As expected, Willie Mullins trained more losers than winners at the 2024 Cheltenham Festival and in the main the unexpected failed to occur. All over for another year. Yes, compared to the golden years of long-living memories, it was an ordinary Cheltenham, yet I believe most of the outstanding questions were answered.
Thoughts: I believe one of the achievements of the meeting that was glossed-over a little was in winning the Champion 2-mile chase on Captain Guinness, Rachel Blackmore joined the very rare assembly of jockeys to have ridden the winner of all 3 of the Cheltenham Festival’s blue-riband races + a Grand National winner – Ruby Walsh, Barry Geraghty, A.P. McCoy and now Rachel Blackmore. Some achievement for a female who arrived on the scene rather late in the life of a jockey. What would she have achieved by now if she had been able to take the more recognised career route of 7Ib professional attached to a major yard, rather than unsung amateur who struggled to get a ride, her talent only recognised by Eddie O’Leary and who had the foresight to suggest to Henry de Bromhead that he give her a try?
Galopin Des Champs is the best 3-mile chaser since the era of Kauto Star and Denman, though he would be a furlong in arrears, I suggest, of those two equine mega-stars as, unfortunately, he does not have a horse of their calibre to inspire him to greater heights. As I have said before, for a horse to be referred to as a truly great they must beat a horse as good as themselves and it is rare for horses of the calibre of Paul Nicholls’ two mega-stars to come along at the same time. Let’s hope Fact To File achieves the heights his raw ability suggests and that Willie Mullins has two goliaths of the sport in his stable as Paul Nicholls had the good fortune to have, as did Tom Dreaper. Never forget or underestimate Flyingbolt.
State Man was unimpressive in winning the Champion Hurdle, though only Paul Townend knows how much in reserve he had at the winning line. I believe the form is not to be sneezed at in one way as Irish Point is a strong stayer, even though he never gave the impression he was ever going to get past State Man, and on the other hand the form is diminished by Luccia finishing so close, especially considering the wretched form of her stable companions during the past three-weeks. It must be admitted that the overall standard of Grade 1 hurdlers, both in Ireland as well as Britain, is poor, with this year’s Triumph Hurdle winner unlikely to be campaigned next season in that sphere or perhaps over hurdles at all. Oh, for the days when we had Sea Pigeon, Monksfield, Night Nurse, Birds Nest and then the era of Hardy Eustace, Brave Inca, etc and etc!
Captain Guinness was a fortunate winner, though the game is about jumping and both El Fabiolo and Edwardstown failed the gold standard test. I just wonder if the connections of Boothill regret not allowing him to take his chance as a clear round would have given them, at least, third-place prize-money. Though relieved El Fabiolo was unharmed by his demonstration of the splits at the fifth-fence, I admit to being amused by his departure given that everyone who is everyone in the sport, including Luke Harvey, had absolutely no concerns about his ability to negotiate the fences. He had no flaws, they said, the biggest certainty of the meeting, they said. When he reappears, be that at Aintree or Punchestown – I did think he was slightly lame behind – everyone will be saying ‘if he jumps, he wins’. For the rest of the season until Cheltenham next March he will be a horse with a flaw.
On the domestic front there is much to cheer, despite the score-line by day 4. The surprise, of course, is that Dan Skelton came away from the Festival as the leading trainer in this country, usurping his former boss by deed of 4-winners to 1, with Grey Dawning looking the best home-trained prospect for glory next season. As Ruby Walsh, the voice of common-sense, said, year-by-year the score-line is closing and if you took Willie Mullins out of the equation, there is little between the other Irish trainers and their British counterparts. It is the Closutton operation that is tilting the slope to outrageous proportions in favour of Ireland.
Although Ballyburn bears all the hallmarks of an outstanding prospect, be that as a Champion Hurdle horse next season or a novice chaser heading towards a tilt at the Gold Cup as a 7-year-old, I can easily imagine Slade Steel getting closer to him if Henry de Bromhead decides to go chasing next season.  With having the reigning Champion Chaser and Lossiemouth in his stable, I suspect Willie Mullins will go chasing with Ballyburn, if for no other reason than Galopin Des Champs will be reaching the end of his career in 2-seasons time, though, perhaps as that rare thing - a 3-time Gold Cup w

​At the start of the season proper in October, the Cheltenham Festival seems as far away as the Moon is from Earth. Yet come March 10th 2024, it is as if Cheltenham 2023 was only last month. The joy should be about the travel, the journey from then to now, yet the Festival so overwhelms the rest of the season that the joy becomes the arrival and the brief interlude when we step away from the grim reality of the everyday and immerse ourselves in the cut and thrust of glorious sporting endeavour. Cheltenham; it knocks Royal Ascot and the Epsom Derby into a cocked hat, whatever a cocked hat might be. 
When the debate, the really heated debate, broke out when Cheltenham floated the idea of a fifth-day, imitating the success of the fifth-day of Royal Ascot, I was 100% in favour of the suggestion. I thought with imagination a fifth-day could be made to work, especially as a fifth-day would have put extra money into a local economy ravaged by the pointless escapade that were covid restrictions. My idea was that the fifth-day could become a day to raise funds for equine charities, with the Cross-Country Chase as the feature, supported by all those races lost in order to incorporate the mares’ races that now weaken the overall quality of the Festival. I would also have used consolation races for two of the major handicaps to make-up the card.
I no longer support the fifth-day. In fact, I am now an advocate of returning the Festival to 3-days as the pool of quality horses no longer exist to ensure the major races are as competitive as tradition dictates they should be. The best horses should be in the best races, with connections not given softer alternatives.
I have now put forward the idea of abandoning ‘Trials Day’ in February, a meeting that when compared to the Dublin Racing Festival is a dud, and have a bone fide 2-day Cheltenham Festival in its place. Mad, perhaps. Yet, remember, the Cheltenham Festival and the Gold Cup were not universally accepted as the next big thing when it first arrived on the National Hunt scene. In fact, the National Hunt Festival is named after the amateur riders 4-mile race that was for horses that had never won a chase. How times change!
What I dislike about the argument put forward by the traditional 3-day advocates is abandoning races that have proved successful and have given us memorable moments. The Ryanair, for instance, is a great and necessary race and has done nothing to deserve being jettisoned just because ‘something has to give’ if we return to 3-days. And I absolutely object to it being reduced to the conditions of the race it grew from, the Cathcart.
The Ryanair is a great race and should not be sacrificed. Now, whether Michael O’Leary would want to sponsor ‘his’ race if it were run as the feature race of a 2-day Winter Festival, I cannot guess. He might. He also might sponsor a second race at the 3-day March Festival. O’Leary is mercurial; he might go left, he might go right. But a Ryanair in February would be, to my mind, a perfect stepping-stone between the King George and the Gold Cup. In fact, if the sport needed a chasing Triple Crown, the King George, Ryanair and Gold Cup would be the perfect three-races.
I would remove the Mares Hurdle from March and stage it in February and rename it the Champion Mares Hurdle and run it over 2-miles, allowing the best mares to take on the geldings in March, or at least removing one of the excuses for not running mares against the geldings. I would also jettison the Mares novice hurdle, the Mares Chase and what is, at least for this season, the Gallaghers, and parachute them into this proposed new Festival. The novice handicap chase could be reborn, too, and I will forever champion the introduction of a 4-mile champion chase, though I would prefer it to replace the amateur riders National Hunt Chase.
My suggestion would return the Cheltenham Festival to what it used to be, the most competitive meeting of the whole season, without losing any races that are both of great benefit to the sport and provide year-in, year-out, fabulous memories.
The rest of this proposed 2-day Festival would comprise trials for the novice hurdles and chases and any races that would not directly clash with the Dublin Racing Festival and that would mean no trial for the Champion Hurdle, for example or Gold Cup, allowing trials at other racecourses to become more meaningful than they are at present.
And yes, I fully realise nature might intervene and cause abandonments and the headache of what to do with important races that could not be run. But I would argue that is no different to any race-meeting, even the Festival in March and Aintree in April.
My proposal allows the sport 5-days of truly premiership racing without any new races needed. It is radical and I know the B.H.A. runs scared of radical thought. The B.H.A. likes to meddle around the edges of a problem; talk with stakeholders and delay, delay and delay some more. What is required at this present moment in the sport’s history is ‘decisions for now’; alterations that take effect now, not five-years down the line. I do not believe we have the luxury of five-years-worth of dithering.

​For the past week The Racing Post has run features on great Cheltenham Festival moments, with their brilliant stable of journalists taking it in turn to write about one their own favourites. I particularly enjoyed Lee Motteshead recalling the ‘golden hour’ when Bryony had Francesca Cumani in tears with her speech after winning the Ryanair with Frodon, “he grabbed my hand and said ‘don’t you dare think we can’t win this,’” followed by Paisley Park winning the Stayers Hurdle for Andrew Gemmell and Emma Lavelle. I will be in tears if he should win it again next week.
Peter Thomas took up the cudgels when recalling Sprinter Sacre’s 2016 Champion Chase success. I admit I am touchy about experts dumbing down this race as I suspect my last racing image to float through my mind as I pass from this world will be the 2016 Champion Chase. Until that day, I thought my last thought would be either Red Rum winning his third Grand National - not his first, even though I believe the 1973 renewal was the greatest race of all time as the sadness of Crisp losing the race in the final few yards remains a hard watch for me – or Desert Orchid winning the 1989 Cheltenham Gold Cup.
I will not name the horses Sprinter Sacre beat in 2016 as, with one exception, Un De Sceaux, the opposition that day pale into insignificance when compared to one of the true legends of the sport. Watch the race back and count the number of past and future Champion Chase winners who were in that race, plus a future Ryanair winner. I accept it was nowhere near as peerless a performance as when he took apart Sizing Europe in 2013 but the achievement of 2016 was not only about the overall quality of the opposition but the story of what went before, the long three-years in the wilderness when the shout was for him to be retired, only for Nicky Henderson’s and his team, veterinary and those employed at Seven Barrows, never-die-spirit and belief that the horse could return to something like his old self. 2016 was a win for hope over experience and defeat of the doomsayers.
I exchanged e-mails with Peter Thomas, something I have never done before as these people are diehard, whereas I remain on the naïve side of a fantasist at times, my heart usually overriding my head and the form. I have little favour for ratings; for example, I refer to ratings as ‘bollacks’, opinion based on pseudo-science and I admitted my position to Mr. Thomas. I doubt for one moment he agreed with me as ratings, official or Racing Post, are the lifeline his colleagues hold on to for dear life and I was making light of one of the basic tenets of punting and expert opinion.
As I would expert, Mr. Thomas was polite in his response to my perhaps wayward argument that Sprinter Sacre’s performance in 2016 should not be compared to 2013 when he was youthful and at the very peak of his ability. I must add that in his article Mr. Thomas did not disparage the great horse, believing the overall memory was the reception the horse received from the crowd. 2016 is one of his favourite Festival moments, its just that all the experts, not only Peter Thomas, repeat what ratings tell them. My ambivalence towards ratings would be the same to a racing journalist as the thoughts of an atheist said to a parish priest.
On this day in 2016, in my opinion, Sprinter Sacre put up one of the greatest performances of my lifetime. Yes, I have bias as I thought in 2013 he was perhaps the greatest steeplechaser since Arkle. If the race was run before ratings were imagined, the performance would be judged on the calibre of horse he defeated. Golden Miller’s place in the pantheon of champions is based on the races he won, the opposition he beat, not on what ratings might have been given to the beaten horses or indeed to himself. If ratings were awarded retrospectively, perhaps Golden Miller’s position in the pantheon might slip down to the level of a good handicapper.
I was flattered that Mr. Thomas took the time to bat away my thoughts in 3 e-mails as I am sure he had more important matters to attend to and I thank him publicly for his indulgence. I doubt, though, if I changed his opinion, especially as we agreed on every aspect of his article except the dumbing down of the 2016 race. Ratings, to my mind, are not a reliable measure of true ability and the example I will always refer to is Cyrname, one of the best chasers of modern times, if you believe the rating he received after beating Altior at Ascot, a horse with no form over the distance and no reliable form on heavy ground.
Enough. Peter Thomas is a greatly respected journalist and it is not my place to disparage his opinion or any of his rating worshipping colleagues.
On another note: there is a video on YouTube of Barry Geraghty reunited with Sprinter on the gallops at Seven Barrows. The delight on Barry’s face on riding the great horse again is for all to see. Sprinter is 18 now, yet does not look it and Barry had no doubt he felt the same as when he was in training. Whoever has the privilege of caring for the horse in his retirement is obviously doing a marvellous job and should be proud of how well the horse looked that day. It was also nice that when Barry returned to Seven Barrows from the gallops Nicky Henderson was there to greet the old horse, referring to him ‘old friend’. I hope Sprinter returned the endearment as without Barry pulling him up that day at Kempton and the dedication of his great trainer to restore him to health that wonderful 2016 success could never have happened.

​There is a reason why I am uploading twice in one day. If you are interested, it is because in writing my previous upload, my computer mysteriously, and it has never before pulled this particular stunt, deleted all but the first page when I pushed copy, forcing me to rewrite the majority of it again. Obviously the first effort was superior. I need to upload again to see if the problem reoccurs as I might have been the problem all along. Computers really are, though, the devil’s own work!
I have recently bought a tablet and there is no love lost between it and me, I can assure you. To get to the Racing Post app is the passive equivalent of wrestling a crocodile. 
‘The Fakenham Favourite’ by Aaron Gransby’ is a delight. It is a book of less than 100-pages, with plenty of photographs and an easy style of writing. This is the kind of book I admire and treasure having a copy as part of my racing library.
With little effort the reader can get this book knocked-off in one sitting, if you have a mind to. I like to read a chapter at any one sitting, perhaps two if the chapters are as short as in ‘The Fakenham Favourite.
What I enjoyed about this book is that I learned stuff and the narrative sparked memories. The book has a simple story-line, it is a trot through the racing experiences of Alan and Pat Blackmore, unrelated to the famous Blackmore, and the horses they trained to some success. The standout and the eponymous equine hero of the book, the Fakenham favourite, is Cool Roxy, eleven-times a winner around Norfolk’s only racecourse.
As I do not like to give away story-lines of racing books I buy and read, especially a brand new, hot off the shelves, book, I will say very little about what you can expect, except there is tragedy in the Blackmore story.
The book is priced at £14. 99. It is published by Gerard Books and I (eventually) got my copy from Foyles, though I expect and hope it will be on sale at Cheltenham next week.
It is one of those books that is nice to handle, if you know what I mean. Tactile. A book you would be loathed to accidentally tear the cover or spill tea over.

​I once nicknamed Dan Skelton, privately (I did not e-mail referring to him as Dan ‘likes to be fresh’ Skelton) as criticism for keeping his best horses dressed-up in cotton-wool. Lately to seems to have tired of both the expression and the policy to the same extent ‘best fresh’ tired me at the time. Yet the ‘fresh’ angle has become, to use a loose and overused term, an epidemic over the past few seasons. Paul Nicholls, too, is fond of the term, which is perhaps where Dan Skelton got the idea.
Going to a championship race after only one or two runs is a relatively modern policy; it was not the thing in the days of Arkle or Burrough Hill Lad. Back in the golden days of the sport, if a horse went to Cheltenham with only one-run during the season, something had gone horribly wrong and all the experts would see it as an uphill battle against the odds for a horse to win a championship race with so little match practice before hand.
Marine Nationale is the latest horse to have its future career made much harder, having accrued a ‘little injury’ which will put him off games for six-weeks, meaning he not only will miss the Arkle next week but Punchestown and the rest of the season. So, he will go into his first season out of novice class with only two starts over fences. It is arguable that without the injury, which is plain bad luck, he would have taken in Cheltenham and Punchestown, giving him four starts over fences as experience. But his owner/trainer chose not to start him off this season until Christmas, when the ground would be to his advantage, and then blamed the soft ground for his horse’s poor run at Leopardstown in February.
The ’best going fresh’ policy awarded Dan Skelton no trophies and I would argue that Protektorat is as good this term after many runs than he ever was kept in his stable for most of the season. When Cheltenham is done and dusted and the connections of horses who had been ‘kept fresh’ for the big day and yet failed to land a blow will be keen to gain ‘compensation’ at Aintree and no doubt Punchestown and Sandown, too, and you can bet your bottom dollar there will be no mention of ‘best fresh’ if they should win.
Nicky Henderson often complains during November and December that there are no races – he means no easy races – for both his best horses and those inhibited by a lack of racecourse experience. Of course, he is famous for charting programmes for his horses starting with Cheltenham and working backwards, a policy that has served him well, while also laying a trap for himself when the ground is too firm for his liking in the early months of the season. That said, he has a point.
There should be races early in the season to cater for inexperienced chasers. Young horses are our future, remember, so I say sod betting turnover and lets have some races, perhaps at the smaller tracks, for the better class of horse and especially the inexperienced second-season chasers. If Constitution Hill were to rock up at Warwick, for instance, in a three-horse affair, attendance would double, with no quibbles about the race being uncompetitive. 
Something must be done within the race programme to encourage or arm-twist trainers into running their top horses earlier in the season. I have already advocated, and I do not mind repeating myself, that the Cheltenham Festival might be split into two, with Trials Day, rather a dud in my opinion, made into a two-day meeting, with the first day comprising the Festival intermediate distanced races – the Ryanair, the Turners, the novice mares hurdle, the Mares Hurdle, renamed the Champion Mares Hurdle and run over 2-miles and the Mares Chase and perhaps the Baring Bingham, and on the second-day trials for the other major races at the Festival, the Champion Hurdle, or a Ryanair equivalent for hurdlers, the Gold Cup, etc.
There needs to be a radical look at the sport, both by the B.H.A. and trainers, with a ‘for now’ policy implemented for the start of next season. Doing nothing is the same as the B.H.A.’s tinkering around the edges of the sport. The Dublin Racing Festival is a roaring success; in Britain we need to go in a similar direction.

​The weather forecast for the rest of the week, at least in the South-West, is for four straight dry days and nights. It has to be said that weather forecasts this end of the country can be pretty hit and miss, experiencing wet days when dry weather was forecast and vice-versa. One thing is for sure, if we get little rain through the coming week-end and into the start of next week, it will put the cat amongst the pigeons given the assumption Cheltenham is expected to at least start with very soft ground and that all form this season has come from ground varying from soft to Somme-like, as was the case at Doncaster last week-end.
And remember the year Desert Orchid won the Gold Cup: beautifully sunny and spring-like on the Tuesday and Wednesday with ground approaching fast, by the Thursday, Gold Cup day back then, there was a cold and snowy dawn followed in quick succession by sleet and miserable rain. Such days are never forgotten.
Cheltenham usually dries out quite quickly since they installed state-of-the-art drainage to ensure the track lost fewer meetings due to waterlogging. If spring weather comes out of hiding and the rainclouds stay away, the ground might start soft but by Friday the clerk of the course could be agonising over instigating a bit of light watering to take any sting out of the ground.
I am prepared to stick my neck out and suggest the first day will be missing its superstar. By next Tuesday, I dare say Constitution Hill will be fit and raring to go, though to turn-up with a chance of fending off State Man he will need to be raring to go by this Tuesday for N. Henderson to allow him into the horsebox travelling to Prestbury. Nicky Henderson is a great trainer, with a record, especially at the Festival, to confirm that he knows what he is doing and that his decisions are invariably the right decisions. I doubt if Constitution Hill will run, with his sights retrained on Aintree and Punchestown. So that is another race gift-wrapped for export to Closutton.
Without C.H. in the line-up, and with no other possible runner in the race, I half-expect Gordon Elliott to do an about-turn and run Irish Point in the Champion Hurdle, especially if the ground remains soft. So that will be a one-two for Ireland. For what its worth, the best bet in the Champion Hurdle is Nemean Lion each-way, if enough go to post for each-way betting, as I cannot see Kerry Lee’s horse finishing any better than third behind Irish Point and State Man.
If the ground remains soft on the Wednesday, I have an inkling that Edwardstown is going to cause a shock in the 2-mile Champion Chase, as long as they make the running with him and he jumps with his usual aplomb.
I suppose Willie Mullins will win all three novice hurdles, though which three no one can possibly know. Doubtless Willie Mullins doesn’t know either. Something tells me that Willie Mullins will suffer a few disappointments along the way this year and Lossiemouth might join El Fabiolo in that regard. The experts all say that Lossiemouth has the best form in the Mares Hurdle, yet Love Envoi was second last year to no less a superstar than Honeysuckle. Surely that is better form than anything so far achieved by Lossiemouth?
As with most people, I hope Paisley Park wins the Stayers Hurdle, though I doubt he will. I would like Dasher Drashel to win the race but doubt he will. Other than that, I have no real idea about the race, though if pushed to suggest a winner, I would go with Noble Yeats as, like Tiger Roll, he just seems capable of anything.
I like Fugatif in the Ryanair and Paul Nicholls horse (Ginny’s Delight? – name escapes me at the minute) in the middle-distance novice chase and Fact To File in the 3-mile novice chase.
Galopin Des Champs should win the Gold Cup, though having said that Shishkin would win the Gold Cup after Aintree last year, I’ll stick with him. I would like Ahoy Senor to win and Venetia Williams horse to win (again, my memory fails me – I’m 70 in April, God damn it! And I have been kicked in the head too many times). Corach Rambler for a place before winning a second Grand National.
Willie Mullins will win the Prestbury Cup, with Ireland second and Britain third with six-winners.
If I have one wish for this Cheltenham it would be for a female rider other than Rachel to win a race. Hard to imagine it happening but I shall cross my fingers anyway. It would be nice if, at least, one of the smaller trainers took home a big prize. Paul Townend to be leading rider.

​I have been A.F.K. (away from keyboard) for the past week due to my laptop’s demand for a week’s holiday from my company. Returned to full computing health, we are now reunited, though our friendship remains as tenuous as that between guard and prisoner. 
During the past 9-days, I have watched many Grand Nationals on YouTube, which has reinforced my opinion that the great race is suffering death by a thousand cuts from custodians of the race who appear collectively to have little respect for either its history or tradition. I doubt if the Grand National’s most fervent historian, Reg Green, would approve of what has been done to the race in the time of Suleka Varma.
We are presently, I believe, in the fifth stage of the devaluation of the world’s greatest horse race, where the race now teeters at the precipice of extinction. I admit the race was not bathed in glory at its inception when in 1839 Lottery defeated 17-rivals, of which only 7 completed. To begin with the Grand National was a cross-country race, with plough and walls to be overcome. By the time of Manifesto, winner in 1897 and 1899, amateur riders were fast becoming displaced by professionals, with the race resembling the race of history up to 1960, when it was first brought to the television screen.
It is forgotten that even in the late fifties the race was under scrutiny and the jockeys in the 1960 Grand National were explicitly ‘advised’ by Lord Sefton to avoid the mad dash to the first fence, the main contributing factor for so many falls, so many injuries. Only 26 faced the starter and only 8 completed the course.
The day of the upright unforgiving black fences were numbered and since the 1960’s the mindset of succeeding clerks of the course has been to modify any aspect of the race they believe the naysayers might approve of. The fences were slopped to make them ‘easier’ to negotiate and in some cases lowered. This third stage of development did little to alter the danger every jockey and horse must defy in every horse race, flat or jumps, Monday-to-Sunday. As in stages 1,2 and 3, horses still feel, with a similar percentage of fatalities and jockeys were still occasionally sleeping the night away after a fall in the race in the local hospitals.
Stage 4 saw the advent of plastic cores to the fences, the distance shortened, the height of fences lowered, the maximum number of runners reduced to 34 and the minimum rating raised for a horse to be eligible to run. There is still the demand for a higher class of horse to take part, yet still they do not achieve the class of horse that previously ran in the race, though it is continually stated the quality of the runners is higher than in the past.
Prior to the 1940’s, every top steeplechaser would be sent to Aintree. Yes, the quality tailed-off there-after, but the genuine National horse remained – Freebooter, Irish Lizard, Tuder Line, Gentle Moya, Sundew, Tiberetta, Wyndburgh, Mr. What, it’s a long list – horses that turned-up year-after-year and returned home no worse for the experience. In 1970, though in that year you could not call Red Rum the class horse he became, Crisp, L’Escargot and Spanish Steps certainly were of the highest rank, with the three of them joining Red Rum in breaking the existing race record time. Crisp never graced the race again, though the other three became standing dishes in the race. The Gold Cup winners Alverton and Davy Lad also ran in subsequent years, with good-luck, sadly, deserting both horses. Garrison Savannah nearly won the race and The Thinker also went close to glory.
Nowadays the race neither attracts Gold Cup winners nor what might be termed Grand National specialists. Team Spirit, for instance, won the race on his fifth attempt. The race also no longer attracts horses from countries outside of Britain and Ireland, which suggests the race no longer sparks the imagination of foreign trainers, owners or jockeys. No more the days of Ben Nevis and Jay Trump, which can only be detrimental to the history and tradition of the race.
The Grand National is no longer available to everyone. The farmer-owned, permit-trained, as with Grittar, is a romance long gone. The journeyman jockey, as with Nigel Hawke and Liam Treadwell, winning the race and elevating themselves into the public consciousness, is no more. And the gallant near-miss is relegated to the past. Remember Just So, owned and trained by Somerset farmer, Henry Cole, a horse as slow as a chaser could get, a steadfast and reliable jumper whose chance was always increased twenty-fold if the race was a marathon run on heavy ground. I will never forget Just So as I backed him at long-odds only to see him denied by Richard Dunwoody on Minniihoma. There are no Just So’s anymore. No Friendly Henry’s who had never won a race yet finished sixth in a Grand National and no doubt (crossed fingers) lived a better, longer life because of it. And though one would never want to see it, there will doubtless never be another Foinavon, or a mad, bad and sad race, as when Red Marauder and Smartie were the only two horses to overcome ground that resembled ‘the battle of the Somme’, as Alastair Down described that most memorable of Grand Nationals. Should never have been run, Alastair? No, the race was memorable and added greatly to the history and intrigue of a sporting institution and, more importantly, no horse suffered for all the calamity that ensued.
The race is not safer for any ‘improvement’ implemented since 1960. I wish it were, as I am cut deep to the heart when a horse loses its life in pursuit of glory for its owner, trainer, jockey, punter or the enthusiast like myself. No tinkering will make a horse race safe. Nor will any amount of safety equipment make a jockey safe from injury or death, as we have seen quite recently at a point-to-point in Kent. In wanting the race to be safe for human and horse, we are praying for a miracle. In 1929, 66 went to post – the year the ditch was filled-in at the Canal Turn, would you believe – with 10 completing and, I believe, no fatalities. The previous year, 42 went to post and only 2 completed.
What Miss Varma and her advisors fail to comprehend is that speed kills – it is why firm ground is now no longer permitted on British racecourses, why jump racing at all-weather tracks was abandoned – and in reducing distance and height, the Grand National is now as much a speed test as a stamina test. Speed Kills! You used to see such warnings on British roads. Perhaps a speed kills sign should be erected at the start of the race. Or perhaps outside the office of the clerk of the course. Nowadays I pray for heavy rain at Aintree on Grand National day as I know this will slow the race and lessen the possibility of tragedy.
The decisions being made on the part of the Grand National are made to protect the cash-cow that the great race has become, not to protect the race itself. Listening, and acting accordingly, to the baying, rabid few, is not the same as defending and preserving the golden jewel. Not one of us can defend the tragedy of a horse losing its life while in pursuit of our glory. What can be done, though, is to ensure every racehorse is given wonderful care and attention, whether in training or retired, with no thoroughbred allowed to fall into neglect, as happened with Hello Dandy, and allowed to life lives to the fullest. It is why I have long advocated that the Grand National should be used to raise funds for equine charities.
Where next will the axe fall if, God forbid! another tragedy occurs at Aintree in April? Reduce the field to 30, remove the Canal Turn and put in a smooth bend to Valentines? Lower the Chair? Reduce the distance once more? Suleka Varma has made a rod for her own back. I suspect, in a decade, the Grand National will become a twenty-runner race, run over 3-miles. The line of travel suggests my negativity might well prove horribly correct.

​When it comes to ‘penning these blogs’, my method of procedure is to only write when I am either roused to do so or when I am clear in my head as to my opinion. Occasionally, though, even when I know I should be getting on with the short novel I am near to finishing or if not that, the memoir that is also coming to the boil nicely, I feel an urge to write about horse racing. I simply wake in the early morning, 4 am if you have a need to know, and something deep inside demands I write about the sport as it will prove beneficial to my mental health, if only for a day. The blank page, though, is not always inspiring; does not always fire-up the old grey matter.
I rolled my eyes yesterday morning when reading in the Racing Post that the European Pattern Committee had refused applications from York and Ascot to upgrade both the City of York Stakes and the Long Distance Cup to Group 1 status. It is generally accepted that there are too many Group 1’s throughout Europe for the number of horses that are genuinely Group 1 class. Yes, there are no 7-furlong Group 1 races in Britain and Ireland but that is a poor argument in the present climate for the City of York to be upgraded from Group 2. What is the problem with France owning all the 7-furlong Group 1’s? If the City of York were upgraded it would no doubt risk the competitiveness of the established Group 1 7-furlong contests within the Pattern.
I thought the argument for the Long Distance Cup at Ascot was slightly stronger but have no complaints about it remaining a Group 2.
The problem with the European Pattern Committee is that exists not to promote great racing but to support the breeding industry by making it too easy for owners to make silk purses out of sow’s ears. I contend that it makes the breed weaker by having too many Group 1 races and would make it stronger if Group 1’s were not to be ‘open competitions’, even if I would not include classic races in my argument. To race at the highest level, I believe, horses should have to qualify with big performances in lesser Group races. Group 1’s should not be the dish of the day but the one of the dishes of the season, with many of the present Group 1’s downgraded to Group 2 to act as qualification races for the truly major races. This policy would also, I believe, persuade owners to keep horses in training for longer than is presently the case and this in turn will provide evidence of both a stallion’s soundness in wind and limb and his courage as a racehorse.
I will provide two examples of my thinking, one on the flat, one over jumps, a code of the sport that is also flattered by having too many Grade 1’s. The Coronation Cup at the Derby meeting is a Group 1 only in name as it is increasingly rare for it to be stuffed with Grade 1 winners and does not compare favourably with Group 1’s later in the season. At the Dublin Racing Festival recently there were no fewer than 8 Grade 1 races, yet how many were in any shape or form either competitive or classy affairs. The top horses will always scare away the best of opposition, with the problem made starkly illuminated by one trainer dominating in each and every one of the Grade 1’s, but is a 2-horse affair truly worthy of being designated a Grade 1 race?
Never has the phrase ‘Less is More’ provided an appropriate and inarguable solution to a problem, even if the authorities turn their backs to both the problem and its staring-you-in-the-face solution!
If my proposal were to be accepted – it will not, of course, as it would not even be debated for fear of the applecart being not only turned-over but tossed high in the air – and if over a half of the present Group 1’s were to be downgraded to Group 2 status, these races would overnight become fiercely competitive if results in these races determined which horses would qualify for the prestigious Group 1’s and the glittering prize of the big bucks earned in the stallion sheds.
Instead of Group 2’s being upgraded or new Group races established, there needs to be a slaughter of the European Pattern.

​We live in a world that is becoming increasingly artificial and many leagues separated from the lives of our childhood, if you are my age, and an unfathomable distance from the days of ‘living off the bounty of the earth and seas’. All was not in the pink back then, of course, and some aspects of life are infinitely better in the present age. But that does not predispose as a species we would benefit mentally, spiritually or physically from wholly breaking the chains of the past. 
Horse racing is not immune from the central control of governments or their influencers. Yet horse racing is becoming a flagbearer for the days of yore. Racecourses are a lung in many urban landscapes, a green oasis of fresh air and open space in the towns and cities that were once open fields and woodland.
Horse racing brings the countryside to the urban sprawl. Watch YouTube videos of racing in the nineteen-fifties, sixties and seventies and you will not see racecourses encroached upon by modern housing developments. Newbury, for instance, is unrecognisable today when compared to the day when Mill House and Arkle first clashed in the Hennessey Gold Cup. Newbury has become parkland to an estate to domestic living quarters, the wonderful racecourse, first considered by legendary local trainer John Porter, might, I fear, be close to being listed by planning officers as ‘infill’. British racecourses should seek listed status. Recall the plight of Aintree in the Red Rum era of the sport!
Horse racing is a directly viewable connection between horse and man, perhaps the most historical union between animal and human. Horses are no longer ‘stock’ or ‘beasts of burden’ but a cherished companion, with jockeys now freed from the yoke of their former colleagues separation from emotion for their steads and able to express their affection and downright love for the horses that are the pivot of their lives. If horse racing is not in reality a sport with a heart, we fight the challenge of being accused of being no better than bear-baiting and cock-fighting.
Horse racing has a unique place in British society as its inception, history and evolution stem from monarchy, with Queen Anne still annually commemorated at Royal Ascot. Kings, Queens and Prime Ministers have involved themselves in the sport. Yet, at its core, it remains a working man’s sport, even for those of wealth and status who wish to be employed within the sport in one capacity or another. To work with horses is to be a class of people that work hard and long. Jockeys, trainers, stable staff, are all working-class no matter their family history. Horse racing embraces all social classes, all religions, all faiths, all nationalities. The horse allows no privilege just because those who come into contact with them are of royal, noble or wealthy descent. Horse racing connects all people from royal palaces to the estates that now encircle our racecourses.
Horse racing is perhaps the only sport that must deal with true tragedies on a regular basis. We wish it were different, yet it is the unwritten contract that we must abide by. Death sits at our shoulder, be it equine of human. In that, we are link to a past when life really was a day-to-day survival.
Gambling is not solely a racing matter. Horse racing is not solely an activity for the gambler. Horse Racing Matters for so many reasons beyond the bet offered and taken.

The ‘social licence’ has become a phrase to beat the sport with. It should not, though, refer to the misinformation of those who wish ill of the sport but to the number of people who attend race-meetings, view the sport on television and who spend their disposable income on owning racehorses or who bet on horse-racing. If the ‘social licence’ becomes a poll for objectors then in time all sport may become the target of people who simply oppose sport for no other reasons than they do not understand it or dislike the noise generated by those who attend sport.
An inner ‘social licence’ should exist, though, with everyone employed in the sport covered by this obscure and unwritten licence. Jockeys, for instance, should be given opportunities beyond the present system to prove their worth, with many more races restricted to jockeys in the lower half of the jockeys table. Trainers, too, should be allowed a fairer hand, with races throughout the season restricted to trainers with less, for example, fifteen horses in their care, twenty-five and forty horses registered in their name. The ’social licence’ should be in place to protect those who strive and struggle to make a living out of this sport, those hard-working and dedicated people who are the foundation stones of the sport. In this, the British Horseracing Authority is negligent.
Of course, the gold standard ‘social licence’ is the care of racehorses both in training and in retirement. In the latter the sport has until recently also been negligent, though thankfully we are now as a sport fulfilling that particular obligation. More must be achieved, though. We must see our sport through the eyes of the horses who we depend upon.

​Look, when I give a race a lot of thought, I am as poor a tipster as you’ll find in any betting shop or on-line forum. When I go big, metaphorically, you must understand I lack the courage to actually stake real money on my ‘judgement’, it is the result of an instinctual thought. When A Plus Tard won the Betfair a few seasons ago, as he jumped the last the phrase ‘this will win the Gold Cup’ sprung front and central to my thoughts. And so it came to pass.
Now, here it is, when Shishkin won at Aintree last season, reining in Ahoy Senor, who I was shouting to get home in front, the race ended with a similar phrase flashing across my mind. ‘This could win the Gold Cup’, to be precise. Galopin Des Champs winning at Leopardstown with total ease has, I admit, muddied the waters as I thought him as impressive a big race winner as we have seen for many a long day.
All the while when Nicky Henderson was campaigning Shishkin over 2-miles, my instincts were to up him in trip as I believed I was looking at a stayer, not a potential 2-mile champion chaser. At Newbury in the Denman Chase, Shishkin won by out-staying his rivals. The further he went, the further he was going to win by. I was equally impressed by the faith both Nico de Boinville and Nicky Henderson expressed in Shishkin’s ability to stay the Gold Cup distance. Of course, we will get the same nonsense all trainers and jockey spew if their horse comes a close second in a race, that their horse didn’t quite stay the distance, when the rest of the field have trailed in twenty-lengths or more in arrears. As David Elsworth replied to journalists suggesting Barnbrook Again didn’t stay 3-milies after finishing second in the King George. ‘He stayed better than those he beat’. Galopin Des Champs may prove at Cheltenham he is a stronger stayer than Shishkin but defeat will not automatically prove that Shishkin is not a genuine Gold Cup horse. Some days one horse will prove stronger than another. That does not equate to on another occasion the result will not be reversed.
What I do find strange, and, yes the case of One Man shoots holes in my opinion – a horse who won a Hennessey Gold Cup, admittedly off a low handicap mark, as a young horse and then went on several years later to win the Champion 2-mile chase, after somehow having his undoubted stamina replaced by raw speed – is how Protekterat can finish a close and staying on third two-season ago in a Gold Cup and yet now the experts are thinking him a Ryanair horse. Yes, he was disappointing in the Betfair Chase this season, though as horses get older, they often need more work to get them truly fit than they did when younger, yet in the handicap at Cheltenham and the Lingfield race, and again in the Denman, he was to be seen running-on to good effect. Rather like Frodon, if he learned to preserve his energy in the early stages of a race and not pull at the reins, he might prove more effective in the business part of the race, a problem which would still be a problem if they dropped him in distance. Over-enthusiasm in a horse is every bit as much a problem-to-be-solved as the horse reluctant to give his all.
Another aspect of trainer/jockey logic that baffles me was displayed by Alan King after the splendid sight of Edwardstown jumping his rivals into submission in the Game Spirit. Allowing his horse to bowl along in front obviously pleased the horse, with jockey and horse in almost total harmony for the majority of the race. So why suggest they might not employ the same tactics at Cheltenham in the 2-mile Champion Chase? Doing what they did at Newbury would be the best tactic to find a chink in El Fabiolo’s jumping, I suggest. And Jonbon, of that matter. Edwardstown is the best jumper of the three most likely candidates for the race, so why would you not make use of that superpower?
As when it takes an age to get a horse loaded into the stalls, the length of time it takes to re-shoe a horse at the start of a jumps race, must impact negatively on all the other runners, something demonstrated quite clearly by Harry Cobden’s mount getting very stirred-up at the start of the Betfair Hurdle and then running deplorably. I do wonder how the form of races impacted by delays works out later on in the season? Perhaps there should be a debate around a maximum time delay before the misbehaving horse is automatically withdrawn by the starter.