​Please, no tears for the amateurs’ loss of the National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, as with the exception of the Martin Pipe, they can ride in every other race, including the National Hunt Chase, and have two races restricted solely for their pleasure. The sport has evolved: once upon a time an amateur had to be someone who did not derive income from being employed in a racing stable; once upon a time the National Hunt Chase was restricted to maidens. And one final point, on welfare grounds, the qualification imposed on the National Hunt Chase back in 2019 (?) to ensure only the top amateurs were allowed to ride in the race, do not apply to the other races at the Festival. Although I did not get my dream of a Champion 4-mile Chase, I applaud Cheltenham’s decision to remove the rider restriction for the National Hunt Chase to allow professionals to ride in the race.

At Nakayama racecourse in Japan today there is a six-furlong race worth nigh on one-million-quid. The fifth horse past the post will win £94,000 smackaroos for its owner. Racing jurisdictions around the world seem to be scrambling to stage the world’s richest horse race, so much so, hand-on-heart, that I admit I am no longer sure which race presently holds the distinction.
Given how inept the structure for providing prize-money is in Britain, it would be a hopeless task to try to emulate the levels of prize money other countries can provide. Indeed, with the problems we are experiencing here with rising costs, a corrupt government, a diminishing pool of racehorses at the top level and so many of our good horses sold overseas, I would like to see a debate as to whether, in the short term, we should raise prize-money at the lower end of the scale and lower it at the top end, though with exceptions.
If it costs between £20,000 and £30,000 to keep a horse in training for 12-months, would there be benefit in spreading the total pool of prize-money so that races at the lowest and middle levels receive a boost so that one win, plus place-money, would pay to keep a horse in training. There was a time, you see, when the most an owner expected from a horse in training was for the horse to win in prize-money the same amount as he or she paid to keep it in training. Break even, it was said. Now, and ever-increasing, it seems to me, horses are seen as investments, with the sport as a secondary consideration. If we could climb to the point where every race was worth more than £10,000 at the lowest end, £15,000 at racing’s middle and £20,000 at the top tracks, with, obviously, Group races worth more, with £100,000 maximum, would this make the sport more cost-effective for owners at all levels of the sport?
As I said, there would be a few exceptions, the classics, Eclipse, Royal Ascot and so on, but no exorbitant prize-money, with far less Group races, corralling the better horses into the prestige races. A naïve idea, I suspect, with the wealthiest of owners frowning with dismay. Less racing but with each race worth more prize-money, less pointless Group and listed races, but more prize-money for ‘shoulder and mainstay’ races.

Cannot understand why trainers are allowed to take horses out of the big handicaps on the day of the race due to the change in ground conditions. Newmarket may have had good ground on declaration day for the Cambridgeshire but the weather forecast was clearly for a large volume of rain. Trainers cannot be certain what the ground might be by mid-afternoon, yet overnight several horses have been declared non-runners, with more, I fear, during the day. Surely it is a trainer’s responsibility to take weather forecasts into consideration when leaving a horse in a race at the 5-day declaration stage? To me, fines need to be larger in an effort to make trainers think twice or three-times before withdrawing due to ground conditions.

Bindaree died yesterday. He won the Grand National 22-years ago. Great respect must go to Nigel Twiston-Davies and his family for giving the horse a far longer retirement than he had as a racehorse. From age 5 to age 30 he lived at Grange Hill Farm. Nigel Twiston-Davies is a wonderful advertisement for this sport at a time when it is finally being recognised that racehorses must be cared-for from birth to the grave. Indeed, Nigel Twiston-Davies and his family should be awarded a blue plaque or a gold kitemark or something grander for their commitment to the welfare of horses that come into their care.

​It is not yet October, the Cambridgeshire is tomorrow, the Arc de Triomphe is just over the horizon, but we must focus on the Cheltenham Festival in March 2025. Pray, I live to see the drama unfold.
What must be taken into consideration is that the reason we are talking so feverously about the Cheltenham Festival long before the National Hunt season has got into fill swing is because we care about it; it is the home of our memories and to owners, trainers and jockeys it is home to their dreams. Cheltenham in March matters because horse racing matters. It is our hearts they tread on when it is criticised and used for self-interest, as the O’Leary brothers have chosen to do this week.
Cheltenham could not be allowed to remain as it was last March, and because everyone of us holds opinions as to how to breathe new life into the championship meeting, there was always going to be criticism and plaudits flying around the racing media. On September 27th 2024 we are all correct in our opinions; March 2025 will tell us how many of us were wrong, and that is the truth of it.
I did not get what I wanted from the change to the National Hunt Chase, though I got half of what I wanted. It is to become a handicap, which I do not favour, though it is better than leaving it as it was, though the restriction on amateur riders has been lifted and from this season it will be open to professionals. To my mind, the race should have been upgraded to a 4-mile Champion Chase and perhaps in time that might happen, especially if Cheltenham want the Festival to be seen as the home of quality.
People forget that for most of its history the National Hunt Chase was for maidens. It never was a race to attract quality even in the days when it was the marque race of the meeting. When the National Hunt Festival was inaugurated, the top jockeys were, in the main, still from the amateur ranks. Today, although there are many high-class amateurs, there are just not enough of them these days to have the experience to fulfil the qualification to ride in the race. Surely, if we want the best horses running at the Festival, we also want the best jockeys riding them. Amateurs still have two-races to display their skills and they should be happy with that quota, especially as, except for the Martin Pipe, in theory amateurs can ride in every other race that comprises the Festival.
I would have transferred the Turners to Trials Day, though I applaud the decision to make the race a handicap at the Festival. I think the other changes, as with no penalties for the mares novice hurdle, merely tinker round the edges. I would have restricted the top-rated mares from running in either the Mares Champion Hurdle (the title it should have) to encourage connections of the next Honeysuckle to run in the Champion Hurdle or the Mares Chase. To my mind, every effort should be made to ring-fence the 2-Mile Champion Chase, the Champion Hurdle and the Cheltenham Gold Cup, by making it a hard choice for trainers to bypass these races in favour of easier options at the Festival. Again, I think it would be a good idea to start a discussion as to whether the mares only races should be transferred to ‘Trials Day’ and turning that meeting into a 2-day affair, and reverting the Festival to three-days, at least until there is both an increase in horse numbers in training and people attending race-meetings. 
When a five-day Festival was mooted, I was fully in favour of giving it a go. But that was then. Now I think for many reasons it should revert to a 3-day meeting. In fact, I would suggest, as ‘Trails Day’ is often a damp squib, at least in comparison to the Dublin Racing Festival, that there might be two Festivals, a two-day affair in late January/early February, and then the main Festival in March. And do not bat down this idea because Nicky Henderson and others would not want to run their top horses twice in six-weeks! If Galopin des Champ and State Man can win at both meetings, then so can Constitution Hill and Sir Gino.
When the ship is sinking, tinkering around the edges of the drama is rarely likely to succeed in righting the ship. Radical, quick-minded decisions are needed to save the day, and that is my main criticism of the changes announced this week. Do they go far enough?

​The doom and gloom about racing these days just becomes ever doomier and gloomier. Apart from Flooring Porter’s exhilarating display of front running at Listowel yesterday, today’s edition of the Racing Post hardly raises a smile, let alone offer hope for the future. It is not the fault of those with columns in the newspaper; it is as it is, unfortunately. Just as our politicians in power seem intent on making life more difficult for all sectors of society except the sector, of course, they themselves operate in, horse racing is made hidebound by those paid large salaries to provide insight and leadership to a sport that has never needed those qualities more than at any time in the sport’s history.
Let us begin with the still swollen race-program in Britain, the failure of Premier Racing to either boost attendance or to attract interest from mainstream media, the lack of an overall strategy for the future and so on and so on. Wrestling control of the sport away from the Jockey Club was supposed, if my memory serves me adequately, to be in the greater interests of the sport and yet here we are decades later still trapped in a maelstrom of inactivity, feet dragging and battles tainted with self-interest.
There is a consensus amongst the majority that there are too many Group and Grade 1 races in both Britian and Ireland. Easily changed, one would have thought. There are not enough horses in training in both Britain and Ireland for the programme of races, especially in the former. Some, misguidedly, are of the opinion that the B.H.A. should legislate against horses of limited ability, as if pruning from the bottom will be of benefit to those at the top echelon of the sport. To legislate against the lowest banded horses would ensure more trainers go the wall and the sport would lose ever more owners. The pruning must be the same as pruning a hedge, from the top.
When this topic comes up for debate, the elephant in the room is not even in the room. The purpose of all-weather racing was to ensure betting turnover during the winter months, yet here we are with all-weather racing all the year round. Unless the plan is for all-weather tracks to supersede turf tracks, then we have too many all-weather racecourses, and certainly too many races run on an artificial surface. Rather like electric cars, which apart from the ease upon which they catch fire and that they are fundamentally environmentally unfriendly, they do have a place in modern motoring, fifteen-minute cities and all that, and all-weather has its place in the sport, but only as a back-up, a safety-net, with the occasional glory-day. It has grown too large and needs reining in.
If Britain is to have a successful summer jumping program, the B.H.A. must look to Ireland, to its racing festivals, of which Listowel’s Harvest Festival meeting seems a good template. The program in Ireland through the summer caters for all-types of horses, from dual Cheltenham Festival winners like Flooring Porter, to top-flight handicappers and novices of all types.
At least the morally bankrupt Labour Party were voted into office, even if less than one third of the population voted for the bastards. The B.H.A. and its stakeholders are invited into power. I believe this is plain wrong and we should push for a system when those who apply for such positions, from C.E.O. to any position of influence within the governance structure, should stand for election and not interviewed and approved by other non-elected officials. Owners of racehorses, racecourses, leading betting industry officials, should be asked to vote for their favoured candidate, as should trainers, their staff, jockeys, agents, valets, Racing Post readers and racegoers. Employees of the B.H.A. should not be eligible to vote. If there are those involved in B.H.A. committees and sub-committees in favour of revolution rather than evolution then my suggestion is just what the doctor ordered as we must have the right people with long experience of horses and racing in the right positions. Influential positions within the sport should not be earned on the basis of ‘jobs for the boys’ or a high salary and 3-day week for services elsewhere in the political spectrum. 
The stagnation has gone on too long and threatens the very existence of the sport. It is time for those responsible for the feet-dragging to stand before an electorate and take the flak head-on. Hiding behind non-disclosure and closed doors should not be an option. Lives and jobs depend on stakeholders standing shoulder-to-shoulder with dedicated, honourable front-line workers.

​It is too easy for someone like me, someone looking-in from the comfort, or in my particular case an uncomfortable settee, and question the efforts of people who are far more skilled than I shall ever be and with far greater experience.
Stalls handlers, on a daily basis, go where the rest of us fear to tread. Horses, I believe, never want to kill or injury people; they do though feel a need, when in the mood, to break the bond of trust and push people away. Stalls handlers walk this line and it is only through their innate knowledge of horses and the kindness of fate that it is a rare occasion when one of the team gets injured during the course of their work. They are, to an extent, the forgotten heroes of the sport, with, perhaps, only jockeys who are wholly appreciative of their efforts.
I do often wonder if the loading procedure could be more hastily executed. Routine, as advocated by none other than Aidan O’Brien, is key to keeping horses calm and the present system of odd numbers first and then even numbers, project, to the eye of the horses, a jumbled effect which, I suggest, the overly-excited or agitated horse would find confusing. I dare say the present method was the result of scientific trials and is in use throughout the racing world. Yet what I see is half the handlers standing around waiting for an obdurate horse to be loaded, whereas I would like to see stall 1 loaded first, then stall 2, stall 3 and so on, with the next horse to be loaded always waiting a few yards away to step forward. And as with many other people, I am of the opinion, despite the brilliance and bravery on behalf of owner, jockey, trainer and punter alike, of the handlers, obdurate horses are given too much rope and should only being given two attempts to load or a time limit. I am convinced horses loaded early, if they are overly-excited or nervy, are disadvantages by having to wait, especially if they cannot see where the fuss and bother is coming from.
Loading could be snappier, that is all I am saying. Some horses do not need a handler to load as they will just walk straight in. If jockeys were to say ‘mine will load on his own’, this will free-up handlers to go to the next horse to load. The fractious horses, no matter the system of loading, should be left to last, the privilege coming with restrictions on time they will be allowed to load.
Getting races off on time should be considered as important, if not more so, than the rights of those connected to horses that are difficult to load. I am interested to know if 1, 2, 3, would work more efficiently than 2, 4, 6, or 1, 3, 5.

Some Saturdays you, or at least I, look at the tv. racing fare and think ‘bit ordinary’ and fear falling asleep, as I did halfway through ‘The Morning Show’ yesterday. On Saturday morning, that was my opinion. Come 4 in the afternoon and my cynicism was thrown to the wind. It was memorable day. Top of the shop was Not So Sleepy winning the Autumn Cup at Newbury at the remarkable age of 12 and in the manner he might have won a similar grade of race 6, 7 or 8-years ago. 12 is old for a 3-mile chaser, for a flat horse it is as rare as good news. Yes, horses will occasionally win at that age on the flat but normally it is race at the lowest end of the scale. Not So Sleepy won at Newbury in what was a good class handicap, giving away weight to most of his rivals and age to all of them.
We will miss him, though not so much as Hughie Morrison and his staff. As he said of the old boy last season. ‘He’s a challenge. Every morning, I ponder what exercise to give him and every morning he decides whether he wants to do it.’ Hurdles and the flat came alike to him when in the mood and we will always remember both the chaos he caused in the Fighting Fifth as much as his wins in that race.
I hope he lives a long and happy retirement.
Then there was Karl Burke training the first 3 home in the ultra-competitive Ayr Cup Gold.
Frannie Norton ending his career with 3-winners at Chester.
If it were fiction, the reader would hardly believe it. Yet, yesterday, in the real world of no-holds-barred horse racing, a 12-year-old won on the day of his retirement, a trainer worried his horses were out-of-form had the first 3 in one of the most important flat races of the season, and another ‘old boy’ rides 3-winners on the day of his retirement. All it lacked was Karl Burke as the trainer of Not So Sleepy and for the horse to be ridden by Franny Norton.
But that would be as sweet as National Velvet, would it not? And, by the way, in the book National Velvet did not win the National as it was noticed that Elisabeth Taylor was a mere woman – it was not noticed she was an unlicensed jockey – and was disqualified. Mind you, being an old cynic, I prefer that sort of conclusion to fiction as it is more akin to the ‘never give a sucker a break’ lives we all mostly live. That said, Not So Sleepy brought tears to my eyes.

​I admit it, I do not understand the buzz around City of Troy. Yes, he is a top-class racehorse; the best 3-year-old of his generation. Thus far that can only be the highest of accolades given to him on account of his form this season. The worst of it is, we will only get one more chance to judge him on a racecourse and that will be at far away Del Mar at the Breeders Cup jamboree in a race that has more credence given it than it deserves. In my opinion, the races worth winning on the flat are not necessarily the races with the largest amount of prize-money thrown at them. When the Arc becomes less prestigious than a Breeders Cup race, well, to use my favourite phrase, the sport is going to hell in a handcart.
So, it took me by surprise to learn today that Southwell expect to open their gates to 1,500 people when City of Troy gallops a mile at the course next week in preparation for his ‘bid for some sort of fake immortality’. 
This being a Ballydoyle expedition it is unsurprising that it is being planned with military type strategy. Not only will City of Troy have four of his mates accompany him on the flight over, along with, I suspect, a similar number of Ballydoyle’s top work riders, but Coolmore’s own vets, stalls staff and a set of American style starting stalls. All this and the surface at Southwell will bear little resemblance to the ground the horse will race upon at Del Mar. But people of rare genius think out-of-the-box, their rank of genius based on all the decisions they have got right in the past, when the majority thought him wrong.
Where Southwell has missed out is that instead of allowing onlookers free entry to the work-out, they should have charged £1 or more and donated that money to one of the rehabilitation equine charities, R.o.R. or as the fun and intrigue is provided by Ireland’s best, Treo Eile.

Irish Champions Weekend continues to frustrate. In the coldest month of winter, Leopardstown can be rammed for the Dublin Racing Festival, yet be half-empty on a warm autumn day for its most important flat meeting in the calendar, with the Curragh proving equally disappointing.
My idea of a solution would be to either stage both days at Leopardstown, both days at the Curragh, to stage the meeting in alternate years at the two courses or go mad and think of staging it at a lesser racecourse that has the potential for drawing in the crowds. Dividing a meeting between two different locations, to me, does not make the I.C.W. like a joined-up experience. It is as if they could not make a decision of which of the two racecourses deserved the prestige of staging the meeting and when they tossed the coin it fell upright in the mud – ‘by gad, it is a sign by God that we must use both of the racecourses!’

In the Racing Post today there was an interview with Irish trainer Pat O’Donnell and what a breath of fresh air it proved to be. A man who speaks from the hip, tells it as he sees it, and yet talks common-sense.  A man with diverse interests in life, devoted to racing and the small number of horses he trains, a family man with justified complaints on how society is being frog-boiled to eventually destroy or diminish all he holds dear. He lit up York with his enthusiasm and his view should be regularly sought when a topic requires being spiked with a good old dose of clear and unbiased thinking. And this sent a thought to the front of my thinking.
I have always been an advocate of a citizens’ forums to oversee the decisions made by our parliaments. In Britain, I would scrap the House of Lords in favour of such a sounding board of sober and intelligent men and women.
Perhaps horse racing might benefit from a forum of wise racing men and women, a cabinet of the non-elected where every change can be debated, disected and on occasion vetoed by those most affected by rule change. In Ireland, though there are many who might chair such a forum, after his interview today, I would have no hesitation is putting forward the name of Pat O’Donnell.

​Cheltenham’s management have seen sense and changed the ‘Turners’, the 2-mile-4-furlong novice chase to a handicap. What they have not yet done, which I advise them to do, is transfer the ‘Turners’ as it was to what is known as ‘Trials Day’ in order to maintain a 2-mile-4-furlong championship race for novice chasers. This transfer would allow trainers to decide whether to target the Arkle or the Brown Advisory for their intermediate novice chasers at the Cheltenham Festival.
Cheltenham also propose to return the cross-country race to a handicap, thus denying the once highly-rated chasers, usually trained in Ireland, a race which is more or less a lap of honour for them. The notion that every race at the Festival should be a championship race of one sort or another has proved detrimental to the well-being of the meeting and opening-up the cross-country to every trainer in Britain and Ireland, allows the smaller trainer and owner an opportunity of Cheltenham glory and is to be applauded. 
Of course, the race most in need of revamping is the amateur riders National Hunt Chase, a race that might as well be confined to runners trained by Willie Mullins or Gordon Elliott given the recent record of the race or at least horses from Ireland. I remain convinced, as much of a traditionalist as I am, that the race has run its course and should be upgraded to a 4-mile Champion Chase, with novices receiving a weight concession and opened-up to professional jockeys. The meeting has lost two championship races, why not, perhaps as a three-year trial, give it one back in the form of a stayers’ championship race, thus allowing Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott to direct the horses that might have run in the cross-country to the new championship race?

Franny Norton is to join Jimmy Quinn in retiring from the saddle. Quinn intends to finish at the end of the turf season, while Norton will bring a halt to his successful career at his beloved Chester this coming Saturday. Franny Norton was one of those jockeys who bridged the gap between journeyman and highly successful, riding over 2,000 winners, along with a fistful of group winners and several major handicaps. His retirement will leave a hole in the jockeys roster at Kingsley Park Farm, which, as will always be the case in racing, someone will speedily step-up to fill. Not that there will ever be another Franny Norton riding for Charlie Johnson.

When it comes to Group 1’s and classics, though she has only a French Oaks to her name, I suggest that not only is Hollie Doyle the most successful female jockey currently but also the most successful throughout the history of the sport in all racing jurisdictions. In the U.S., Julie Crone outstrips her when it comes to number of winners in her career – she rode over 3,000 – and though big prizes came her way, I will be surprised if her tally of Grade I’s was higher than Hollie’s haul, which I believe to be 10 or 11, though on Sunday I was adding Trueshan’s Cadran success to the total when he was ridden by the other Doyle on that occasion due to Hollie being on a suspension. I have asked The Racing Post’s John Randall for clarification. Of course, in my shambolic way of things, I muddled my initial question by not stipulating Group and Graded races as my point of direction.

Finally, sadly, though pleasurably, it appears Bryony Frost has settled very nicely in France and considers the country her new home and is forging a successful career, winning races a plenty and no doubt pleasing her new employers no end. Soon, that 3Ib allowance females receive in France will become a talking point as giving an exceptional talent like Bryony a head start will not please the male jockeys she is competition with.
I hope or perhaps pray that when Daryl Jacobs calls time on his career, Isaac Souede and Simon Munir will consider appointing Bryony to the position as their number 1 and she will be repatriated to her home country and more importantly her home county. Having championed her since the day she won the Cheltenham Foxhunter, I will miss not seeing her name on race-cards, especially when Paul Nicholls has one low in the weights for a big handicap. It almost feels like the end of a love affair, albeit a one-sided, long-distance affair of the heart between two people who have never met and most likely never will. I wonder if Paul Nicholls will miss her?

​The Brueghels’ were painters. There was Jan the Elder, also known as ‘Velvet’, a fact breeders will want to note when naming the offspring they breed from Jan Brueghel the St. Leger Winner, Jan Brueghal the younger, basically copied the style and subject-matter of his father and gained so little fame no sobriquet was attached to him. Then there was Pieter Brueghel, also known as ‘Peasant’ Breughel, who was influenced by the mad art of Hieronymus Bosch. He was followed by Pieter the Younger, also known as ‘Hell’ Bruegel due to his fascination with depicting the devil, hags and robbers. If he were alive today he would doubtless be court painter to the United Nations or the World Economic Forum.
Sadly, not one member of the Brueghel dynasty was noted for painting racehorses. Perhaps not one of them could master the art of painting a horse in movement, unlike many of their profession who thought horses raced with a gait not dissimilar to a rocking-horse and have suffered ridicule for all the years after their death.
Jan Brueghel, also known as the ‘Equine’ Brueghel, gallops with the grace of a Keily Hodgkinson and the power of an express train and could turn out to be one of the better St. Leger winners of recent years. Not that it has changed my view of the St. Leger, that it is a classic dying on its feet and is in need of reinvention, though this year’s renewal, I must admit, was a zinger, a race for the ages, as some might say. Illinois played his part in a sizzling finish that perhaps went to the horse with greater depths of stamina, while the second might go on to prove more effective at 12-furlongs. The downside of yesterday’s St. Leger is yet another Group I or classic at 12-furlongs+ has gone for export. Where are the British-trained stayers? Yes, Economics, but how often will we see him beyond 10-furlongs next season?

Unlike Ed Chamberlain and Lee Mottershead, I see no value in having the most unpopular Prime Minister in the history of the position attending a high-level race-meeting. His wife, perhaps; his children, undoubtedly. But not ‘Two-Tier’ Kier, a man who has no problem with putting the lives of the elderly and frail at risk by withdrawing their winter fuel allowance, while greedily and hypocritically accepting thousands-of-pounds of tax-payers money through fuel allowances granted to him and his ministers on ‘expenses’. The man should be banned from the sport, not lauded as good publicity, which to most of us he is not.

How good is Economics? How reliable as a marker is Auguster Rodin? Certainly, we have learned that Economics is a fighter. Yet scrapping for a win is not a trait that can be placed alongside Auguste Rodin’s attributes. Economics is almost certain to win the Champion Stakes at Ascot and will complete his first season with a very high rating. Next season we will discover if he deserves the accolades being laid at his feet. I am also, rather like his brilliant trainer, not of the opinion that he will improve for 12-furlongs and I doubt if William Haggas will be in any hurry to find out as the money and stallion value is pegged to 10-furlong races in our modern speed orientated world. Oh, I thought Marquand was exceptional yesterday.

On ‘The Morning Show’, we were given a glimpse of Bay City Roller coming off the lorry and walking into the racecourse stables. As soon as saw his head I fell for him. In the parade ring my initial thoughts were doubled or trebled. During the race I watched with eyes that might be described as ‘smug’. I doubt he will ever win by far and might battle for victories rather than win ‘Nijinsky’ style. But he is a racehorse and I wish George Scott plain sailing with him between now and next April. If he were mine, I would stop for this season and dream of what might be to come. He is by New Bay, so there is a chance he might stay 12-furlongs. I hope so, as these 10 and 12-furlong horses I find rather boring.

​Phillipa Cooper, owner of Sweet William, is too nice to be constantly doorstepped by Matt Chapman. I like Matt, do not get me wrong, but he is a slightly smelly cheese compared to the rose aroma of Phillipa, or Mrs. Cooper as I suppose I should address her.
What is more, she is everything a breeder of racehorses should be. She embraces the history of the sport, emphasising that her fellow breeders should forego speed, speed, speed and return to the breeding of more stoutly bred horses. To her, as it is to me, the ‘Cup’ races on the flat are the only races worth their salt and if were not for them, perhaps, the history of our sport might have been short-lived. Although her horses are given time to mature by her trainer John Gosden, now aided by his son Thaddeus, who will doubtless continue in the same vein when his father steps aside, and the prospect of winning any other type of race other than a race over 14-furlongs+ is given little consideration, it would be a boon for the sport if she should some day own and breed a horse happy at 12-furlongs and perhaps be precocious enough to be thought of as a Derby horse.
Owned by anyone other than someone with such a depth of feeling for the horses she breeds at Normanby Stud, and trained by someone who fully understands and appreciates the ethos of the owner, would Sweet William have reached the heights he is presenting attaining? Great owners deserve great reward. May you grace our racecourses for another fifty-years, Mrs. Cooper.
One little thing, and this addressed to Matt Chapman. Phillipa Cooper will always be the breeder of Gregory. Just because she summoned-up the courage to sell the horse to Wathnam – not their cleverest purchase, I suggest -she has not given-up the privilege of breeding the horse. A small matter, as I said, though Matt does keep saying ‘former breeder’ when he should be saying ‘former owner’. I suspect as part of the deal she asked Wathnam if she could have the horse back when his racing days are over. Mrs. Cooper is that type of breeder. Yesterday she told Matt that the day before she had gone to visit Samuel, the horse that won her a Doncaster Cup back in 2010. She also looked-in on the dam of Samuel. That is why she is one of favourite owners and I even forgive her for beating Trueshan.

Just want to say what a fine ride Amy Waugh gave Faylaq – son of an Arc winner – in the first race at York yesterday. If that had been Murphy, Moore, Buick or Marquand, the praise would have been effusive. As a 3lb claimer the praise was more muted. Also, Jim Goldie is greatly under-estimated as a trainer.

I used to love the St. Leger. It was my favourite classic and one of my favourite flat races. This year’s renewal has been described as ‘boutique’, which is a way of suggesting it might not be overly competitive and with too small a number of runners to justify its position as a ‘classic’. The St. Leger is dying and is only kept breathing relevance due to Coolmore’s persistence in remaining faithful to their stoutly-bred colts, fillies, stallions and broodmares. If ‘the lads’ were to decide to go with fashion and turn their operation to a speed-dominated operation, the staying division would  nosedive into obscurity. That said, I hope Sunway wins today and give his French, though English-based, trainer a deserved big winner.

Why o why o why does the St. Leger have to clash with Irish Champions Weekend? Why? Is it so overwhelmingly difficult for the B.H.A. and the I.H.R.B. to get together to draw-up their respective racing calendars so that the two top autumn race-meetings are staged at least a week apart? As things stand, there are no less than three major staying races in a two-day period, two of them being St. Legers, the other one of the triple crown Cup races. It is right stupid, downright lazy, ridiculously inefficient.

​From a source unconnected to horse racing, I discovered the fate of a Canadian jockey who died in mysterious circumstances in 1948.
If you research the history of U.S. Triple Crown winners, you will doubtless only find a passing reference to Al Snider, a Canadian who was finding fame in the U.S. prior to his disappearance. Eddie Arcaro went on to ride Citation, the winner in 1948 of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes. It was, I suppose, appropriate that Arcaro should inherit the ride on the great horse as he was among Snider’s best friends.
Albert Snider had won 9-races on Citation and it would have been10 if the fates had allowed him to be aboard the horse for the first of the Triple Crown races. Citation was owned by Calumet Farms, owned by Admiral Gene Markey, who was also aboard the Evelyn K, owned by John Campbell, New York racing secretary, and the day before Snider’s disappearance, he had offered Snider the position of contract rider for Calumet. We do not know if Snider accepted the offer, though as Calumet had the top stable in the U.S. at the time, winning major race after major race, it would seem unlikely Snider would have turned the offer down.
The Evelyn K was anchored off the Florida Keys and Snider, a keen fisherman, and two others, Tobe Trotter and Canadian businessman Don Frazier, decided to while away the time before supper by taking the skiff, strangely designed by Eddie Arcaro, to undertake some fishing. They said they would be back within an hour. They were fishing in shallow water, close to the shore and until the storm took shape they could be seen from the 65-ft yacht. After the storm, the three men were never seen again. The storm was intense enough to topple a 70-foot elevator tower on Miami Beach and it was said the storm was unusual as it took shape very quickly, becoming dark equally speedily, with lightning throughout.
Coincidentally, sheltering from the very same storm was the yacht Tonga, with actor Gregory Peck aboard. 20-years later Peck owned Different Class, 3rd in the 1968 Grand National. He also owned Owen Sedge, 7th in the 1963 Grand National.
During the air, sea and land search for the 3-men, a pilot noticed footprints on a small island in the Florida Keys. When searched with sniffer dogs, a scent was picked-up but petered-out halfway across the island.
The skiff washed-up 10-days later, on rocks in the Keys, completely empty. The men all wore life-preservers, yet none were found. One oar, though, was found floating in the sea.
The mystery was compounded when Tony Trotter, son of Tobe Trotter, received phone calls from Cuba. What transpired during these calls is not recorded, though the suggestion is that they were either silent or menacing.
Because of these phone-calls, Snider’s daughter, 7 at the time, was taken out of school for her safety. Later in life, when talking about the mystery of her father’s disappearance, she said she thought a likely explanation, if foul play was involved, was that her father had been approached to stop a horse and he had refused. Gangs of horse-stoppers were prevalent at the time.
As by all accounts, the storm was intense and began quite soon after the 3-men left the Evelyn K and they were seen actively fishing in the short interlude before the storm played its hand, how likely is it than any criminal activity could have taken place? If foul play was involved, my only thought is that someone on board the Evelyn K must have scuppered the skiff prior to the 3-men setting off for their fishing expedition, allowing it to sink once the storm took effect.
Adding to the theory of foul play, though it might have been a hoax, of course, was a note washed-up in a bottle on the shoreline 4-months after the disappearance. It read: ‘Help. One dead. Al.S.’

​These are relevant facts: Mr Hanlon offered false and misleading to investigating I.H.R.B. officials.
Failure of a veterinary surgeon retained by Mr. Hanlon to complete an entry in the passport of the deceased animal regarding the previous administration of a medical product prohibited in a food-producing animal.
Mr. Hanlon’s conduct was also referred to.
Mr. Hanlon had misled the I.H.R.B. officials in the early stages of the investigation in relation to the issue of who had attempted to secure the covering of the deceased animal with a tarpaulin and who drove the horsebox and when the tarpaulin had been recovered after the incident.
Mr. Hanlon was in breach on the basis he remained responsible for checking and ensuring the relevant sections of a passport are updated, even when a veterinary surgeon was retained for the purpose.
The horse in question was found to have died during the night in a ‘private paddock’. I am not certain whether ‘private paddock’ refers to somewhere outside of Hanlon’s premises or just a paddock away from the stable area. The age or sex of the horse was not mentioned.
Reading the official report on the I.H.R.B. website I was surprised to find little to be critical about. The ‘little’ was this: although the buck should always stop with the trainer, and there is no doubt Hanlon was guilty as charged; a trainer operates in a world of practicalities. Yes, the rules are there for good reason and should be adhered to at all times. The truth though is this; a horse carcass is not easy to handle. It is almost impossible to transport a dead horse in an enclosed lorry, for instance, and a fore-end loader or tractor is necessary for the lifting the body on to a trailer. For most people, certainly non-farming people, this is an unpleasant and undignified operation. If, as he stated, Hanlon was waiting most of the day for someone to arrive with a tractor, while in the mean time he was extremely busy with the business of training the horses under his care, to anyone with knowledge of a busy work environment, it is understandable, due to time constraints, if the loading of the carcass onto the trailer was carried out in a haphazard and hasty fashion, with Hanlon leaving the covering of the deceased animal with a tarpaulin left to his staff.
Hanlon will have learned much from this incident. He is a larger-than-life character and will be chastened to be in the spotlight for failings on both his part and on the reliability of his staff to undertake not to act in a manner that undermines his reputation.
It must be said that this case was not an animal welfare issue. When the I.H.R.B. officials inspected the stables and the horses they found no fault, neither with paperwork nor the condition of the horses.
The problem I have, having now read the official report, is that Hanlon’s case was not heard in isolation as it was clear by statements from the referral committee that a television documentary aired days before regarding animal welfare across not only Ireland but Europe, in which Hanlon appeared positively, pushed them to, perhaps, be more severe in their sentencing than they might have if the television documentary had not appeared so close to the enquiry.
Also, and here I repeat myself, compared to the Mahon case, which involved animal cruelty that sickened and appalled, in which a prison sentence would have been appropriate, the verdict was a 3-year suspension of a trainers’ licence, though not banned from the sport as he was allowed to seek work in the industry. 3-years was a soft suspension, as Hanlon’s 10-months, with, perhaps, five-months suspended, was harsh.
Luke Comer only received a 12-month suspension after being found grossly negligent, with skeletal equine remains found on his land and no records of which horses had perished. The fact he offered to donate £20,000 to Ireland’s equivalent of our R.o.R. a mitigating factor in his lenient punishment, I suggest.
Having read the official report, although I respect the sentiments of the committee, I remain convinced that Hanlon’s punishment is disproportionate to the offence and by making a mountain out of a molehill, the I.H.R.A. are equally bringing the sport into disrepute. The 2,000 euro fine and a six-month suspended sentence would have served a better purpose. Hanlon would still be guilty as charged, he would have received a hard rap over the knuckles and learned a valued lesson.