​Andrew Balding is a lucky man. Not only is he born into a family of great repute but he is also blessed to be married to Anna Lisa. Whenever she represents her husband at the races – usually she gets the gig furthest from home I have noticed – it has reinforced my belief that Andrew is one lucky fellow. Today in the Racing Post she was the guest columnist and my regard for her increased a notch or two.
She wrote about the work of Racing Welfare, the industry charity that is there to pick-up, listen to and help those with either mental health issues or who are just lost in a sea of humanity. As someone whose character can only be described as ‘shaky’ or perhaps ‘flaky’, I sympathise with people who without knowing why or how have crept towards the abyss of failing to cope with the outside world and themselves.
As someone who cannot, even at my advanced age, talk even to myself about the holes I mentally stumble into, let alone anyone else or those few people who I regard as being close to, I am not in a position to give advice on coping with the pitfalls of life. It is too late for me now, of course. I am who I am, but the younger you are the more important it is to untangle the mixed-up thoughts that only serve to make life ever more difficult, with wrong personal choices the threads that slowly strangle common-sense and the well-intentioned advice of others.
Talk, at heart you know it makes sense.

J.P. McManus in his guest column last week in the Racing Post has certainly started a conversation, if only with Racing Post journalists. I think it was Lewis Porteous, not Lee Mottershead as I wrote the other day – I am old, I get the names of people mixed-up all the time, at least when I can remember or half-remember names – who took the subject a little further down the line and in today’s paper Matt Butler made the excellent suggestion that the handicaps at the Festival, bar one or two, should have qualifiers throughout the season. The only downside to his proposal would be finance and whether the sponsors of the handicaps at the Festival would be prepared to throw money at a dozen or so races during the lead-up to March. Perhaps the proposal does not need a sponsor like Pertemps to have qualifiers for their own race, perhaps any 2-mile 4 race handicap hurdle would serve as a qualifier for the Coral Cup or 3-mile handicap chase for the Kim Muir or National Hunt Handicap. Again, a good proposal that should be considered, even if Cheltenham’s response to good ideas is along the lines of ‘it is our ball and we will play with it any way we choose.’

It was only a matter of time before Connell split with O’Sullivan and that time has come to pass. It seems the lure of Marine Nationale was not enough for the jockey to give-up his rides at Cork last Sunday, a meeting that was eventually abandoned, to school for the trainer after racing at Punchestown. Sean Flanaghan is now in the hot seat for the rest of the season.

A James Emm, in the letters’ column today, made a point that is worth consideration. He thinks, given the Irish dominance and that racing our top chasers over 3-miles so early in the season, that British-trained horses might fare better in the latter half of the season, and at the Cheltenham Festival, of course, if some of the top chases before Christmas were reduced in distance. There really is only one race to be discussed here and that is the Betfair Chase, a race I believe we could do without. But if it is to survive, perhaps shortening the distance to 2-miles 4 is a good suggestion. After all, the John Durkan over the same distance is thriving, while the Betfair is below par by comparison. 

Karen Wiltshire is a significant figure in the history of flat racing. She was the first female jockey to win a race against professionals. She has a book out, the title of which I have forgotten, though I intend to buy a copy between now and Christmas. I suspect there will be a lot of justifiable whinging, as well as justifiable disappointment that there remains in this country only three female professional riders who can be expected to ride in more than one race at Royal Ascot. Given Karen’s breakthrough came in 1978, that is slow progress.

​I do not subscribe to any social media platforms; I do, though, use the comment sections of various YouTube channels to express my views. Therefore, I only have confirmation of others as to what is posted on these platforms and have no doubt what is expressed is wide in its spectrum, from the sensible to the offensive.
In today’s Racing Post, Peter Scargill, a man of great racing knowledge, erred, I believe, from the subject matter of his employment, by suggesting only mainstream media can be trusted when it comes to the news. I have e-mailed him to point out his mistake in siding with the enemy of the people – mainstream news outlets. There are always two-sides to every story, unfortunately, and unbelievably, a situation that for the majority of my life I could never imagine coming to fruition in the land of parliamentary democracy, the B.B.C., I.T.V., Channel 4 and Sky News, are nothing more than spokespersons of government and worst of all, no friends of our sport, as I.T.V. and Channel 4 example far too often.
I just hope that the jockeys who have signed-up to promoting the sport through the David Power Jockeys Cup receive positive feedback when they are promoting the sport on social media and not the filth and ignorance the social platforms are notorious for.

I have complained about the handicapping system for many years, believing a system that prevents good horses from winning due to hefty penalties for winning a single race is a welfare issue. Handicappers in their wisdom will raise a horse by fifteen or sixteen pounds for winning one of the big handicaps in which few finish the race, yet are slow to drop these horses when it is apparent they cannot be competitive of their inflated mark. I have suggested median handicaps, where horses are handicapped on their last 3, 4 or 5-runs, so as to give badly handicapped horses a fair chance of winning again. Obviously, if this proposal was to come into being handicappers could not rely on their computers to draw-up a handicap but would have to do the calculations themselves.
It is my opinion major handicaps, as with this Saturday’s Coral Gold Cup (the old Hennessey) stopped being targets for top-class horses when handicappers stopped using their knowledge and initiative and relied solely on their computers when framing handicaps. Look at the winners of the Hennessey in its first twenty-years or the old Whitbread, and you will see the names of the very best horses ever to grace a racecourse. In that regard, Denman is an outlier, winning two Hennessey Gold Cups off top-weight.
The handicap system in this country is broke and it needs fixing.
Also, the racing calendar is broke and needs fixing. Or do we want Ireland to dominate us for evermore?

No one has ever agreed with me when I make the point that every modern-day racing commentator is superior to Peter O’Sullevan. I recognise that every commentator today will refer to Sir Peter as the doyen of commentators and individually their inspiration. I just say, listen to his commentaries with an open-mind and compare him to Richard Hoiles or Simon Halt and you will grasp the inconvenient truth that he made numerous mistakes, called a horse ‘running on’ when clearly it was fading and stumbled over his words in a way our present-day commentators do not.
That said: he was, and perhaps remains, the voice of racing and if I had a list of the ten most influential men or women of my lifetime he would be in the top five. He was and remains a great man whose reputation lives on in his Sir Peter O’Sullevan Awards which raises funds for animal charities, like the Brook Hospital, all around the world.
Sir Peter will never be forgotten as long as our sport exists and this year his special award is to be awarded to the ‘greatest jockey’, John Francome, who is also one of our sport’s greatest personalities and is well-deserving the honour to be bestowed on him. His acceptance speech will be, I am certain, as humble as it will be hilarious. A great champion; an even greater human-being, I suggest.

​I suppose the weather played its part, as did the flexibility of Punchestown in bringing the race forward in the calendar by a few weeks, yet it proved the point that if trainers are kettled into running their good horses in one race, the sport benefits.
The John Durkan, I would hazard to guess, was the best steeplechase run pre-Christmas in many a long year. Undoubtedly, we witnessed this season’s Gold Cup winner, though which of the four it was we will not know until the middle of next March.
Racehorses, you know, are like people, they all different. As are trainers and their training methods. I suspect of the first four Spillane’s Tower will benefit most for the run, and the third and fourth, Galopin Des Champs and Fastorslow will benefit most by 3-miles +. The winner, though, Fact or File, is a big horse and must surely come on for the run and at Cheltenham last year he gave the impression that the extra distance of the Gold Cup would hold no fears for him. At least, as long as Mark Walsh is fit and healthy come the Festival, Paul Townend will have no torturous decision to make, unlike on the Tuesday if Lossiemouth proves as good as the right people assume her to be.
At the moment, in my estimation, the best ante-post bet for the Gold Cup would be Galopin Des Champs at 4/1. As for who I think will actually win the Blue Riband this season, I have no firm fancy and am still using the prayer mat each weekend in hope the racing gods allow at least one British trainer to emerge with an obvious hope of being involved in the finish. 

Following on from J.P. McManus’s excellent proposals for improving both the competitiveness of the handicaps at the Cheltenham Festival and the season’s narrative, Lee Mottershead added his own thoughts and, as you would expect from such a free-thinking and astute racing columnist, he came up with an equally excellent proposal. I will not steal from his column, so go to the Racing Post and read his proposal yourself.
John Pullin, head honcho at Cheltenham, disappointed me with his response to J.P.’s thoughts, dismissing them out-of-hand with comments that suggested he knew better than J.P.. This is an example of why the sport is on a nosedive towards extinction. It is true that sometimes good ideas are not practical due to financial restraints. That is true of many of my ‘good ideas’ at improving aspects of the sport. Yet finance does not impinge on implementing either J.P.’s proposals or Lee Mottershead’s and, if John Pullin were not so vain, a conversation between both men, or in J.P.’s case, perhaps one of his team, might have found a consensus to benefit the Festival.
J.P.’s proposal was given with the good of the sport in mind, a proposal that if adopted, might actually work against his own interests. Lee Mottershead’s proposal had, in one direction, the welfare of the horse in mind, while at the same time attempting to have the handicaps at Cheltenham more like proper handicaps rather than conditions races with only a 6Ib spread between the top and bottom weight.
It makes one shake one’s head until a headache takes all your attention when good, well-meaning ideas are dismissed as easily as an empty milk carton at breakfast. 

Without Constitution Hill, surprisingly, the Fighting Fifth does not disappear into inconsequence but might actually be a better race for his absence. Sir Gino comes in as substitute for his more famous stable-mate and Mystical Power comes from Ireland to represent Willie Mullins. Crossed fingers there might be half-a-dozen other runners to make it a more appealing race for bettors. With Constitution Hill on parade, the overriding thought throughout the race would have been ‘is he alright? And looking for signs that all is not alright’. I did think, given the late withdrawal of Lossiemouth at Punchestown coinciding with the news that the Henderson star was lame and unlikely to make the trip to Newcastle, that Closutton’s strategic command had saw an easier opportunity foray and persuaded the Grand Master to redirect the mare to the North-East of England. It seems I wrong as the Hattons Grace is now on the agenda for the mare. We will see tomorrow when the entries are published in the Racing Post. I just thought that if Willie was prepared to run the mare against State Man, he might be prepared to run her against Mystical Power.

​Yesterday the National Hunt season finally kicked-off in earnest. As it always threatened to be, we waited for months for the weather gods to deliver rain and when it arrived, we all as one wished it would stop. Although every horse in the Betfair wanted softish going, apparently, the underfoot conditions did ruin the spectacle – the spectacle of tired horses being unable to gallop past the winning post is always hard on the eye. 
Haydock maybe Richi Rich’s favourite racecourse but it is not mine, either over jumps or on the flat. Maybe I have never forgiven the course’s masters for taking away the drop fences that made it ideal as a tester for Aintree aspirants, but ground conditions seem to play a greater part in proceedings at Haydock than at any other racecourse. Not their fault, of course.
That said, Royale Pagaille was a noble and deserving winner of the BetFred Chase, outbattling Grey Dawning after seemingly booked for second. Pundits mentioned how Royale Pagaille slowed into several of the fences, no doubt giving away ground, but to me it looked as if he was learning from past mistakes and was perfectly acceptable if you remember he cracked a bone in his shoulder when falling at Cheltenham last season. Venetia is a whizz at winning with horses that have not seen a racecourse in years or nine-months as it was Royale Pagaille yesterday.
It does not need proving as she has proved her training capabilities a hundred-times or more during her career, but give Venetia Williams a good horse and she will take it to the top echelon as would the likes of Mullins, Henderson and Nicholls and her record should be rewarded by owners sending her the type of horses the aforementioned receive on a seasonal basis.
That said, I would hope Venetia avoids the Gold Cup with Royale Pagaille this time around and gives thought to Aintree and the Little National. Where once Royale Pagaille would have had scant chance of jumping round in the long-distance handicap, now it would be a breeze for him. But who am I to offer the divine Venetia advice. She has done pretty darn well using her own noggin, hasn’t she?
The other horse who should be heading for Aintree and the long-distance handicap is Bravemansgame. Some seem to think him badly named, suggesting he is not brave enough to reach the heights when he won a King George. To me, he is now a dour stayer and no one could criticise the manner in which he finished Saturday’s race.
Without wishing to knock Grey Dawning as he is splendid individual, unless Dan Skelton can find a small race for him, I cannot imagine him winning a race this season. With all the will in the world I cannot see him winning the Gold Cup and he might just lack the class to bring down one of Mullin’s battalions at Aintree. I hope to be proved wrong but I think Ireland will dominate all the Grade 1, 3-mile chases this season.
Ballyburn was good at Punchestown. And that is all that needs to be said.
Betterdaysahead was also good in defeating the Champion Hurdler State Man. More needs to be said, though. She was receiving the mares’ allowance and had the benefit of a previous run this season, which State Man did not. What was immediately disappointing, though, especially by someone who hates ducking a challenge, is that Gordon Elliott did not add to the anticipation for what lies ahead by indicating the Mares Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival ‘is made for her’. Well, it should not be. Cheltenham need to put the Champion Hurdle on a pedestal and do everything in their power to get the best 2-hurdlers in Britain and Ireland to line-up in it and the way to do that is to limit the rating for mares to run in the Mares race.
Another thing, will someone go to Closutton with a rake, shovel and a bucket to collect up all these stones that Willie’s best horses have a proclivity for stepping on.
Also, I notice that Polly Gundry has a horse entered-up next week called Lossiemouth and it has a fair few 1’s next to its name. Should not be, should not be!

​Apparently, according to whoever wrote-up the feature on the Japan Cup in this morning’s Racing Post, if Auguste Rodin were to win this weekend, he would join the elite status as ‘one of the immortals’. This debatable attribution got me thinking if anyone has applied definition to the various adjectives given to denote the place in the pantheon of excellence a racehorse achieves during its career.
Some horses are declared top-class; others great; some are legendary. Auguste Rodin teeters on the brink of being celebrated as ‘one of the immortals’. If this is a correct attribution, which I doubt anyone outside of Coolmore or Ballymore would concur with, a new term must be used to rank those racehorses of history who achieved far more in their careers than Auguste Rodin.
Before I attempt to develop my point of view, I must intercede with my belief that no three-year-old colt that is whisked off to stud can be regarded as an all-time great, only the best of his generation. City of Troy, as good as he was occasionally, will, in my eyes, only be ever considered the best of his generation, though he achieved that honour as both a two-year-old and as a three-year-old. Even so, in my estimation he ranks lower than Sea The Stars and Dancing Brave who were only the best of their three-year-old generation. To me, truly great flat horses must have c.v.’s similar to that achieved by Frankel and Brigadier Gerard.
Using a fairly old copy of The Penguin English Dictionary the definitions for ‘good’, ‘top-class’, ‘great’ and ‘legendary’, are : Good – of a favourable or desirable character or tendency – deserving of respect – adequate, satisfactory.
As you can see the term ‘good’ as applied to a sporting endeavour is rather vague, so perhaps we should drop the phrase ‘a good horse on his day’.
Great – extreme in effectiveness – eminent in a particular field.
Legendary – celebrated as if in legend, very famous.
Immortal – living for ever, enduring, of lasting fame.
Professionals, I realise, will define the true ability of a horse by the highest rating attributed either by the B.H.A. handicapper or the Racing Post. Yet I would argue that I once came top in a geography exam, which would suggest something that is unwise to believe. As I am presently belittling Auguste Rodin let me use him as an example of my thinking. He won a Derby and various other Group 1 races. On his day, he was obviously a top-class racehorse. But he also bombed-out occasionally. To my way of thinking his true mark would a median of his best and worse runs, not the rating he will retire with. A new term must be found to describe the merit of similar horses – those that are exceptional one-day and less than reliable on other days. So, using the five categories I have gone with, Auguste Rodin will not retire an ‘immortal’ but a good horse ‘who might have done better’.
I will stray from the flat to give examples of horses who I believe deserve to be described as top-class, great or legendary.
As of now, Galopin Des Champs, State Man and Constitution Hill are top-class, with the former the more likely of the three to be elevated to ‘one of the greats’. Spanish Steps and horses of his ilk can be described as ‘one of the greats’ due to his place as a cherished memory to so many people. Bula, Persian War and Altior are also examples as being ‘one of the greats’.
In the top-class and ‘one of the greats’ categories the list is pretty endless, with bias playing a part in peoples’ selection, as with my nomination of Spanish Steps. When it comes to legendary the list will be shorter and somewhat obvious. Firstly, though, some horses go beyond legendary – Arkle, Red Rum and Desert Orchid, for instance. Though the former is undoubtedly the greatest racehorse of all-time, flat or jumps, the other two removed themselves from merely living in the horse-racing world and on to the front pages of the daily newspapers and to this day if the man on the street were to be asked to name a racehorse the answer would most likely be Red Rum or Desert Orchid.
The flat has only one legend, I believe, and that is Frankel, though the likes of Ribot, Galileo (mainly as a stallion) and Brigadier Gerard are worth far more than merely being described as ‘one of the greats’. If only flat horses were allowed to race beyond four and were disqualified from taking up stud duties as four-year-olds.
Over jumps the legends come at you thick and fast – Sea Pigeon, Night Nurse, Monksfield, Sprinter Sacre, Moscow Flyer, Kauto Star, Big Bucks, Denman. On the flat I would suggest Brown Jack, with Kyprios as a legend in waiting.
When it comes to defining the true ability of a racehorse hyperbole is a tool for masking shortcomings. We need, I believe, a more strategic method of sorting the wheat from the chaff, the good from the better, the top-class from the great. The legends require no input from man to hoist their names high above the names of those who rode them in their victories, their trainers or owners.

Would you Adam and Eve it, Constitution Hill is lame again. Do you know who I blame – the trainer. He damned fate only last week by vehemently reminding naysayers that there has never been anything physically wrong with Constitution Hill. I think he even said the horse had never been lame in his life. For whatever reason, the racing gods have it in for Nicky Henderson and Michael Buckley and when Nicky said what he said, the gods saw a golden opportunity to mock him one more time.
The wheels are falling off, yet they fell off Sprinter Sacre for the best part of two-years and yet Nicky Henderson got him back to within a fetlock of his brilliant best. Let us hope for another fete of training of a similar level. The great man should have been knighted for Sprinter Sacre. If Constitution Hill wins the Champion Hurdle come March, nothing short of a Lordship will befit the achievement.

​Jack Leach, of ‘Sods I Have Cut on The Turf’ fame, is often quoted as saying ‘how can anyone die through the winter when they don’t know how last seasons two-year-olds have trained on.’ I am a bit like that at this time of year, though my inspiration to continue to dodge the Grim Reaper is wanting to know how last season’s novice hurdlers progress when tried over fences. Can you imagine the spirit of someone who leaves this mortal realm not knowing how Ballyburn did on his chase debut at Punchestown tomorrow or Sir Gino on Monday at Kempton? Mortified, I expect.
The fate of this season’s two-year-olds will not cross my mind till next spring and late spring at that.
I wonder if Paul Townend will sleep well tonight? And which horse will exercise his imagination as he tries to drop-off to sleep? Ballyburn? State Man? Galopin Des Champs? Has he chosen correctly; how will he feel if Lossiemouth beats State Man? Mortified? Or comforted by the knowledge that he can get back on Lossiemouth whenever he wants to? Surprisingly, Patrick Mullins gets the nod for Lossiemouth and not in-form cousin Danny Mullins.
Ballyburn is no shoo-in for a debut success as the race has plenty of likely outsiders. An outsider is any horse other than Ballyburn who will start long odds-on. State Man is also no certainly as he could easily be rolled-over by his stable-mate and current Champion Hurdle favourite, Lossiemouth and Galopin Des Champs will not face a stiffer test until March and the Gold Cup. All three might triumph; all three might be defeated by a stable-mate, such is the battalion of strength that lives at Closutton.
Incidentally, is it not ridiculous that the race following Ballyburn’s next step towards equine immortality, is a Beginners Chase over 3-miles and has attracted only three-runners, all trained by Gordon Elliott. Let us hope Jack Kennedy puts his leg across the right one.
The one wish we all will be in accordance with is that all these wonderful equine superstars come home safe and sound.

As is always the case when there is a ‘debacle’ in one of Cheltenham’s Cross-country Chases there is a call for more rails to guide the jockeys and prevent one of them from making an ass of themselves as befell Michael Nolan last week. The point people miss is that though this race takes place on a racecourse, the purpose of cross-country races is to mimic a ride across country where the rider is guided by fences not railings. Cross-Country races should not be considered a novel steeplechase and punters should realise that a jockey ‘going wrong’ is all part and parcel of the jollity.
On this subject, I feel it is unfair on Michael Nolan or any jockey who falls foul of the circumnavigations of the Cross-Country course to be fined or suspended when what can be considered ‘as the inevitable’ happens. The Glenfarglas may be run under the rules of racing but that should not mean leniency cannot be applied by the stewards. Nolan was embarrassed by his mistake and though it was clearly his misjudgement, his horse did not help his cause by ignoring Nolan’s supplications to turn his head. Controversial, perhaps, but could racecourses could reintroduce stocks on the lawn and when a jockey makes an ass of himself, the public could be called-upon to throw tomatoes and other rotten fruit on the miscreant for ten-minutes to prolong the jollity.

As expected, the two horses who died during and at the end of the handicap chase at Cheltenham last Sunday died of ‘exercise-associated sudden death’ or cardiovascular collapse. Napper Tandy broke his neck and I suspect died instantly. The fact that autopsies were carried out on the two heart attack victims should be publicised on all social media platforms so the veterinary truth is there for all to see and for people to realise the deaths of horses on racecourses is not a ‘sweeping it under the carpet’ exercise.

A letter in today’s Racing Post heaped praise on Taylor Fisher who though regarded as a useful flat apprentice is also plying his trade as a jumps jockey, having already won two handicap chases on School for Scandal and is perhaps the only jockey currently riding on the flat, over hurdles and fences and is successful in all three codes. The sort of young man who deserves all the success that comes his way.

​The land that was once Lewes racecourse, high on the South Downs, is for sale. If I had 2.45-million quid lying idle I would be tempted. Thankfully I do not even have the decimal point lying idle.
The racecourse closed in 1964, when I was 10-years old and I have no memory of the place. Strangely, since becoming aware that there was once a racecourse a mile to the west of the Sussex town, I acquired a nostalgia for Lewes, as if its loss was a burden too heavy to bear. Yet for all of its picturesque resonance, the English countryside in all its golden and green glory, with the racecourse closer to the heaven than hell, when the weather is minded Lewes racecourse can be as bleak as a coal-mine and as miserable as the wild oceans.
There was no mains electricity or water and there was no main road passing by. To get to the racecourse from the town of Lewes required a bus ride up hills Tour de France riders would wish to avoid. During spells of picnic weather, though, I doubt if there was a more charming and unspoilt racecourse in the entire world.
Many trainers have tried to be successful at Lewes since its closure, with the racing surface still serene, including John Gosden’s father, Towser, the only trainer, as far as I can ascertain, to make a go of the place. It would be sacrilege to have the land go under the plough and it would be pleasurable to have someone train top-class winners there again. But it closed for a reason and that reason was its remoteness and the huge cost it would take then, and now, to bring it up-to-date. Thankfully, Sussex still has racecourses at Brighton and Goodwood and we should treasure them for there uniqueness. 

Apparently, not surprisingly, social media took full notice of the sad accidents that occurred at Cheltenham last Sunday. What was surprising was that the topic found its way onto I.T.V. news, the channel that currently holds the terrestrial rights to British racing. Ed Chamberlain needs to go talk to the editor of I.T.V. news and explain they should be batting for the same side.
One of the owners of Abuffalosoldier, the horse that suffered a fatal heart attack after winning the handicap chase, wrote an emotional defence of the sport on one of the social media outlets, the letter published today in the Racing Post. He was correct in everything he said and I am grateful to him and the Post for bringing to my attention the unsurprising outburst of counterfeit horror from the ignorant few who rely on the death of a racehorse to air their supercilious prejudices. If only these same people would take an interest in the U.N. war in Ukraine and the natural habitats that are being destroyed by human stupidity, animals both sides of the border being decimated by bomb and chemical! If only these same people would look-up the meanings of the words accident and cruelty and guide their consciences towards animals subjected to the latter and not try to decimate the jobs of thousands of people.

I like Iroko, the G and G trained chaser owned by J.P. McManus. It concerns me, though, that a horse who has yet only run 3-times over fences, with only 2-more planned, is to be aimed at the National at Aintree this season. Given it is considered reasonable for a horse to have run 5-times over fences to qualify to run in the Cheltenham Festival handicaps, is 6 a reasonable number to qualify for Aintree? As Ruby Walsh made plain last weekend, should a horse not be determined a novice by the number of chases it has run in? As it stands, a horse who runs in and wins a novice chase in November and then sustains an injury that prevents it running again that same season becomes ineligible for novice chases the following season and is considered a ‘handicapper’. It is an issue that needs to be debated.

The John Durkan at Punchestown on Sunday is, as things stand on the Thursday, an absolute cracker. Not only is Galopin Des Champs slated for his first run of the season but nearly every other Grade 1 chaser in Ireland. If only we could see such a race at a British racecourse this side of the New Year. By comparison, the Betfair Chase at Haydock on Saturday looks a dud, and yet it could be the best renewal for many a long day.

The B.H.A. still believe, as do the majority of us, that the decision of the Whips Review Committee to disqualify Alphonse Le Grande from winning the Cesarewitch was correct. Yet again the wording of the whip rules has caused controversy and consternation. They are too complicated; they need simplifying. Six-strokes – one over and the horse is disqualified on the day, with connections allowed to appeal on the Tuesday. Simples.

​J.P. McManus is one of the great men of National Hunt history. We all owe him a great debt of gratitude for his loyalty to the sport and unrivalled sportsmanship. I cannot imagine anyone having a bad word to say about him and we need to show him our appreciation for all he has done for the sport while we are blessed to have him amongst us.
Whether he approached the Racing Post or the Post approached him is unknown but what a breath of fresh air it was to read his thoughts, in his own words, on one particular issue of the Cheltenham Festival. He believes that if the maximum number of horses allowed to run in the handicaps was to be reduced to 18 it would encourage trainers to run likely candidates for these races more often through the season to ensure they achieve a rating to get them into their chosen race. Of course, horses must now run more than five times to be allowed to run in the handicaps at Cheltenham and together with J.P.’s proposal I think it can only benefit both the Festival and the season in general.
As he admitted, at the moment if one of his horses look likely to be leniently weighted in one of the handicaps, he is minded to ask its trainer to keep the horse for the Festival and not run it beforehand so as not to risk an increase in its rating. As fair-minded as ever, his proposal is not in his own best-interests but would be in the best interest of the sport.
Note to B.H.A., someone give J.P. a call to discuss this proposal and any other he might be minded to talk with you about. You know it makes sense.

Two letters in today’s Racing Post pointing out flaws in the David Power Jockeys Cup. One, it will only help a select few in the weighing room up and down the country and that northern-based jockeys, due to the majority of the races covered by I.T.V. are in the south and Midlands, are ruled out of the competition from the very outset. And Dan Skelton accusing those who recognise the flaws in the competition of being short-sighted as there might be jam for owners and trainers in the future, is being short-sighted himself.

Constitution Hill did not work as well as Sir Gino at Newbury but that, I would imagine, is quite normal. I have my doubts we will ever see Constitution Hill in his pomp ever again, especially as he now getting older, with the shine of youth now in his wake. But for people to go on social media and suggest the horse will be or should be retired on the basis of a gallop the horse badly needed is scare-mongering designed on ignorance. The Fighting Fifth is where we can judge the horse, not a cold and wet morning on a non-racing day at Newbury.

I must admit I enjoy races like the apprentice race at Lingfield yesterday. Such races add to the unpredictability and intrigue of the sport. Yes, it was farcical in its way, but how about heaping some praise on Tyrese Campbell – I hope I have his name correct – for stealing a race on a mare that had not previously won in 15-attempts. And have some sympathy for the four apprentices who got 10-day bans for believing the front runner would tire at some point and come back to them. They are all inexperienced at race-riding and will have learned a lesson – always expect the unexpected.

Stud farms are farms and as such are as affected by inheritance tax as small farmers. Remember, stud farms are collateral damage in the W.E.F. dictated plan to kill livestock farming stone-dead. Rachel Reeves and Two-Tier are giving no thought to the measures imposed in the Budget as all they are doing is blindly implementing into law what the World Economic Forum, the World Health Organisation and the United Nations want of them in the name of Net Zero. The inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the U.S. cannot come soon enough for those of us who believe in freedom of speech and the liberty to do as we please. 

​The danger in pouring scorn on well-intentioned incentives is to appear a character as grouchy as the misrepresented Scrooge of Dickens fame. In wishing to honour David Power, founder of the bookmakers Paddy Power, I feel Flutter, which now incorporates Paddy Power within its umbrella of betting interests, could have given the matter more thought. 
Our top National Hunt jockeys are not liable for the poor house. It is reported in the Racing Post that our current champion Harry Cobden earned close to a quarter-of-a-million quid from his percentage of prize-money last season, and that does not take into account his riding fees and endorsements. He did not ask for, and does not financially need, a bonus of half-a-million quid, the prize for winning the David Power Jockeys Cup.
I understand that Flutters’ intention is to bring better public awareness of our leading jockeys but do we have to bribe them with riches beyond their imagination to get them to shake more hands, sign more autographs and pose for more selfies?
I have reflected on this issue since the announcement of this new championship last Friday and decided the huge investment in our sport by Flutter would have achieved greater acceptance by the majority – the jockeys love it, as you would expect. Though only those who might expect to be in the top ten come Aintree in April – if the million-plus allocated to the DPJC had gone in sponsorship of races at the bottom sphere of the sport, with David Power’s name and his achievements in life advertised on a daily basis. My suggestion would have benefitted owners, trainers, staff and jockeys from the top of the table to those whose careers are a journey around the country in second-hand cars rather than luxury cars often driven by a chauffeur. As I have said many times before, everyone who works in our sport deserves the opportunity to earn a fair living.

Derek O’Connor is as good a rider as any professional. He may be 40 now and facing the day when he must call close on his career as the most winning point-to-point rider in Irish history, yet he remains the go-to amateur when it comes to the restricted races at the Cheltenham Festival. I do though ask why connections of Fastorslow could not have a found a professional jockey to stand-in for the injured J.J.Slevin. No disrespect intended to O’Connor but Ireland is not short on good professional riders and the ride on Fastorslow might have given one of them a share of the limelight that would benefit their career trajectory. 

The National Trainers’ Federation have implored the B.H.A. to pull their fingers out and come up with an incentive for owners to have top chasers trained in this country. All they need do is look to Ireland. On most racecards in Ireland, at least the top racecourses, there is a conditions race of one sort or another and plenty of beginners and novice chasers. Willie Mullins does not pull his hair out as he peruses the racing calendar as not only is he not afraid to run two, three or four horses in one race but he also has many opportunities throughout the season to run his best horses. I urge the B.H.A. to listen to Nicky Henderson and stop thinking only of turnover and competitiveness, as important as those issues are.

Freddie Gingell goes from strength to strength. He is in good hands with Paul Nicholls and working alongside Harry Cobden. I just hope people do not fill his ears with suggestions he is the next A.P. McCoy or champion jockey in waiting. He is at present second-jockey to Cobden at Ditcheat, second jockey to the best jockey currently riding in this country. He might hold the position of second-jockey for a long time as I cannot see Cobden going to any other stable in the country, can you? Gingell is good, amazing value for his 3Ib claim but he is still very young and that first bad fall might only be around the corner. There is plenty of time available to him for it all to fall flat. I doubt it will. But let us just allow him to gain all the experience he can and will need to fulfil his undoubted potential.

I will tell you where Flutter’s one-million-quid would have better benefitted the sport – supplying fleece covers to our Northern racecourses. Carlisle is a popular racecourse not only with Northern trainers but those based in the south and Midlands also, yet the fixture today is at the mercy of the weather, as will all its meetings from now to the start of the flat. I do not know the price of fleeces, though I would imagine a million-quid would pay for many miles of the stuff. The name of David Power could be immortalised for many years to come if Carlisle, Kelso and Newcastle, say, were weather-proofed in his name.

​Despite ground concerns and a general smallness in field sizes, the 3-day November meeting was an enjoyable watch, if not overly informative for the major races post-Christmas. Of course, though, it was not a happy 3-days, was it? For 2-days and 4-races it was a small feast of interesting races … Then the spectre we all fear came from our peripheral vision to terrorise our soul. It came without warning; it came without sympathy. And there was I, during the race, thinking how much safer the sport had become due to the implementation of white woodwork on the fences, and I remain of that opinion. You cannot strategize for heart attacks, not with horses or humans. Fit as a flea athletes can be taken down by heart problems and it is the same, sadly, with our equine partners.
It is particularly distressing when you are witness to the spectre’s strike, especially when the spectacle that preceded the macabre event gloriously memorable. It was as massively unfair to the horse and is it was for you and me, and heartbreaking for the girl who looked after him, and a real-time  tragedy for his owners and trainer who literally moments before were celebrating what for them was a dream-like win.
Abuffalosoldier had skipped around Cheltenham with the aplomb of a gazelle on a home run. He pinged every fence as if spring-heeled, defeated the unforgiving hill without his jockey having to ask him for more energy than he was already willingly providing. At journeys end, Sean Bowen dedicated the win to ‘Margaret’, his greatest supporter, who had died the previous night and then spoke effusively about Abuffalosoldier as a possible National horse.
Then the happiness became a horror show.
What made the death of Abuffalosoldier’s demise ever-more heart-wrenching and hard to believe possible was that during the race Bangers and Cash had suffered a similar fate. Luckily for both the squeamish and the hard-bitten, the medical incident happened just as the camera panned towards the leaders and I only caught a brief glimpse of whatever was occurring. The odds of two horses dying in one race of similar, if not the same, fatal affliction must be long-odds against. One finished the race, the other only completed half the race and yet both perished. I hope there is no causal link and cannot imagine there can be. Both, I hope, will be subject to an autopsy and that the findings will be published in quick order.
I realise we live a stupidly woke world that I hope will come to end very soon, and I am in no way criticising I.T.V. or the ever-excellent Ed Chamberlain, but I wish the ‘very best veterinary care spiel’ could be excluded at such times, as to my ears, it comes across as counterfeit sincerity, as in ‘we did all we could’, which does not need saying. It was clear to all that the horse had suffered a heart attack and that is what the viewer should have been told in the immediate aftermath.
If the day could not plummet any further in despondency, in the very next race Napper Tandy fell at a hurdle and suffered a fatal injury. The bone he broke also should have been conveyed to viewers, whether it be neck, shoulder or leg. We are a fact-based sport and we should be treated as the adults we are.
One final point, I would be interested to know how many fatalities occur in France over their version of a ‘hurdle’, as they are static, unlike the British and Irish hurdle that has the propensity to swing if a horse should clip the top of them. I believe the reputation French horses have for being better jumpers of an obstacle is due to the type they learn to jump when young, younger than British and Irish trainers would ever dream of schooling young horses. It is a hobby-horse of mine, asking a horse to jump an obstacle that can be moving as no other equine disciple would think to do so.

People, as with horses, can be out-of-form for no particular reason. Harry Derham, as an example, whose horses have been winning here, there and everywhere up to know, suffered to see two of his stable stars run quite deplorable over the weekend. The much touted and expensive to purchase Imagine ran a stinker in the Paddy Power and the naughty-boy that is Teddy Blue was equally bad in the Greatwood. Next time either of them run, either might be win and Harry will be, perhaps, unable to offer a reason why.
I am out-of-form at the moment, unable to form coherent sentences or transfer my thoughts to page with any degree of softness or readability. Thankfully, I have no editor to chuck my ‘copy’ back at me, with ‘must better write’ in red pen to subtly inform me that I might only be keeping the seat warm for someone who can ‘better write’.