​As I have said many times, the sport cannot do enough to support equine welfare, to raise money for equine charities or even market the sport as a sport that cares deeply for the horses involved.
In the ‘Another View’ column of the Racing Post today, the retiring chairman of the Horse Welfare Board, Barry Johnson, gives an account of all that has been achieved since the founding of the H.W.B. And great progress has been made.
Personally, and again I continue to make this point, there needs to be a R.o.R. day in the calendar with a meeting that is the equivalent of York’s cancer day, to raise funds for the charity and to help persuade the public and media that the horse is not forgotten once its racing career is over. On this day, and every other day, a concerted effort should be made to get good news stories on the subject in local newspapers and t.v. Indeed, no effort should be spared in raising funds for R.o.R. and those equine charities that do not come under the R.o.R. umbrella of protection. Fancy words butter no parsnips, if you get my drift.
The Horse Welfare Board is an independent body and seeks to bring all stakeholders around the table to help improve the lot of the thoroughbred. It has analysed 400,000 data points in its Jump Racing Risk Model to help reduce risk and the ‘Life Well Lived’ programme has a register of retired racehorses and where they are living out their lives. The in-coming chairwoman is Minette Batters, former point-to-point rider, former president of the N.F.U. and, I believe, a director of Salisbury racecourse.

The other day I walked past a charity shop and noticed in the window, it was Royal Ascot week, ‘Leap of Faith’, Frankie Dettori’s ghost-written autobiography. I apologised to Frankie as I did not have room for another racing book. I had to pass the shop on my way back through town and Frankie seduced me into buying the book. ‘House me next to Lester’, I heard him whisper, which is easier to say than do. I will have to spill a lot of dust into the air to get him housed next to Sean Pryor’s biography of the great man.
I had no expectation of the book and have been pleasantly surprised how easy it was to read. Although ghost-written, Frankie’s voice is clear to hear and in places it is quite an intimate and honest book and it reads like a well-edited YouTube video. What I really liked about the book is that each topic is self-contained, with two double spaces before the next topic is tackled. If only all books were written to this template as it makes it much easier to stop and start reading. Of all the biographies and autobiographies I have on champion flat jockeys, this is, surprisingly, in my opinion, the best.

A lot of moaning persists on the support races to the Irish Derby, even though the racecourse had its largest attendance for quite a few years. They went for the half-million they would get from the World Pool and I do not blame them. Unless they channelled all the group races of the three-days of the meeting as support for the Irish Derby, and perhaps brought forward the Irish Oaks to Derby Day, except for reducing the meeting to 2 or even 1-day, I cannot see what can be done. You cannot just invent Group races, especially on a day when there is a Group 1 staged in France and when the Irish Derby is run the week after Royal Ascot. And looking at the results, it seems all the handicaps brought about some exciting finishes and the prize-money was shared by a large number of different trainers and owners, which would not be the case if Irish Derby Day was a replica of one of the days of the Royal meeting..

Lambourn looks a hard horse to pass and those experts who are already knocking him as just a slugger might have to eat their words if and when he wins the King George & Queen Elisabeth (time this race had its name reduced do the latter, with perhaps Memorial added to it) and the Arc. That said, he also has Ascot Gold Cup written all over him, though that would make him as unpopular as a three-legged gelding with breeders, with a drop back to 10-furlongs a more likely option.

​Although, as is my habit, I watched all of I.T.V.’s coverage of racing yesterday, with the exception of The Morning Show as I fell asleep not long into the programme – who cares what the excellent Adele and her two male cohorts tip, not me anyway – my concentration in the afternoon was severely affected by my other half, who usually takes pity on me and leaves me in peace on Saturdays, took to the sofa and insisted on jabbering, making noisy note of the coloration of the horses, the shape of blazes and other matters that have little to do with forming opinions and race-watching.
Watching horse racing is, to me, a ritual similar in spiritual appeal as someone of faith attending their local church, synagogue, mosque or prayer meeting. When the money is down, though, I accept that watching racing can be exactly like the latter, with prayers offered to any denominational god willing to listen.
Not that I have money on the horses nowadays: too tight-fisted and poor to risk the hard-earned on a horse. Anyway, it takes away the spirituality from the sport to back a horse, I feel. How could I be happy for Rob Hornby enjoying a day in the sun yesterday if I am too concentrated on the amount of money I would have lost if I had accompanied my fancy for Faylaq with a walk to the bookmakers?
I fully understand the hand-in-glove relationship horse racing has with the betting industry and how poorer the sport would be without bookmakers, yet in my naivety I wish it was not so. Horse racing could not exist in this country if people did not bet on the horses, and perhaps it would be the same all around the world. Even so, though I do not believe in the overly dramatic words of John Fitzgerald, who upon inheriting the land upon which Manchester races were held, said. ‘throughout the Race days, the greater mass of our working people gather, not to see a Race, which lasts two minutes of time, but to gamble according to their power, and to drink not for refreshment, but for drinking’s sake, till hundreds of them issue from those booths too drunk to walk home alone, and carry to their wretched families the sight of degradation, besides having lost a month or two of wages by gambling,’ He finished his diatribe with, and let us hope no one from the Gambling Commission knows of John Fitzgerald or reads my quotation of his finest, though worst, hour. ‘I earnestly beg them – he is referring to the ladies, gentleman and magistrates who attend the races – to help in shielding the daughters of our poorer brethren from the many pollutions that will meet them on the racecourse.’
I actual equally admire the gambler who walk up to a bookmaker and hands over bundles of cash, risking it all on an odds-on favourite as I admire the bookmaker who backs his own judgement and knocks out an odds-on favourite until its even-money or better. I could not do it; I lack the strength of character, the inner courage to lay the future on the line. To my way of thinking, this kind of heroism should be encouraged as acts of risk-taking in this manner is now foreign in the everyday world we live in. We are, as a species, becoming risk averse, with every man jack of us, every institution, likewise politicians, always plumping for the easy alternative, as with wanting to solve the problem of addictive gambling by making life difficult for those who bet as a hobby. As Winston Churchill once said. ‘Jaw, jaw, is better than war, war.’ By which I mean, talk to the addicted and help them find a cure for their addiction, do not declare war on the innocent.’
I did not declare war on my other half yesterday. I bore her yapping lightly, having long ago given-up hope of her accepting my faith as non-negotiable, the manna which keeps my light of life burning. Without racing, where would I be? Dead, no doubt, and at my own hand.
As it is, the light does not burn as bright as it once did. Horse racing remains as addictive as the taste of alcohol is to the alcoholic, but now I am in my seventies I realise that it is possible the next Eclipse might be my last, as Nick Rocket might be my last Grand National winner and because of that realisation I must pay greater attention, not less, to every horse race that comes to me through the television. 
If I should win the Euro-Lottery, if the amount was ridiculously enormous, I would donate the majority of it to horse racing and equine charities. That would be my one act of heroism in this life. A man should always want to protect that which he loves.
Hurray to me. And I wish you all good fortune in your betting endeavours. Be cautiously heroic, and honour your prayers.

​In comparison to what is going on in the world right now, even the world of horse racing, it might seem trifling to point out that a rug is for winter and a sheet for summer. I would guess that no one wore a woollen jumper at Royal Ascot last week and by the same token no horse required a rug. The item that caused Lazzat to shy and dump James Doyle on the ground was a cotton sheet, not a rug. Also, apart from the sheet holding water when the horses were being cooled by those whose job it was to throw buckets of water over them, the sheet, on such a hot day, was unnecessary, apart from displaying whatever logo was on the sheet.
‘We’ make such a fuss about animal welfare and the devices used last week to cool the horses, all very good and hopefully available at every racecourse during the hot days of summer, yet any health and safety officer would recognise the risk hazard of the procedure on show at Royal Ascot last week. And do not get on your high horse and tell me that horses have sheets, and rugs, thrown across their quarters and backs multiple times a day, as you would be right. However, Lazzat demonstrated you should never do anything that might spook a horse. The time for that sheet, even in the heat of Royal Ascot, was in the winning enclosure and the walk back to the stables.

David Jennings is often right, I find. He would admit, I would hope, that he is not the best tipster at the Racing Post, but in matters of opinion he usually hits the sweet spot of any debate. He peppered his piece in the Racing Post today with his great knowledge of football (did you know it was the 100th anniversary of the offside rule in football? I had no idea but David knew.) and G.A.A. was dying on its boots before a big review that changed the sport forever. I must admit that I am not quite sure what G.A.A. is. Hurling, perhaps. It must be very important in Ireland as over 60,000 attended its big final this season.
Anyway, the great man wants a review of all-things racing in an attempt to reverse the decline both in Ireland and in England, and he is right to bring this dilemma into full view. Read his piece and I doubt anyone will find fault with his proposals. He does though miss out on two embedded traditions of British racing that need to be extinguished. Dress codes and enclosures.
If you want people to come racing, and we desperately do, allow them to dress to suit their personalities. Personally, I am appalled by people who wear socks with sandals or shoes without socks, but that is their choice and we should not shoot ourselves in the foot by denying odd fashion wearing people entry to our sport. After-all, the jockeys parade around in the most garish of colours, don’t they?
I know from experience that the different enclosures and varying entry prices confuse people and put them off from attending racecourse for fear of wandering into a zone unbefitting their entry fee. Rid racecourses of enclosures and charge one price for admission. A racecourse is an outdoor venue, within reason allow spectators to wander, to experience racing from every angle, from every part of the racecourse. Even construct a pathway so spectators can wander the whole circumference of the racecourse. Allow people to book a picnic table, for a price, of course, and allow them to bring their own food.
Horse racing, as far as spectators are concerned, is out-of-date in many ways, including a race programme that still resembles the calendar of events from before the 2nd World War.

In the Another View column in the Racing Post today, Andrew Dietz praises James Doyle for his work ethic and ability in the saddle. He is also, as he demonstrated time again at Royal Ascot last week when both thanking the water-carriers for cooling down his mounts after their races and commenting on the work other jockeys had performed on horses he then gets to ride, that he is a gentleman. I remember when he stepped in for the ride on Trueshan in France when the other Doyle was suspended, when asked if she was worried whether she would lose the ride to James, Hollie replied. ‘No, James is the complete gentleman. He would never suggest he should keep the ride.’ 

​In the Friday column of today’s Racing Post, Peter Scargill makes a very good point on whether horses with a history of bleeding should be allowed to stand at stud. Bleeding can be hereditary and by breeding from ‘bleeders, dam or sire, can only weaken the thoroughbred species.
There are two levels of bleeding. It is considered that nearly 75% of racehorses will at one time or another bleed into the lungs – Exercise-Induced-Pulmonary- Haemhorrage – though it is not considered by trainers to be enough of a problem to be of any concern. Epistaxis, though, bleeding from the nose, which is uncommon, is a major concern as this condition actively stops a horse from running to form and in many instances is cause enough for a jockey to pull-up.
Economics is exampled by Peter Scargill as a horse who bled from the nose in his previous race, which was as far back as last autumn. He is yet to race since. Many a shining light promises to be a wonder horse, again Economics is a good example, who though able to maintain form for a couple of races, suddenly becomes a shadow of his or her former self. There is a long list of horses who ‘caught pigeons on the gallops’, yet after one promising run lost their form and were never the same horse ever again. These days internal bleeding is easily diagnosed and external bleeding is obvious to all. In the past internal bleeding, EIPH, might have been stopping all those morning glories, the most expensively bought and those with ‘pedigrees to die for’, after an inglorious spell on the track, going to the stallion sheds stud to claw what they have cost their owners, to pass on their genes, including the gene that makes offspring liable to bleeding.
Scargill is correct to ask whether known bleeders should be allowed to stand as stallions, and I would ask the same question of colts who had suffered lameness on multiple occasions whilst in training. As they are not subjected to any rules that I am aware of, breeders have cart-blanche to do as they see fit, and that includes breeding from stallions that can only weaken the thoroughbred blood-line for generations into the future.

Thousand Stars was an easy horse to remember. A big grey, trained by Willie Mullins and occasionally ridden by Katie Walsh who won several big races on him, his popularity proven by the large number of people who volunteered to give him a home when he was retired. Willie Mullins selected Katie Walsh for the honour and aged 21 she has reported his death. Thousand Stars, a well-named and hard to forget horse.

Oisin has only gone and done it again. As Captain Mainwaring might say, stupid boy! When will he admit that drink to him is a poison of the mind. The man is a wonderful jockey/horseman, a talented, likeable young man with all the world’s oysters at his beck and call. Yes, anyone can have a driving accident, as he did, apparently, driving his lovely Merc off the road and into a tree, his passenger requiring hospital treatment. Where Murphy did wrong was not cooperating with the police in the aftermath, especially as he was over the alcohol limit.
His record in such matters is far from good. He is a fool unto himself. The two charges in September 2020 in relation to the Covid rules I personally forgive him as history will prove the restrictions on our freedom were totally unnecessary. Two failed tests for alcohol in May and October of 2021, and acting in a manner prejudicial to the integrity, conduct and good reputation of the sport landed him with a suspension of his licence that kept him off the track from November 2021 to February 2023.
The B.H.A. may decide Oisin has not learnt his lesson and give him a similar sentence, and who could blame them. As much as I admire Oisin Murphy, my belief in him as a good human being who is good for the sport is being tested to the limit. Perhaps now is the time for the sport as a collective to stop forgiving Oisin’s weakness and give him a great big kick up the arse. As with so many jockeys before him, alcohol is going to kill, if not bodily, his career. Stupid boy hardly covers it.

This Saturday, Northumberland Plate Day, makes a mockery of Premier Racing, the protection of the sport’s crown jewels, of which the Pitman’s Derby must be included. It is racing saturation tomorrow and must be a headache for trainers finding suitable jockeys for all their runners. As well as Newcastle there is racing in the north of England at both York and Doncaster - does that make any sense – as well as Windsor and Lingfield in this country and the Curragh in Ireland. 

​Baron Allen, who I am warming to, though I hold firm to my believe that the man or woman who is in charge at the B.H.A. should have had hands-on experience of the sport before being appointed, still prefers to operate in the shadows, talking behind closed doors with racing stakeholders, no doubt trying to accomplish a deal before he takes office, whenever that might be. This opening paragraph being as long-winded as the Baron Allen will he, will he not, saga.
If Baron Allen’s strategy pays off and he manages to broker a deal with all of the B.H.A. shareholders, the associations of racecourses, racehorse owners, breeders and the affiliation of trainers, jockeys and stable staff, it will be the best-laid masterstroke since Barney Curley made the phone box at Bellewstown as popular a tourist attraction as the Giant’s Causeway. The Racing Post this morning described his plan as radical, yet most of us might think it as sensible as using a camera to decide the result of a photo-finish.
What Baron Allen wishes to be in place during his tenure as chairman is that the B.H.A. is split into two separate and independent entities, though remaining within the corporate structure, one to be responsible for regulatory affairs and the other overseeing governance and commercial interests. He also requires, and should be armed with, a whip to keep the naughty, disruptive boys and girls in line.
As I said, after originally being highly critical of a non-racing man/woman being appointed as chairman, I am warming to Baron Allen. He has obviously studied and researched the history of the B.H.A., decided upon all its failings and has formed a plan to right all the wrongs of previous B.H.A. administrations. He spent two-days at Royal Ascot last week, so he knows what a racecourse looks like and he has, and continues to do so, met all of the protagonists in this drama of 3, 4 or 5 acts. If he gets his way and finally takes up his position at the B.H.A. progress for the sport is possible. If he decides it is a hill too steep to traverse, the sport will be in limbo, and then who will take on the task of making a union out of a board of self-seeking big-heads, most of whom seem to believe the sport owes them, and no one else, a living.

Gary Carroll received yesterday a suspension of his licence of 14-days, plus a fine of £5,800, for going two over his whip allowance of six-strokes in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot. If the race had been any other than a Group race his suspension would have been half of that he received. I doubt if Gary Carroll is happy by the verdict, though I dare say it was what he expected. I, too, am unhappy by the verdict of the whips appeal panel.
Here is my problem. Megan Jordan received a similar suspension for her ride in the most prestigious race for female amateur jockeys at York. She is a relatively inexperienced rider, especially compared to the vastly experienced Carroll. Both races were important races for the jockeys involved, yet, accepting the fine imposed on Carroll (his 10% of the prize-money, I should imagine), their punishments are the same. I realised the moment she crossed the line that Jordan would eventually be disqualified, yet saw nothing egregious in Carroll’s ride. Why must the rules be so rigid? Personally, I would restrict use of the whip to one-stroke, so I am not going to suggest jockeys should not be punished for transgressing the whip rules, and I do not believe different races should have different punishments. Jordan is an amateur, whilst, for the sake of example, Carroll is an experienced professional. Jordan’s ban covers days when there are amateur races, so her ban could last a month (perhaps not at this time of year when there can be 3-amatuer races on any one-day), whilst Carroll’s ban will be 14-consequative days. 
I would prefer to have had Jordan’s ban reduced to a day at the British Racing School to undertake a course on how to use the whip correctly, followed by a ban on using a whip (other than for protective purposes) for 10-races. Carroll, being a professional, I would have banned him from using a whip (again not for protective purposes) for 24-races, plus the fine imposed. Discuss.

A marathon of endurance and a half-million from the World Pool or a select day of quality racing? That was the dilemma and the Curragh chose the former. Nine races, six big-field handicaps, 2 listed races and the main race of the Irish flat season, with 35-minutes between races. Richard Forristal is mad against the fare served up on Sunday and you can see his point. Yet it is not far different from the supporting races for the Epsom Derby.
I believe, as Epsom should, the Curragh should look at making ‘Derby Day’ a day of riches, even if that means losing a couple of days racing. Stage the Derby and Oaks on the same day and incorporate all the other Group races due to be staged on the two-days of the classic, even though on Derby Day this year there are no group races. My point remains, though – two classics, three Group races and a couple of important handicaps. 
I also believe the Curragh should consider constructing a National Hunt course as it would seem to me, an outsider whose experience of the wide-open spaces of the Curragh is from the t.v. set, the best way of filling the stands as flat racing is not achieving a full house.

 

​Let me start with this, otherwise I might be criticised for the wrong aspect of what I am about to say. Field of Gold is undoubtedly a very good horse, probably the top horse in Europe, possibly the best in the world. What he is not at this moment is a ‘superstar’. Galileo was a superstar stallion but he was not a superstar during his first two covering seasons. He soon gained superstar status and retained it until the day he died. Frankel and Brigadier Gerard were superstars to you and I but were they known by the non-racing public at the time they were in training?
For Ed Chamberlain to get all over-excited and claim Field of Gold to be a superstar in June of his first full season is just challenging fate to put the boot in. He further went on to suggest that people will build a relationship around Field of Gold, something that will be aided by Field of Gold being a grey and people love grey horses. The latter part may well be true, though the only grey to become a superstar in my lifetime was Desert Orchid and he, as with Galileo, remained a superstar until the day of his death, to the point that he appeared in The Times obituary column.
And will Field of Gold still be in training this time next year? Doubtful, I would suggest. Juddmonte kept Frankel in training as a 4-year-old, so the opportunity for Field of Gold to truly obtain the moniker of ‘superstar’ is a possibility but will his owners wish to take the gamble of risking his ‘superstar’ status against next classic generation? They did not with Dancing Brave, remember.
The sort of flat horse the public are more likely to ‘form a relationship around’ is the likes of Rebel’s Romance, Trawlerman and Amiloc, geldings who are going to race beyond their three or four-year-old seasons.
And though both Frankel and Brigadier Gerard were campaigned over 8 and 10-furlongs, though the latter also won the King George & Queen Elisabeth Stakes over 12-furlongs, ask anyone outside of the sport to name an 8 or 10-furlong race in Britain, Ireland or the whole of Europe and the answer would be a shake of the head or at best the question ‘ is the Derby over either of those distances?’
When John Hislop, owner and breeder of Brigadier Gerard, announced his star would run over 12-furlongs, the majority of ‘experts’ thought him a bit mad, believing the risk to reward ratio to be too slim to be worth it. When Charles Engelhard, owner of Nijinsky, told Vincent O’Brien he wanted to try for the Triple Crown, the experts all thought the horse would have too hard a race at Doncaster and put in jeopardy his Arc chances. Perhaps they were right as Nijinsky lost his unbeaten record at Longchamp. Yet Hislop and Englehard chanced their arm, they were brave and were of great service to both the sport and the racing public. Today’s owners are less likely to chance their arm and stick to the safest policy. Juddmonte kept Frankel in training as a 4-year-old, those his season was limited to a mile, except for his easy victory in the International at York over 10-furlongs.
True superstars on the flat, I am suggesting, win Group 1 races over 12-furlongs; they win the Epsom Derby, the King George & Queen Elisabeth Stakes and the Prix de L’arc de Triomphe. The St.James’ Palace and Sussex Stakes just do not cut the mustard when it comes to acquiring ‘superstar’ status’.

On a similar topic. Julian Muscat in the Tuesday column of the Racing Post asserted that ‘breeders avoid 12-furlong stallions like the plague,’ which, if true, is evidence that my belief has credence that breeders are ruining the sport by their excessive policy of breeding for speed not stamina. If this ‘trend’ continues or expands, racecourses can expect to close the majority of their acreage and grow hay or corn as only the straight course will ever be used in the future. All our famous races on the flat are over 12-furlongs or further, as with the Northumberland Plate this Saturday, yet all commercial breeders are interested in are speedy two-year-olds and horses of limited stamina. Breeders are basically one-dimensional, breeding for speed and the meat-men who lurk in the shadows at auction arenas. 

​As with most people, I like Charley Appleby and even though he represents the high table of horse racing, while I usually support the underdogs of the sport, I am pleased when he has a Group 1 winner. So, I was astonished to read in the Racing Post today that he was yesterday fined £750 for sending the wrong horse for a race at Southwell on March 14th. He joins a list of wrongdoers for this offence that not only includes Brien Ellison and Jessie Harrington but also, and more famously, Aidan O’Brien, though his error at Newmarket in the bad old days of government restrictions on our freedom was his representatives mixing-up two horses running in the same race and putting on them both the wrong racecard number but also the wrong jockeys.
Given the success of Charlie Appleby, you would think stable procedure would be watertight, yet somehow the wrong horse was loaded on to the horsebox. It begs the question where was the groom for that horse, the person must likely to have spotted the mistake? I realise the days when a groom would ‘do’ three-horses and would accompany those three-horses when they went to the racecourse. Perhaps these days it is more haphazard, perhaps horses no longer have dedicated grooms, with grooms randomly allotted different grooms on different days.
It does seem an offence of baffling negligence for a trainer to send the wrong horse to the races. Perhaps in March Charlie Appleby was in Dubai and in his absence, it was his staff who cocked-up and in all such manners whether he was at home or not is not an issue as the buck always stops with the trainer. If this was the case, I hope whoever ultimately was responsible for the error repaid Charlie the whole of the £750, though in general, as such mistakes can only be the result of sloppiness in the extreme, I would have thought the fine might have been double or treble the fine on this occasion. It does make you think if a trainer or his representatives can take the wrong horse to the races, what other mistakes are they capable of.
Having always considered Godolphin to be a well-run outfit, it sort of takes the gilt of the gingerbread to discover they are as human as the rest of us.

The road to hell is often paved with good intention, so it is said. Ascot have announced that the Windsor Castle will be run over 6-furlongs from next season, with the sires of runners having either won over 7-furlongs+ as a 2-year-old or over a mile+ as a 3-year-old. When this was announced I was broadly in agreement with the proposal as I believe everything that can be done to encourage the breeding for stamina, should be done. I now accept the argument of Eve Johnson Houghton (she is furious about the change) that the Windsor Castle represent one of the few opportunities at the Royal meeting for trainers like her to have the limelight of a winner. Richard Hughes has also chimed-in to accuse Royal Ascot of basically siding with the leviathans of the sport and allowing them the advantage in yet another Royal Ascot race.
My compromise in all of this would be keep the sire restrictions and 6-furlongs but add a stipulation that no runner should either have cost more than 50,000 guineas at auction or if home-bred must be sired by a stallion standing at no more than £2,500. Or something along those lines.

Scott Burton bemoans in the Tuesday Column of the Racing Post the decline of the Epsom Derby meeting. He makes several ideas that warrant consideration, though as with everyone else he gives no credence to going back to the traditional Derby date of the first Wednesday in June.
The first Wednesday in June was always my primary proposal, if only as an experiment, given the decline of the Derby meeting began with the switch to a Saturday. I am sure over the next few years we are going to see a different sort of Derby meeting and the sooner Jim Allen presents his image of Derby Meetings to come, the more dynamic the discussion on this topic will become.
I remain wedded to the proposal of a Triple Crown series involving the 2,000 Guineas, Derby and Eclipse (restricted to 3-year-olds) with a month between each race, April, May, June, with the race programme altered to accommodate such an arrangement, including moving Royal Ascot into the month of July, first week, perhaps.
How will this arrest declining attendance at Epsom? It probably would not. The solution to that dilemma will be determined by the inventions Jim Allen can put into place as the solution to the Jockey Club’s problem child lies outside of the racing surface. It must become an event worthy of the word ‘carnival’ being attached to the meeting, resembling Royal Ascot but clothed in smart casual.

​Ascot should be proud of their achievements last week. Yes, the weather played a strong hand in the near 5% rise in overall attendance, yet people do not decide on the day whether to attend Royal Ascot. Apparently, it can take a woman as long, if not longer, to plan their outfit as it took John Gosden to get his runners cherry ripe for the week. 
What I do not believe is that the sport should take a deep intake of breath and think all will be a bed of roses from now on in light of the increase in attendance at Royal Ascot, the most unique race-meeting in Europe, if not the world. In the same way as Aintree cannot be considered the equal of say Leicester or Hereford, the success of Royal Ascot is very unlikely to filter down to Redcar, Ripon or Salisbury, with those courses, for example, achieving a similar increase in attendance for every meeting from now until the close of play in late October.
Attendances at Epsom have sunk so low when compared to the good old days that it should be like picking low-hanging fruit for Jim Allen to boost attendance next season. The Cheltenham Festival, too, could easily see an upswing in attendance next season if they lowered the cost of entry and persuaded local hoteliers to stop ripping-off racegoers in need of a bed for the night.
The smaller racecourses that regularly achieve above average attendance and thus are the racecourses for other to learn from are Cartmel and Market Rasen, two country courses that outperform much larger metropolitan racecourses through simply knowing what their supporters expect of them. Newbury may not have directly learned the golden rule from either Cartmel or Market Rasen but it is now taking the same route to success by concentrating their publicity and marketing on the local population and then making race-days more than about the racing. What Ascot achieved last week was for people to enjoy the event even though perhaps a small majority did not watch a single race.
When horse racing first started, away from the match races at Newmarket, the racing was only one aspect of a local festival and that is where racecourses should be looking for an increase in attendances. Create a market place around the racing, have Punch and Judy stalls, ferret racing, a carnival, shopping malls for the members of the family not yet interested in horse racing, welcoming guides.
Royal Ascot is not the template for success for lesser racecourses but it is a good starting place for reinventing the horse racing brand.
Oh, and less race-meetings will ensure competitive racing as the real racing fan should not be overlooked. He or she is the foundation of the sport and we must build upon their shoulders, not take them for granted.

In the ‘Another View’ section of the Racing Post today, Denis Harney is critical of racing pundits for not being more savage in their appraisals of what they might consider blunders by jockeys. Of course, why wouldn’t he as everyone else feels a need to do so, he mentions the ride Kieran Shoemark gave Field of Gold in the 2,000 Guineas. No one mentions Mikhail Barzalona’s ride on Shadow of Light, hitting the front too early on a horse most people thought was a sprinter not a miler. He gets off scot-free while months down the line Shoemark is belittled for being beaten a nose, which suggests he delayed his run by one or two strides.
Jockeys, like you or me in our more sheltered lives, make mistakes from time to time. Do you not think Ryan Moore would like another go on Reaching High, a horse that finished out of the money yet still on the bridle? No, pundits should say it as they see it and racing does not need the equivalent of a Roy Keane. We should all remember that he was regularly sent-off during his days as a footballer and was far from many peoples’ favourite player. Jockeys, like all sports people, get enough abuse from the ignorant few on social media as it is, there is no need for professional journalists and t.v. presenters to weigh in, even if they are better informed. Ruby Walsh gets his punditry in the bulls eye, critical when required, though always with the insight of the true professional, and occasionally ending his thoughts with ‘well, that is my take on it’.

​On what I considered the best of the five-days, trust Luke Harvey to steal the I.T.V. show. There he was doing what he normally does at the start of racing but this time he is in a swimming pool in an adjacent garden, with his top hat on. Apparently only his cameraman knew of his plan. Comic genius.

Lazzat started this strategy of trying to steal the limelight by dumping James Doyle as he waved acknowledgement to the crowd before proceeding to canter off, head held high, down to the back-straight where he pulled-up to stand by the rail to take in the scene across to the Grandstand and all the fun of the fair. I dare say he had never seen anything like it before and was making up his mind whether he wanted to be a part of it. You could almost sense he was just taking it all in, the site of his greatest achievement, which might just be dumping his jockey in front of thousands. He then obviously thought he had better get back to the stables, to stop his people worrying about him, which he proceeded to accomplish at that same leisurely canter, slipping those who tried to spoil his fun, before submitting to the charms of his groom. Of course, the delay he was causing would have been far less if they had allowed Lazzat to continue to find his own way home but by then Lazzat, for the time-being, had become the focal point of the day.
Although James Doyle, when talking to the Queen blamed himself as ‘he should have stayed longer at the pony club’, the blame for the incident was wholly on the negligence of the trainer unfurling the sheet (under the nose of Lazzat) to be placed over all the winners at Royal Ascot this week.

On a day of great moments, Rebel’s Romance charmed everyone, as did William Buick’s reaction to his ‘best friend’s’ win in the Hardwicke, Europe’s richest Group 2, apparently. It is rare these days for a horse to win 18 races on the flat, especially at the highest level and yet there seems no reason why Rebel’s Romance should not add half-a-dozen more to his c.v. given he is such a game and honourable horse and also a gelding.
If more colts were gelded, as with Lazzat and Rebel’s Romance, flat racing would be better served. The flat stars are too much of the shooting star variety, here at the start of the season and gone by the start of the following season. It is time, for the overall good of the sport, for every major race to be opened-up to geldings. If the current generation of 3-year-olds are not good enough to defeat the older, gelded, generation, then we will have a mark of their true ability, which will make it easier to determine the order in the pantheon of great horses.

The reason Ascot can boast of a 5% upswing in attendance at this year’s Royal Ascot is a simple one, a good majority of those who attend are there not so much for the racing but for the social event. That is not a bad thing as it persuades people to think of racecourses as a place of entertainment and fun, and if a small majority become engaged with what goes on between the white rails, that will filter through the sport as a whole. I may rage about the out-of-date dress-code and the fashion aspect of Royal Ascot, and continue to believe the image of Royal Ascot is a poor look for the sport in need of attracting the attention of younger people, yet Royal Ascot remains as relevant today as in days gone-by.

Back to the dress-code. I believe wearing socks with sandals is abhorrent and people who commit this horror should be placed in the village stocks and left there. Men who wear shoes without socks, though a fashion crime of less abhorrence than sock-wearing sandal wearers, should not be subject to inspection from the dress-code wardens at Royal Ascot. Would someone get thrown-out if they walked about bare-foot, something I like to do outside on occasion (and always at home)? Would a Masai warrior be refused admission due to not wearing shoes or boots? Is underwear obligatory? Live and let live. Not ‘wear socks or be considered a social pariah’. Really, and we want to encourage young people to come racing!

Saturday, for me, allowed Royal Ascot 2025 to become one of the best Royal Ascots of recent years, though I do have a poor memory, remember. Field of Gold looks a horse of great potential but the three horses who impressed me the most were Trinity College (not sure why, he just looked a horse on the rise), Trawlerman, perhaps the ride of the week, and Rebel’s Romance, a true exhibit of what a racehorse should be.

​As I admitted recently, I am prone to xenophobia at times. I am not someone who can easily embrace the ‘hands across the sea’ mentality. I am English and, in all matters, especially when it comes to sporting events, I want us to defeat the foreign invaders. 
When it comes to the flat, I appreciate that if it were not for foreign investment and interest the sport would be so much poorer we would lag even further behind other racing jurisdictions and might be considered no more than a point-to-point set-up by comparison. It has ever been so, it seems, our reliance on foreign investment. In the 1930’s it was India that provided the sport with mega-rich men with the ambition to win our classics. In the sixties, seventies and eighties, it was American owners who paid out big at the sales or brought-over their home-breds. Mill Reef was owned by an Amercian, as was Nijinsky, as were many of Vincent O’Briens good horses.
The Americans obviously share a language with us and the majority of the names they gave their horses were easy on the English tongue. And that is the rub, at least with me. I do not blame our owners from the Arabic world, they want to name their horses in their own language, with words and phrases that are familiar to them and their families. It is the B.H.A. I blame for not insisting that the names of horses should be easy of the English tongue.
Entered today at Haydock and Lingfield are two horses named Aeih and Aajej. I could list a good few more that test the linguistic skills of dumbass racing fans like myself. Over jumps I have an issue with French names, especially the mangling of English words with French and cannot understand why horses imported from France cannot have their names translated into English before running in this country. Obviously, I would not expect this for horses trained in France that run in this country.
On the flat it is Arabic names that perplex. The word Aeih may translate into something quite beautiful in English. On the other hand it might be Arabic slang for something that if done in public would frighten the horses and cause maiden aunts to faint in horror. Do the B.H.A. get out the Arabic/English dictionary to ensure every name is respectable? Perhaps not; a few years ago the name Senip was registered, only for it to be changed when people complained it spelt penis backwards.
This, and the re-use of famous names from the past, irk me and when the name Spanish Steps was used by Coolmore a decade or so ago it inflicted grievous harm on me and set me on course for trying to do something about it. Fortunately, a lot of other people were aggrieved by the reuse of Spanish Steps and for a short while it became an issue, though not enough for us to march on B.H.A. headquarters to lay siege to the building.
Which is why when I started this website, I included a dedicated page that any owner can access to find a name they might take a fancy to. All for free, though I ask for a donation of £25 to any equine charity of their choice. I do not guarantee that every name on the ever-expanding list (I will be stopping soon as I must fend-off this obsession) will be accepted by the B.H.A., though I do my level best to ensure I do not replicate the name of a famous horse of the past and to keep within the 18-character restriction.

Gary Carroll won the Coronation Stakes yesterday on Cercene, the gloss though was taken off his success when it was announced he had broken the whip-rules, though not to the extent that Cercene will be disqualified. I am in no way being critical on a personal level to Carroll as I saw nothing untoward in his ride. He will undoubtedly receive a suspension of his licence come the whip review committee’s findings on Tuesday, possibly as much as 14-days and a large fine. But is this not a team game, owner, trainer, jockey, staff, the team on the racecourse and the team at home. In this instance Gary Carroll committed a professional foul. His ride was unprofessional. The team around him are accepting of his rule-breaking. To my eyes when a jockey breaks the whip rules, his or her lack of professionalism should be shared by the team as a whole. It is the only way we will ever break the cycle of winning at all costs, not that I believe for one moment that Carroll is guilty of ‘winning at all costs’. Megan Jordan was guilty of breaking the whip rules and the whole team received the sanction of losing the race. Did she use her whip twice more than Carroll? It is a slippery pole of an issue but to me if the rule is seven strikes and no more, more should not be sliced-up into portions. One more should equal disqualification, perhaps from first to second, perhaps from first to last. But the jockey who loses without breaking the rules should be rewarded and the one who broke the rules should suffer the consequences.