opinions are gold dust when it comes to horse racing.

​You may not agree with the opinion of others but you should at least agree with me that everyone should be encouraged to air publicly their opinions. Personally, I loath and detest any form of censorship and believe a healthy society is gained from openness, honesty and truth. Naively, I realise, I believe that truth should be mandated by law, with barefaced lies made a criminal offence. But there you are, an honest opinion that the majority, no doubt, will ridicule. 
So, when Aidan O’Brien, for example, tells us the reason Auguste Rodin ran so poorly again at Ascot was the cut-up ground he raced-on and that contrary to the official ground description, the ground was good-to-soft, an opinion that ran contrary to the times of races recorded on the day and that no one else, seemingly, backed his opinion, we should, at least, listen to his honest assessment and applaud him for his honestly-held opinion.
Given his lofty position as the greatest of all-time, Aidan could give forth his opinions on every debate and dispute involving the sport. But that is not the man he his. He lives and breathes Ballymore and Coolmore and would doubtless go more than the extra mile to support the people who work for him and who employ him. Sometimes, of course, like the rest of us, mere mortals, he can be wrong in his opinion, as I believe he was in defending yet another blow-out by Auguste Rodin. Unlike you or me, Aidan has proved time and again when he is slagged-off by the media, he proves his doubters wrong, as he has done with Auguste Rodin on several occasions already. Come the Japan Cup, who would back against him?
One argument held against Auguste Rodin by the majority of the racing press I would also argue against is that the horse does not truly stay 12-furlongs. It boils my brain when a horse gets beat a short-head in a first try over 12-furlongs and the jockey, trainer and press jump to the conclusion that the horse did not quite stay and forever more is campaigned over 10-furlongs. If this theory carries any substance than we may suppose that every horse beaten over 12-furlongs does not stay, which would be nonsense, of course. Sometimes it is just a case of the better horse on the day that wins. Form is always subject to being turned-around. I dare say it happens every day in every grade of race.
Auguste Rodin, to carry on using him as an example, has won over the distance, beating a horse in the Epsom Derby who if he had the benefit of a previous run that season might have prevailed – and, yes, I think those who say King of Steel is a 10-furlong horse are being just plain silly, basing the assumption on one race – which is proof that he is as much a 12-furlong horse as he is 10-furlong horse. He has after all been beaten over both distances. That said, by the time he is retired he may have proved 10-furlongs was his best distance. That, though, does not prove he did not quite stay 12-furlongs.
Anyone reading this may disagree with my thoughts on the issue. I accept that. I also accept that time might prove me wrong. I will, not, though, accept that an arbitrarily applied rating for the horse over either distance proves anything other than a theoretical point.
There is a growing opinion by the ignorant public that discredits Kieran Shoemark. He is a wholly likeable young man who has overcome troubles and addictions to become John & Thady Gosden’s main jockey this season, taking over from someone who was irreplaceable, at a time when the stable has very few star horses, with the ones who are Group 1 performers ridden by jockeys retained by their owners. Kieran Shoemark will come good at the same time as the Gosden horses come good and who knows, there might be half-a-dozen star two-year-olds waiting to come out over the next few weeks. Shoemark deserves to be given the time to prove himself worthy of John and Thady Gosden’s support, as Frankie was given the time to prove he was good as he always was when John Gosden invited him back to be stable jockey after all his travails. That is my opinion, anyway. You might disagree. I just hope you will admit to being wrong when Shoemark makes his mark on the Group 1 races and most importantly the Classics.
The death of Istabraq last week was cutting. J.P. had given him such a long and lovely retirement, hosting a reception in May on the birthday of the great horse. There will be void at Martinstown that will never be filled no matter how many Grand Nationals and Gold Cups are won in the future sporting the iconic green and gold silks.
Remarkably, despite a hundred Group 1 winners and all the classics he has won, Istabraq remains the only true champion to be trained by Aidan O’Brien. And if you disagree with that opinion, you are in dispute with racing’s top historian John Randall. His opinion is based on statistics, an accreditation I somewhat despise as I believe true greatness is based on what the heart and the eyes tell you. And who will contest the opinion that if it were not for foot and mouth, Istabraq would have died as the only horse to have won four Champion Hurdles.
Rest in Peace, Istabraq. I doubt there will ever be another like you.