​Is there anyone at the B.H.A. working on plans, hypothetical or theoretical, to initiate or form a solution to the nose-grinding problem of pathetic levels of prize money in British racing? Has anyone at the B.H.A. actually noticed that prize money is now at a level well below amounts offered in the sixties and seventies? £1-million prize fund for the Epsom Derby and aspirations for a similar sum to transform the Ebor into a European Melbourne Cup blind no one to the paucity on offer day in and day out. Very soon someone at the B.H.A. or one of the heads of its affiliated stakeholders will say something similar to ‘if they cannot afford bread, let them eat cake’.
Today’s headline on the front page of the Racing Post should have made B.H.A. board members sit up straight and take notice, that is if any of them read the Racing’s industry newspaper, as expensive as it is. I would wager a small note that the Racing Post is out-numbered at High Holborn by copies of the Guardian, Times and Telegraph.
Rising fuel and horse-feed prices are forcing trainers to set-up emergency meetings with their accountants. The jockeys have already been awarded a hike in their riding fees to take into account of the rising cost of --- well, everything. This is now beyond all humour. Trainers need owners, owners need jockeys, jockeys need stable staff – everyone needs everyone else in this sport, and though not all participants can afford fancy cars and large houses, those luxuries are only for those at sharp end of the sport, the jockeys at the wrong end of the pyramid barely make any profit at all.
Jockeys can, obviously, car-share to the races, dividing the cost of fuel between them, especially those who live in Lambourn, Newmarket, Malton, etc, and arrangements can be made to pick up jockeys at service stations on the motorway, as always has been the case, who do not live locally to the major training areas. Yet other than that, there is little jockeys can do to save on expenses. Mind you, they do choose on occasion to give up food, so that’s a saving.
Trainers cannot skimp on the quality and volume of food they feed the horses under their care. They could grow carrots on any unused ground, to supplement rations – carrot-tops are particularly good for cleansing the blood, for instance. And they could get inventive. Stinging nettles are both painful to handle and are an eyesore, yet did you know there is more vitamin C in nettles, and by a long way, than in an orange. I would not be at all surprised if young shoots cannot be made palatable for horses to eat and digest.
Anyone with an ‘ancient’ stable management book - mine is by Horace Hayes – will discover that in the days before horses had only horse-nuts shovelled into their manger, they were fed a variety of foods, and I suspect many a Derby and Grand National winner were fuelled by such alternative foodstuffs. Rice, Beans, Peas, Linseed cake, Rye, Millet, Brewers Grains, coconut meal, root vegetables, including pumpkins, all of which, save the root vegetables, have similar levels of Nitro-genous matter, carbo-hydrates, fat, ash and woody fibre, as oats and barley.
Owners, too, could save on expenses by foregoing one or two half-million-pound purchases at the sales and instead invest in an arable farm and grow their own hay, oats, barley, to supply to their trainers in lieu of training expenses.
The B.H.A. could re-organise the racing calendar to take into account the rising cost of fuel. Instead of racecourses holding one-day of racing, it could be extended to three-days, allowing owners, trainers, jockeys etc, to cut their car journeys down from five, six or seven trips per week to three or less. And cut the number of race-meetings. It might be a three-day meeting at Perth and a similar 3-day meeting at Newton Abbot. Then 3-days at Exeter and 3 at Wetherby. A rolling programme of 2, 3 and 4-day per jumps and flat.
Jockeys might save on both fuel and hotel bills if they exchanged their big saloons and purchased fancy camper-vans. Married jockeys could even take the wife and kids with them on occasion.
This might seem pie-in-the-sky, a silly reaction to a very serious problem. But to survive inflationary times people need to improvise. Yet in a regulated environment like the racing industry, it is those at the top who must lead the way, who must recognise the seriousness of the situation and rip-up the rule-book and apply the spirit and not the long-written letter of the law.
Stark times allow for change, to view the whole picture as if it sits across from you at the dining table. It is ugly to look at, yet no one must lose focus. This ugly reality, brought into sharp relief by the failings of others and not by you or anyone else connected to you, could be soon whistling a death dirge for the sport unless it can be defeated. This is racing’s moment to unite, to march in step, to mould economy and thrift into a survival strategy that might see the sport through this most testing of times. It might pay dividends if jockeys, trainers and owners, took a step back in time to help perpetuate a future for the sport.

​When the Grand National fences were modified (to good effect), they also set about trying to attract a better-class of horse to the race by limiting top-weight to 11st 12 and compressing the handicap. Among the conditions for the race are that horses must have finished in the first four in a chase over a distance no shorter than 2-miles 7-furlongs and must have a minimum B.H.A. rating of 125.
Though I believe the alterations to the Grand National were a knee-jerk reaction to two separate accidents that led to the deaths of two horses, over-all it cannot be argued against that the race had to be protected from those who would have horse racing in its entirety abolished. The race conditions, though, need to be amended once more, or at least the B.H.A. and Aintree should sit down and discuss the matter.
Year by year, throughout the past decade, in my opinion, the quality of horse has declined, though I admit it is a beautiful sight to see the majority of the field flying over The Chair and heading out on the second circuit. Yet of the eight original entries at the top of the weights, as of today only two seem likely to line up on April 9th. Conflated, Galvin, Melon, Franco de Port, Tiger Roll and Chantry House are scratched, leaving Chris’s Dream as top weight on 11st 10Ibs, after a rise of 5Ib due to the withdrawal of the two originally allotted top weight. Minella Times is now second top weight with 11st 9Ibs, he too having endure a 5Ib hike. Remember he carried 10st 3Ibs last year. Has any winner of the race had to carry 20Ib more the following year? Next in the weights is Delta Work. Even if you discard his return to something like his old form in the Cheltenham Cross-Country recently, as a former Grade 1 winning chaser it strikes me as odd that the long-time between drinks Chris’s Dream should have to carry more weight.
Also, there are possibly half-dozen horses in the lower order that could be considered better prospects of at least giving a good show of themselves than many rated above them, who will be very fortunate to get a run. Something needs to be done to allow ‘Grand National’ types a greater opportunity to line-up. Thankfully the solution, after Nick Alexander’s spirited intervention, is in the public domain.
Nick Alexander suggested the first two in certain races should be parachuted into the race at the expense of higher rated horses. I agree wholeheartedly with his idea, though I believe five races should be selected as ‘win and you are in’ races. The races I would select are the previous season’s Irish and Scottish Nationals, the Becher Chase, the Welsh National and the Eider Chase. It should also be considered returning to one of the conditions of the past that any horse to have finished in the first four in previous Grand Nationals should also receive a ‘bye’ into the race. It should always be about getting the right horses into the race, not necessarily top-rated horses.
‘Win and you are in’ should, at least one would hope, entice higher rated horses into these races, with the Eider in dire need of returning to the days when the likes of Comply or Die won the race.
I doubt if he’ll run but it is against the ethos of trying to attract ‘a better class of handicapper’ if Blaklion, the first British-trained runner to finish in last year’s Grand National, and in great form this season, is denied the chance to become the first 13-year-old since Sergeant Murphy in 1923 to win the race, yet Samcro, a horse hopelessly out-of-form, can run in the hope the unique fences spark some life back into him. Blaklion has performed to good effect over the fences, whereas Samcro and many others are just shots in the dark.
The conditions for entry must be re-evaluated to take into account the suitability of a horse to stay the 4-mile plus distance, previous form over the fences – Chris’s Dream, by the way, has fallen twice around the Aintree fences – and horses running at the top of their ability given priority in some way over horses, like Samcro, whose form in recent times has gone south.
The Grand National is the single race jewel in British racing’s beautiful crown and those in charge of the race should not get into the mindset of believing all the garden is rosy since they quite rightly modified the fences and altered the distance. The B.H.A. and Aintree are custodians of a race with a history that can be traced back to 1839. In that time, we could have lost the race several times; its custodians should be mindful of the consequences to the entire sport if circumstances brought about its destruction due to a lack of diligence on their part.

​I recently purchased from Ways of Newmarket, second-hand and antiquarian bookshop, 3 editions of The Complete Record, a publication that until then had passed me by. My prime motivation for buying the 3 books that would provide me with very reading material was Issue 65, The Valentine Steeplechase 1885 – 1952, a supplement, I supposed, to add to my other Grand National related books. Given the distance of the race was 2-miles 6-furlongs, I can only assume the race evolved into what is now the Topham Trophy.
Issue 38 is titled ‘The Ladbrokes World Hurdle’, an erroneous title for both the book and the race.
A quick Google search found no evidence that The Complete Record still exists, though ‘Complete Records’ of numerous football teams were advertised for sale.
Of course, the World Hurdle has reverted to its pre-Ladbrokes sponsorship and is now once again the Stayers Hurdle, as prosaic a name for a championship race as World Hurdle was pretentious.
The Complete Record gives the history of the ‘World Hurdle’ from 1946 through to 2004, the year before this book was published. Of course, there was no such race in 1946 and labelling each race the World Hurdle is a factual error, which for what amounts to an historical sporting book does the author little credit. To be fair to Paul Davies, the author/compiler, in the summary of winners he does inform the reader that from 1946 – 1971 the race was known as the Spa Hurdle, which, I believe, remains its registered title. 1972 – 1977 the race became the Lloyds Bank Hurdle. 1978 – 1990 the Waterford Crystal Stayers Hurdle. 1991 – 2003 the Bonusprint Stayers Hurdle and in 2004 the Bonusprint.com Stayers Hurdle. So, as you can see, Ladbrokes only took over the race in 2005 and up to that date there was no such race at the Festival as the Ladbrokes Stayers Hurdle, hence my dismay.
The history of the Stayers Hurdle is longer than the period of this book and between its inauguration in 1912 and 1938, it was known as The Stayers Selling Hurdle. The winner in 1912 was Aftermath who won by 15-lengths and was subsequently bought-in for 105-guineas. They liked sellers back in the day and the Stayers Hurdle was one of 4 sellers run at the Festival that year. Silver Bay won the next two editions of the race, though the following year there was a walkover for Rathduff.
The race was dropped from the festival in 1928 and replaced by a similar race, the Swindon Hurdle. Keith Piggott, father of Lester, won the final edition of the race on Chestnut before the 2nd World War became the only subject on everyone’s mind.
In 1946 the race was run in two divisions, with Haze winning the first and Tregor the second. In 1947 the race was abandoned due to snow and frost. In 1948, perhaps to demonstrate their indifference to the race, it was again run in two divisions, though for some inexplicable reason they ran the second division the day before they ran the first.
They must have suffered winters back then as the race was abandoned again in 1949. In 1951 the race was exiled to the April meeting and in 1955 they turned their back on the race altogether. In 1956 a young dude by the name of Vincent O’Brien won the race with Stroller, ridden by Harry Sprague. Fred Winter finished fourth on Don’s Fancy. In 1959 Winter won the race on perhaps the best horse to win the race up then, Clair Soleil. From then on in the prestige of the race began to grow with success for  horses of the calibre of Sparkling Flame, Merry Deal and Beau Normand, the middle horse bred by Miss D. Paget and the latter horse owned by Jim Joel. Beau Normand went on to win the race a second time as an eleven-year-old in 1967. The year before its most famous horse, I would contend, won, Trelawney, one of the great stayers of the flat. He was 10 when he won at the Festival, ridden by Terry Biddlecombe.
From the middle-sixties onwards, the race was invariably won by top-class horses – Young Ash Leaf, Clever Scot, Moyne Royal, Brown Lad, Bit of a Jig and many more.
Crimson Embers ran in the race six-times, winning in 1982 and being controversially second to his stable-mate Rose Ravine in 1985. Galmoy won in successive years 1987 & 1988 and Nomadic Way won for trainer Barry Hills in 1992. Avro Anson was disqualified in 1994, the race awarded to the Martin Pipe trained Balasani. Doran’s Pride won the following year. Anzum came from the top of Cleeve Hill to win in 1999 and the final 3 runnings before Ladbrokes acquired the sponsorship were won by Baracouda in 02 and 03 and by Iris’s Gift the following year.
I can’t say the Stayers Hurdle is one of my favourite Festival races, in part, I suspect, because of its prosaic name. I would actually prefer the 3-mile Champion Hurdle. Or the Spa Champion Hurdle, preceded, of course, by the name of whichever company is its sponsor. Also, I can’t get away from the notion that the majority of the runners should be chasing. Paisley Park, for instance, would easily stay the Gold Cup distance – he would stay the National Hunt Chase distance – and he would certainly have an easier time of things if stepped-up to novice chases. It is what it is, though, and I’m sure I’ll come to love the race as long as I live long enough.
I wonder if I tipped Flooring Porter again this season. Can’t think why I would not have.

​Barry Geraghty tells a story of riding for Henry de Bromhead where he was given instructions on how to ride the horse he was waiting to be legged-up on. The instructions were lengthy and precise. De Bromhead, apparently was renowned for how he wanted a horse ridden. As he made his way out of the parade ring, de Bromhead came running over with one last instruction. Geraghty, wanting to make light of what to him was an unnecessary annoyance, made a charade of taking a notebook from a top pocket, and licking the end of his pretend pencil, Geraghty asked de Bromhead to repeat the riding instructions so he could study them down at the start. De Bromhead laughed and said no more.
Cheltenham 2022 and when asked how Honeysuckle would be ridden, de Bromhead replied. ‘I’ve done my job. The riding is Rachael’s gig’. A demonstration on how much he trusts Blackmore to get the job done.
Apparently, the change in tactics this year in the Gold Cup was 100% down to Blackmore, with de Bromhead answering ‘whatever’ when told how she intended to ride the race. And to be sure, it was one of the best rides of the meeting. Yes, Danny Mullins was superb on Flooring Porter and Derek Fox pulled a rabbit out of a hat to win on Corach Rambler but Blackmore had the confidence and iron-will to sit and wait while her main rival set off for a winning post that was forever coming towards her. It was a ride Ruby Walsh would have been proud to have executed and proof that her success, nearing domination over the past couple of seasons has little to do with luck and everything to do prowess in the saddle.
I thought Honeysuckle was a little less impressive than last year, which might have something to with the in and out form of the de Bromhead stable. But 15 out of 15 is some record, especially for a mare. I hope this speculative novelty of Constitution Hill taking her on at Punchestown is scuttled by Nicky Henderson. It’s not in Henderson’s nature to pitch a novice in against seniors and I hope he is not persuaded otherwise. Of course, I would love to see the two in the same race but that race should be next season’s Champion Hurdle, which if the usual programme is adopted for Honeysuckle will be an attempt to equal Altior’s unbeaten run of 19, with Constitution Hill defending the Seven Barrow’s legend’s record.
Constitution Hill was breath-taking and for a novice to break the course record and stop the clock nearly six-seconds faster than Honeysuckle achieved in the Champion Hurdle was remarkable. Of course, in racing 2 and 2 does not always make 4. When they meet the pace might be slower and de Bromhead is convinced Honeysuckle would prefer a faster run race.
Let’s hope when the two do meet it will not be the damp squib the 2-Mile Champion Chase proved. I don’t know about you but I get pretty fed-up with hearing the ground being the excuse for a poor run from a Seven Barrows horse. Shishkin has won on heavy in the past and though they may have been going into the mud a fair way, it was still raining which meant the ground was loose and in no way holding. I hope Henderson has a rethink and either tries Shishkin over further at Aintree or goes to Punchestown to take on Energumene in hope of putting the record straight.
Two of my highlights from the Festival were the victories of Coole Cody, as honest a horse ever to look through a bridle and a testament to the training skills of Evan Williams, and the win in the Kim Muir of Chambard by Lucy Turner for the in-form Venetia Williams.
And then there was the 3-mile novice chase which lo and behold gave the home nation not one but two potential Gold Cup horses for next season. L’Homme Presse jumped immaculately, given a flawless ride by the coming-of-age Charley Deutsch, and won giving the sound impression that 3-miles plus should be easily in his compass. But would he have won if Ahoy Senor had the same jumping ability as the winner? Ahoy Senor would appreciate the Gold Cup distance and I was impressed by the manner of his fightback up the Cheltenham Hill.
What we should take out of this Cheltenham, given the rout of last year’s event, is this: the country of Mullins 10; the country of Great Britain 10; the country of Ireland 8. Yes, we beat the Irish this year.

​After all the hype, the Champion 2-mile Chase fell apart, leaving us no wiser than at flag fall. Given that Shishkin has won of soft ground six times and on heavy once, I do not buy into the trainer’s explanation that Shishkin couldn’t operate on rain-softened ground. The ground may well have been soft, could even have been verging on heavy, but it was loose, it had no chance to become sticky or quagmire-like as it was still raining when the tapes went up. To my mind, and the horse has already won over nearly 2m-4, Shishkin is a 3-mile horse that because of the stable’s exemplary record with 2-milers are forcing him into following the long magnificent line of Seven Barrows Champion 2-mile chasers. I hope they have a rethink and go up in distance at Aintree. At least he didn’t have a hard race.
The Queen Mother Champion Chase went from a boiling pot of expectation to a damp squib in a very short space of time. Energumene was a worthy winner but at the end of the end what did he beat? Funambule Sivola is a grand little horse but he’ll be hard to place now handicaps are out of the question.
Oh, and what I said about Shishkin, also applies to Envoi Allen. They need to try him over 3-miles.
The race of the day, though, even without the withdrawn Bravemansgame, was the 3-mile novice chase won by L’Homme Presse from Ahoy Senor, two young British-trained horses, both with next season’s Gold Cup on their trainers’ radar. For different reasons both were impressive and I was especially pleased for Venetia Williams to have again a genuine Gold Cup horse. She is a remarkable trainer, deserving of a higher quality of horse than is the norm for her stable. It is also pleasing that Charlie Deutch is reaping the rewards for getting his head and working hard. I am not jumping on any bandwagons as I said this earlier in the season, he is perhaps the best jockey riding at the moment.
My caveat about Ahoy Senor is that he constantly reminds me of Carvill’s Hill in that he is an infuriating mixture of brilliant talent and an accident waiting to happen. He is either spot-on at a fence or ditheringly wrong; there is no area of in-between that allows his jockey to manage the situation. I suspect that no amount of schooling, no tutelage from any of the 3-day event riders that specialise in correcting this type of horse, no cavalletti training, will solve the riddle. Hopefully Derek Fox can work him out because if that was the Gold Cup distance yesterday, he could easily have won, which, given his dodgy jumping, would have been a magnificent achievement.
Although I didn’t witness any poor starts yesterday, Tuesday was beleaguered by haphazard starts. As someone in the Letters Column of the Racing Post recently suggested, why not do away with the tapes and just start races by the dropping of a flag? If you add this to my idea of a box laid out with shavings or foam, in which the horses must gather, with the horse facing in the right direction wholly the responsibility of its jockey and whether horses are standing still, jogging or cantering within that box, the starter drops his flag and the race has begun. Re-stringing the tape takes time, occasionally it can be dangerous when it gets around the necks of either a jockey or horse – well, you know what I am talking about. What is clear, the present system, especially for Cheltenham, is designed to fail, which it does frequently.
As for the clerk of the course watering the course prior to a day of rain; it was just bad luck he took notice of the wrong weather forecast. Though really the blame can be laid at the feet of trainers who historically have complained when the clerk hasn’t watered and withdrawn horses on the excuse that the ground is drying out. On this occasion, the clerk of the course made a poor call; on another day he might be called a genius for  making exactly the same decision.

​I make no excuses for my lamentable tipping attempts yesterday. I blow hot and cold and yesterdays I was very cold indeed. Frodon got jumped into and finished lame on a back leg. Thought you would like to know.
My rubbish tipping though did not deflate the cocoon of brilliance provided by Constitution Hill and Honeysuckle.
I am not someone who is easily sold by others claiming that this horse or this jockey is going to be the next superstar. I was late on the A.P. McCoy is ‘the best we’ve seen in a very long time’ and am prone to still disbelieve the hype even when a horse or jockey reaches retirement. To my mind, both Dawn Run and Best Mate remain very good horses, though neither are in my ledger of legends. Others disagree but they are plain wrong.
I am though now firmly on board with the cheerleaders who have claimed all season that legend status awaits Constitution Hill. I was blown away by the ease of his victory in the Supreme. The horses behind him have the potential to win good races this and next season. Jonbon in particular. Fences for him next season, I suspect. Yes, it was a pity that Dysart Dynamo came a cropper and it will be interesting if he can get any closer to Constitution Hill if they should meet at Aintree or Punchestown. But the Henderson horse won on the bridle in a time 5-seconds faster than it took Honeysuckle to win the Champion Hill. If I could spell the word, I would describe his performance as the most phenomenal I have seen at the Cheltenham Festival since Sprinter Sacre won the 2013 Champion Chase.
But don’t hold your breath in anticipation of Constitution Hill taking on Honeysuckle at Punchestown or anywhere else between now and the next Festival. Precocity is not to be found Nicky Henderson’s blood-line. Keep novices to novice company and reap the rewards is the Seven Barrows mantra and the poles will flip before Henderson departs from the tried and tested route.
The 7Ib mares allowance is an annoyance and I wish the B.H.A. would take a look at the issue when it comes to championship races. 7Ibs is unfair and illogical. If Honeysuckle is already 7Ib better than the majority of her opponents, giving her another 7Ib for no better reason than she is a mare and obviously weaker than geldings, allows her to compete off 1-stone better terms. She is a wonderful mare, perhaps the best female hurdler of all-time, yet the allowance makes it difficult to judge her against those who have come before. A 3Ib allowance would level the playing field, though only in championship races. The overall 7Ib allowance and the mares only races are highly successful and the conditions should be left as they are.
When it comes to tactical awareness and deciding which tactics to deploy there is no one riding today better than Rachael Blackmore. Not only can she ‘see round corners’, she seems to be able to judge in one glance how her rivals are travelling. I dare say, at times, she must come back in and apologise for making ‘a bollocks of things’ but never, I should imagine, in the races that matter. She is a wonderful jockey and a credit to both the sport and her family.
In a similar vein, I thought Tom Cannon gave Edwardstown an uncomplicated, no frills, yet effective ride to win the Arkle. He is a jockey, now Alan King is giving him the opportunity to regularly sit on a better class of horse, who has proved his worth this season and is deserving of picking up a better class of outside ride.
4-3 to Great Britain. Who would have thought it?

​The five-day Cheltenham Festival is not a fait accompli, apparently. Good. That implies there will be a debate on the subject, with everyone, hopefully, who has an opinion given the opportunity to put in their two-penny worth. This subject is not inconsequential; it matters greatly to the sport. Five-days could be a disaster, even if short-term it brings an increase in revenue for The Jockey Club, Cheltenham racecourse and for the economy of the town of Cheltenham and its environs. Believe me, as succulent as the fruit of five-days may seem from afar, up close and personal it might upset the stomachs of the loyal and faithful.
The saying ‘if a little of what you fancy does you good, then more should be better’ may be true of some aspects of life but shouldn’t become the logo for those in favour of five-days. Remember, a whole bunch of worthy people were dead against the fourth-day, yet thus far it is remaining sustainable. Four-days has just about worked, so the nay-sayings were proved wrong. An extension to five-days might prove those same people right.
I remain confident, though, that a fifth-day on the Saturday is perfectly viable, as long as it is not marketed as a Festival day. It will be considered part of the Festival, of course, but it shouldn’t be advertised as such. Most Cheltenham meetings are well-attended. They might not be sold-out as the Festival is year-in, year-out, but the stands are deeply thronged and the racecourse makes a healthy profit. I see the Saturday fifth-day as being akin to the November meeting; not heaving with humanity but happily swarming, jam-packed but with elbow room and minimal waiting time for the loos. I refer this day as an ‘Heath Day’ as once followed the four-day Royal Ascot meeting.
This non-festival day could easily accommodate the consolation races for the big handicaps presently run at Kempton and any new races the racecourse executive would like to try out. I would also move the cross-country race to be the centrepiece of the Saturday and bumping up the prize-money in hope of persuading the top European-trained cross-country horses to compete. I would replace it with a Veterans Chase for eleven-year-old and upwards.
Actually, though, and this only came to me this morning and as with many of my ideas it is yet to be thoroughly thought through, there is an alternative which might win over the diehards who have no truck with the notion of a five-day Festival, even though there are financial benefits that the sport cannot turn aside.
Squeeze all the Grade 1’s, except the mares only races, and major handicaps into three-days, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, run what is left on the Friday, the Kim Muir, National Hunt Chase, Martin Pipe, perhaps, making it a major betting day, with the fifth-day as I described earlier. A three-day festival proper as the purists long-for and five-days of magnificent racing to swell the coffers. The National Hunt Festival evolving to accommodate all its enthusiasts. 
And while I am on the subject of three, four or five-days and whether the latter will diminish further the field sizes and quality of runners. It is ill-conceived to believe twenty-runners in championship races make for a more exhilarating race. What is demanded of the Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion 2-mile Chase, Stayers Hurdle and Gold Cup is that all the right horses turn-out. To my mind the championship races only need ten to a dozen runners, as long as the best all run, which this season will be the case. If the handicaps were only attracting a dozen runners, then we would have a problem and from my viewpoint the only disappointing race at the Festival this year is the National Hunt Chase, a race severely meddled with for no better reason than to assuage critics and protesters whose fuel is ignorance and who salivate with selfish joy when a horse dies. If there is a similarly small field next season it might be time to draw stumps on it as a novice chase for amateurs and replace it with the one-race missing from the whole National Hunt calendar, a 4-mile championship chase.
The Cheltenham executive have an important decision to make and we must hope they get it right. The safest step in the short-term is my suggestion of a Heath Day on the Saturday, with the Midlands National run a week earlier to produce a great betting day alongside the Imperial Cup at Sandown.

​Fair warning; I am somewhere between an average tipster and borderline useless. I do though on occasion get it spectacularly right. For instance, I tipper Minella Times for the Grand National on the day the weights were released and I advised people that Tornado Flyer was worth backing each-way in the King George this season.
Given I have only the 4-day declarations to go with, as some of my fancies may not run, I’ll add an alternative.
In the Supreme, I have a hunch Mighty Potter will cause a bit of a shock. If not Dysart Dynamo.
The Arkle is a coin-toss. I thought Saint Sam ran an okay race for a 5-year-old and might be improving at a rate to give him an each-way chance of winning. Coeur Sublime might out-run his odds.
The result of the Ultima will depend to a degree on whether Frodon runs. He is by far the best horse in the race and he’ll start at a price that will mean you couldn’t overlook him. I hope Frodon wins, though I fancy Tea Clipper for Tom Lacy and Stan Sheppard.
The Champion Hurdle is two-horse race and Honeysuckle will waltz in. If not, Appreciate It.
The Mares Hurdle will obviously go to Ireland. Gordon Elliott is sweet on the chances of Queens Brook and that sways me that way. Dysart Diamond is the alternative.
Now the Boodles is a throwback to the Triumph Hurdle of olden times, plenty of runners, plenty with chances. Gaelic Warrior will get punted off the boards and he has the look of a Mullins future superstar. I think Graystone might outrun his odds.
The old 4-miler could be the hottest staying chase of the week and if Fury Road runs here and not in the Ultima he’ll do for me. Otherwise, it has to Stattler.
The Ballymore has Sir Gerhard written all over it. The alternative is Colonel Mustard.
The 3-mile novice chase is a cracker. Bravemansgame is my banker of the week and is a Gold Cup horse in waiting. Capodanno to follow him home.
The Coral Cup could go any of twenty-five ways. If he gets in, Good Risk At All is my tip, with Ashdale Bob as my alternative.
The 2-mile Champion Chase is a feast of a race. I fancy Envoi Allen to run a big race, though it has to between Energumene and Shishkin. It’s the latter for me.
The Glenfarclas will always be remembered fondly for Tiger Roll. Again, if the ground is no worse than good-to-soft, Gordon Elliott cannot see him being beaten. I suggest that Diesel d’Allier might spoil the party.
The Grand Annual will go to January Jets, with Amarillo Sky for a place.
The Bumper will be won by Willie Mullins. Facile Vega from James’ Gate.
The Turners makes me salivate just thinking about it. Galopin Des Champs is a more natural jumper of a fence and that give him the edge over the classy Bob Olinger.
The Pertemps is another lottery of a race. I don’t know why Remastered is in this race but he’s worth an investment, though it would be safer to pick Sassy Yet Classy as the winner.
The Ryanair is Allaho’s to lose. Janidil to finish second.
The Stayers is intriguing, though I’ll stick with Flooring Porter, my only winner last year. Royal Kahala to follow him home.
The Plate is yet another ‘stick a pin in’ race. Fusil Raffles has a bit of class and he’s my selection. Grand Parade to follow him home.
The Mares novice will go to Brandy Love, with Love Envoi best of the rest.
The Kim Muir looks booked for School Boy Hours, Cat Tiger for a place.
And finally we come to Gold Cup day.
The Triumph is as a championship race should be, small field, all with some sort of a chance. If the ground is soft, and I think I’ll stay with him anyway, Porticello will give the Moores some redemption for the cruel fate handed out to Goshen. Vauben to be second.
The County Hurdle will, if he runs, and who knows what hand Willie Mullins will play, perhaps go to Adamantly Chosen. If not, Top Bandit.
The Albert Bartlett is the best Ireland/Britain dual of the meeting. I will take a chance that Stag Horn and Hillcrest will fight off the Irish.
The Gold Cup. When he won the Betfair, I was certain we had seen this season’s Gold Cup winner and I’ll stick with A Plus Tard. If I would advise someone wishing to have a bet, though, I would nominate Tornado Flyer.
The Hunters Case will go to Patrick Mullins and Billaway. Winged Leader the alternative.
The Mares Chase, the most needles race on the card, will be won by Gin On Lime. Mount Ida the alternative.
And a nice easy one to finish, the Martin Pipe. Hollow Games, if he runs, with Winter Fog as an alternative.
The main element of Cheltenham, though, is to experience it as if you know it will be your last Cheltenham Festival. To paraphrase/quote the legendary  Bill Shankly, ‘it’s not life and death, it’s more important than that’.

​Only yesterday (honest truth) I watched again the 1974 Aintree Grand National and though the fascination was to witness again Red Rum achieve the glory of a second Grand National success, for most of the race, certainly the first half, my eye was drawn to Charles Dickens, ridden by Andy Turnell, who has died aged 73.
For those not acquainted with Andy Turnell the jockey, I suggest you Google search Birds Nest and Beacon Light, two horses who locked horns with some of the greatest hurdlers of their or any generation. He rode with short stirrup leathers. Really short. Shorter than many flat jockeys. And he was responsible for lesser jockeys copying his unique style, and worse, far too many stable lads. The copyists failed to grasp that Turnell’s style of riding was not of his choosing but was the result of a back injury that prevented him riding in comfort in the traditional style of his contemporaries.
Perhaps he was fortunate to ride for his father, Bob, a leading trainer in the sixties, otherwise his short stirrups would not have been acceptable and he may not have received the opportunities he did to display his talent in the saddle. And make no mistake, Turnell was a master jockey and by all accounts as brave as a lion long into his retirement.
To see him lead the Grand National field virtually from flag fall, or at least be up in the van, as they say, thundering to the first ditch, his position on the horse so reminiscent of Lester Piggott, any first-time observer of the man would be of the opinion that he was either mad or out to prove a point. He was neither, of course. Charles Dickens jumped with imperious ease and though unable to go with Red Rum and L’Escargot in the closing stages, and what esteemed company to be involved with, the horse, the breast-girth slipping so far back he could hardly breathe, plugged on to be third.
Of course, in 1987, Andy Turnell trained Mauri Venture to win the Grand National, ridden by the man who for many years was second-jockey to Andy at Bob Turnell’s, Steve Knight. In fact, Turnell also trained the 6th-placed Tracey’s Special. Few, including both the trainer and owner, Jim Joel, thought Mauri Venture had little chance of even getting as far as the first ditch and only ran in the race on the insistence of Knight, possibly the only man to have any faith in the ability of the horse. 
22 finished that year out of 40 starters. 23 finished in 1984 and 17 in 1986.
Too many people believe the Grand National to be a war of attrition, with the 30-fences obstacles designed to trip horses up. It is my opinion that the number of finishers is more dependent on ground conditions than any other consideration. Also, back in the 70’s and 80’, and in most years of its history, there was a better class of horse running than latterly and it was only in the period after Red Rum and into the present century that, as greater prize-money became available throughout the season, the quality of the race dipped to the point where very few of the runners had an obvious chance of winning.
The need to modify the course and shorten the distance was a direct result of the calibre of runners far more than it was the severity of the fences to be jumped. If you watch old runnings of the race, albeit there were hard-to-watch falls, in the main, even when the fences were ram-rod straight, horses jumped particularly well. Because of the configuration of the course and the number of runners, the race lends itself to accidents, which it still does to an extent. And so many horses come-to-life round those unique fences, as Mauri Venture’s unlikely win proved, with every decade having its share of ‘Aintree horses’.
Andy Turnell in eight attempts as a jockey only fell once and that was on his last try and Man Alive never distinguished himself at Aintree. Turnell twice pulled-up, was twice brought-down, suffered one refusal, finished eighth on Spitting Image and was an unlucky (in some respects) third on Charles Dickens. 
I do recall Tommy Carmody riding ultra-short, even when he was stable jockey to the Dickensons, though he was short of stature, whereas Andy Turnell was Piggott-esque. So, I can say with confidence that it is highly unlikely we will ever see the like of Andy Turnell again, not in the jump jockey ranks.

​Already trembling in fear of the annual Racing Post price increase. Usually, they blame the forced increase on the rising cost of newsprint, although last year the editor basically stuck a stiff finger up at the paper’s loyal readers by suggesting the increase was due to them being worth it.
Anyway, the Racing Post continues to be the highlight of my day and if I have to make sacrifices due to the rising cost of everything, I suspect buying the Post will not be the first or second sacrifice.
March 9th, six-days before the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival and there appears to be a debate breaking out as to whether it is fair to her opponents that the best hurdler on the planet should receive 7Ib from lesser rivals. It is not fair and as I have said many times in the past, it is in need of change. How will we ever know how good Honeysuckle is if she does not carry the same weight as her opponents. In a Championship race, the weights should be equal.
Sadly, horse racing has lost yet another leading patron with the death at 86 of Sir Robert Ogden, the owner of Voy Por Ustedes, Squire Silk, Exotic Dancer and Marlborough, to name but four. I thought his colours of mauve and pink to be sickly, especially silks on a sunny day. But there is no doubt he was good for the sport and he will be missed.
Not that I have anything personally against her, but the good news is that Annamarie Phelps is to step down from her job at the B.H.A. at the end of May – one would have thought she would have stayed on until after the Jubilee Derby, if only in hope of being included in the celebrations of a Royal winner. Of course, it is possible, only being associated with racing for 3-years that she is yet to become aware that the Derby is run in the first week of June. Also, only those who are ‘chair’ of a large organisation would give no thought to how stupid and illogical the job title ‘chair’ is. But I digress.
I believe she has achieved little in her time at the B.H.A., leaving her successor a lot of ground to make-up. Though to be honest, I am of the opinion that since the formation of the B.H.B. and the transformation into the B.H.A. no ‘chair’ has managed to stem the slow road to hell in a handcart. Joe Saumarez Smith will hold the reins until September.
Now, though, is the time for the powers-that-be to headhunt someone into the position of Phelps’ successor who has horse racing experience, either at the coal-face of the racing side of the industry or the breeding side. This is a sport with many nuances and as with the B.H.A.’s C.E.O. those who make the decisions should have first-hand experience of the sport and not have to rely on the advice of juniors.
I find the debate over the closure of saunas rather annoying. Saunas may be bad for the overall health of jockeys, yet senior jockeys are making valid contributions to the debate and are being side-lined by the decision makers. If saunas at racecourses are bad for jockeys, then surely saunas in jockeys’ homes must be worse as they will be totally unregulated. It is the same with driving to the races with the car heater at full-blast while wearing a rubber-suit. It would have made more sense to keep the saunas at the racecourses but have someone of authority monitoring their use, with perhaps a limit on how long a jockey can use them. But we live in a woke society where common-sense is a foreign language.
And finally, the town of Cheltenham would appreciate a 5-day Festival as the present 4-day Festival brings up to £60-million into the town’s economy and an extra day will almost certainly boost the coffers even more. The National Hunt Festival is the biggest earner of the year for local businesses and the loss of crowds last season was a knife in the heart for the whole town, not just the racecourse. A fifth-day is inevitable and I just hope, at least to begin with, the racecourse goes with my idea of a 4-day Festival, with what I term a ’Heath Day’ on the Saturday, using the races dropped from the Festival in recent years, the consolation races from the big handicaps presently run at Kempton, and with the highlight the Cross-Country race. Oh, and move the Midlands National to the Saturday before Cheltenham and create a brilliant betting day with the Imperial Cup at Sandown. Not that anyone ever listens to my advice. I wonder if Annemarie Phelps or Julie Harrington has a better suggestion?