70/30 TELLS A TALE, THE SPAT WITH NAUGHTY WORDS, THE TWO TIPS THAT MATTER & THE EMBARRASSMENT CONTINUES.

When asked if Fact To File would run in the Ryanair, J.P. McManus said it was 70/30 that he would not. We can take from that 70/30 quote that not all members of the McManus and Mullins teams were in full agreement, otherwise J.P. could have answered 'unlikely' to the question. J.P. also said that his opinion overpowered whatever Willie Mullins was thinking and the hard line taken by Mullins in a subsequent press release might have been fuelled by the trainer having to concede to the owner's request for Fact To File to be withdrawn. 

To all of us outside of Closutton, Willie Mullins comes across as mild-mannered, even if subject to over-riding the thoughts of his 'boardroom' if his intuition demands it. Yet to offer the threat of not bringing his best horses to the greatest race-meeting in the world if the ground conditions do not meet the requirements of his horses came, at least to me, as a shock. He did not say, which might have been understandable given J.P.'s entrenched position, he would not bring J.P.'s horses but inferred it was a threat to not bring any horse stabled at Closutton.

John Pullin, clerk of the course, was in, I believe,  a no-win situation given a weather forecast that suggested substantial rain through Thursday evening into Friday. If he had applied twice the amount of water and then there was twice the amount of rain that was forecast, the ground could easily, with the high-water table, gone very soft, which though it would have pleased Willie Mullins, would have annoyed those who had waited for good ground all through the wettest season on record. I doubt if we have heard the last of this topic.

Anyone who witnessed the shaking of hands between Declan (I think I may have referred to him as Denis yesterday) Queally and Nico de Boinville would not be fooled into thinking that all is love and harmony now between the two. Yesterday's act of unity, brokered by Davy Russell, was conducted through gritted teeth and I very much doubt there will be an exchange of Christmas cards come December.

Although I have managed a few winners this Festival, the same, more or less, than the professionals, today is the day that matters. So far all my suggestions have been 'fancies' with no great expectations attached to them. Today my banker runs as does the horse all my heart is attached to. At the age of 10, somehow, not that Dan Skelton knows why, Panic Attack has become a high-level performer, winning two prestigious handicaps at Cheltenham and Newbury and becoming a leading hope for a British-trained Aintree National winner. Today she takes on the might of the Irish mares, as well as Diva Luna, perhaps the top British-trained chase-mare. Anyway, Panic attack is my banker of the week, as she will be if she lines up at Aintree.

When I witnessed The Jukebox Man win his first race over fences at Newbury, I formed the instant opinion that he would go on to win a Cheltenham Gold Cup, an opinion that was emboldened when he went on to win the Kauto Star at Kempton. Three races later and two more wins later, he is one of the favourites for the Gold Cup. Very few people thought he would be up to winning a King George and those same people do not see him winning this afternoon. So today the talking stops and we will all be enlightened by the result. I fear every rival, though I fear Haiti Coulours the most. Sean Bowen is still to ride a Festival winner; his brother now has two on the board. I fear it might be written in the stars that Sean's first Festival victory will be the biggest victory of his career. But no, I expect The Jukebox Man to win and to win in the style of a Denman.

John Francome has added his voice to the call for a new starting procedure at Cheltenham, and if the protocol is to change for Cheltenham it must change for every racecourse. John Francome suggests a countdown, from ten to one, with it being the responsibility of the jockey to be ready to race when the countdown reaches one. I prefer this suggestion over Ruby's, though I believe all non-wacky ideas should be trialled. The embarrassment cannot be allowed to continue, even the B.H.A. must acknowledge the fact by now.