BAULKING GREEN, NICK ROCKETT & MARBLE SANDS.

Back in the early to mid-sixties there was a hunter chaser, trained by Captain Tim Forster, by the name of Baulking Green. He was, and I hope remains, a legend of the hunter chase division, winning the United Hunts Cup, a 4-mile hunter chase which back then was a feature of the National Hunt Festival, four times, finishing his career with 22 wins from 33 starts, plus 2 point-to-points. He did not ever run in either the Aintree or Cheltenham Foxhunters, so is perhaps not an appropriate topic for the day the amateur riders get their try around the National-style fences.

My point is to ask the question, where are the modern day equivalent of Baulking Green or Flying Ace, the pride of Scotland? In Ireland, Winged Leader has broken the all-time record for point-to-point victories and hopefully will always be remembered for his exploits.

I might answer, in part, my own questions, by saying that the Hunter Chase division is now open to professional trainers, even if they do not always get the better of their point-to-point counterparts. Why the likes of Paul Nicholls and Willie Mullins are allowed to compete in hunter chasers is beyond me. Is there not enough races for them to win under rules? Why must they be allowed to take away prize-money and silverware from owners and trainers of a lower rank? If there is an answer to where the great hunter chasers have gone, this could easily be the answer. If my suggestion that the designation of amateur should be consigned to the history books is too ludicrous to be debated, why should the professional, ultra-professional when it comes to legends of the trainers' ranks, be allowed to infiltrate the limelight of the hard-working amateur.

Anyone who has backed Nick Rockett to win back-to-back Aintree Nationals must be dismayed to discover today that Patrick Mullins (amateur, really!) has chosen to ride Grangeclare West. This decision is a clear indication that Nick Rockett, after a season of setbacks, is not in the same form or condition that he was in this time last year. It is a great opportunity for Tom Bellamy to have a good spin around the National-style fences on a Willie Mullins trained horse; a chance to actually complete the race for the first time. One would have thought that a jockey would stay loyal to the horse that has given him the greatest moment in a long and distinguised career but Patrick has taken the professional view, which would be shared by the professional jockeys he works alongside every day of the week, that it is a professional sport and is all about winning and that sentiment has no rightful place at Closutton.

When Merryman won the Grand National in 1960, his jockey, Gerry Scott, was riding after breaking his collar bone twice in the previous five-days. There are other tales of broken jockeys defying medical advice to ride in the Grand National. These days, of course, that would never be allowed to happen. I only mention this strange mental capacity of jockeys to defy the pain of injury, the sort that would keep me or you off work for several weeks, when a great horse or a great adventure presents itself, as the outsider I fancy for Saturday, Marble Sands, must wait nervously in his stable for news of his jockey, Kielan Woods, who was taken to hospital yesterday after a fall at Fontwell. His visit to the hospital was described as 'precautionary'. Fingers crossed as I cannot find another 'complete outsider' to take the place of Marble Sands in my 'portfolio' for the race. At present I remain wedded to Panic Attack, with my instincts honing in on Gerri Colombe.

Incidentally, given the 'health and safety' aspect of the race nowadays, why is it, if Spillane's Tower runs today rather than taking up his place on Saturday, that the reserve that will take his place will be Pied Piper, a horse with 2 f's against his name in his last two races, while the next in line, Imperial Saint, has not fallen in his last six races and is obviously a far better candidate for the race?