​Yesterday, 30-minutes before the scheduled start of the meeting, Ludlow held yet another inspection and on the advice of jockeys abandoned the meeting due to parts of the course still being frozen. Clerks of the Course are damned if they do and damned if they do not and no one should be under any illusions as to the intricacies and difficulties that come with the job. This meeting was called-off, no so much for the patches of frost, but due to health and safety concerns for man and beast. And that was, for all I can know, a fair judgement call.
Although the temperature had risen to only 3-degrees above freezing, while the forecast suggested it would be 6-degrees, the majority of the racecourse must have been fit to race given the stewards were giving racing every chance of taking place. What might be done in these circumstances, other than abandon, you might ask? Well, it might be a large financial investment, even if such a tool or machine exists, and if not, it is in need of invention, but in non-freezing conditions would not some form of hot-air blower be the answer?
Most diesel-powered machines create at least a limited amount of heat, so an engineer with knowledge of the problem should be able to design a tool for the job. After all, if you pour warm water on frozen ground, it soon becomes thawed and as long as the temperature remains above zero the ground will not return to its frozen state.  
Given the limited necessity for such a machine, perhaps racecourses, or racecourse owners, could band together, if such machines already exist, and purchase three or four to be dispensed around the country, with clerks able to hire one for the day a day in advance if it looks even-money their fixture falling foul to frost.
Other than that, perhaps, as would have been tried back in the day – Catterick succeeded using this method a long time ago – herding sheep around the racecourse might prove beneficial, their tiny hoofs taking the frost from the ground.

I am an advocate of ‘copying the Irish’ and following Ollie Murphy’s complaint that there are not enough Bumpers confined to conditional jockeys, I again think we should, in amended form, ‘copy the Irish.’
In Ireland, as we all know, Bumpers are confined to amateur jockeys and in modern times are organised as a benefit to Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott who between them gobble-up most of these races much like locusts denying poor African farmers healthy living. The system as it is works nicely in Ireland and they would not appreciate anyone, especially a Brit, challenging the quid pro quo. 
Yet Ollie Murphy provides a cogent argument. Bumpers would provide excellent schooling grounds for young conditional jockeys and perhaps all Bumpers, outside of Graded Bumpers, and should be off-limits to professional jockeys. Young riders are in many ways the back-bone of most stables, even if their employers might find it difficult to get them rides on the racecourse. It seems a bit mad that a teenage conditional can have his or her first experience of a horse race over hurdles or even fences but has limited opportunity in National Hunt flat races.

The more I get to know about Godolphin, the more I am impressed by their sincerity. In the U.S., Godolphin have not one but two retirement studs for their broodmares, and I assume their former stallions. In today’s breeding column in the Racing Post, we are informed that Hatoof, winner of the Newmarket 1,000-Guineas 33-years ago, is alive and well at Gainsbrough Stud, Kentucky. At 36-years of age, she might well be the oldest thoroughbred in the world. It is reported that she has wonderful feet, even though she has not had shoes on since she retired, as 5-year-old, from racing. She prefers to live outside, even in bad weather, though ice-storms forced her to sleep in a barn for two-nights recently.
Three cheers for Godolphin and their commitment to caring for their elderly bloodstock. Perhaps our government should take a leaf from their book when it comes to caring for its elderly human bloodstock?

​I believe it is time to start or restart the debate on whether female professionals over jumps should be given a 3 or 4Ib allowance once they have ridden-out their conditional allowance at 90-winners. (Or is it 75 over jumps?) In France, both on the flat and over jumps, in races of no prestige, females get a 4Ib (though it might be kilo or whatever currency they use for weights on the continent), a circumstance that might have encouraged Isaac Souede and Simon Munir to engage Bryony Frost as their retained rider in France. I may be doing Bryony an injustice and the allowance never entered the equation. 
When this subject first came to the table, as a direct result of the allowance being introduced in France, an initiative to encourage French owners and trainers to give females a sporting chance to establish themselves, Rachael Blackmore had come to the fore in Ireland and Bryony was winning Grade 1 races in Britain and the scene was beginning to look rosy in the diversity stakes. Yet, even if Rachael Blackmore has continued to add Grade 1’s to her c.v., there is no one following in her wake in Ireland – literally no one – and with Bryony now based in France, there is no female riding in any Grade 1’s in Britain and only occasionally in the major handicaps.
In itself it is not a problem, if it were not for the fact that the sport prides itself on its diversity, an equal opportunities sport where men and women compete on a level playing field. I would argue, though, and Paul Nicholls said on more than one occasion that he would give Bryony more rides if only certain owners would play ball, that there are many an owner and trainer who would say no to a female riding their horses on the racecourse, especially in races of importance.
It is for this reason, to encourage female jockeys to keep up the good fight and to give good reason for owners to say yes to a female rider, that this is a good time to kick-start the debate. The sport must thrive in all its aspects and it needs female participation at all levels. Remember, if you can see it, you can be it.
In France, females do not receive an allowance in good-class races. It is only in ordinary races where they receive the allowance. But is it fair that someone of her experience, Britain’s best and most successful female National Hunt jockey, should receive an allowance? I do not think so. Although I would support an allowance for female jockeys in Britain, I would take away the allowance once 125 or perhaps 150-winners has been achieved, though I would have the allowance for all races, excluding the Blue Riband races, the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle, for example.
Our most successful female National Hunt jockey at the moment is Lily Pinchin and you will have to look a long way down the jockeys’ championship table to discover how many winners she has achieved this season. As with many jockeys, male and female, her current total of winners does not reflect either her commitment or ability. I dare say she might say, as was said when this subject came up for discussion a few years ago, that female jockeys wanted to achieve success through their own endeavours and without favour, as Hayley Turner commentated, though, ‘if you find a five-pound-note on the ground, you pick it up.’
Lily Pinchin must be close to or above a hundred career winners and this initiative, if brought-in, would be of only limited use to her, though it might allow her a few days in the sun which without it she might go her whole career not achieving. As I say repeatedly, everyone who works hard in this sport deserves an opportunity to prove themselves. This sport needs another Bryony Frost. She proved able at the top table, as did Lizzie Kelly and Bridget Andrews when opportunity came their way. And then there is the shining example of Rachael Blackmore who was getting nowhere fast until Eddie O’Leary spotted her potential and used his influence to get people to give her a chance. An allowance would give the next Blackmore or Frost a fighting chance to establish themselves. That is all I am saying.

​Everyone has their opinion on which race Noel and Amanda should run Il Est Francois in at the Cheltenham Festival. Personally, I believe they have given themselves an unnecessary headache. Il Est Francois may have the early pace to lead a 2-Mile Champion Chase, yet unlike in his two runs at Kempton, his rivals at Cheltenham will have the ability to lay up close to him, and why are they thinking him a speed horse when only last season their objective was the Grand Steep, a race over 3-miles and more furlongs than the Gold Cup?
In my opinion, for what it is worth, if they believe the horse does not possess the stamina to be competitive in the Gold Cup, the obvious cure for their self-imposed headache would be the Ryanair, a race which requires a mixture of speed and stamina. Ruby Walsh, I believe, advocates the 2-Mile Champion Chase for Il Est Francois as his presence would set-up the race nicely for either Energumene and Gaelic Warrior to pounce at the bottom of the hill. A strong pace would also prove useful to Jonbon.
If Banbridge runs in the Ryanair, Banbridge wins. Though I hope Ronnie Bartlett will see the Gold Cup this year as perhaps his only chance of having a live chance of winning the race. Banbridge stayed on nicely at Kempton and Paul Townend is of the opinion that he sees no reason why he would not see out the extra 2-furlongs at Cheltenham, even if he thought the Ryanair would be his choice for Banbridge  at the Festival.

I do not have a racecourse within fifty miles of me, so I cannot make any claims about how Taunton, Exeter or Newton Abbot market themselves in their respective local areas. But in light of what came out of the Racing Post’s ‘Project Spotlight’ last week, the vox populi (opinion of the people of Kingston, at least) seemed to suggest that horse racing was a sport for the idle rich and not the hoi polloi, if Kingston has any hoi polloi living in its vicinity.
If I had any say in how to get more local people to a racecourse, I would suggest, along with one free entry meeting per year, leafleting the nearby towns and villages and along with days on which they race, racecourses should include price of entry and season badges, plus concessions for O.A.P.’s and emphasise both the free entry at all meetings for accompanied children under the age of sixteen and the facilities to keep said children entertained. Picnic areas are good, also.

James Bowen spent a good half-hour trapped under the half-ton of Saunton Surf at Ffos Las last Saturday, his leg trapped in an iron at one stage (freed by the passing Ben Jones), his head dangerously close to the mare’s hind legs. Although young James had a long time to contemplate his future and how he might use his time if he ended up in hospital should the tired mare decide to suddenly raise herself from the ground, it was a magnificent effort by all concerned to extricate Bowen from his perilous position, while ensuring the welfare of Saunton Surf. Horse racing should award medals for people who excel during an emergency such as occurred at Ffos Las. Incidentally, Ffos Las looked a wonderful racecourse in scenic surroundings. A great venue for a summer festival.

While it looks long odds the Cheltenham Gold Cup will be kept on the mantelpiece of a British-based owner for the twelve-months after March, I do think it is complacent of ‘experts’ to ignore the chances of L’Homme Presse. He is 33/1 and on all known form has a better chance than Grey Dawning in being in with a chance jumping the second-last. He was quietly fancied by many last season, leading the pack into the straight before Galopin Des Champs went for home. Providing he wins his next race, I would not be in the least surprised to see him finish in the first three this time around, and, as it is said many times, many ways, you should never be scared of one horse, no matter how long odds-on it is.

The Hunter Chase season is upon us and I will again be left wondering where the star hunters have gone. In front of me, I have a biography of Baulking Green, star hunter chaser of the mid 1960’s, winner of 24 of his 38-races. Also, a book on Flying Ace, star hunter from the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, a horse who won a staggering 59 races, point-to-point and hunter chases.
There must be a reason why horses such as these two admirable warriors can no longer be found in British hunter chases.

​I admit that I would fail a test involving calculating odds along the lines of the cumulative odds of a 9/1 winner, 5/4 winner and a 1/2 winner. In sixty-years of following racing the maths of racing can still bamboozle me. So, the thought of changing from fractional odds to decimal odds ‘worries’ me. And all to appease the once-in-a-while racegoer who struggle to understand bookmakers’ odds. What would follow the introduction of the decimalisation of odds? Furlongs replaced by metres or whatever the foreign currency used abroad might be? Whips replaced by feather-dusters to appease – oh, actually, yes, I am one of those objectors who would like to see whips carried but not used in earnest more than once.
Fractional odds are not exactly rocket-science. 9/1, £1 to win 9 plus the return of stake-money. 5/4, £4 to win 5. 1/2, £2 to win £1 plus return of stakes money. £5 at 9/1 = 9x5= £45 plus stake-money. Simples. Instead of throwing the baby out with the bath water, why not in the middle of racecards publish the return of a winning bet at all the odds bookmakers’ currently use. Educate from the top down, not dumb-down by educating from the bottom up.
If we are sincere in wanting to engage more with the public, to put more feet on more racecourses, start by ridding the sport of out-of-date traditions. Dress-codes are so last year, though more last century. Allow people to attend a race-meeting dressed how they see fit, within reason, of course. The same with Royal Ascot and Derby Day, morning suits are completely unsuitable attire for an outdoor sport. If people want to wear clothes more fitting a cathedral wedding, then sobeit. But it should not be regulated. It is so unfair that women can wear loose-fitting clothing, while the menfolk must wear a tie, top-hat and long-tailed coat. 
And racegoers should be allowed to go where they please, except where the horses go, obviously, and not kept in enclosures as if Queen Victoria might be attending. And employ people to answer any queries newcomers might have. Ensure good facilities for kids and do what is humanly possible to keep food prices as low as possible. Make money on alcohol, as the more expensive it is, the less people will drink and the happier and more relaxed the atmosphere will be for those who attend a race-meeting for the sport. And mix-it up a little between the white lines. Pony races to start a meeting, for example, a display of retired horses, occasionally. 
And to begin with, more free-entry meetings or free coach services from the local cities and towns. Concessions for the elderly, raffles, all of what they do at the Shergar Cup meeting. Etc. Etc.

Salvator Mundi looked a bag of tricks at Punchestown yesterday. Paul Townend quite often earns his money by false pretences, riding odds-on favourites that only require pointing in a forwardly direction. Yesterday he should have earned a bonus. He said afterwards that he knows the horse can jump but he did not jump with good intent at any hurdle as Townend could not afford to allow him to jump with precision for fear he might take-off with him. My fear is that the atmosphere at Cheltenham might fry his brain and Townend will be unable to restrain him. But then at Tipperary back in May he made all the running and won by the length of the straight. You would not want to back him for the Supreme until you see him cantering (hopefully) to the start. Remember the atmosphere at the Festival is at its most frenzied in the build-up to the first race.

People, and journalists, continue to advocate the scrapping of races that currently form part of the Cheltenham Festival. Already trainers and owners have lost the intermediate novice chase, some want the Mares Hurdle scrapped (I merely want the conditions changed to prevent mares of Champion Hurdle class from running in it) while now there is a call for the Ryanair to be binned in order to improve the standard and number of horses running in the Gold Cup.
Why lose these races when they might be run either earlier in the season at, for instance, what is now referred to as ‘Trials Day’ even though it has practically no relevance to what might happen at the Festival, or later in the season at Aintree?
What is required, to my mind, of course, is a Mares Champion Hurdle and perhaps the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown might be the most appropriate home for such a race. If Cheltenham were to ditch its ineffectual ‘Trials Day’ and replace it with a Gloucestershire Racing Festival or a ‘Festival Part One’ meeting, both the Ryanair and the intermediate novice chase could be transferred to headline the meeting.
There is a need for these races. By abandoning them, while it improves the competitiveness of the Cheltenham Festival, it takes away opportunities for the owners of horses who are neither 2-mile Champion Chase candidates or Gold Cup horses.

​At Punchestown today there is a Beginners’ Chase, the condition of which are – ‘for horses that have not won a chase and which at entering are rated 110 or less over hurdles’. I realise we are not comparing apples with apples when dealing with novices in Ireland and Britain and to do what they do in Ireland in Britain might not be the correct answer to many of our problems but …..
Novice chases are far from competitive in Britain, even those with five-figure prize-funds at Ascot or Cheltenham, for example. Novice handicap chases fare better and Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls have started to give them more love than in the past, due no doubt to a situation that can be dubbed Hobson’s Choice. In Britain we need more horses running in chases per se and something needs to be done hasty-fashion to encourage owners and trainers to run horses over fences. As far as I am aware there are no races in Britain that replicate the conditions of the Punchestown race today and novice chases that cater solely for the lower rated hurdler, and by definition allowing the smaller owner/trainers an opportunity where the big boys are unlikely to be in opposition, kills two birds with one storm, as it gives the lesser novice a race in which to be competitive and allows the smaller owner and the smaller trainer the chance to win a race.
To my mind, the better novice chasers should be directed, as Nicky Henderson would agree, to the novice conditions chases around the big tracks, with Beginners Chases kept, in the main, to the lower rated horses. I always have it in the back of my mind that there are good horses lurking in the background that do not get the opportunity to learn the art of jumping a steeplechase fence as they must forever take on speedier and higher-rated horses, even round places like Fontwell Plumpton or Warwick.
The racing calendar should cater for the novice chaser in the same way bumper horses are catered for. Every horse deserves the opportunity of progression through the ranks and copying Ireland in this respect might be the right road to travel. 
I refer you to the embarrassing yet wholly understandable 5 British-trained entries for the Cheltenham Gold Cup. The Irish programme of races produces a whole raft of good novice chasers every year, yet in Britain we choose not to follow suit. Perhaps we should. We cannot expect 16-runner novice chases as is regularly the case in Ireland, but from green shoots and all that …

I dislike the term ‘National’ applied to races that display no similarity to real ‘Nationals’. The worst case, of course, is the American Grand National’ which is a hurdle races over a distance so far short of a ‘National’ distance to make the race laughable. Then there is the ‘Amateur National’ at Punchestown today run over 2-mile 6-furlongs.
Clearly the word ‘National’ in respect to horse racing needs to be more clearly defined. Here goes: ‘National’, a steeplechase run over a distance of no less than 3-mile 4-furlongs.
And while I am in full moan, how about the term ‘Marathon’ when applied to flat racing. If a race over 2-miles is termed a marathon, then a race of 2-miles 4-furlongs must be an ultra-marathon, which is daft as there are two flat races in the calendar over further, which might make them ‘Iron-Horse’ races. I might add the term ‘Long Distance’ to this rant as 1-mile 6-furlongs is far from a long distance for a thoroughbred to run over.
Why, for instance, the Long Distance Cup cannot be called the 2-Mile Cup is beyond me. Even the term ‘Stayers’ irks me as in some countries, the U.S. for instance, any race above 10-furlongs is thought-of as a race for stayers, not speed horses.
The word ‘marathon’, when applied to flat racing, should be scrapped, as should the term ‘long distance’ as they are without a definition that could possibly be associated with horse racing. I prefer a ‘2-mile horse’ or 2-miler or a horse with the stamina for 2-miles +.

Is the ‘Winter Millions’ a good idea? Do you not think the valuable races run this week at Windsor and Ascot can only dilute further the classier races between now and the Cheltenham Festival? I applaud the good intention involved and the reopening as a National Hunt course of Windsor needs a chorus of ‘he’s a jolly good fellow’ for whoever first came up with the idea. Yet is it not the problem that there are too many ‘class races’ at a time when the pool of ‘class’ horses in training at the present time is limited, which is exactly why some big prize races have so few runners? I cannot see that outside of a period when there a string of big meetings abandoned, that any of the races to be run at Windsor this Friday and Sunday are strictly necessary.

​Yesterday I arrived at my laptop, at just after 5 am, early to bed, early to rise, to find the Racing App missing. The day had already started badly for me, with my alarm clock failing to awake me (forgot to set the alarm) and several other incidents, mainly involving our ageing cat community, so I was looking forward to sitting down for some ‘me-time’. 
I am rather stupid when it comes to technology. Or machines of any kind, and these days anything that involves following instructions. I am, undiagnosed but not denying the obvious, at stage one and a half demented/dementia. I may even have lived my life on the lower end of the autism spectrum scale. (Honestly, it has taken me ten-minutes and finally a perusal of a medical dictionary to remember the word ‘autism’. Happens to me all the time, these days.)
So, yes, yesterday I had a brain meltdown. You see the problem started back in November when one of the cats – his name is Nutkin -walked across the keyboard and the Racing Post on the desktop disappeared. Luckily, Google had installed the app on the Google menu-board – is that the correct term -, except twice now that too has manifested into the twilight world of the techno ether. I tried to download a new Racing Post app but was thwarted by the unconceivable and mind-minding lack of clear instruction and the melting of what little brain cells I have available to me. Finally, and why I did not go there first I cannot say, I fell upon the Racing Post website and found the newspaper I would have sold my soul to the devil to read. Then, the fog shrouding my brain, as mystifying as the fog that beleaguered Chepstow and Leopardstown over Christmas, navigated its way to my eyes and closed the tab along with all the other tabs I had open. I returned to the Racing Post website, thankful no one was watching me make an utter arse of myself, unable to remember how I found my way to the actual newspaper in the first place. Virtually no short-term memory capacity, these days.
Yes, I contacted the Racing Post Help team and though the app has returned, perhaps of its own volition, I am still to be contacted by ‘the help team’. For all they know I may have carried out my threat to take a hammer to the tablet that should be my safety-net when my laptop is at the menders and killed myself in the process. Oh, I did not mention the added trauma of the Lenovo tablet that refused to play ball, refused to do anything other than drive me closer to the edge of sanity.
No wonder I find myself watching races from the sixties, seventies and eighties. Better days. Simpler days.

I am coming to terms now with the extinction of the Aintree Grand National. I will never fully get over its demise and I doubt I will ever forgive Jockey Club estates for protecting their cash-cow by sacrificing the only race that truly transcended the sport.
You see, the problem is, even if no one else recognises it, is that so many chases throughout the season no longer have any say in the National narrative, in fact, have no other purpose than just being there, given that a horse needs to be rated close to Grade 1 standard to get into the Grand National replacement race, what I now refer to as the ‘Little National.’ In a few weeks, for instance, Haydock stages its Grand National Trial’, except no horse that runs will be unlikely to even be entered for Aintree as its rating will be no higher than 130. It is the same problem now with all races over 4-miles, including Welsh and Scottish Nationals. They are still races of note but they play virtually no part in the narrative that leads to Britain’s formerly greatest horse race. So, why not invent a new race, a race for those horses that find 3-miles too short, yet can plod on for 4-miles plus, with jumping ability their superpower? In days past, every 3-mile handicap had the potential to play a part in the lead-up to Aintree. The opposite is now true. To lace together the 3-mile staying division into a narrative story-line there needs to be a dream to aim for, if only to give the smaller trainer and owner a chance at the sort of glory Aintree has taken from them. 
A 4-mile plus handicap chase with 30-runners and a prize-fund similar to the Little National. Where it should be run is problematic, at least to me, as I do not think Aintree, the obvious host, deserves to have such a race, if it should ever see the light of day. A sort of think Punchestown would be a good fit, especially as they might be able to incorporate part of their banks course to make this new race unique. Perhaps I should write to Punchestown and float the idea, even though finance problems would undoubtedly be a stumbling block. Though the problems of staging such a race would be no greater than William Lynn faced when he came up with the idea of a National in the year that saw the coronation of Queen Victoria. Just for reference, Lynn also inaugurated the Waterloo Cup, a hare-coursing event named after his hotel in Liverpool.
Just suck on this! If Red Rum were around today, just bought by Ginger McCain, a throw-out from a bigger stable, he would not get in the Little National this season or perhaps any season. What if there is a Red Rum running around Catterick or Kelso or Exeter in want of a true test to be seen at his very best? As was the case with Red Rum.
If I win the Lottery in the next few weeks, as long as it is a big-figure windfall, I might invent and sponsor the race and name it after myself. The Knight National. If I could contribute one gift to racing before dementia takes me, it would be a race befitting the shoes of the old Grand National.

​After a quick count, I believe Golden Miller won 29-races, losing 25 and being disqualified on one occasion. He won 5 Cheltenham Gold Cups, an achievement I doubt will we ever see again and in 1934 he won the Grand National, which was some success as he proved time and again that he hated the place. In his book on Golden Miller, Basil Briscoe recorded the great horse has being unplaced at Aintree when on one occasion the great horse, according whichever account you read, either fell or was brought down at the first and after remounting made his view plain for all to see by refusing a few fences later.
It is always enlightening to see where the great horses first set foot on a racecourse. Golden Miller’s first race was as a three-year-old in a hurdle at Southwell. He later that season ran unplaced .in a handicap on the flat at Warwick and the April Stakes at Newmarket. Between Southwell and Warwick, Golden Miller won at Leicester and Nottingham over hurdles.
The following season he won over hurdles at Chelmsford twice, Manchester, Newbury, Gatwick and in only his fifth steeplechase he won the Cheltenham Gold Cup. The following season he was virtually unbeatable, only being beaten by the best chasers around, giving away weight. In 1934 he became the only horse ever to win the Gold Cup and the Grand National in the same season.
The horse went downhill when the owner, Dorothy Paget, took the horse away from Briscoe and put him with Owen Anthony, though he did win a fifth Gold Cup. In 1937, I believe Golden Miller achieved another milestone, albeit a regrettable one, in my book, by winning the Optional Selling Chase at Birmingham. He won it again in 1938, his final victory. No horse of his stature should be dishonoured by racing in so low a division. He won nine-races for Anthony, running his last race as 12-year-old at Newbury, finishing unplaced.
It was another era, a long-gone era when the world and horse racing looked much different to the era we abide in. He should have been retired after his fifth Gold Cup but he raced on. Dorothy Paget to her credit, though, ensured both Golden Miller and her Champion Hurdle winner Insurance, lived a long retirement at one of her properties in the south-east of England.
Golden Miller needs to be honoured to the same extent as Arkle is honoured. A run-of-the-mill handicap chase in April at Cheltenham, his name often shrouded by the name of a sponsor, is no way to honour a horse whose achievements will perhaps never be equalled, let alone bettered. Arkle, as supreme as he was, could not better the Miller’s haul of Gold Cups and no horse has won the Gold Cup and the Grand National in the same year. In the pantheon of great racehorses, Golden Miller deserves to be included in the elite of the top ten, if not the top five. If I had my way, the 3-mile novice chase, the Brown Advisory as it is called at the moment, should be renamed the Golden Miller, in the same way the 2-mile novice chase is ‘The Arkle’ and always will be.

Ffos Las is tasked with putting on a meeting on Saturday, including the Towton novice Chase from the abandoned Wetherby fixture, so that I.T.V. will have some jumping to televise for us to enjoy. Chelmsford, too, are to stage a meeting and Newcastle have brought forward their first race from late afternoon to 2 pm. A belt and braces strategy by the B.H.A. to overcome the winter weather which is odds-on to defeat both Warwick and Kempton. It is a gamble by the B.H.A. to ask Ffos Las to race but they should be commended for their pro-active response to the freeze-up-cum-waterlogging around the country. 0 out of 10 last week, 10 out of 10 this week. Someone at the B.H.A. has woken-up and actually done some work this week!

On January 19th the I.T.V. cameras will be at Fakenham. To his eternal credit, Fakenham’s clerk of the course, David Hunter, has invited, free-of-charge, local farmers to bring their tractors to the racecourse, parking them in full view of the cameras in the centre of the course, to show support for a community that is the heart of East Anglia. It is not a protest, simply a show of support. Congratulations to everyone at Fakenham for doing the little that might be enough to change the course of government thinking on the subject.

​Only 5 British-trained horses entered for this season’s Cheltenham Gold Cup can be registered as between an all-time low for the sport in Britain and immensely disappointing for all concerned. Neither Paul Nicholls nor Nicky Henderson can muster an entry between them, with only Dan Skelton and Venetia Williams supplying the home team with a credible chance of one of the five making the frame, with, I suspect, third or fourth the best we can expect. As much as I have championed Ahoy Senor in the past, he looks light of former years, years when he came up short when tried in the highest grade. The Real Whacker is not Gold Cup class, even if I could make a case for him as a Grand National horse. Royale Pagaille, a titan around Haydock, is another who has failed time and again at Cheltenham. Some experts had Grey Dawning down as a possible Gold Cup winner at the start of the season, though I have not shared their confidence and I witnessed nothing at either Haydock of Kempton to change my pessimistic view of him as a true Gold Cup contender.
So that leaves us with L’Homme Presse. Remember, off a far from advantageous training schedule for Cheltenham last season, he led the field into the home straight before being swallowed up by Galopin Des Champs and Gerri Colombe. He ran well on his comeback in the King George and though I suspect he is not a true stayer – the stable has Djelo for the Ryanair, who I fancy for the race – and it might be tempting to have thought of the lesser race for him, he is our only hope of getting amongst the Irish, even if, barring calamity, Galopin is a good thing to join the greats by winning three consecutive Gold Cups.
Although the reason for so small a number of British-trained horses entered is plain for all to see – there just is not the pool of horses of Gold Cup class trained in Britain – it might look short-sighted if anything, God forbid, should happen to prevent Galopin Des Champs from running. Did the Bradstocks not teach anyone a lesson when Coneygree proved them right and everyone else wrong? They gave it a go, so why is, for example, our top staying novice, The Jukebox Man, not entered? There are only 19-entered, with the French horse more likely to go for the Ryanair or 2-mile Champion Chase and Willie Mullins will not run all of his in the race. There might be only 8 or 9-runners. Cheaper to enter from the start than to supplement six-days before the race.

There will be no jumps action again this Saturday. Nobody’s fault, just winter squeezing our sensitive parts. At the moment, both all-weather meetings are scheduled for outside of the protected I.T.V. air-space. I am no fan of all-weather racing but it was initiated for days like we can expect on Saturday with snow, frost or waterlogging likely to claim both Warwick and Kempton. Both Newcastle and Wolverhampton must be moved forward to facilitate the I.T.V. seven and to give Ed Chamberlain, though more likely his understudy Oli Bell, something to do on Saturday.

On YouTube you will find a video of Peter Easterby guiding a journalist – his name will not come to me – around what is now his son Tim’s yard and taking him to see the resting place of two undisputable legends of the sport, Night Nurse and Sea Pigeon. The fenced-off square of a paddock is overgrown with a tree but there is a plague recording the main triumphs of the two. And if that small bit of Yorkshire was not sacred enough, Peter’s wife had asked for her ashes to be spread on top of the two graves.
In an interview with Alastiar Down, Peter Easterby was quoted as saying, approximately. ‘They had great lives and because of them so did we.’
If only we could see the likes of Night Nurse and Sea Pigeon again. They won 72-races between them. On the flat, over hurdles and over fences. Truly great horses, truly great days.

​As someone who is granted the privilege of haunting the letters column of the Racing Post, I am invariably envious of someone who has a letter published that encapsulates my own thoughts on a topic, even if, as on this occasion, the composition is neater and more insightful than I am capable of producing with any regularity.
Mr. A.C. Hopkins of Steventon, North Ayrshire, is as peeved as I am seemingly that experts who should know better continually express the thought that Constitution Hill is perhaps the greatest hurdler of all-time after a single Champion Hurdle success and after only 9-runs. Like Mr. Hopkins, I believe Constitution Hill is an exceptional hurdler but we will only be able to gauge his position in the pantheon if come March he is taken on by not only the present champion, State Man, but also both Lossiemouth and Brighterdaysahead. Successive ‘walks in the park’ are no matrix for attributing greatness when those that came before had to stick out their heads and battle against horses of far more ability than the majority of Constitution Hill’s victims up until this point in his career.
Mr.Hopkins quietly rightly cast his mind, and hopefully the curiosity of the Racing Post’s younger members of staff, to the halcyon days of hurdling, the days of Bula, Night Nurse and Sea Pigeon, though, to me, that golden age began in 1968 with Persian War, with an interim of Comedy of Errors and Lanzarote.
As with Sea The Stars, though the comparison is unfair, Constitution Hill has thus far enjoyed the success-story of a meteor shower, whereas the three horses Mr.Hopkins highlighted, Bula, Night Nurse and Sea Pigeon were not only dual purpose, the latter being as good a handicap stayer on the flat as we have ever seen, the other two as chasers later in their careers. As Mr.Hopkins reminded people, Bula finished his career with 34-wins, Night Nurse with 35 and Sea Pigeon with 37. Even Monksfield won 19-races flat and jumps. It is likely that Constitution Hill will not even finish his career with 35 races under his belt, let alone 35 wins.
As with Mr.Hopkins, I am not dissing Constitution Hill, even if I predict he might have his work cut-out to concede 7Ibs to Brighterdayshead in the  Champion Hurdle come March. I am criticising journalists and presenters who should know better than to repeat hyperbole for no other reason than to propagate a narrative that might, just might, engage the outside sporting public. Apart from the probability that Constitution Hill should improve mightily for his run on Boxing Day, and Nicky Henderson’s record for pulling the phoenix out of the fire, I saw nothing at Kempton that suggested he was a good thing to beat Lossiemouth at Cheltenham, let alone storm home to the same effect as he did as a novice, which may yet prove as singular a day as when Master Minded scorched the Earth in the Champion 2-Mile Chase.
Anyway, my congratulations must go to Mr. Hopkins for bringing a large dose of sanity to the debate.

No doubt the scenario for this weekend is that neither Warwick nor Kempton will be fit to stage racing on Saturday, though by Sunday the situation may have reversed itself. This is why I advocate during the months of January and February that the big weekend fixtures should be two-day affairs, Saturday and Sunday. Yes, it is more than a possibility than both days may be defeated by the weather but a Saturday/Sunday fixture would provide a safety-net to ensure an important race is staged. The Warwick Classic is unlikely to be transferred to another course if Warwick is abandoned this Saturday and though if staged on the Sunday it will be unlikely that I.T.V. will be able to televise the meeting, at least the Warwick faithful will get to see the race, Warwick will get their big pay-day and trainers and jockeys will have something to do on the day. As will bettors and gamblers.

The Racing Post are currently running a series featuring the thoughts of racegoers on how happy or otherwise they are when attending a race-meeting. So far, all-weather fixture at Lingfield has featured, with the more elderly racegoers pleased with their experience, while today a Salisbury evening fixture with music after racing was the focus. This meeting targeted younger racegoers and the reaction to their evening were mixed with some there solely for the music after racing, while others were there to enjoy the racing and the music.
Where I agreed with the thoughts of one young man was that racing needs to cater for the age in which we all live. The various enclosures on racecourses came into being at a time when criminality was rife, with pick-pockets and card-sharps attending the races with one object in mind, to fleece the lords and ladies of their money, pocket-watches and anything else they could get their grubby hands on. That age no longer exists and I believe a racecourse should be one large space where everyone can mingle, with racegoers allowed everywhere except where only horses and their attendants can go.

​I learned today from Tom Ellis’s Editor’s Choice piece which us Ultimate Members receive in our inbox, that the period between Boxing Day and New Year’s Day is now referred to as Twixmas. I like it and hope the term will receive both public and official recognition.
Of course, there is now a call to make use of this long period of holiday-time to help boost attendance at racecourse by somehow improving the fare on offer and interconnecting one day and one meeting in a chain of festive happiness. 
Unfortunately, as with many of my own ideas for revival and survival, the truth is stark – there just are not enough top-class or even horses for the races we already have during the Twixmas period, to have anything other than ‘ordinary fare’, outside of Kempton and Chepstow, of course, and would require money the sport does not have and someone with a magic wand to produce out of the ether a hundred racehorses idly standing by for a suitable race to come their way.
I would go as far as to say unless we let go half-a-dozen meetings before the Twixmas holiday, and perhaps a similar number in the first weeks of the New Year, there is hardly enough horses in training to make competitive the festive race-meetings we already have. At the moment, sadly, less would be more, rather than ‘if more is good for you, even more must be better’.

Another nail in racing’s coffin – wish I could stop being so pessimistic – is the news that we will not be seeing a jockey wearing the black colours and silver D Y on a racecourse anytime soon. Darren Yates will be leaving the sport when all his horses are sold, the departure, I believe, has started with the sell of The New Lion to J.P. McManus. 
How many more long-standing owners will have to hang-up their racing colours before the lethargic B.H.A. start listening to the reasons put forward by people like Darren Yates for abandoning the sport. If a large number of owners are unhappy, the sport is in dire trouble.
Think about this: what happens when J.P. McManus is no longer around to prop-up the sport in Britain and Ireland? Yes, I dare say his family will continue to have horses in training but no offence intended, will any one of them be a replica of J.P. himself? It is imperative the B.H.A. engage with racehorse owners and bring about change as a result. If owners do not feel respected when at a race-meeting, the sport can only suffer.
As is usually the case when J.P. buys a horse, The New Lion will stay with the Skeltons’. They, though, are not winners in this matter as they may have kept the most promising horse they have ever had but they have lost an owner, as has the sport.

Ascot have plumped-up the prize money for the King George and Queen Elizabeth Stakes – why not shorten it to the Queen Elizabeth Stakes? – and will refund all entry fees to the owners of the horses that run on the day. A good move, I dare say, though that comes to £18,000 per runner, would any owner with a horse good enough to run in a Group 1 feel the loss of 18-grand and would it make the difference between running at Ascot or going for a softer target elsewhere? I doubt it. Pot-hunting is endemic in British racing, I am afraid, and not only at the Cheltenham Festival. In this one regard, owners have become spoilt.
Ascot have also taken the bold move to have four of the races at Royal Ascot become 6-day entry, rather than early entry, the Prince of Wales Stakes amongst them. Early entry is an anachronism, both a vestige of days long gone and a money-gathering exercise on behalf of the racecourse. The important races need the best horses turning-up on the day, not just those entered months, and sometimes months and months, before the day of the actual race. 
To take the K.G. & Q.E. for example. To run in that race, from initial entry fees to the final fee to run in the race, costs an owner £18,000. Why not scratch all but one of the entry stages and charge an owner £20,000 to stay in the race at the five-day declaration stage. Why must owners be forced to waste large sums of money through the season having horses entered for races, especially two-year-old races, on the off-chance they might be a) in form when the race finally comes around b) sound and healthy or c) proven good enough? 
Cut financial waste and give owners one less reason for leaving the sport.