festival.

I do not have a racecourse within fifty miles of me, so I cannot make any claims about how Taunton, Exeter or Newton Abbot market themselves in their respective local areas. But in light of what came out of the Racing Post’s ‘Project Spotlight’ last week, the vox populi (opinion of the people of Kingston, at least) seemed to suggest that horse racing was a sport for the idle rich and not the hoi polloi, if Kingston has any hoi polloi living in its vicinity.
If I had any say in how to get more local people to a racecourse, I would suggest, along with one free entry meeting per year, leafleting the nearby towns and villages and along with days on which they race, racecourses should include price of entry and season badges, plus concessions for O.A.P.’s and emphasise both the free entry at all meetings for accompanied children under the age of sixteen and the facilities to keep said children entertained. Picnic areas are good, also.

James Bowen spent a good half-hour trapped under the half-ton of Saunton Surf at Ffos Las last Saturday, his leg trapped in an iron at one stage (freed by the passing Ben Jones), his head dangerously close to the mare’s hind legs. Although young James had a long time to contemplate his future and how he might use his time if he ended up in hospital should the tired mare decide to suddenly raise herself from the ground, it was a magnificent effort by all concerned to extricate Bowen from his perilous position, while ensuring the welfare of Saunton Surf. Horse racing should award medals for people who excel during an emergency such as occurred at Ffos Las. Incidentally, Ffos Las looked a wonderful racecourse in scenic surroundings. A great venue for a summer festival.

While it looks long odds the Cheltenham Gold Cup will be kept on the mantelpiece of a British-based owner for the twelve-months after March, I do think it is complacent of ‘experts’ to ignore the chances of L’Homme Presse. He is 33/1 and on all known form has a better chance than Grey Dawning in being in with a chance jumping the second-last. He was quietly fancied by many last season, leading the pack into the straight before Galopin Des Champs went for home. Providing he wins his next race, I would not be in the least surprised to see him finish in the first three this time around, and, as it is said many times, many ways, you should never be scared of one horse, no matter how long odds-on it is.

The Hunter Chase season is upon us and I will again be left wondering where the star hunters have gone. In front of me, I have a biography of Baulking Green, star hunter chaser of the mid 1960’s, winner of 24 of his 38-races. Also, a book on Flying Ace, star hunter from the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, a horse who won a staggering 59 races, point-to-point and hunter chases.
There must be a reason why horses such as these two admirable warriors can no longer be found in British hunter chases.

​I admit that I would fail a test involving calculating odds along the lines of the cumulative odds of a 9/1 winner, 5/4 winner and a 1/2 winner. In sixty-years of following racing the maths of racing can still bamboozle me. So, the thought of changing from fractional odds to decimal odds ‘worries’ me. And all to appease the once-in-a-while racegoer who struggle to understand bookmakers’ odds. What would follow the introduction of the decimalisation of odds? Furlongs replaced by metres or whatever the foreign currency used abroad might be? Whips replaced by feather-dusters to appease – oh, actually, yes, I am one of those objectors who would like to see whips carried but not used in earnest more than once.
Fractional odds are not exactly rocket-science. 9/1, £1 to win 9 plus the return of stake-money. 5/4, £4 to win 5. 1/2, £2 to win £1 plus return of stakes money. £5 at 9/1 = 9x5= £45 plus stake-money. Simples. Instead of throwing the baby out with the bath water, why not in the middle of racecards publish the return of a winning bet at all the odds bookmakers’ currently use. Educate from the top down, not dumb-down by educating from the bottom up.
If we are sincere in wanting to engage more with the public, to put more feet on more racecourses, start by ridding the sport of out-of-date traditions. Dress-codes are so last year, though more last century. Allow people to attend a race-meeting dressed how they see fit, within reason, of course. The same with Royal Ascot and Derby Day, morning suits are completely unsuitable attire for an outdoor sport. If people want to wear clothes more fitting a cathedral wedding, then sobeit. But it should not be regulated. It is so unfair that women can wear loose-fitting clothing, while the menfolk must wear a tie, top-hat and long-tailed coat. 
And racegoers should be allowed to go where they please, except where the horses go, obviously, and not kept in enclosures as if Queen Victoria might be attending. And employ people to answer any queries newcomers might have. Ensure good facilities for kids and do what is humanly possible to keep food prices as low as possible. Make money on alcohol, as the more expensive it is, the less people will drink and the happier and more relaxed the atmosphere will be for those who attend a race-meeting for the sport. And mix-it up a little between the white lines. Pony races to start a meeting, for example, a display of retired horses, occasionally. 
And to begin with, more free-entry meetings or free coach services from the local cities and towns. Concessions for the elderly, raffles, all of what they do at the Shergar Cup meeting. Etc. Etc.

Salvator Mundi looked a bag of tricks at Punchestown yesterday. Paul Townend quite often earns his money by false pretences, riding odds-on favourites that only require pointing in a forwardly direction. Yesterday he should have earned a bonus. He said afterwards that he knows the horse can jump but he did not jump with good intent at any hurdle as Townend could not afford to allow him to jump with precision for fear he might take-off with him. My fear is that the atmosphere at Cheltenham might fry his brain and Townend will be unable to restrain him. But then at Tipperary back in May he made all the running and won by the length of the straight. You would not want to back him for the Supreme until you see him cantering (hopefully) to the start. Remember the atmosphere at the Festival is at its most frenzied in the build-up to the first race.

People, and journalists, continue to advocate the scrapping of races that currently form part of the Cheltenham Festival. Already trainers and owners have lost the intermediate novice chase, some want the Mares Hurdle scrapped (I merely want the conditions changed to prevent mares of Champion Hurdle class from running in it) while now there is a call for the Ryanair to be binned in order to improve the standard and number of horses running in the Gold Cup.
Why lose these races when they might be run either earlier in the season at, for instance, what is now referred to as ‘Trials Day’ even though it has practically no relevance to what might happen at the Festival, or later in the season at Aintree?
What is required, to my mind, of course, is a Mares Champion Hurdle and perhaps the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown might be the most appropriate home for such a race. If Cheltenham were to ditch its ineffectual ‘Trials Day’ and replace it with a Gloucestershire Racing Festival or a ‘Festival Part One’ meeting, both the Ryanair and the intermediate novice chase could be transferred to headline the meeting.
There is a need for these races. By abandoning them, while it improves the competitiveness of the Cheltenham Festival, it takes away opportunities for the owners of horses who are neither 2-mile Champion Chase candidates or Gold Cup horses.

​At Punchestown today there is a Beginners’ Chase, the condition of which are – ‘for horses that have not won a chase and which at entering are rated 110 or less over hurdles’. I realise we are not comparing apples with apples when dealing with novices in Ireland and Britain and to do what they do in Ireland in Britain might not be the correct answer to many of our problems but …..
Novice chases are far from competitive in Britain, even those with five-figure prize-funds at Ascot or Cheltenham, for example. Novice handicap chases fare better and Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls have started to give them more love than in the past, due no doubt to a situation that can be dubbed Hobson’s Choice. In Britain we need more horses running in chases per se and something needs to be done hasty-fashion to encourage owners and trainers to run horses over fences. As far as I am aware there are no races in Britain that replicate the conditions of the Punchestown race today and novice chases that cater solely for the lower rated hurdler, and by definition allowing the smaller owner/trainers an opportunity where the big boys are unlikely to be in opposition, kills two birds with one storm, as it gives the lesser novice a race in which to be competitive and allows the smaller owner and the smaller trainer the chance to win a race.
To my mind, the better novice chasers should be directed, as Nicky Henderson would agree, to the novice conditions chases around the big tracks, with Beginners Chases kept, in the main, to the lower rated horses. I always have it in the back of my mind that there are good horses lurking in the background that do not get the opportunity to learn the art of jumping a steeplechase fence as they must forever take on speedier and higher-rated horses, even round places like Fontwell Plumpton or Warwick.
The racing calendar should cater for the novice chaser in the same way bumper horses are catered for. Every horse deserves the opportunity of progression through the ranks and copying Ireland in this respect might be the right road to travel. 
I refer you to the embarrassing yet wholly understandable 5 British-trained entries for the Cheltenham Gold Cup. The Irish programme of races produces a whole raft of good novice chasers every year, yet in Britain we choose not to follow suit. Perhaps we should. We cannot expect 16-runner novice chases as is regularly the case in Ireland, but from green shoots and all that …

I dislike the term ‘National’ applied to races that display no similarity to real ‘Nationals’. The worst case, of course, is the American Grand National’ which is a hurdle races over a distance so far short of a ‘National’ distance to make the race laughable. Then there is the ‘Amateur National’ at Punchestown today run over 2-mile 6-furlongs.
Clearly the word ‘National’ in respect to horse racing needs to be more clearly defined. Here goes: ‘National’, a steeplechase run over a distance of no less than 3-mile 4-furlongs.
And while I am in full moan, how about the term ‘Marathon’ when applied to flat racing. If a race over 2-miles is termed a marathon, then a race of 2-miles 4-furlongs must be an ultra-marathon, which is daft as there are two flat races in the calendar over further, which might make them ‘Iron-Horse’ races. I might add the term ‘Long Distance’ to this rant as 1-mile 6-furlongs is far from a long distance for a thoroughbred to run over.
Why, for instance, the Long Distance Cup cannot be called the 2-Mile Cup is beyond me. Even the term ‘Stayers’ irks me as in some countries, the U.S. for instance, any race above 10-furlongs is thought-of as a race for stayers, not speed horses.
The word ‘marathon’, when applied to flat racing, should be scrapped, as should the term ‘long distance’ as they are without a definition that could possibly be associated with horse racing. I prefer a ‘2-mile horse’ or 2-miler or a horse with the stamina for 2-miles +.

Is the ‘Winter Millions’ a good idea? Do you not think the valuable races run this week at Windsor and Ascot can only dilute further the classier races between now and the Cheltenham Festival? I applaud the good intention involved and the reopening as a National Hunt course of Windsor needs a chorus of ‘he’s a jolly good fellow’ for whoever first came up with the idea. Yet is it not the problem that there are too many ‘class races’ at a time when the pool of ‘class’ horses in training at the present time is limited, which is exactly why some big prize races have so few runners? I cannot see that outside of a period when there a string of big meetings abandoned, that any of the races to be run at Windsor this Friday and Sunday are strictly necessary.

​Yesterday I arrived at my laptop, at just after 5 am, early to bed, early to rise, to find the Racing App missing. The day had already started badly for me, with my alarm clock failing to awake me (forgot to set the alarm) and several other incidents, mainly involving our ageing cat community, so I was looking forward to sitting down for some ‘me-time’. 
I am rather stupid when it comes to technology. Or machines of any kind, and these days anything that involves following instructions. I am, undiagnosed but not denying the obvious, at stage one and a half demented/dementia. I may even have lived my life on the lower end of the autism spectrum scale. (Honestly, it has taken me ten-minutes and finally a perusal of a medical dictionary to remember the word ‘autism’. Happens to me all the time, these days.)
So, yes, yesterday I had a brain meltdown. You see the problem started back in November when one of the cats – his name is Nutkin -walked across the keyboard and the Racing Post on the desktop disappeared. Luckily, Google had installed the app on the Google menu-board – is that the correct term -, except twice now that too has manifested into the twilight world of the techno ether. I tried to download a new Racing Post app but was thwarted by the unconceivable and mind-minding lack of clear instruction and the melting of what little brain cells I have available to me. Finally, and why I did not go there first I cannot say, I fell upon the Racing Post website and found the newspaper I would have sold my soul to the devil to read. Then, the fog shrouding my brain, as mystifying as the fog that beleaguered Chepstow and Leopardstown over Christmas, navigated its way to my eyes and closed the tab along with all the other tabs I had open. I returned to the Racing Post website, thankful no one was watching me make an utter arse of myself, unable to remember how I found my way to the actual newspaper in the first place. Virtually no short-term memory capacity, these days.
Yes, I contacted the Racing Post Help team and though the app has returned, perhaps of its own volition, I am still to be contacted by ‘the help team’. For all they know I may have carried out my threat to take a hammer to the tablet that should be my safety-net when my laptop is at the menders and killed myself in the process. Oh, I did not mention the added trauma of the Lenovo tablet that refused to play ball, refused to do anything other than drive me closer to the edge of sanity.
No wonder I find myself watching races from the sixties, seventies and eighties. Better days. Simpler days.

I am coming to terms now with the extinction of the Aintree Grand National. I will never fully get over its demise and I doubt I will ever forgive Jockey Club estates for protecting their cash-cow by sacrificing the only race that truly transcended the sport.
You see, the problem is, even if no one else recognises it, is that so many chases throughout the season no longer have any say in the National narrative, in fact, have no other purpose than just being there, given that a horse needs to be rated close to Grade 1 standard to get into the Grand National replacement race, what I now refer to as the ‘Little National.’ In a few weeks, for instance, Haydock stages its Grand National Trial’, except no horse that runs will be unlikely to even be entered for Aintree as its rating will be no higher than 130. It is the same problem now with all races over 4-miles, including Welsh and Scottish Nationals. They are still races of note but they play virtually no part in the narrative that leads to Britain’s formerly greatest horse race. So, why not invent a new race, a race for those horses that find 3-miles too short, yet can plod on for 4-miles plus, with jumping ability their superpower? In days past, every 3-mile handicap had the potential to play a part in the lead-up to Aintree. The opposite is now true. To lace together the 3-mile staying division into a narrative story-line there needs to be a dream to aim for, if only to give the smaller trainer and owner a chance at the sort of glory Aintree has taken from them. 
A 4-mile plus handicap chase with 30-runners and a prize-fund similar to the Little National. Where it should be run is problematic, at least to me, as I do not think Aintree, the obvious host, deserves to have such a race, if it should ever see the light of day. A sort of think Punchestown would be a good fit, especially as they might be able to incorporate part of their banks course to make this new race unique. Perhaps I should write to Punchestown and float the idea, even though finance problems would undoubtedly be a stumbling block. Though the problems of staging such a race would be no greater than William Lynn faced when he came up with the idea of a National in the year that saw the coronation of Queen Victoria. Just for reference, Lynn also inaugurated the Waterloo Cup, a hare-coursing event named after his hotel in Liverpool.
Just suck on this! If Red Rum were around today, just bought by Ginger McCain, a throw-out from a bigger stable, he would not get in the Little National this season or perhaps any season. What if there is a Red Rum running around Catterick or Kelso or Exeter in want of a true test to be seen at his very best? As was the case with Red Rum.
If I win the Lottery in the next few weeks, as long as it is a big-figure windfall, I might invent and sponsor the race and name it after myself. The Knight National. If I could contribute one gift to racing before dementia takes me, it would be a race befitting the shoes of the old Grand National.

​After a quick count, I believe Golden Miller won 29-races, losing 25 and being disqualified on one occasion. He won 5 Cheltenham Gold Cups, an achievement I doubt will we ever see again and in 1934 he won the Grand National, which was some success as he proved time and again that he hated the place. In his book on Golden Miller, Basil Briscoe recorded the great horse has being unplaced at Aintree when on one occasion the great horse, according whichever account you read, either fell or was brought down at the first and after remounting made his view plain for all to see by refusing a few fences later.
It is always enlightening to see where the great horses first set foot on a racecourse. Golden Miller’s first race was as a three-year-old in a hurdle at Southwell. He later that season ran unplaced .in a handicap on the flat at Warwick and the April Stakes at Newmarket. Between Southwell and Warwick, Golden Miller won at Leicester and Nottingham over hurdles.
The following season he won over hurdles at Chelmsford twice, Manchester, Newbury, Gatwick and in only his fifth steeplechase he won the Cheltenham Gold Cup. The following season he was virtually unbeatable, only being beaten by the best chasers around, giving away weight. In 1934 he became the only horse ever to win the Gold Cup and the Grand National in the same season.
The horse went downhill when the owner, Dorothy Paget, took the horse away from Briscoe and put him with Owen Anthony, though he did win a fifth Gold Cup. In 1937, I believe Golden Miller achieved another milestone, albeit a regrettable one, in my book, by winning the Optional Selling Chase at Birmingham. He won it again in 1938, his final victory. No horse of his stature should be dishonoured by racing in so low a division. He won nine-races for Anthony, running his last race as 12-year-old at Newbury, finishing unplaced.
It was another era, a long-gone era when the world and horse racing looked much different to the era we abide in. He should have been retired after his fifth Gold Cup but he raced on. Dorothy Paget to her credit, though, ensured both Golden Miller and her Champion Hurdle winner Insurance, lived a long retirement at one of her properties in the south-east of England.
Golden Miller needs to be honoured to the same extent as Arkle is honoured. A run-of-the-mill handicap chase in April at Cheltenham, his name often shrouded by the name of a sponsor, is no way to honour a horse whose achievements will perhaps never be equalled, let alone bettered. Arkle, as supreme as he was, could not better the Miller’s haul of Gold Cups and no horse has won the Gold Cup and the Grand National in the same year. In the pantheon of great racehorses, Golden Miller deserves to be included in the elite of the top ten, if not the top five. If I had my way, the 3-mile novice chase, the Brown Advisory as it is called at the moment, should be renamed the Golden Miller, in the same way the 2-mile novice chase is ‘The Arkle’ and always will be.

Ffos Las is tasked with putting on a meeting on Saturday, including the Towton novice Chase from the abandoned Wetherby fixture, so that I.T.V. will have some jumping to televise for us to enjoy. Chelmsford, too, are to stage a meeting and Newcastle have brought forward their first race from late afternoon to 2 pm. A belt and braces strategy by the B.H.A. to overcome the winter weather which is odds-on to defeat both Warwick and Kempton. It is a gamble by the B.H.A. to ask Ffos Las to race but they should be commended for their pro-active response to the freeze-up-cum-waterlogging around the country. 0 out of 10 last week, 10 out of 10 this week. Someone at the B.H.A. has woken-up and actually done some work this week!

On January 19th the I.T.V. cameras will be at Fakenham. To his eternal credit, Fakenham’s clerk of the course, David Hunter, has invited, free-of-charge, local farmers to bring their tractors to the racecourse, parking them in full view of the cameras in the centre of the course, to show support for a community that is the heart of East Anglia. It is not a protest, simply a show of support. Congratulations to everyone at Fakenham for doing the little that might be enough to change the course of government thinking on the subject.