MELBOURNE CUP, CALDWELL POTTER, THE SKELTONS, LONG JUMPS & THE WORLD POOL CHAMPION JOCKEY.

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 add a touch of jeopardy back into the race. And in these hard financial times it may be difficult to find the right type of sponsor but Epsom also needs a Melbourne Cup-type 12-furlong million-quid handicap to spice up the day.

My knowledge of the Melbourne Cup is limited, though I can't think there has ever been a more impressive winner of the race, a day that belonged to Australia's version of Aidan O'Brien or even Michael Dickinson, Ciaron Maher, who saddled the first three home, plus two out of the next three. Point of Law won with the authority of a top-class stayer and I wonder if his Australian owners might consider bringing him to Britain for a crack at the Ascot Gold Cup. He is after all a product of the Royal stud.

Around this time last year my two horses to follow were Caldwell Potter and The Jukebox Man. The former we never got to see, though in winning the King George, the latter showed me in a very good light. Bizarrely, fate has flipped for these two horses with The Jukebox Man unlikely to be seen this season due to a 'small' injury, while Caldwell Potter is fit and healthy and due to start his season in the Betfair Chase.

He remains in my two to follow for the season, along with Dan Skelton's Forthfactor, the novice hurdler that has impressed me the most so far this season.

Dan Skelton is a fascinating bloke. The hackneyed phrase 'no stone is left unturned' does not do Dan justice. Usually a YouTube video involving trainers and their strings for the season is just a list of horses, which though interesting to a point does not, at least for me, teache me something about their method of training. Yesterday, in a video made by Alan Johns to advertise Red Mills racehorse food products, Dan was interviewed whilst inspecting a good number of his horses schooling. Dan's eye missed nothing, seemingly, and all the while answered John's questions with honesty and clarity, often adding a glimpse of humour. But what I gained from that video is that Dan wants all his horses ridden in the same style as his brother as this conformity becomes routine for the horse which in turn makes life easier for Harry at the races and gives Dan a very small advantage over his rivals. To observe Dan Skelton it is clear that to be as successful as he is requires not only owners prepared to dig deep in their pockets to provide him with the best bloodstock but the ability and clarity of thought to be excellent at managing the people he employs and delegating responsibility so he can put all his  energies where it is most needed.

If you are as old as I am, you might remember Pendil, one of the many great horses trained by Fred Winter. Pendil was famously brought down in a Gold Cup when seemingly cantering, though the following year he looked all over the winner only to fail to scale the hill and was worn down by The Dikler. Pendil was almost unbeatable over 3-miles but didn't stay many inches beyond 3-miles. Anyway, there was a famous photograph of him jumping a fence at Kempton Park, coming up outside the wing, with Richard Pitman in complete harmony with him, and landing a great distance beyond the fence. I believe the leap was measured and thought to be one of longest jumps ever seen on a British racecourse, though the exact distance I cannot remember.

I quote again from 'Paddock Personalities' by J. Fairfax Blakeborough. 'Whilst riding Marcolica in 1912, Bob Harper made what is one of the record jumps. On the Wetherby gallops, which were ploughed out during the war, his mount took off fifteen feet before a hurdle, landed twenty-seven feet over it and slid a further eighteen feet before falling and pushing his rider another twenty feet along the ground.' Whether it constitutes a record I have my doubts as the horse and rider did not complete the jumps as an intacted unit. I thought it worth a mention, though, and allowed me to recall one of my favourite horses of all-time, Pendil, in the days when Killiney, Crisp, Bula and Lanzarote were all stable companions. We forget, once upon a time Fred Winter was all dominant.

I am not very observant. So much passes me by, even in horse racing. I am very often surprised when I read that a horse has recorded its tenth or twelth win as the name of the horse means nothing to me. Added to my decomposing memory , this lack of observational skill puts me at a disadvantage in so many ways. I dare say I am alone in not realising that linked to the World Pool are several individual awards, one of which is the World Pool Jockeys Championship. This title is yet another feather in the cap of Saffie Osborne, who with 13-wins in the World Pool series is this year's World Pool champion jockey. How proud Dad must be.