​Not all proposals have legs, including mine own. And while some proposals leap from the page as unconsidered common-sense, others might only have a grain of possibility about them.
In today’s Racing Post, Jonny Pearson makes the argument that British racing should copy the success of the Melbourne Cup and inject our racing programme with some Group 1 handicaps. Firstly, I am grateful for Jonny Pearson bringing to my attention that the Melbourne Cup is a Group 1. In my ignorance this fact had escaped me all these years. Secondly, and this applies also to our Little National at Aintree, why does Australia’s most famous and prestigious race need any classification other than its title? The Melbourne Cup is the Melbourne Cup – it is one of the world’s greatest, if not greatest, flat races. It is Australia’s equivalent to Aintree’s ‘Little’ National. 
The proposal, though, is worthy of debate, with York’s Ebor the most obvious candidate for Group 1 status. I am of the opinion that none of our traditional Group 1’s are in need of being turned into Group 1 handicaps, and cannot imagine a race like the Ebor would be improved by being upgraded to Group 1 class.
Where the idea has genuine possibilities, in my estimation, is lower down the echelon of higher-grade races. To me, there are far too many listed races, all for the purpose of giving as much black type to as many fillies and mares as the stud-book will sustain. It is nonsense to me that the value of a filly or mare rises substantially if it should have finished fourth of five in a listed race on the all-weather. Although, through the season, many of these races can be competitive, as they are seen as easy stepping-stones to future glory by our leading stables, often they are uncompetitive due to one horse dominating the market. Here is where I would start having Group status handicaps. Group 3, obviously.
In fact, I would like to designate all Group 3 races as limited handicaps, thus allowing badly-handicapped horses the opportunity of winning races again and, again, hopefully, stopping what is usual for Group 3’s, one horse dominated races. Unlike National Hunt trainers, I believe their leading flat contemporaries, as they have access to blue-blooded home-bred colts and fillies, can have an easy time of it with so many listed and Group 2 and 3 races that are in the calendar with them especially in mind.
Let us start by transforming half the listed races in the calendar into handicaps and all of the Group 3’s into valuable limited handicaps. Leave the Group 2’s alone and perhaps consider having a single Group 1 handicap, whether that be a new race, one of the ‘lesser’ traditional Group 1’s or to upgrade one of the present prestige handicaps, the Ebor being the most obvious candidate.

Due to a toothache that is not a toothache until, without warning or due to any interference on my part, becomes a raging bull of a pain, I allowed myself to indulge in YouTube videos featuring the irreplaceable Alastair Down, many of which were uploaded by the Racing Post. In one video, he took the viewer, after giving away his address, on his traditional car journey to Cheltenham racecourse. Unscripted, with only a cameraman for company, he took us to Stow-on-the-Wold, over the high plains of the Cotswold, to Winchcombe and Postlip, allowing us an insight into his encyclopaedic knowledge of wars 1 and 2, local knowledge – ‘slaughter’, as in Lower and Higher, apparently is an old English word for ‘very muddy’ – and a reminder of who Kim Muir was and why he is honoured with having a race named after him at the Cheltenham Festival. He also stopped off at the Old Plough at Ford to give it a plug as the most popular drinking establishment during his beloved Cheltenham Festival. It was a small tour-de-force that only someone of Alastair’s calibre could achieve.
I expect Cheltenham have it in hand, but I hope Alastair is the next of racing’s dignitaries to have the National Hunt Chase named in his honour.

​Mister McGoldrick, named after the heart surgeon who helped save his owner’s life, and won at long odds at the Cheltenham Festival, died this summer aged 27. He was very much a northern equine hero, trained for most of his career by Sue Smith, and as ‘a mark of respect to him’ and to remind their patrons of all he achieved, especially as an ambassador for the ‘New Beginnings’ equine charity, Wetherby have named a new bar in his honour, ‘McGoldrick’s’. This is exactly what I like to see – horses being respected, even when they have passed from our lives. I hope anyone attending a meeting at Wetherby will patronise ‘McGoldrick’s’ and raise a glass in memory of the old horse.

The ground at Bangor on Wednesday is described as soft, good-to-soft in places. No doubt there will be a healthy number of runners in each race. Trainers have been salivating in wait of ground described as ‘soft’ for many weeks and like an oasis in a desert they have their wish.
Now, and here I must criticise the B.H.A. Not for the prevailing weather but for failing to be proactive and asking Bangor to shoehorn a novice chase open to geldings into their programme of races. Not just as a kindness to Nicky Henderson who will soon be seen on a racecourse donning a wig, given the amount of hair-pulling he has indulged in lately. Which is a shame as he must be the only male trainer in the country with a more flourishing head of hair than his stable jockey.
Given the long-term weather forecast last week, with no appreciable amount of rain on the charts, the B.H.A. could have approached Bangor, inquired about the state of the ground and upon hearing the word ‘soft’ suggested the inclusion of a novice chase over 2-mile 4. If a whole meeting can be organised overnight when frost or snow knocks out meeting after meeting, inserting one race into a meeting should be easy-peasy. All that was required was foresight, something those working at the B.H.A. sadly lack.

The Chelmsford voided race was yet another example of what can go wrong will eventually go wrong. I believe it is has never happened before on a British racecourse, though as a tractor was central to the close-to-catastrophe, someone might have posed the question ‘what do we do if the stalls cannot be removed from the track due to a mechanical issue?’
Of course, when would be the appropriate moment to sound the alarm if the stalls remained on the track during a race? There needs to be a protocol in place. The race could be at the halfway point before the stalls are removed. I am sure the alarm should be sounded once the horses reach the halfway point, not before. And that is what I believe should be the protocol. The starter should be able to activate a siren situated on the back straight, accompanied by flashing red lights, to warn the jockeys that they must ease-up as there is an obstruction on the racecourse. In fact, the starter could void a race in this way for any circumstance that might lead to catastrophe – looses horses proceeding in the wrong direction, as one example.
I hope the inquiry does not seek to apportion blame. This was a one-in-a-thousand incident and all is required is for a protocol to be put in place should something similar happen in the future. On this occasion, the starter should be praised for running down the course with a flag to warn the jockeys they needed to pull-up. It was his actions that saved the day every bit as much as the skill of the jockeys.

​Two weeks ago, the ex George Boughey trained Via Sistina won the Cox Plate, perhaps Australia’s most famous and prestigious race after the Melbourne Cup, in a track record time, with some informed commentators describing her victory as better than any of Winx’s multiple wins in the race. If she were trained in this country or Ireland, with the exception of Aidan O’Brien, she would not be seen on a racecourse again for a month or even longer. Yet yesterday she ran in another Group 1 and won just as impressively as in winning the Cox Plate. She is now expected to be named the world’s best horse when the international ratings are published. Food for thought!
Now you may say that in Australia, as with most overseas countries, less travelling is involved for horses, but that is not true on this occasion. I confess I do not know in which state Via Sistina is trained – yes, I could look it up but it has little bearing on the point I am about to make – but I do know the Cox Plate is not at Melbourne, so travelling was required in order to win both races.
Very few young trainers take out a licence without gaining experience as pupil or assistant at stables across the world. Yet when it comes to training horses under their care, they seem to stick with traditional philosophies of how to train. The horse that won the Melbourne Cup last season, What A Fight, is it, ran over 10-furlongs yesterday. Australian owners will purchase horses from Britain and Ireland that were considered 10-furlong horses with the Melbourne Cup in mind, yet when trained in Britain and Ireland those horses would have, in the main, never been tried over a distance ground beyond what their breeding suggested would be their best trip. More food for thought!
Aidan O’Brien is considered to be the greatest trainer of racehorses of modern times. His record suggests he has no peers in the history of flat racing full stop. His horses are trained seven-day-a-week, with no easy day as is the norm in most other stables. He sticks avidly to routine, with the same riders on the same horses, with each day very much the same as the day before. He is open about his training methods, with many present-day trainers having either worked under him or have visited Ballydoyle ‘for the experience of being there’. Yet how many stables operate in a similar manner to Aidan? He is the most admired trainer of my lifetime, if not of all-time, yet his philosophy is not routinely imitated.
Aidan will run a near top-class two-year-old ten-times and still get improvement as the season nears its conclusion. He will run more than one horse in a race, without fear of ruining the reputation of the horses who do not win. It is a selective policy, yes, but would either Gosden or Balding do the same?
Economics is not a good example as he was a late developing colt, but would Aidan have put the horse on hold between the Dante and late Autumn? I suspect not as he believes horses develop better through being raced. I tend to think trainers should be looking to copy Aidan’s methods, to proceed with caution to educate and physical develop, to accumulate data, such as ground preference. When push came to shove on Champions’ Day, Economics crashed and burned, perhaps due to the ground. William Haggis is a brilliant trainer and I would not doubt him for one moment, and his decision to miss the Derby was unquestionably correct, yet I suspect Aidan would have had Economics at Royal Ascot, if only for the experience.
If Via Sistina can win two Group 1’s in two-weeks, it should be within the capabilities of most thoroughbreds, if only connections would be as bold as their Australian counterparts.

If Doncaster cannot protect the reputation and heritage of the November Handicap, and the Lincoln, for that matter, by ensuring prize-money is the equal to all the other heritage handicaps, the race should be taken away from them and given to another northern racecourse. York, I would suggest.

I saw only decent ground at Exeter, as with Wincanton and Aintree yesterday and all three racecourses deserved more competitive fields. Ffos Las today has ground conditions described as good-to-soft ground and has many more potentially top-flight young horses running there than the three aforementioned racecourses put together. Nicky Henderson is prepared to run two of his nicest youngsters at his beloved Kempton on ground described as good, yet had nothing at Exeter and Wincanton on similar ground. We have cold weather on its way, with possible frost and snow in places but no significant amounts of rain. So, the situation is not going to improve any day soon. Clerks of the Courses will come to the rescue by watering profusely; so, when the rains do come, trainers had better not be critical of their decision-making when little rainfall in the weeks ahead turns ground conditions soft-to-heavy.

​Fate, of course, might determine the most talented in any sport are denied the recognition their ability seemed to afford them. Yet as mere mortals there is nothing we can do to mitigate against the wishes of the unseen gods of fate. Harry Cobden is first jockey to Paul Nicholls and our current champion jockey for no other reason than fate has not interfered with his ascent to where he now sits. He is the best we have but that does not illuminate falls that injury and put him on the sidelines. He is gifted but more importantly he is industrious and committed to being the best he can be.
Others are not so fortunate and must work at the coalface of the sport for limited rewards and limited opportunity. These men and women, under both codes of the sport, the journeyman/women of our sport, labour just as hard as those at the higher echelons, ride out for more stables, drive just as many miles and fail to finish in more races than, say, Harry Cobden who may appear for one ride, win and then be driven home by his chauffeur satisfied with his day.
During my perusal of the letters I have been fortunate to have published in the Racing Post over the past 20-years, many of my observations and ideas revolved around fairness to all, equine and human. To my mind, in a sport where integrity is vital to the ‘social licence’, where stewards are always on the lookout for jockeys giving horses an ‘easy’ ride, and are of a sceptical mindset whenever a gamble, honest or dodgy, is landed, the sport might do itself a service if it did all it could to ensure every jockey, trainer and owner, were allowed the opportunity to earn a decent reward at the job.
It is why I was aggrieved when the fabulous four in Ireland, Messrs Mullins, Elliott, Cromwell and De Bromhead, threatened legal action when it was proposed to safeguard sixty-races a season for the sole benefit of all the other trainers in Ireland who did not win 50-races the previous season. I am, as a rule, highly critical of the Irish authorities, but on this occasion I thought them, if not ahead of the curve, ahead of the B.H.A.. A trainer who can afford to pay his bills, put food on the table for his family, must be less likely to be persuaded to break the rules of racing. They should not be given five-course meals and champagne but these hard-working trainers deserve a fair opportunity to at least have the resources to pay their staff and have a little left over to have butter on their bread. Whether the ‘fabulous four’ are close to being millionaires I do not care to know but for them to behave like elites and to demand the ‘little people’ should be forced to exist on the scraps from their table was, and remains, sickening.
Jockeys, too, would be less likely to be persuaded to break the rules if they were provided with greater opportunity to impress their skills upon owners, trainers and the public. I suggested a small number of races per week could be restricted to jockeys who had ridden less than (any number you care to suggest). Perhaps one race in the north, one in the Midlands, one in the south, per week. It would hardly make a dent in the earnings of the top jockeys if they could not ride in three-races per week or somewhere close to 140-races per year.
Owners, too, could be better accommodated if races could occasionally be restricted to horses that had not won a race in an eighteen-month period or even races restricted to the very worst rated. Critics of such schemes seem to forget the worst rated horses help to fund the wages of those who look after them. Lose those horses from the sport and their owners may not replace them.
For the sport to thrive and survive everyone presently involved in the sport should be looked after by those who govern the sport. The B.H.A. are misguided in their elitist approach to the sport, with resources given over to the Ascots and Yorks, with less resources provided for the racecourses that are the very bedrock of the sport. Fakenham and Ripon are as important to our sport as Cheltenham and Goodwood.
When a trainer is forced by financial necessity to exit the sport, we lose talent, knowledge and most importantly, an employer. When a jockey is forced to move abroad to find greater opportunity, the sport loses skill, dedication and an employee. The B.H.A. should think about this and be pro-active in giving everyone presently employed in the sport a sporting chance of making a living from something that is not mere sport but a life choice.

​Yes, I am an admirer of Bryony Frost as a jockey. Yes, in a recent poll I voted for her as my favourite jockey. Yes, she is the grand-daughter I have never had.
Yet, name me another jockey who can get on the front page of the Racing Post simply for a flying visit to Exeter racecourse for two rides, neither of whom are favourite? And do not suggest Frankie Dettori as he would not even know there is a racecourse on Haldon Hill or be able to name any racecourse located in Devon.
Bryony has sparkle and the locals, at least, love her. Her presence today at Exeter will swell attendance and if she wins on either of her mounts, both of which have a squeak, the applause will ring out long and loud. She rides for Paul Nicholls and her father Jimmy, though the first is at the behest of the owner, a man who has horses in training on both sides of the Channel. Of course, Bryony won the Red Rum at Aintree last April on San Bruit, a ride that the ever reluctant to praise or either mention her described as ‘brilliant’. The owner thought so too, hence his request for Bryony to come over from France to keep the partnership intact. Hopefully, when commitments allow, she will be making the trip over a good few more times this winter. I miss her.

The weather is testing the patience of trainers at the moment, especially Nicky Henderson who is pulling his hair out at being unable to unleash his battalion of potential top-class novice chasers. Although, for someone of his age, he still has need to comb his hair in the morning, he cannot become complacent and if this ‘anticyclonic gloom’ continues for much longer he may be bald come Boxing Day.
Actually, I am finding comfort in this dry, and for the time of year, warm, spell, as it reminds me of days of yore when the opening meetings at Ascot and Cheltenham would be plagued by dry ground, often described as firm, with trainers setting-up prayer meetings in hope of the gods, any god, providing rainstorms. Yes, good ground is now the new firm. Back then, in the days of Josh Gifford and Stan Mellor, racecourses did not have state of the art watering systems and two and three-runner races were accepted with gratitude as they were better than walk-overs. With a few exceptions, ground conditions are described as no worse than good at the moment, with selective watering to maintain that description. Come the Festival, do you think these same trainers would be complaining of ground described as good?
I am perplexed by trainers not being fined for taking horses out on the day of a race when the ground is exactly as described when declarations were made. In France, fines are excessive, especially for major races, not mere drops in the oceans when fines are handed out by our stewards. Half the value of the race should be the fine imposed; that should persuade trainers to value risk over caution. Or the fact they have eyed an easier race in a few-days time!

I am not criticising the magnificent work of those people who organise charity race-days. I am critical, though, of our sport raising six-figure sums to help fund cures and treatment for cancer and other human deceases, while in comparison doing far less to raise funds for equine charities. I feel we are shooting ourselves in the foot by promoting our awareness of human illness while giving the impression our equine companions are of less importance to us. It should be the other way around. Pat Smullen Cancer Trials Ireland Charity Race raised 240,000 euros, a fine and honourable achievement, a splendid way to honour a fine man. But why is there no drive to raise a similar amount for the aftercare of horses or to help fund cures for equine decease?

​The French are never slow to publicly demonstrate their opposition to laws or the intentions of their government they believe to be unfair. I only wish the British would replicate their noble actions. The French government, as with our despicable Labour governing party, have defended pushing-up tax levied on horse racing by claiming there is a big hole in public finances. Given the shed-loads of money wasted on the covid experiment, should we be surprised that governments around the world are having to save pennies with draconian measures against the vulnerable while continuing to spend mega-bucks on projects influential elites might consider of greater importance than giving benefit to uneconomical eaters?
What is impressive is that it seems the whole of the racing industry in France rallied shoulder-to-shoulder in opposing this attack on the industry, including the trotting side of racing in France. Jobs will be lost if the French government do not concede entirely on this matter. Already the French parliament has voted down the bill to increase taxation on racing, though, although making assertions that they want to protect the sport, the minister at the forefront of raising taxation has said he intends to find an alternative way to squeeze more money out of the sport.
If only the sport in this country had come together to voice its anger on the streets of London about the Gambling Commission’s missionary zeal to have government and bookmakers prying into the private financial matters of ordinary punters in order to save the souls of those afflicted by their addiction to on-line betting, namely bingo and poker sites.

Michael Stoute has his final runner as a trainer today at Nottingham. Firstly, I hope the horse, Wanderlust, wins, and secondly, I hope the sport in general gives Sir Michael the sort of send-off heroes of the sport deserves. Usually, as with Sir Henry Cecil, our heroes from the training ranks die suddenly and our appreciation can only be posthumous. Sir Michael is alive and, though perhaps not 100% hale and hearty – he is 79 when all said and done – he deserves to be honoured for both the success Freemason Lodge has been associated with during his long tenure but also for being well-liked by his peers and respected by the public for all the time he has held a trainers’ licence. He is one of those legendary trainers who in fifty and hundred-years-time whose name will resonate as John Porter, Fred Darling, Capt. Boyd-Rochfort and the Jarvis and Waugh family, do today.
Back in the day, when a jockey retired, for instance, his colleagues would organise a dinner, with every jockey who had ridden against him invited to speak in eulogy about him. I hope Sir Michael is similarly feted. A bottle of champagne and a framed photograph will not be nearly suitable given all he has achieved in the sport.

While I verge from sceptical to critical about the Bleeders’ Cup, I have to admit that the Melbourne Cup is one of the races that can vie for being ‘the greatest horse race in the world’, as the winning jockey described the race last Tuesday. Although the veterinary pantomime that preceded this season’s St. Leger winner, Jan Brueghel, from taking part detracts somewhat from the lead-up to the race, the race itself is everything the racing fan can expect from a race. A lot of runners, foreign invaders to give intrigue, the high possibility that a complete outsider might prevail, thereby encouraging the world and his wife to have a bet and the host racecourse seemingly as fair and attractive as any in the world. I would have liked a British or Irish-trained winner but that was not to be, especially as Joseph O’Brien did not have a runner this year, though he did formally train the third home, but it was nice to have the winner trained by one of the less dominant Australian trainers, which allows romance to bloom once-in-a-while. A note there for Aintree to take on board.

Surprise, surprise, Luke Comer jnr has won his appeal against his suspension from the sport. It seemed to me at the time of the enquiry into the discovery of equine bones found on a forested part of his land that there was no direct evidence to suggest the remains were anything to do with him. No DNA to trace to horses formally trained by him or even the age of the remains. To me, of course, firstly, he should not have been found guilty of the claim against him, and secondly, the same leniency should have been applied to Shark Hanlon. But that is Irish racing justice for you. Selective. One might say that as Comer jnr’s father, also subject to a banning order, is a major sponsor of Irish racing, that a deal might have been struck. I am not saying it has. I hope not. But it was my prevailing thought after reading about the success of Luke Comer’s appeal.

​Out of the blue, as was the announcement of his passing, he rang me one evening and I could hardly believe it was him. He was responding to a letter published in the Racing Post on the subject of one of my many hobby-horses, owners being allowed to register the name of a famous horse on to a lesser kind of racehorse. Why he chose to take time out of his life to speak to a total stranger, I cannot say? I had no idea then and all these years later I remain mystified why I was so honoured. Perhaps he was bored. Perhaps he hoped I say something illuminating that he could hang an article around. I suspect I disappointed him.
Thinking about it now, in the letter I may have been questioning the 18-character rule of naming racehorses and veered off-course by also referencing the lack of respect afforded to horses who had strained every sinew when alive to entertain and enthral us only to have their name re-used a few years after their retirement. The names of racehorses are pathways to memory, remember.
He was, broadly speaking, in support of my position and I hoped our short conversation might provoke him into writing an article on the subject; his weight of reputation might have spurred the B.H.A. to introduce a cherished list of names that would have protected the names of our famous equine heroes and heroines long into the future, alongside the names of classic winners, Grand National, Cheltenham Gold Cup winners, etc, that are debarred from ever being used again.
I remember saying to him, mainly, I believe, to prolong the honour of speaking with him, that the name Rondetto might yet reappear on a racecard. He seemed to be hurt or possibly offended by the possibility and I reminded him that though Rondetto won many races at the top level, he had not achieved success in one of the races that would allow his name to die with him. Rondetto, I know, was Alastair’s favourite racehorse.
Apart from owning a copy of ‘The Best of Alastair Down’, a Racing Post publication, a celebration of his life’s work up 2015 and a horse racing book of the year award winner, this brief telephone conversation is the only personal association I had with the great man and I envy those who knew him as either a friend or a colleague.
John Francome once said of Alastair Down, that it was wrong that he (John) had many books published, while Alastair had not bothered himself to write any, a fact he put down to laziness. Or words to that effect. And that is the one blot on Alastair’s professional life; he has left us with so few books with his name on the spine to adorn our book-shelves. ‘The Best Of …’ will be the next book I reread. 
May he rest in peace on the windswept Cleeve Hill where he has requested his ashes to be spread and the spirits of all the great horses of National Hunt he wrote about pass-by to pay their respects to the greatest writer on racing there has ever been, and doubtless always will be.

David Jennings, a fair writer of quality prose himself, interrupted his preamble to the Breeders’ Cup to pay his respects to the great man. A nice touch.
Jennings suggested that people either love the Breeders’ Cup or loathe it. He is wrong in his assessment. The third position is the one I take. I am indifferent to it. It moves me not one iota. In America, cheating was considered okay as long as you got away with it. It is only now, where the ‘social licence’ has become a stick to beat the sport, that the U.S. is caring more for the horses on the track and going against the tide in an effort to catch the cheats. Also, dirt is a crap surface to race horses on. The Breeders’ Cup is an American invention, a beanfeast for the multi-millionaires. All tinsel and razzmatazz. It is not for me. That said, I hope City of Troy is successful in his bid to give Coolmore all that it desires and I would like Bradsell to win for Holly.

It is inappropriate that Alastair Down should pass from us at the time of year when expectation and suspense is about to become a reality of surprise and attribution. November, the best time of year. We will see State Man, Constitution Hill, Galopin Des Champs, all the young talent at Closutton and Cullentra and many many more, during this month. And it begins today with Gerri Colombe and Hewick at Down Royal and Bravemansgame at Wetherby. Let me live at least until after the Little Grand National and a little beyond. It is all I ask. After all, I have outlived Alastiar, and that too is wrong!