There is no more important subject in the whole of the racing world than the welfare of racehorses. Welfare is above all other considerations, including prize-money, as without public and government confidence in the integrity of those involved with racehorses at all levels within the sport, there will be in the future no horse racing and no need to breed racehorses. It is why it was so important for breeders and auction houses to contribute financially to the care of retired racehorses, an intiative that came from a letter on the subject I had published in The Racing Post. That is not an empty boast but a statement of pride. The Horse Welfare Board Strategy 'A Life Well-Lived' has already produced a change of mind-set within the sport. When the sport was governed by The Jockey Club, the official narrative was that horse welfare was not their concern, it was the...

I am not advocating extreme leniency for people working in racing who flout B.H.A. rules. But there are occasions when banning someone from the sport is akin to shooting the sport in the foot. An ex-employee of Harry Derham, one Graham Baines - he might be a good chap gone wrong or an absolute bounder - has been found guilty by the B.H.A. for selling inside information. Derham had already dismissed him for serious misconduct and doubtless would not furnish him with a good reference, which would make life more difficult for Baines even without a 2-year ban from employment in the racing industry. Again, I do not know Baines from Adam and he might not be worthy of a second-chance within the sport, but as he only benefitted by less than £2,000 from his offence, money he claimed was needed to pay family bills, and given the shortage of experienced...

After 1,418-winners, Derek O'Connor has called time on his career as a jockey. I refuse to refer to him as an amateur as he was as good a rider as any of the top professionals who he has ridden alongside. I always wonder why the best amateurs stay amateur as they can suffer the same sort of bone-crunching falls as the professional, yet they do not get paid (?) to take the same risks to their health. O'Connor, as with Nina Carberry, could easily have made a living as a professional, even if they could never do the lighter weights, yet they both stayed in the amateur ranks, with both being the first name on all trainer's lists when it came to the amateur races at the Cheltenham Festival. I wonder who J.P. McManus will now turn to when he has a fancied horse in those same amateur races at Cheltenham...

 I am prepared to stick my neck out and suggest all four of the horses that ran in The Rising Stars Novice Chase at Aintree yesterday will all win races this season. Will any of them win an Arkle or Brown Advisory at the Cheltenham Festival? I will say no. The winner, Taurus Bay is obviously a top-notcher, yet already Ben Pauling is saying he does not really know if he is a 2-miler or a stayer and given there is no 2-mile 4 novice chase at the Festival outside of the handicap for novices, I am also prepared to guess that he will not win another race this season. I am firmly in the camp of a horse running throughout the season at one distance. If Taurus Bay keeps to 2-mile 4, I think he will do better than going down in trip, which seems the most likely route given...

I quite enjoy it when a horse is disregarded by television pundits, as with Rubaud yesterday, and then goes on to prove them the muppets that perhaps they are. Tom Scudamore and Mick Fitzgerald, as respected and talented as jockeys as they were, have no nerve when it comes to tipping, with both of them prone to selecting favourites, rather than going for a horse at a nice each-way price, with both of them yesterday, along with Luke Harvey, bolding proclaiming Rubaud a better hurdler than chaser. At the weights, though I kept it to myself, I thought Rubaud was well-in and had the right to be considered the best horse in the race. And didn't he stick it up to the I.T.V. punting panel, aided and abetted by a typically swashbuckling ride by Sam Twiston-Davies, now riding as well as he has ever done, at least in my opinion, he...

No one seems concerned that the long and unbroken run of the Badger Beer Chase, I believe the longest running sponsored National Hunt race at present, has come to an end, and that in these tough financial days has anone asked if the Woodhouse family intend to continue their sponsorship if Wincanton is not in a position to host the race next year? The BetMGM handicap chase today at Aintree is not the Badger Beer but a replacement race. If it was the Badger Beer it would have Badger Beer in its title. I still cannot see why the Badger Beer could not have been transferred to Newton Abbot, a racecourse local to the Brewers of Badger Beer, even if it is not located in Somerset. Taunton would have been a more appropriate venue, of course, though I guess it is in a similar situation to Wincanton and Exeter at the...

I was surprised as anyone when it was announced that Godolphin had acquired Billy Loughnane as a retained rider. I thought it was inevitable that Godolphin would want Loughnane 'on their team' in the near future but for him to immediately become equal in the pecking order with William Buick did take me off-guard. Loughnane is twenty and that is very young in comparison to 38-year-old Buick, a rider with vastly more experience in the big league of racing. I have no doubt that Loughnane will cope with his new job and with a smile on his face. But will Buick? Even when his best mate James Doyle was retained by Godolphin, Buick was always top dog, with Doyle riding what Buick rejected. But from December the 1st, Buick will have the best young jockey since himself snapping at his heels. Buick may be mates with Charlie Appleby but the trainer...

I am uncertain if Britain, Ireland and Europe have a race to match the Melbourne Cup. Obviously the Cheltenham Festival is unmatched anywhere in the world, as well as Royal Ascot. Yet the Melbourne Cup, though it may not stop a nation as it would back in the day when to know the result a radio was required, is a race people around the world still want to be involved in. I believe the Melbourne Carnival is spread over eight-days, with a day's interval between each day of the fixture. And before the big race itself there is a musical event, with Robbie Williams entrancing spectators this year. I would suggest that Epsom look to Melbourne in another effort to re-energise the Derby meeting, though to make the Derby as big a betting race it would need a full-size field, and I would suggest upping the maximum number to 22 to...

Simon Cox, head man at the B.H.A. (there is something wrong with 'chair', don't you think, almost derogatory, the chair of the B.H.A.. I was about to write that it is not as if the people who assemble with him around a table and called tablers. Then I remembered they are referred to as 'the board', which is what a table is, in effect. So, egg on me). Anyway, to begin again. Simon Cox certainly talks the talks and we must all keep our fingers and toes crossed that he can also walk the walk. He does not want to be a dictator and he thinks being a dictator will not help racing's cause. Yet many good people within the sport seem to think a benign dictator is exactly what the sport needs to be able to get its ducks in a row. I just hope Cox believes that the B.H.A....

What more can anyone say about Ryan Moore? In my long experience of the flat, over sixty-years, he is, in my opinion, the best of the best. When Frankie was riding, I ebbed and flowed on whether he or Ryan was the better. Ryan was always the more consistent, though I loved the way Frankie rode, which was usually one crack of the whip to get his horse to lengthen and then hands and heels and keeping his horse balanced and running in a true line (most of the time) to the finishing post. But by the time of his retirement, I had come to the conclusion that Ryan was by a neck or a head the better of the two. And, yes, I had both of them in front of Lester, though that is based mainly on style of riding. I watched a replay of Benvenuto Cellini's race at Keeneland...

It was said in today's Racing Post that in winning at Down Royal yesterday, Haiti Coulours was winning for the first time at the highest level. I would contend that yesterday's race may have been a Grade 1 steeplechase but it was not of the 'highest level'. He was an impressive winner and I am in no way detracting from his victory but for the phrase 'highest level' to mean anything meaningful it should only be applied to races stacked with Grade 1 proven horses. If Heart Wood had run, at least there would have been two Grade 1 winning chasers in the field. As it was, only Banbridge represented that calibre of horse. The Down Royal Champion Chase represented Haiti Coulours first Grade 1 success, and I remain committed to my argument that there is a world of difference between a genuine Grade I packed with Grade 1 winners and...

I have to feed a neighbour's cat tonight and again on Sunday morning. To give me, and the cat, of course, the best chance of remembering this simple task, I will stick a note to the television, leave the door key next to the kettle and tie a knot in my handkerchief. No, I do not have a mobile phone, neither ancient or modern. When it comes to watching re-runs of Ghosts or programmes from the nineties or noughtie or books I have read more once in the past, a poor memory can be a blessing. Other than in those specialised instances a poor memory can cause stress and embarrassment. Yesterday evening, as proof, perhaps, that my interest in the Breeders Cup can be measured to be lower than Hollie Doyle's comeback rides at Southwell tonight or indeed any jumps fixture in Britain and Ireland this weekend, I completely forgot that...

There is nothing more pleasing in life than to be proved right, not that it happens too often in my case, so forgive me starting with a gloat. Not that the P.J.A. are happy; they are quite cross, though pleased that the B.H.A. have stepped in and quashed the guilty verdict hanging around Jack Garrity's neck since the Leicester stewards accused him of not-trying on the ten-year-old Red Derek. Garrity was found guilty on the basis of sectional timing, not that the Leicester stewards allowed Garrity access to that information, which makes the Leicester inquiry look more and more like a kangaroo court. Quite rightly, the P.J.A. now  want the B.H.A. to stop the use of sectional timing in stewards' inquiries. If I had a say in this matter, if I had the ear of both the P.J.A. and the B.H.A., I would be pressing for sanctions against the Leicester stewards,...

One of the lesser mysteries in the world, at least to me, is when a jockey has to go abroad to prove to his fellow natives how good he or she is. Rachel King could barely get a ride in her home country, yet after relocating to Australia she is noted as being one of the best of a very high quality crop of jockeys. And so it is the same with Felix de Giles and James Reveley, journeyman jockeys at best at home, yet based in France both have become champion jockeys, with the latter often recruited by British trainers for high-profile rides. At 39, James Reveley is to call time on his career at the end of the year to take up training on a dual licence with Marine Pineda, described in The Racing Post today as 'his partner', whether that is business or romantic is left unclear. One...

Amongst the entries for the Coral (old Hennessey) Gold Cup are Grey Dawning, Haiti Couleurs and Caldwall Potter. If these three face the starter at Newbury, which I doubt, the Coral Gold Cup will finally look like the race when it was sponsored by the French brandy-makers. This 3-mile 2-furlong handicap is a race of legend and though not as diminished as the old Whitbread, since Hennessey withdraw their sponsorship, the race has become quite ordinary in comparison to the days of Arkle and Mill House, which is perhaps not surprising given the former went on to become the greatest racehorse of all-time and the latter, at the time, was expected to take the throne as the best since Golden Miller. I suspect I view the old Hennessey through rose-coloured spectacles, remembering the days when Spanish Steps and Burrough Hill Boy won the race and leaving to rest in the torn-up...

The Racing Post, no doubt to be helpful to Nicky Henderson, has published today all the races around the world that he could consider for Constitution Hill's next outing. Surprisingly, there are at least seven or eight to come under Nicky's consideration, including the Grade 2 10-furlong Man O War Stakes at Belmont on November 28th. I hope Nicky will put a line through that particular race before considering options closer to home. My idea of a plan, not that I believe Nicky Henderson would give any credence to my advice, would be to go next to Toulouse on November 29th for the 12-furlong Group 3 Prix Max Sicard, followed by the 12-furlong Prix Arcangues at Deauville on December 23rd. I remain convinced that running in the September Stakes at Kempton was a mistake as it limited options going forward for Constitution Hill by boosting his official rating, ruling out handicaps....

It is always a sadness for me when I read of the death of a formerly popular horse, especially when they die early into their retirement. Eve Johnson Houghton has reported the death of Accidental Agent, the Group 1 winner who famously refused to come out of the stalls on one occasion. He was only 12-years old. Apparently he was found lame in his paddock, with the injury proving so severe that it was recommended by the vet that on humane grounds the horse should be euthanised. Johnson Houghton said that her mother, who bred Accidental Agent, is greatly upset by this out-of-the-blue turn of events. On the similar theme of racehorses in retirement. I have on many occasions given thought as to why the Irish National Stud had living legends living out their retirement and yet the British National Stud did not have a similar living legends attraction. How long...

On reading this you may already be aware of the fate of today's racing. As I write, I do not. Given all four meetings in Britain and Ireland are subject to inspections, and with Storm Beolo unlikely to go away, it is possible that I.T.V. will be faced with just one race to televise, and that is Constitution Hill's jolly out in Italy.  It is just our luck that after waiting since Royal Ascot for a deluge of rain to refill the rivers and reservoirs, the much-appreciated rainfall is likely to scupper the most competitive Old Roan Chase since its inception. Always be wary of what you wish for, as they say. Now, I realise this is not as easy as A. B.C. but if Aintree and Market Rasen are unable to race today, given that the only jumps meeting tomorrow is at Hereford, why can't either one or both of...

As much as I admire Aidan O'Brien, and not by how much I get annoyed by the lack of substance that falls from his mouth when interviewed, I have my fingers crossed that Andrew Balding pulls it out of the fire and manages to win the trainers title race for no other reason than the Balding family have played a large part in my enjoyment of horse racing over my sixty + years of my small involvement in the sport. O'Brien can win the title next year or the year after, this might be Balding's one and only opportunity. His father was only champion once, in the year of Mill Reef's Derby and Arc success and it might be the same for the son, and this might yet be that year. In a Racing T.V. podcast, the five panelists, Ruby, Lydia, Nick, Jane and the young buck Josh, all had a...

With Newbury today called-off due to waterlogging and with tomorrow's meeting likely to go the same way, Nicky Henderson has made the right decision to take Constitution Hill to Italy rather than staying local and running in the St. Simon Stakes. For all his phaffing and puffing, Nicky Henderson is usually right when it comes to tough calls and I will have my figures crossed that the adventure allows him to train what I believe will be his first winner in Italy. When I suggested the St. Simon would be the the better of the two options, it had not entered my calculations that Newbury would succumb to the weather. Their previous meeting had been run on firm ground; what a difference a few weeks can make. I will also be keeping my fingers crossed that I.T.V. might be able to add live coverage of the Premio del Jockey Club along...