CHESTER, A NO WIN SITUATION.

The weather forecast for North Devon yesterday afternoon was for heavy showers and possible thunder and lightning. It was dry all day. I am not 100% sure if the forecast for Chester was the same - the summary I read suggested Northern and Western regions would receive the largest dollop of rain - yet the outcome was the same as here in North Devon. Eloise Quayle was a hostage to fortune. If she had put 8mm of water on the course and it had rained as forecast, Chester would have been a quagmire before the third race and the ground for the Chester Cup today would have been compromised. In complaining about the state of the ground, Chester's clerk of the course was hung out to dry. I thought I.T.V. dealt with the impasse in a professional manner, even if I would have preferred an additional race from Huntingdon rather than long shots of jockeys, trainers and stewards holding a lengthy inspection only to then decide to ask the opinion of every jockey in the weighing room before making a decision of whether to abandon or go on. What was the point of having Marquand, Watson, Moore and Murphy in on the inspection if their word was not accepted on behalf of all the other jockeys.

I have suggested this in the past and I remain wedded to the idea, even if it seems a bit bonkers to those who refuse to look outside of the box for solutions. Yesterday, in her role of expert pundit, which I believe she does very well, Hayley Turner claimed that clerks of the courses rarely get the description of ground conditions correct. Now then, given that it is always a nice moment when a retired racehorse comes back into the public eye due to success in some form of equine discipline unconnected to racing, why not use a couple of old-stagers to determine the state of the ground prior to the start of racing. How many horses would be needed so that every meeting on every day could have ground conditions determined in this manner is a blur to me or what the cost of such an exercise would be. But I think the idea of two horses (perhaps one on a busy bank holiday) galloped the whole length of the course in the morning prior to the meeting taking place, with the riders (either current or retired jockeys) then advising the clerk of the course on how the course rode, would give a more accurate going description than the present system.

An alternative scheme might be for a local trainer to be invited on the morning of a race meeting to gallop a small number of horses, with the riders again advising on the description of ground condition.

If horses had galloped on the course at Chester in the morning, at racing pace, then the slippery nature of the bend into the straight would, I hope, have come to light, with the remedial work conducted outside of the tell-tale eyes of the I.T.V. cameras.

Yesterday's dilemma was not the fault of the clerk of the course. Last night it was expected that she put on 8-mm of water and I sort of hope, the dark side of my nature coming to the fore, that Chester is hit this afternoon with a deluge of rain, then, of course, all of those who complained not enough water was applied to the course the previous night will get on their high horse again and blame Eloise Quayle for the extreme softness of the going. Where the blame actually lies is two-fold: the weather forecasters got their forecast very wrong, in North Devon and in the Chester area; and, as with good being the new good-to-firm over jumps, good-to-firm is the new firm on the flat. What Ms Quayley should have done Wednesday evening into night was nothing, which given the weather forecast for the region would have been perfectly acceptable.

On the actual racing, I think the classic trials have been as close to useless as yesterday's weather forecast. The dominance of the O'Brien stable is plain boring, O'Brien beating O'Brien, with nothing of note in between. On Sunday, at Leopardstown, the Derby trial features five from Ballydoyle, two from son Donnicha and one from son Joseph. That's it, the eight declared. It is not beyond the realm of imagination to have Aidan O'Brien win every Derby and Oaks trial, with perhaps the exception of the Cocked Hat at Goodwood. One of the reasons the Epsom Derby is dying is because of the operation that is keeping it alive, Ballydoyle. Imagine if Coolmore went bust!