yesterday at cheltenham. but first ...

​What I meant to include in my last ‘blog’ was that it would be unfair to restrict top National Hunt trainers from having more than 4-runners in any of the major handicaps, yet not restrict flat trainers to no more than 4-runners in races like the Epsom Derby or the Royal Hunt Cup. Admittedly, my brain took me on a journey to display my ignorance of the subject, allowing me to suggest that the rule of 4 restriction was all-embracing and included all races, which obviously is not the intention of the B.H.A. I get things wrong; I’m ageing, and not well, and sometimes I pick the bad apples along with the juicy.
There is good intention behind the rule of 4 proposal and I do not concur with the opinion that it is wrong to punish successful trainers simply for being successful. Did you know that 86% of the products you buy in shops or on-line, including the major banks, are either owned 100% or are governed by sway of majority shareholders, by 3 global companies, Vanguard and Blackrock being two, the third has slipped my mind?
Is that a good thing or bad? In horse racing, trainers on the flat and National Hunt, as it is becoming with owners, the 86% and 14% figures are similarly representative. Perhaps not exactly but it is a fair reflection of the dominance of the few over the majority. Something needs to be done to persuade owners to support a more diverse number of trainers, either by restriction of runners, restriction of the number of horses trained by one person or by having a large number or races restricted to trainers with less than fifty-horses under their care. To my mind, the B.H.A. are travelling towards the right destination, even if at the moment they are taking the wrong road.

I am a big fan and admirer of Bryony Frost. She is a uniquely talented rider and on the P.R. front she a wonderful ambassador for the sport. At least she was until Robbie Dunne allowed his jealousy of her success to cross the line into bullying and conduct unbecoming of the sport, believing he had the right to take the law into his own hands. Since the inquiry, Bryony is more guarded with the press, even though the public remain solidly in favour of her. Remember Francesca Cumani’s tears after Bryony won the Ryanair at the Cheltenham Festival, the first Grade 1 at the Festival for a female jockey? The ‘Frodon took my hand’ speech? As far as I am concerned, Robbie Dunne, a nobody in the sport as far as the public are concerned, has denied our sport one of National Hunt’s greatest assets in promoting the sport to a younger audience. 
Bryony deserves more opportunities in the top races. Paul Nicholls continues to support her and as someone not known for being a charitable cause when it comes to those who ride his horses, it should be enough of a positive for other trainers to use her innate ability to get a horse into a rhythm and jumping fluently, as was on display yesterday on Il Ridoto. She didn’t win but she did everything in her power to do so, being chinned on the line by a horse, I believe, becoming a top-notch performer, whose future lies outside of handicaps.
As Protektorat is unlikely to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup, would the Skeltons be thinking along the lines of entering him for the Grand National? He is a bold jumper of a fence when on-song and the way he knuckled down and stuck out his neck up the Cheltenham hill, after being given a quite conservative ride by Harry, suggested to me that he would get the trip at Aintree. Given that it is unlikely that Harry will get on Latenightpass in the Grand National, as that horse is his sister-in-law’s ride, perhaps it is not such a crazy notion.
The King George on Boxing Day is looking a seriously tight affair. I have still not lost all faith in Shishkin but there are two factors, so far undiscussed, one of which might undo his chances and the other help. Connecting the two alternatives is the name of Frodon, who possibly might be having his swan-song at Kempton.
As admirable as he is, Frodon is known for messing around at the start, not because he doesn’t want to race but because he wants to get on with things. He can whip round, the reason, I believe, Bryony likes to line-up on the outside at the start. Not that I am qualified to give Nico de Boinville advice, yet he would do well keep well away from Frodon at the start otherwise the two of them night synchronise their whipping round antics. 
I do think it is giving in to ignorance by stopping assistant starters from carrying a hunting crop or long-tom as it is not for hitting a horse but for the cracking sound it makes when used. Such an item would, I believe, have focused Shishkin’s mind at Ascot, with far better results for the betting public.
What will be in Shishkin’s favour, if he consents to put his best foot forward, is that Frodon will ensure a keen, honest pace and might light-up Allaho, also usually a front-runner. I have heard many top jockeys insist that it takes a true stayer to win over 3-miles at Kempton as races like the King George are run at a relentless gallop, with little leeway for jumping errors. Allaho won at Punchestown over 3-miles, yet he is not considered a Gold Cup horse and though it would be fanciful to suggest Frodon will take a hand in the finish, he will doubtless lead them into the straight and for Allaho to win he’ll have to prove himself a true stayer, which, I believe, Shishkin will prove he is, if he consents to race.