the chair and other matters.

​One of the saddest and most alarming spectacles on a racecourse is ‘the tired fall’. When all is to play for at the sharp end of a race, the tired fall is somehow allowable, as the sport is, as we know, for connections and punters, at least, all about being first past the post. The sight, though, that is both disagreeable to the eye of the enthusiast and grist to the mill of those who believe horse racing to be an unsavoury experience, is the fall of a horse ‘out on its feet’ and with no chance of winning or being placed, with the subsequent holding of breath until the horse rises to his feet. The jockey, of course, we care less about it, even when he remains underneath half a ton of unmoving horse!
Back in the day, the Chair Fence at Aintree was manned by a racecourse official who was known as the Distance Judge and assisted the Racecourse Judge. He would sit on a chair mounted on a plinth and direct jockeys, who were still racing when the previous finisher had passed the finishing post, to pull-up as their mounts as they would be deemed non-finishers and recorded as being beaten by a ‘distance’.
Of course, jockeys do not set-out to get their horse on the ground during a race, sometimes, though, misjudgements occur and horses do fall, sometimes fatally, while on other occasions they remain on the ground winded, with the green canvas screens erected so vets can administer to the horse in private whilst shielding the public from the sight of a stricken horse. As was proved during the Welsh National at Chepstow over the Christmas period, jockeys tend to err on the side of caution when all hope of prize-winning is gone these days and will pull up their mounts earlier in a race than perhaps their forebears might have done in the past. It is always better to pull-up one fence too early than one fence too late.
How it might be achieved without jockeys wearing some form of communication device is difficult to suggest from someone with no race-riding experience, but the return of the ‘distance judge’ in some form might be worth discussion at B.H.A. headquarters.
If a horse is a distant third as the winner passes the winning post, and another a distant fourth, for example, would it not be expedient, to take away the possibility of a crashing fall, for the jockey to be instructed to pull-up and the owner awarded third or fourth prize-money, with bookmakers paying out as if the horse had jumped the final obstacle (or final two fences) as if it is a finisher?
Horse racing is only similar to athletics in that there is a start and a finish. In athletics, for the athletes, it is a sport about ‘personal bests’, with an athlete often stepping off the track having finished 12th smiling as broadly as the winner due to having broken his or her personal best time for the event. Horse racing is not about personal bests or track records. There is no shame in not finishing the race, though there may be disappointment and sometimes tears.
The sport must do all in its powers to eliminate, as far as fate will allow, the unnecessary and preventable falls. Some form of ‘distance judge’ might go some way to achieving fewer green screens utilized on the racecourse.

As others have stated, Galopin Des Champs was spectacular in the Savills Chase and looks to have a second Gold Cup in his grasp. Of course, Cheltenham in March is a different ball-game to Leopardstown at Christmas. For the sake of a competitive race come March, it is to be hoped Gordon Elliott finds something amiss with Gerri Colombe and that A Plus Tard comes on leaps and bounds for his first run of the season and only his third in two-seasons. Shishkin, thankfully, has survived his unfortunate trip-up in the King George and he might yet surprise and shock the connections of Galopin Des Champs come March.
What is worrying for the opposition, must be that while Galopin looked vulnerable when held-up in his races, at least to my eyes he looked to have a fall in him, reverting back to allowing him to bowl along, he looks imperious and immaculate over his fences. To beat him, others must lay up with him as he will not be going backwards in the closing stages. Can Hewick stay with him? Has Shishkin the stamina to lay a glove on him up the stamina-sapping hill to the finishing line? Will Fastorslow prove too too fast for Galopin or too slow?
What the Christmas period has proved is that if the racing schedule is amended and tweaked positive outcomes can be achieved. God-willing, this season Galopin might be seen on a racecourse three-times before Cheltenham rather than twice as it was last season and Nicky Henderson is persuaded that it is possible for Constitution Hill to have three-races in the run-up to the Champion Hurdle, though due to a combination of frost and heavy ground, this season he’ll have to win a second Champion Hurdle off a preparation of only two runs, as it was last season. Further tweaks are needed and it might aid the B.H.A. if they consulted trainers as to how those tweaks might provide the greatest amount of benefit.