BILLY THE KID NO MORE, LOYALTY & THE UTTER DOMINATION OF ONE MAN.

I can be naive at times. For instance, I believe in weather forecasts. It was to rain with persistence in East Anglia yesterday afternoon. I did not, though the rain hammered down for hours here in North Devon. I hope no one took galoshes and water-proofs to Newmarket through reading my blog.

I doubt either a tornado or a lightning bolt could have wiped the smile from Billy Loughnane's face yesterday afternoon. I not know what age he became before William Bonney stopped being referred to as Billy the Kid but as of 3.45 yesterday I think it became inappropriate to refer to Loughnane as 'the kid' as he is now a fully-fledged member of the exclusive club of jockeys to have won a classic. Billy is the new Piggott.

I doubt if anyone who has visited this site since I had it tidied-up back in February will be aware but I predicted 3-years ago that within the passing 3-years Billy Loughnane would become champion jockey in this country. It is all very well him winning classics but to achieve my prediction he has to be champion jockey this season. Not that I was being ahead of the curve, of course, predicted good things would come the way of Loughnane as any half-awake racing nut could see as he quickly progressed from 7Ib claimer to 5 and then 3Ibs that Billy had the mark of brilliance about his riding. I simply went into print with my prediction, perhaps the first to do so, though perhaps not. I can make one more prediction about the young man, too. George Boughey should take full advantage of Loughnane's time as his go-to jockey as within the next 3- seasons Billy is going to be poached by Coolmore, Godolphin or Juddmonte.

I am not someone who is bowled over by one performance, The first two in the Guineas, Bow Echo and Gstaad, looked a class apart, spinning 8-lengths clear of the next to finish, but that was yesterday on firmish ground over a straight 8-furlongs. Other tests lie ahead and it is not beyond the possibility that one of the also-rans could come forward a stone for their race and the Ballydoyle horses tend to improve as the season progresses.

In the letters column of the Racing Post today, Nigel Payne, famous for being one of the people who helped to prevent to stop Aintree from becoming a housing estate, comments on Johnney De la Hay removing his horses from Paul Nicholls and dispersing them in various numbers to Dan Skelton, Jamie Snowden and Chris Gordon. Payne quotes the number of winners and the huge haul of prize-money that Nicholls has achieved for De la Hay over 13-years and asks where loyalty amongst owners has gone to. Of course, we do not know what went on behind closed doors and we are not privy to the exact cause of the split. As De la Hay has not left any of his string with Nicholls, giving lie to De la Hay's reason for parting with Nicholls that he wanted his horses spread amongst several trainers, we can be quite sure this split was not amicable and that harsh words were spoken. Nicholls, I suspect, as a man who wears his heart on his sleeves, can be truculent at times, with his word always to be considered as final.

The problem is that owners who have a dozen or more horses in training think of them as an investment. It never used to be like this. Horse racing is not the art world where wealthy people buy a painting to enjoy as a thing of beauty for a short while before it becomes valued for what it might sell for in the future.

Also in the letters column of the Racing Post today, Mr. Rogers of St. Albans writes about his concern for the damage that might be being done to the sport by the domination of Willie Mullins. As he said, if something had prevented the Closutton horses taking up their engagements in several of the Grade 1's at Punchestown would have been walkovers. It is a double-edged sword for the sport when Willie Mullins is triple or more handed in Grade 1 races as though he keeps the race competitive, his stranglehold would prevent other trainers from running, seeing little or no opportunity for them to pick up prize-money. Apart from limiting any trainer to a set number of horses he or she can train, I cannot find a soltion to what is to everyone bar Willie and his Team, see as a problem. I guess everyone must either rise to his standard or  simply attempt to out-live him and hope that Patrick has been going about Closutton all these years with his eyes closed.