IS THERE A HEAVEN FOR HORSES? ARE FLAT HORSES TRIED TO EARLY IN LIFE & MY ENGAGEMENT BEGINS WITH THE DERBY TRIALS.

My apologies for my non-appearance yesterday. Nearly all my own fault. Laptop troubles, that is all I am prepared to say.

First a quibble. I only follow world events through YouTube and the B.B.C. Ceefax service. The latter gave scant review of the Aintree National result, yet chose to include the death of 'National Winner' Noble Yeats on the first page of the Ceefax service. The B.B.C. also described Evan Williams as 'Grand National trainer', which even he would think a stretch.

Life is not fair, we all know that. It can be especially so for great racehorses, you only have to look at the comparatively short years of retirment that fate determined for Denman and Kauto Star. Noble Yeats, as a National winner, can be also be regarded as a great horse, a horse that won perhaps the only race in Europe that comes anywhere near to 'stopping a nation'. He died of colic. The Waley-Cohen family committed 100% to saving the horse, with vets doing all that was possible to save his life. I am quite sure the family would have thrown any amount of money at the effort to save his life.

I flippantly ask in the title 'is there a heaven for horses', which is insincere of me as I do not believe there is a heaven for humans, but I am sincere is wishing that every horse that served man in its life receive an everlasting field of green grass and crystal-clear water either on this Earth or somewhere in an afterlife. What I would like to live to see is a national, racing funded, woodland/meadow cemetery for racehorses. somewhere where the great horses of the future can be intered together, a headstone bearing their achievements.

The Irish National Stud is a tourist attraction, its 'legends paddock' containing living equine legends of the sport can be viewed, perhaps even worshipped by adoring fans. Why can't there be in this country a similar attraction, where living legends live out of their lives and a cemetery where the greats, stallions and broodmares included, can be intered, their names a memorial to all they gave for our pleasure. If for nothing else, this is a project to display to the world how much we, the sport, care for the equine heroes and heroines of our sport. All it needs to begin the project is for one of the sports great patrons to donate the land, perhaps a stud of the necessary acreage. 

I truly believe that racing 2-year-old at this time of the year is morally wrong. A thoroughbred, by common consent, is not mature until they are 5-years-old, yet all the classics are done and dusted in their 3-year-old careers. I know this will never change; there is too much money to be earned selling yearlings either at breeze-ups or in the auction ring. But if the sport is sincere in its claim to put welfare first, then change should at least be discussed.

I would like to know the average career-span of the 2-year-olds that start their racing life in April through to June. When you see a 2-year-old tailed-off in a 5-furlong race in April, then unless injury is to blame, that horse is nowhere near enough mature to be racing. If I had my way, as if, there would be no 2-year-old races until the back-end of the season, perhaps September and I would have the classics for 4-year-olds and have a rule that no horse can go to stud until it is a 5-year-old. Think I am mad? Well, you might be right; there is some evidence. But how many trainers consider the Epsom Derby to be as hard on a horse as the Aintree National used to be viewed by many. The Epsom Derby can break a horse either mentally or physically. It is because 3-year-olds, in the main, are not mature enough to stand the strain imposed on its limbs by the undulations and camber of the racecourse. Even winners cannot race on due to injury caused in pursuit of Epsom glory.

Do not think of my argument in terms of the uheaval it will cause if implemented but on the issue of horse welfare and public perception. It is never too late to do the right thing.

My interest in the flat does not properly kick-in until we get to the Derby trials after the Guineas meeting and in particular the Lingfield Derby Trial and the Dante, with my enthusiasm for the flat peaking at Royal Ascot. The flat races I like the most are the Cup races like the Goodwood and Doncaster Cups and the major handicaps, even the sprints, which I much prefer to Group races for sprinters. I love the Cambridgeshire and the Cesarewitch, the latter being, along with the Ascot Gold Cup and the Epsom Derby, one of my highlights of the season. 6-weeks to the Epsom Derby and around 4-weeks before my enthusiasm for the flat is all charged-up and ready to go!