ARC NEWS, CARLISLE BELL & GOOD ADVICE FOR ALL OF US.

Geldings will be allowed to run in the Prix de I'Arc de Triomphe from 2027. Hooray! Though no single horse race proclaims a champion, the winner of the Arc is usually considered the most prestigious middle-distance race of the year, with the winner going down in racing history as one of the best of the best. This is a justifiable decision by France Galop even if the purists will claim it as the beginning of the end. Scott Burton in the Racing Post today lays his colours to the mast of the doomy and gloomy, citing you should be careful for you wish for. More geldings means more horses eligible to run in the Arc, which inevitably means some high-class horses will be balloted out. He may be correct, it has happened in the past, but geldings have been balloted out by design throughout the 100+ years of existence of the Arc. My view is simple - the best races should always be open to the best horses, be they geldings or colts and fillies or even rigs.

What is more interesting than France Galop voting in the right direction is the comment of Edouard de Rothschild who though in favour of allowing geldings to run in the Arc said, and was right to do so, that the main problem with the Arc, and the reason it has slipped down the world ranking of top races around the world, is the date in the calendar in which it is run. At the end of the season, it is almost certain that the Arc will be run of soft to heavy ground, while all the other top middle-distance races around the world will be run on top-of-the-ground, making them better propositions for the owners of the best European horses. John Gosden's call for the Epsom Derby to be run after Royal Ascot was met with ridicule in some quarters, citing the immovable force that is the European Pattern Committee. In my opinion, John Gosden is correct in wanting the Epsom Derby to be staged in July, as is de Rothschild in wanting a more sensible date for the Arc. This would be the right time for an overhaul of the Pattern in Europe as well as the domestic season in Britain to accommodate more appropriate dates for two of the most historic and important races in the world of horse racing.

I am firmly of the opinion that Summer Jumping should be arranged around local fairs and festivals, as it is, to a large extent, in Ireland, with multiple day meetings, as again they have in Ireland. I would say the same, occasionally, with the flat. Today, thankfully surviving the heatwave, Carlisle stage the Carlisle Bell, the world's oldest sporting trophy - I thought to say this yesterday but lost my nerve as a nag in the brain kept suggesting the Chester Cup held this honour - and the Cumberland Plate, as well as the Eternal Stakes, Carlisle's only listed race. Also this week there is Hamilton's Saints and Sinners meeting, as well as the 3-day Northumberland Plate meeting. These three meetings could be combined to make a six-day festival championing all that is good about racing in the North of England and Scotland.

The funeral took place yesterday of former northern trainer Mick Naughton, a man described by his daughter as a force of nature. A former employee of his, and now a Sky Sports presenter, David Craig, is quoted as claiming that Naughton gave him the best advice any man has received and pertinent to any one of us. 'Never judge people until you have had a conversation to see how they treat you, whatever level of society they come from.' Fifty-years too late for me but still a good way to look at your fellow man or woman, of course.