shark, nicholls, thurles, elsworth & JACOBS.

​The Irish racing judiciary know how to torture a man, don’t you think? First Shark Hanlon is hauled before them on a charge which is a result of either an accident or negligence, then with the vicious mindset of a Judge Jeffries they pronounce him guilty and impose a sentence akin to life imprisonment with hard labour, and now, to extend Shark’s pain, they will deliberate on whether they were right to impose a draconian sentence for a further fourteen-days!
Will ‘they’ have the good grace and common dignity to admit they erred in treating Shark as if he is an animal abuser and reduce his sentence to the rap over the knuckles his error of judgement deserved?
Is it not enough that the whole sorry affair has taken a rapier to both his business and reputation, with twenty-eight of his horses being shipped to England this weekend to be sold at public auction, and twelve of his staff set to lose their jobs? My only hope is that when Shark’s nightmare comes to an end, be that in 10-months-time or in fourteen-days, leading owners in racing will send him horses to help him re-establish himself. Horse racing in both Ireland and Britain is not a healthy enough state to send to purgatory characters with the public appeal of Shark Hanlon.
As I said yesterday, if Shark’s appeal is not successful, this will be the worst injustice in racing history since Captain Ryan Price lost his licence for a doping offence it was later proved he did not commit.

Slowly but ever surely, we inch toward the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby and the take-off for the 2024/25 National Hunt season. Let us hope Sean Bowen and the two Harrys, Skelton and Cobden stay injury-free for the bulk of the season and come April any one of the three can be crowned champion. The trainers’ championship is harder to call as Willie Mullins, as his habit in all things, apparently, will not make-up his mind whether to bother with defending his title until late March, as he did last season, when he went on a winning spree unknown in the sport, culminating in winning the first of the little Nationals with I Am Maximus.
If you are of the opinion that Mullins will not reign supreme again, you must have an idea of a horse outside of Closutton to beat Galapin Des Champs and, sadly for Nicholls, Skelton and others, if the two-time Gold Cup winner fails to complete the hat-trick it is odds-on his conqueror will be a stable-mate, of which there only about half-a-dozen likely candidates.
My wish is for Paul Nicholls to have a Gold Cup contender as the sport is better when he is in the mix. If I were to suggest a possible Ditcheat Gold Cup horse outside of Bravemansgame, I would go for Ginny’s Destiny. I have no idea why but Nicholls seems to have become one of the Marmites, you either respect and admire him for his positivity or you hate him for being arrogantly-minded. I am in the former camp and make no apologises for being a fan. I wish him well in his quest for a fifteenth trainers’ title and will again feel sorry that Dan Skelton has fallen short yet again.

Amazingly, given the rain we have had over here, especially North Devon and it seems in Berkshire given the ground for Ascot on Saturday is likely to be soft with heavy patches, Thurles has called-off Thursday’s meeting due to a lack of rain.

My favourite trainer of all-time must be David Elsworth. Not just because he trained Desert Orchid and Persian Punch but because a) he never minced his words and b) he had the courage of his convictions. Only the great man thought Desert Orchid would win a King George as no one, perhaps including his long-standing stable jockey Colin Brown, thought his front-running tactics would allow him to stay, including me, and yet he won from the front, going away. Again, he was alone in keeping the faith that Dessie would win a Gold Cup on a course he did not do well at, on ground he hated and over a distance that would likely be beyond him; that was certainly the opinion of Dessie’s owners. Yet he won with the aid of grit and the same kind of courage as his trainer. The 2-miler (?) then confounded everyone by winning an Irish National and a Whitbread. ‘Elsie’ was a genius with chasers and equally a genius with flat horses. Think what he might have achieved if he had ever had a stable of jumpers like Closutton houses today or a stable of flat horses that Aidan O’Brien has the privilege of training?

When it comes to personal favourites, outside of my love-affair with Bryony Frost, my favourite jockey of modern times has been Daryll Jacobs and I am both relieved and disappointed for him to announce that this season will be his last. A jockey who loves his horses and has no inhibitions about people knowing it, he will be in Ireland for most of his last season and if I could have one wish for the season it would be that Daryll lands a race to rival his Grand National success on Neptune Collonges. In my book, Daryll was the last jockey to win a true Grand National.