​Several trainers have expressed their view that the race formerly known as the Grand National (it still is, of course, though there is very little of the grand to it these days) will lose its popularity if it is continually won by the top trainers, top jockeys and the same half-a-dozen of owners. It is what I have said since the B.H.A. and the Jockey Club started first to tinker and then to slaughter the race. Reducing the maximum number of runners was for me the last straw and have vowed never to call the race Grand every again. It is the Aintree National as far as I am concerned.
The suggestion that there should be win and your in races throughout the season was put forward two or three years ago and yet, apparently, Aintree and the B.H.A. are still giving it consideration. Woke has won over history, tradition and romance, and when you either ignore one of the three and consign romance to the pages of a Reg Green book on the subject, the race is no longer the Grand National but just another National, albeit a richly endowed long-distance chase.

Brant Dunshea, chief executive of the B.H.A., defended the appalling starts at the Cheltenham Festival by taking the side of the starters and the protocol they have in place. He is quoted as saying ‘if the starter had let them go when the horses were jig-jogging we would have had the Charge of the Light Brigade.’ He is wrong, of course. The two main factors in horses breaking into a canter or jig-jogging was starting a race on a bend and starting a race so far away from the tape, which actually provided the sight of horses galloping past the starter, which Brant Dunshea is against, it seems.

Poniros won the Triumph. I remembered. Finally. He will be interesting to follow, not only at Punchestown but during the coming flat season. One thing is for sure, he will never start 100/1 ever again.

Did anyone watch Nick Luck interviewing Gavin Cromwell last Sunday. Although to be honest, Nick Luck might have been interviewing Inothewayurthinkin given he was in the camera lens the very same amount of time as his trainer. He only went out of shot when he changed from peering over Cromwell’s left shoulder to his right. Even when the trainer took himself out of Inothewayurthinking’s stable, the horse followed him to take up position once more on Cromwell’s shoulder.
The horse looked wonderfully well, very pleased with himself indeed. And, no, I still have no liking for his name, Gold Cup winner or not!

Finally, some perspective on last Tuesday’s attendance of 55,498. In 1985, the day See You Then won his first of three Champion Hurdles, a record attendance for a Tuesday was set at 27,880. Yes, back then, everyone was happy to get north of 25,000!

​As I suspected, there will be no Gold Cup/Aintree National challenge from Inothewayurthinkin this season. It will be Punchestown or an early holiday for the J.P. home-bred as he has been scratched from the big race, even though he would have been a stone well-in due to his new rating. There was nothing to be gained from running the 7-year-old in the Aintree National and a whole lot to lose, as happened with Synchronised, J.P.’s previous home-bred Gold Cup winner. It is the right decision, especially when J.P. already has 3 of the top 4 in the betting.
A good few have come out of the National, allowing Hyland to get into the race if one of those above him becomes a non-runner. My other two fancies, Intense Raffles and Bravemansgame – I hope Harry Cobden chooses him over Kandoo Kid – also remain in the races, as does L’Homme Presse.

The highly informative Mark Holder, who I have come to admire after first being sceptical of him, is the latest ‘expert’ to side with the Mullins/Richi decision to abandon the Champion Hurdle in favour of easier pickings. It is Mark’s opinion; he is wrong, though. Everyone in racing from owner downwards has a duty to do everything they can to support and promote the sport. When the ship is sinking, it is the duty of every crew member to put their shoulder to the wheel, to bail water with all their strength. Rich Richi is a golden goose for this sport and I admire everything about him, including his flashy suits but I do not buy the reasoning for opting out of the Champion Hurdle. If they could not run her in the Champion Hurdle due to her fall at Leopardstown, then that same reason should have stood for running in the Mares Hurdle. For this sport to survive so that it can go on to thrive every man, woman and child must all row in the same direction.

In today’s Racing Post there is an article by Lee Mottershead that is as illuminating and informative as anything I have ever read in the paper since its inception on Tuesday April 15th (my birthday) 1986. The theme is the cost of keeping a horse in training, based on figures provided by Ben Pauling, fast becoming one of my favourite trainers, and the financial benefits his success provides for the local economy. I will not steal any of Lee’s research, though I encourage everyone to search out the article and show it to any friends or relatives who may be sceptical about the sport and as a reminder of how the people of racing help both the national and local economy. A brilliant piece of writing from a truly wonderful journalist.

Lulamba will run again this season, so says Nicky Henderson. Now, I deeply admire the master of Seven Barrows and as he nearly always is proved right whenever I or my betters challenge the decisions he makes on behalf of his owners, I am always nervous when putting into the public domain thoughts that are negative towards the great man. But here goes: Lulamba has run twice since joining Nicky and once, I believe, in his native France. Nicky is always one to remind hacks that this horse or that horse is inexperienced, usually followed by the question ‘where are the races for them?’ And, in general, he is correct. The race programme in this country almost looks as if it is designed to make the life of our top trainers as difficult as possible. Yet there is opportunity between now and the last meeting of the season at Sandown to run Lulamba twice, let alone the once at Punchestown. If the horse goes into next season lacking experience that will be due to not taking advantage of gaining that experience this season. If only every trainer were followers of the flat guru Mark Johnston who believed ‘horses are there to run’.

We might, just might, be at the beginning of a new golden era for Champion Hurdle type horses. Constitution Hill, though I would go chasing with him in order to get him concentrating a bit more on his jumping, State Man, Willie Mullins’ Supreme winner (name escapes me, something beginning with K des Bordes) The New Lion, Lulamba, Palladium, East India Dock, and I would include in this list Golden Ace and the Triumph winner, again the name escapes me. I am old. I often try to open the front door with my car key and I am sure goblins get in my car and move things around as I can never remember where the position on the right stalk (or is it the left) is for the windscreen wipers back and front. And there is no cure, except the one provided free by the Grim Reaper. Or by the name you are more familiar with, Sir Keir Starmer, who has it in for all us ‘uneconomic eaters’.

Kopek des Bordes, winner of the Supreme. Well done me! Thankfully I-Page went down, giving my brain time to boot-up.

​In today’s Racing Post, Peter Scargill makes a good argument for those people fortunate to be able have a string of horses in training to spread their wings a little by sending a horse to someone of a smaller standing in the training ranks. Rich Richi has two horses, I believe, with Venetia Williams, even though ‘his’ trainer is Willie Mullins, so it is not such a crazy idea, is it? Not that Venetia can be considered as of ‘smaller standing’ when it comes to training racehorses. Personally, I am of the opinion she is up there with the best, her own brilliance augmented by having one of the best jockeys around as her stable number one.
A situation whereby there is Willie Mullins and then there is everyone else is unhealthy for the welfare of the sport. Compared to Willie’s mega-successful stable, the likes of Elliott, de Bromhead and Cromwell, all Gold Cup winning trainers, are thought-of as lesser lights.
It is nothing short of ridiculous that someone as phenomenally successful over such a long period time as Paul Nicholls loses owners to Willie Mullins. It begs the question what must someone achieve to be considered worthy of the support of the wealthiest owners?
Jeremy Scott, may, as he admits himself, ‘got lucky’ last week in the Champion Hurdle, yet he has trained winners for twenty-years or more, with notable victories in graded races along the way. He comes across as an amiable guy who any owner might have great fun associating himself or herself with. He also trains in a stunningly beautiful part of the world in Dulverton on Exmoor. And he is not alone, though he is the man in the limelight at the moment. What more must the likes of Jamie Snowden, Ben Pauling and Olly Murphy, to name but three, achieve to gain the support of leading British owners who presently have horses trained across the water? Last week, Rebecca Curtis, once the up-and-coming trainer in this country, showed again that given the quality of horse she can get the job done at the highest level.
And, of course, having all your eggs in one basket, if a stable should be hit with a virus, can lead to a very quiet season.

Some retailers cannot do a sale. Cutting 10% from the cost of a shirt is merely playing at the concept of what a sale should be. In fact, it is hoodwinking potential customers. Cheltenham are patting themselves on the back for cutting ticket prices at next year’s Festival, though not as anyone would notice. Cutting £3 from the price of a ticket, reducing it to £50, as for the Best Mate enclosure for next year’s Festival, is so small pickings that it is more embarrassing than it is generous.
As I suggested the other day, my best suggestion when it comes to admission prices is to link the Festival to other meetings during the season, with anyone who has attended 3 or more meetings rewarded with a 20 or 25% reduction on their ticket for the Festival, no matter which enclosure is paid for. I even suggested Cheltenham might raise their prices a smidge at every other meeting to off-set their generosity towards racegoers at the Festival. Permit me to suggest that a reduction should be glaringly obvious and worthy of a round of applause.

There are too many races this week with only two or three runners due to the words ‘firm’ as in good-to-firm and watering in the going description. No one has any control, of course, over the weather the weather-gods provide and excessive watering can lead to problems further down the line. To my mind, there are too many meetings at the moment. In fact, by common consent, it is unarguable that there are too many meetings per se and here is how I would like that to be remedied.
Less meetings, more races per meeting, with prize-money down to eighth-place, tenth-place when there are twenty-runners or more. Ecologically, and not just to cuddle-up to the woke nutjobs, having eight or nine-races on a racecard but less meetings, makes a lot of sense. Less miles on the road equals a decrease in fuel bills for trainers, owners and jockeys. If prize-money is awarded for the first eight, rather than just the first four or five, as is generally the case, this will lessens the cost of keeping a horse in training. Having fewer races equals more competitive fields, boosting betting revenue.
Just a thought worth consideration. You decide. Just do not write to the Racing Post, as James Reid of Haselmere did, quoting verbatim, mostly, my thoughts on what to do with the Mares Hurdle. He might have at least said he supported my proposal. Or ‘furthermore to Mr.Knight’s thoughts …

​What was so pleasing about the surprise victory of Golden Ace in the Champion Hurdle was both the reaction of the spectators around the winners’ enclosure to Jeremy Scott and that the trainer himself made no bones about how surprised he was to have trained both the Champion Hurdle winner and by how well his achievement was received by the public. It was a joyous occasion, even though the fan’s favourite had fallen for the first time in his life and that State Man had lost a race he deserved to have won.
Now, ever the sportsman he is, Jeremy Scott is prepared to take his wonderful mare to Punchestown to take on Constitution Hill, State Man, and we can presume Lossiemouth. And who is not to say Golden Ace will not rattle their cages again? What has been missed due to her unexpected rise to stardom is that Golden Ace, irrespective of whether she was a lucky winner or not, was running the best race of her life in the Champion Hurdle and was booked for a very honourable second-place, only for the sporting gods, perhaps concerned the Irish were going to inherit not only the sporting earth but the heavens also, to unite themselves to the British cause. 
Next season, Jeremy Scott has suggested, she might be seen over fences. I suspect how she gets on at Punchestown will decide where they go with her next season. His thinking, as I suggested was the cause of Constitution Hill falling last week, is that horses can get complacent jumping hurdles and fences will often get them to concentrate on their jumping again. Personally, as her owner intends to breed from her, I would roll the dice again and attempt to defend her Champion Hurdle crown as with the progression she is making she might, just might, surprise as all again.

The Racing Post (Chris Cook’s column today) provided data on the number of falls in hurdle races at Cheltenham last week compared to the number of runners. 4-falls from 224-runners, which rather put a spanner in my speculation as to whether the white padding was achieving its aim. Despite fact suggesting overwise, the swinging hurdle problem I still believe needs to be addressed.

In today’s ‘Another View’, Patrick Gilligan, U.S. domiciled author and ex-trainer, from his bed recovering from a stroke, wrote a wonderful piece about how owning shares in a racehorse can bring joy that easily spreads from the lucky part-owner to all around. Gilligan wrote with a fluidity and impact that I, with my only ailment increasing old-age and mediocrity, can only dream of achieving. Micro-shares in racehorses is the way forward, I believe. Perhaps micro-shares would make the perfect Christmas or Birthday gift for a friend or loved-one.

Never mind the decreasing attendance, which can be reversed, Cheltenham was a success last week and everyone responsible for delivering the spectacle should be warmly congratulated. An offering should also be given to the sporting gods who went beyond the call of duty to keep us all on both our toes and tenterhooks.

A small idea, impractical and perhaps not required. It came to me when I heard someone talking about schooling races for young horses and barrier trials for young horses on the flat. Why not allow a wire-less connection between a jockey with only limited race-riding experience, say between their first and fifth-rides, and the trainer they work for, or jockey-coach, in a race, allowing the trainer/coach to offer advice through an ear-bud. This proposal, if allowed, must surely be of great benefit to the young jockey and help build their confidence and skill-set. I am not suggesting this should be mandatory or allowed to continue beyond the early L-plate period of the conditional. I just thought if it is good idea to school young horses on the racecourse but not in public, why not something similar for young jockeys.

​If you were to ask my opinion on whether Inothewayurthinkin will take part in the Aintree National this season, I would answer no and I hope not. Firstly, J.P.’s other homebred Gold Cup winner, Synchronise, attempted the Gold Cup/National double and lost his life whilst running loose after falling quite early in the race. That experience will, I believe, sway J.P., given he has at least 4 other fancied contenders for the race, to taking a cautionary approach when making his decision. Also, Inothewayurthinkin, is only a seven-year-old; he has his whole life ahead of him and with few obvious contenders to challenge him for his Gold Cup crown next season, the Aintree National would be one race too early in what has the potential to become a glorious equine career.

The damned Mares Hurdle, will someone please rid me of this damnable and unnecessary race at the Festival? Those who take this sort of decision at Cheltenham should listen to the dissenters and learn how to take the right advice. But they should not take the knee-jerk decision to abandon the race altogether but reassign it to ‘Trials Day’ and boost it to championship status, thereby allowing the top mares to contest a Champion Mares Hurdle and the Champion Hurdle itself.
Those people championing the mares’ series of races, rightly claiming it has boosted the profile of mares and the breeding of mares, should be listened to. The only thing wrong with the Mares Hurdle is it being staged at the Cheltenham Festival where it is harmful to the competitiveness and reputation of the Champion Hurdle. The Cheltenham Festival should be all about the best taking on the best to ensure, as far as the sporting fates will allow, the true champions of any one year. To me, the Mares Novice Hurdle is a great success, though the Mares Chase is perhaps the worst race over the 4-days, and I would be in favour of the present Mares Hurdle becoming a limited handicap rather than a Grade 2.

Where Cheltenham must learn and listen, and I believe Guy Lavender does not require my advice on this matter, I will give it anyway, is that if the customer tells him that from an admission point of view Cheltenham is poor value for money, it must be accepted as fact and not a general moan. I would suggest raising admission prices a smidge for its lesser meetings, coupled with a bonus for Festival-goers of cheaper tickets for the Festival if they have attended 3 or more Cheltenham meetings during the season. Hotel prices are not in the remit of Cheltenham racecourse and the cost-of-living crisis is not of Cheltenham’s doing. Cheltenham can only manage their own manageables and it should not be blamed for the consequences of government decisions. It is unfair to compare Cheltenham 2025 with Cheltenham of the boom years for the country.

False starts are an embarrassment to the sport and between now and the Aintree National meeting there must be an emergency meeting with jockeys, trainers’ and starters to work out a more manageable procedure for starting a horse race. Firstly, decide whether the tape is necessary. Work-out a practical distance the horses must be from the starter and once the flag is raised, the jockey should be both responsible for where he or she lines-up and to be facing in the right direction. Some horses need to race mid-division or out the back. So, there is no need for all horses to be in a straight line. National Hunt is being confused with the flat where an equal break from the stalls is nearly always vital.

Without any data to prove me right or wrong, I believe the introduction of white padding to steeplechase fences is a wonderful gain for the sport as there are fewer fallers, even at the hurly-burly of the Cheltenham Festival. I am not so certain, though, about the white padded hurdles. I am confident they are safer than what went before as the white padding is more visible to the horse, as science suggested it would be, though it has not remedied the problem of the swinging hurdle, part of the reason Constitution Hill fell. For our sport to be safer for the horses who compete, it must be debated if we should move towards the sort of hurdle used in France which is more akin to a ‘baby’ steeplechase fence.
As horses should, in principle, as they age, proceed from hurdles to steeplechase fences, with all our most prestigious National Hunt races being steeplechases, it would be make for a better technique if young horses were taught to jump as if it is a matter-of-fact that they will one day progress to a life jumping steeplechase fences. I think it should at least be trialled for a couple of seasons, alongside the more familiar British and Irish-style hurdle, with a couple of racecourses using the French-style hurdle and dispensing with the more familiar potential-to-swing – name me another equine sport where a horse is required to jump a moving object - hurdle. Data, we need data, even if it turns out to be negative data.

​Although, after his sixth win, I said to myself, ‘not Willie again’, and after his tenth I was having to grit my teeth to recognise the merit in the achievement, J.P.’s dominance of the meeting I entertained with a warm glow in my heart. J.P.McManus is the beating heart of National Hunt racing, at least as far as I am concerned and my fervent wish for the sport is that he remains the beating heart for the next twenty-years.
Not that I approve of all things J.P. I do not care for some of the names he gives his home-breds, and by that, I mean possibly all of them. Inothewayurthinkin (I had to open up the Racing Post to be certain of spelling the name correctly. I had not.) for example, has always offended me due to the torturous manipulation of the English language in order to have I know the way your thinking fit the 18-character rule for naming racehorses. But it is J.P., so I forgive him, which will bring great relief to him, I am sure.
I thought the Gold Cup this year was the least compelling of the championship races, with none of the drama of the Champion Hurdle, emotion of the Champion Chase, the brilliance of Fact To File in the Ryanair or the sentiment of Bob Ollinger (Bob) winning the Stayers Hurdle. It was not, I promise you, due to yet another of my confident predictions going so far south icicles hung from my ignorance but because it was rather a poor renewal of the race, compounded by Galopin Des Champs failing to nail his name alongside side the other great horses to have won 3 Gold Cups.
Do not get me wrong, the winner is a quality horse who won impressively. I have my doubts, though, whether he will double-up next season and hope, and suspect, he does not turn out at Aintree in 3-weeks in pursuit of the double only Golden Miller has ever achieved. I dare say Gentlemansgame ran a blinder yesterday but he was too close at the finish to the first two for my liking to think the form trustworthy. Thanks to the good ground, it was not a gruelling Gold Cup this year and if they come out of the race in good shape I can see the 3rd and 4th running in the Aintree National, with both having a fair-to-middling chance of being there at the finish. Of the two, I would prefer the grey as I am unsure if Monty’s Star jumps well enough.
Galopin Des Champs will only be 9 come next March and given soft ground he could easily turn the form around with his conqueror yesterday. After all, apart from the absent The Jukebox Man, did any of the novices knock your eye out at Cheltenham? If Lecky Watson is the best 3-mile novice of the season then the first two yesterday have nothing to worry about. The state of top-class staying chases at the moment is poor in comparison to years gone by. Doubtless it will rise from the ashes of ordinariness, yet if the cream should ever be seen to rise again amongst British trainers something radical needs to be in the offing. The novice chase programme in Britain must be altered so that trainers can bring their best stayers along quietly, without being forced into handicaps too early in their careers. It is not a matter to be discussed tomorrow; it is an emergency and needs to be dealt with accordingly.

That said, there are green shoots in you look hard enough. For instance, although the first and second in the Spa Hurdle (the potato race) were trained in Ireland, the 3rd, Derryhassen Paddy, 4th, Yellow Car, 5th, Wendigo (very unlucky), 6th, Jig’s Forge and the 7th, Ma Shantou, are all British-trained. They all might be novice chasers of the future; might be, as Nicky Henderson found out with Lucky Place, as the current programme book makes life very difficult for trainers with the sort of horse that should be destined for the two championship novice chases at the Festival.

Finally, my favourite race this year was the Champion Hurdle. It was a victory for an owner with the balls and foresight to roll the dice; it was a victory for a trainer low on numbers but high on ability and character; it proved the decision to run Lossiemouth in the easier race wrong by a country mile and it was wonderful that someone who can be described as a ‘journeyman jockey’ had a glorious day in the limelight. And the name, too, Golden Ace was appropriate for the moment.

​Galopin Des Champs will win his third Gold Cup today. What else needs to be said, especially when every tipster in the Racing Post is of the same mindset?

I admire people who shoot from the hip. Sometimes Michael O’Leary is off target with his thoughts, this past week he has been hitting the bulls-eye. He was right to give it a go with Brighterdaysahead and we all learned new knowledge from his bold decision.
He is also spot-on with his thoughts on the performance of the B.H.A. starters at this year’s Festival. ‘Appalling’ hardly goes far enough to describe fiasco after fiasco. How hard can it be to start a horse race? It does not seem that difficult in Ireland or France. It tells you the official procedure is pants when the intervention of Mick Fitzgerald telling jockeys that it was another two-minutes before start-time openly displayed a flaw in the system. Jockeys do not wear watches; if the starter or his/her assistant do not convey this relevant information to the participants, how are they to know how much time there is to find the position they want? As far as they it might be thirty-seconds to start-time.
As Jamie Snowden said, as I said yesterday, what is the point of the tape when races are started from so far away the starter would need a loudhailer to convey his instructions to the jockeys?
The problem is compounded by Jockey Club Estates officials having the attitude of ‘they know best’ and for it taking far too long for it to sink in that they might be wrong. Ask the jockeys for advice on what needs to change in order to achieve fair starts for all. Starters are too protected, with no public sanctions applied to them when they are at fault.

Yes, I was thrilled to see Rachael Blackmore displaying her skills in the saddle once more, with it hard to determine which of her two winning rides yesterday was the best. Although my thought that it was about time Mystical (not mysterious as I mistyped yesterday, even if mysterious is becoming a possible description of his complete loss of form) Power found his mojo again, my heart pounded with joy as Bob Ollinger reminded us how good he might have become if it were not for whatever went wrong with him as a younger horse. And his owner’s emotion as he told everyone what Bob means to him is clear evidence for the doubters that the people who own these these beautiful horses are in the sport for the sheer love of the horse. When a man describes a horse as his ‘third child’ how can you not warm to him?
But the horse I was most taken with yesterday was Caldwell Potter. As I said after Windsor, he jumps like a bunny and is a galloper. I hope by the end of the season Paul Nicholls can find a 3-mile novice chase for Caldwell Potter, then he can go into next season with a plan that is all about staying chases, and you never know, he might even evolve into a Gold Cup horse.

The problem I have when I have cash on a horse, or even simply publicly nominate a horse I expect to win, is that I lose focus, with my eye always  drawn to ‘my horse’ even when it clearly has no chance, as for the most part this week, of winning. I do not possess the A.I. levels of concentration Ruby Walsh was surely born with, a man who is seemingly able to watch and analyse six horses galloping and jumping at a speed I rarely go above when driving and after one re-run point out the mistakes or brilliance of three or four jockeys. I am sure those who earn a salary from tipping horses would achieve better results if they did not back their own selections. Objectivity goes out the window when the fate of your selection is intertwined with the not-so-small matter of getting the bills paid this month.

Brilliant Cheltenham thus far; let us pray Galopin Des Champs brings it to a fitting climax this afternoon. But let me remind you; he will not make history today by winning a third Gold Cup. He will be equalling, I will not belittle him by saying ‘only’, the achievements of three other horses and will remain 2-short of the five Cheltenham Gold Cups won by Golden Miller. Do not sully the achievement by determining his victory ‘historic’. 

​In front of me, on the foolscap paper, so appropriate, in which I wrote my notes for yesterday’s masterpiece of illogical thought, are the horses I intended to make public as my hopes for the day. Of course, my good thing of the meeting obliged, The New Lion, as did Marine Nationale and Bambino Fever. Dancing City disappointed, as did Comfort Zone, Mister Coffey and Conyers Hill. 
Not so hopeless after all.

Strangely, contrary to Willie Mullins assertion that he will have ‘nice’ horses for next year, said after Lecky Watson had won the Broadway Novice Chase, I suspect, with exceptions, of course, he might just have a whole lot of handicap class novices. Kopek Des Bordes and Final Demand may well be high-class either over hurdles or fences, and it would be foolish to dismiss Ballyburn after his temperament made mincemeat of Paul Townend’s tactics. When he is allowed to bowl along in front we will see a different animal altogether. To my mind, not that Willie Mullins is minded too much about Kempton at Christmas, Ballyburn is more a King George horse than one for the Gold Cup and I would bet a pig to a whistle that we see Ballyburn in the Ryanair next season.
Although he won, as usual, the Bumper yesterday with Bambino Fever, ridden by Jody Townend, sister of the famous brother, Willie’s two main hopes Copacabana and Gameofinches were very disappointing, as the majority of his bumper horses have been this season. I dare say there is a diamond amongst them but at the moment Bambino Fever is the best of them and you cannot imagine her winning anything more than the Mares Novice Hurdle at the next Cheltenham Festival.

The starting procedure for jumps racing is quite appalling at times. For instance, the field for the bumper were 200-yards or more from the tape when the starter dropped his flag. What is the point of the tape if the horses do not go within shouting distance of the starter? 
The Champion Chase was ruined by the start. Why not just have the horses within a yard of the tape from the outset, instead of having them so far back it is inevitable that at least one of the flying machines gets into a swinging canter before the trainer can say ‘Ready’ or whatever the procedure may be? It is all very well jockeys exuding diplomacy in the aftermath of a balls-up at the start, yet sometimes no commonsense by the starter is given to the situation.
As I have advocated before, there needs to be an area, perhaps signified by chalk or sawdust, in which all horses must stand, which jockeys must move their horses into when instructed by the starter, whether in a line or otherwise, with it being the responsibility of the jockeys to have their horses facing the tape. The starter can then start the race and if any horse whips round or stands still, the responsibility lies with the jockey not the starter. At the moment, starts can be an embarrassment, which is a further embarrassment when you calculate the years since the debacle at the Grand National. Still we cannot start a horse race.

The Triumph Hurdle tomorrow has a line-up of 17-horses, a good number you will agree. Except that 11 of them are trained by Willie Mullins, 3 of which have never jumped a hurdle in public. Of the other six, the name of Palladium does not appear, for which I say ‘bugger’, as he was my fancy for the race. I will return to fancying East India Dock. By then, those of us Brits, will be desperate for a British-trained winner. And it looked so rosy on Tuesday evening.

After so very nearly achieving the magic 51% yesterday, here goes again.
Galileo Dame in the Dawn Run. Moon D’Orange in the Golden Miller. Bugise Seagull, each-way in the Pertemps. Protektorat in the Ryanair.
Mysterious Power in the Stayers, though I also really like Bob Ollinger and Nemean Lion, victory for either would do my heart good. Ginny’s Destiny in the Plate. Paul Nicholls must have a winner, doesn’t he? Sa Majeste in the Kim Muir.

​I honestly thought I would have seven-winners yesterday. Not confident enough to either put any cash on any of my fancies or commit to the I.T.V.7 but confident enough to believe I would have something to trumpet about this morning. Well, Burdett Road was 2nd in the Champion Hurdle, placed as I predicted. So, you know, small beginnings and oak-trees to come.
Yet, what a race; a Champion Hurdle that will be remembered from now till eternity. As Willie Mullins said, who could ever think two champions would fall in the same race. Make no bones about it, this was the best result for the Festival since Coneygree won the Gold for claimer Nico de Boinville and the endearing Bradstocks.
In my review of the race yesterday morning I did say that the owner of Golden Ace bold decision to skip the Mares Hurdle deserved reward, though I made an equally bold statement that the fates would turn their back on him. How wrong was I? The fates must have had his mare well-backed both each-way and to win. Now, this you will have to take on trust, but on all I hold dear, as the runners went to the start, I had a sense of Imperial Commander about the race. You know, when the Gold Cup was all about Denman and Kauto Star, with slogans on buses to that effect, only for Imperial Commander to crash the party. And then the sense of overthrow was accompanied by ‘I hope in that event Golden Ace wins’. If I had a smartphone and a betting account, I might easily have had a tenner on the mare. Would have, could have, might have. Did not have. Delighted by the result, all the same. David conquering Goliath always makes me happy.
To have the Champion Hurdle winner trained by a small-time owner and trained by someone as likeable as Jeremy Scott was exactly what the sport needed. And though Golden Ace may have been one of the more fortunate winners of a Blue Riband race, she was running a storming race when luck came her way with State Man, about to prove himself up with the best of Champion Hurdle winners, tipping over at the last. Hopefully, Golden Ace will be back next year to defend her crown, with no dilemma of which race to choose.
My negative thought on whether Brighterdaysahead could translate her form on a flat course to the inclines of Cheltenham proved to have legs. That is her second defeat at Cheltenham and her form suggests she just might be one of those good horses who cannot get up the Cheltenham hill.
As for Constitution Hill? He is showing no respect for hurdles and I would hope Nicky Henderson will now consider fences for him next season. My fear is that he will lose his confidence and we will lose him if they continue over hurdles, and from his first ever race Nicky was describing Constitution Hill as a chaser in the making. Now is the time to change direction.

Cheltenham always pulls at the heartstrings. First, yesterday, it was the owner of Kopek Des Bordes and his kidney cancer and then it was the owner of the Arkle winner Jango Baie who bought the horse the day his son died. It was either tears of joy yesterday or tears of joy mixed with tears of long sadness.

I argue with David Jennings assessment of Kopek Des Bordes victory in the Baring Bingham Hurdles as ‘brilliant’. He was not ‘Golden Sygnet’ brilliant, was he? He was, though, impressive, and the 2nd may also prove to be very good, also.

Let us get real, here. Lossiemouth should have run in the Champion Hurdle, and if she had run in the race it is odds-on, given what happened in the race, she would have won. Winning the Mares Hurdle does not justify her running in the race and though it is always nice to see Rich Richi win at the Festival, that does not defeat the argument that the best horses should run in the best races, not the easiest to win races. As I said yesterday, if Cheltenham do nothing to remedy the situation, they will be slighting the Champion Hurdle doing the sport a great disservice. And I do not imply the race should be scrapped but given a different position in the calendar where it brings credit to the sport, not detracting from it.

​It is true; there is not a lot to write about. Today is all about anticipation; what is to come. It is all about tomorrow; reflections on yesterday. Will Constitution Hill be anointed into the pantheon of great Champion Hurdlers? Will he win with an authority that suggests there is a possibility he can join Sir Ken, Hatton’s Grace, Persian War, See You Then and Istabraq as a three-time winner of the Champion Hurdle? Or will the mare rain on his parade?
I have no doubt Constitution Hill is a better horse than Brighterdaysahead but is he 7Ib superior to her? Visually, at least, Gordon Elliott’s mare was a wonder horse at Leopardstown and on the basic form of the 2023 Champion Hurdle, when Constitution Hill was an impressive winner, though he did not beat State Man without having a real race, it is hard to imagine that even he would have got within ten-lengths of Brighterdaysahead, not conceding that infernal 7Ibs. But this is Cheltenham with its ups and downs, and, though nobody is suggesting it, the mare’s only defeat was at Cheltenham by the opposing Golden Ace in last season’s Mares Hurdle. Perhaps she, too, (Jonbon) cannot turn on the style on the gradients of Cheltenham?
State Man will have cheekpieces on for the first time and who can say if they will giddy-him-up enough to be on the heels of his main rivals as they ascend the final hill? I believe a fast pace will suit him, even if he is twenty-lengths adrift of the mare. As long as he has Constitution Hill only a length or so in front of him he will be dragged along, the heady pace sure to keep his mind on the job and not, perhaps, on looking forward to the freedom and summer grass of his holidays. At his current price, given he is the defending champion, 10/1, I believe, he is the value in the race as he is the most likely to finish second if either of the top two bomb out for any reason.
Unlike those who know better, I refuse to rule out Burdett Road as I expect to see him settled in rear, with the prospect of him finishing out the race with a flourish. He could easily have finished second at Kempton on Boxing Day if he had not sprawled on landing at the last and ignore the Wincanton race as the track was too sharp and the ground too tacky for a galloper like him. 
The bold approach taken by the owner of Golden Ace deserves some reward; I doubt though the fates will look kindly on her.
I believe the mares allowance will determine the result today, a diminishing one-length victory for Brighterdaysahead. That said, I would love it if Constitution Hill were to prove me wrong.

What is wrong about the day is that Lossiemouth, who Willie Mullins has repeatedly said was a two-year project for the Champion Hurdle, at the last minute has been re-routed to the Mares Hurdle. If Cheltenham do not do something to prevent connections of the top female hurdlers from by-passing the Champion Hurdle for easier pickings they will be doing the Festival, punters and the sport in general a huge disservice. As I have said before, I believe there should be a Champion Mares Hurdle in the racing calendar. Just not at the Festival.

For information purposes only, for those that care, my selections for the day are as follows: Irancy, each-way in the first. L’Eau Du Sud to topple the favourite in the Arkle. Katati Dori to continue his winning ways in the Ultima. Joyeuse to win the controversial Mares Hurdle. Given how well she won the big handicap at Newbury, with fingers crossed the longer distance will suit, she has the potential to be a very good mare indeed and I can easily imagine her putting it up to Lossiemouth from the last hurdle. As I have proposed, Brighterdaysahead to win the Champion Hurdle. Beyond Your Dreams to win the Fred Winter. Captain Cody to top and bottom the day for Willie Mullins.
As I said earlier, not a lot to talk about today.