AN HISTORIC ACHIEVEMENT, ALWAYS ENVIOUS, PHAR LAP, STALLS PROCEDURE & IT MAKES NO SENSE.

The Racing Post have finally acknowledged Wayne Lordan's six-timer at Leopardstown on Saturday. And it seems I was right when I suggested it was an achievement worth heralding as Lordan is the first jockey, flat or jumping, in the history of British and Irish racing, to win six races for the same trainer at a single meeting. It is a record he will keep for a very long time, I predict.

In today's Racing Post, Louisa Allen, this years winner of the Leadership Award at the Thoroughbred Industry Employees Awards, is featured. There is no doubt she was a worthy recipient of the award. Personally, when I read about the people who receive these awards, I cannot but help tearing-up a little, envious of their positions in the sport, wishing I could have a similar work background. If only government knew about the love and passion involved in horse racing. How horse racing helps and invigorates rural communities, and the huge number of people the industry employs and the high number of wholly good people who care for the horses, their dedication and work ethic, an example to every other industry in the country.

I continue to ask how the modern racehorse can be so different to the racehorses of the past. Only on Sunday, William Haggas told Nick Luck of a visit to Martin Pipe even before he started training and Martin assuring him that a horse that runs on consecutive days will almost always run better the second time than the first. Back in 1931 (might be 1930?) Phar Lap, the best horse ever to come from New Zealand, won the Melbourne Cup carrying 9st 10Ibs. Two-days later he won over a mile and two-days after that won over 12-furlongs. I am bemused that many of our top trainers, though not Aidan O'Brien, seem to think that a horse needs wrapping-up in cotton wool after running in the Derby or Royal Ascot, for instance. Aidan is the most dominant trainer in British and Irish racing history, yet though I cannot recall an example of him running a horse twice in two-days, he will regularly run a Group 1 horse twice in a week, even a two-year-olds. Martin Pipe changed he way jumpers are trained. Yet few, it seems, think to copy Aidan's training philosophy.

Stalls handlers are a marvel and deserve neither praise nor criticism from the likes of me. But after a watching a race from Bath yesterday, the fourth race if you want to look it up, I am more convinced than ever that the stalls procedure in this country needs a rethink. It took an age to load ten or eleven horses, with three horses in that time rearing in the stalls, with one having to be withdrawn, even though it appeared unhurt. There may be a procedure but there is no rhythm or urgency, with jockeys allowed to hang out the back as in want of gaining an advantage. The horses should be walked around in a circle, with stalls handlers taking hold of the nearest to the stalls. Horses that have a 'ticket' to go in last should have a ribbon or something attached to the bridle so that they can be distinguised from the others. It will probably take a horse being killed in the stalls or a jockey badly hurt before a fuss is kicked-up, forcing the B.H.A. to get a grip with the situation.

At Carlisle today, in the Panoramic Hurdle,the former Champion Hurdler, Golden Ace, one of my favourite racehorses at the moment, is set to receive, as a mare, 7Ibs from Decorated Hero, a good handicapper but a long way apart from the class of Golden Ace. It makes no sense. Yes, it is a good thing that mares receive an allowance, but not former Champion Hurdlers. If Lossiemouth were to be amongst the entries she too would be eligible to receive the 7Ib allowance. When a mare has won the Champion Hurdle, marking her down as the best hurdler around, that allowance should diminish to 4Ibs in all races and go altogether if she should win two Champion Hurdles.

On the plus side, if the horse is declared, the Panoramic Hurdle will see the return of Bryony Le Clerc to the British racing scene, riding Inner Success for M. Seror. As a new bride, I am sure she will be keen to show-off her wedding ring to anyone who asks.