no bryony, closed shop no good for anyone, mr. vango, bottom-up, not top-down & my four for the big race.

​Personally disappointed, as well as disappointed for the race, that Bryony Frost has had to be loyal to her commitments in France on Saturday and the ride on Stay Away Fay now goes to Jonathan Burke, an exceptional jockey but neither as pretty as Miss Frost nor as charismatic or as popular with the public.

Because the majority of horses running in the Aintree National on Saturday will be trained by the powerhouse stables -22 of the 34 are trained by either Mullins, Elliott, de Bromhead, Cromwell, Nicholls or Henderson – the question of whether any one trainer should be limited in the number of horses they can run in any one race has risen above parapet once more. A closed shop is no good to anyone.
Although I believe, for the benefit and ultimate survival of the sport, something radical must be attempted to level the playing field, limiting a trainer to 3, 4 or 5-runners in one of the iconic races would be unfair, as any rule would be that punishes the hard work required to reach the summit of a profession.
That said, as with races restricted to conditional, amateur, apprentice and even, as was, female jockeys, which obviously allows opportunity and also benefits the sport in the long term, a restriction on the number of horses any one trainer can have in his or her care, although unfair, might be considered as an experiment for a limited number of years, as I believe this would give the greatest help to the greatest number of people, while at the same time improving competitiveness and solve the problem of staffing levels in racing stables both in Ireland and Britain.
The maximum number allowed is problematic, as some trainers have 200 or more horses at their disposal, though as this is more a National Hunt problem than a flat problem, I would suggest 125 would be the right sort of number to limit any one trainer to having in his or her stable.
No staff member laid-off by a trainer due to a decrease in horses trained by his or her employer would find any difficulty in securing new employment, if it is true that trainers’ major difficulty is finding experienced stable staff.

People, and by people, I mean racing journalists, are finally waking-up to the truth that the conditions for running in the Aintree National are not fit for purpose. Although Mr. Vango is not a good choice as an example of a horse who should be taking part on Saturday as he would not run even if enough horses came out between now and Friday as he needs soft-ground at the very least and the ground will undoubtedly be closer to good than good-to-soft come start-time, a horse now rated 151 should at least have the opportunity of running.
Personally, I would have four win-and-your-in races during the season – the Becher Chase, the old Hennessey and the Welsh and Midland Nationals – and I would allow horses to rise in the weights if their ratings are raised between publication of the weights and the 5-day declaration stage. This would encourage trainers to run in the 4 run-and-in-your-in races and to generally run more often in hope of raising the rating of a horse entered for the race. For example, if the handicapper raises a horse by 4Ibs during the period between publication of weights and the 5-day declaration, that horse will rise by the same amount for the National. With, for fairness, the reverse also coming into force. As I have said many times, now echoed by racing professionals, the Aintree National needs the right horses running in it, not horses with no form but an out-dated high rating.

Alan Sweetman, in the Racing Post today, is critical of prize-money allocation in Ireland, believing maiden races at Leopardstown at the weekend should have had a far larger prize-pot than the handicaps on the card. He may have a point in certain circumstances but if he is making the point that the sport should be grown from the top-down, I heartily disagree with him. Whether you are building a house or growing a carrot, it is always best to think ground upwards. We need more owners and the majority of people who own a horse or a share in a horse are not in the millionaire category and the more of them who either break-even at the end of the season or more unlikely make a profit, the more of them will stay in the sport for the long haul. To my mind, maidens are a step along the way to bigger things, much like bumpers in National Hunt, and as such prize-money should be far less than handicaps. If I had my way, any race that had a six-figure first prize last season should be capped at the same level for three or more years, with all races at the lowest level having an incremental prize-money increase over the same period. A Derby worth half-a-million to the winner would not get a larger and more competitive number of runners if prize-money was doubled, would it?

Unless I lose one or more of the following 4-horses twixt now and Saturday, my picks are Hyland to win, Hewick, Intense Raffles (slightly worried the ground might prove too quick for him) and Bravemansgame. And it takes a brave man to tip a Nicky Henderson trained horse to win a National, any national, regional, county, Irish, Scottish or Aintree National.