the jennings good thing, my shots in the dark, whip ban & the shark is back.

​David Jennings horse to back for the Festival is a bold and brave choice, Caldwell Potter, the horse seemingly anchored by the ridiculous price tag that will hang over him until the day he is retired. I believe the best is yet to come from Caldwell Potter and when he is upped to 3-miles+ we will see the revelation before our very eyes. He jumps and gallops and will end up winning staying handicap chases. I doubt, though, he will be winning the Golden Miller at Cheltenham.

My tip for the Golden Miller is Asian Master, though whether his tall thin jockey will be able to do the weight is another matter. Even if Willie Mulllins is forced to leg-up Paul Townend, I still think he will win. I like Fantastic Lady in the Ultima, there is a big race in her. Mambonumberfive for the Fred Winter. Katati Doti for the National Hunt 3-mile 6-furlonger. Supersundae in the Coral. Iceo Madrik as a punt in the Glenfarclas. Jazzy Matty in the Grand Annual. Will The Wise in the Pertemps. Jordans in the Plate. Resplendent Grey in the Kim Muir. Ethical Diamond in the County and Wodooh in the Martin Pipe.
If you cross that lot off your list of possible winners, I will have done you a great service. No need to thank me.

I wish the rules for Cheltenham were different for all other periods of the year, though for fairness and equality perhaps the run-up to Royal Ascot might also offer leniency to jockeys when they infringe the whip rules. As someone who believes ‘one hit and that’s it’ would benefit the sport in the long term, rules are rules and should be obeyed at all times, though it borders on cruel affliction to a top-flight jockey when they have to miss the whole of Cheltenham, as has happened to James Bowen, for going two over at a meeting far removed from the splendour of the Cheltenham Festival as can be imagined. I am not arguing the ban should not be served, I just think in the two-week period up to Cheltenham and Royal Ascot a jockey might be offered a choice. If the offence is deserving of a 4-day ban, for instance, the choice of 4-days covering the Festival should be offered or 8-days after Cheltenham.
Every opportunity should be given for our top jockeys to be available for the top two meetings in the British calendar. We all want the best horses competing, so why do we so easily accept when one of our top jockeys is denied the opportunity of competing.
What if, for example, it was not James Bowen who must sit out Cheltenham this year but Paul Townend or Nico de Boinville, Galopin Des Champs without Townend, Constitution Hill without Nico? Aidan without Ryan Moore at Royal Ascot. It is akin to Morecambe without Wise. Sooty without Sweep. Our top jockeys are always liable to injuries that keep them on the sidelines, so why add to the slings and arrows of misfortune that can hinder their careers with bans committed weeks in advance of the biggest four-days of their season? And Bowen’s ban may hurt him but it also adds to the workload of the trainers who were banking on employing him at Cheltenham and muddies the water for owners and punters, too.

The best news in today’s Racing Post is that from Saturday Shark Hanlon is back amongst the living. He has been dead to us for 3-months and he has now risen from his grave of inequity in time to saddle Hewick, good ground prevailing, in the Gold Cup and, crossed-fingers, good ground prevailing, in the Aintree National. His ban had woke written all over it and though he deserved a rap over the knuckles, to deprive him of his livelihood was a sleight to justice and those involved should hang their head in shame for bringing the sport into disrepute. A dead horse is real life. The same as when I had to drive home from the vets last week with a dead cat in a basket beside me. To pander to woke ideology is nothing short of madness taking hold in the community.