MOAN NUMBER 652, DELIGHT FOR CARLISLE & CONSTRUCTIVE SUGGESTION REGARDING DEATH VALLEY TYPE TEMPERATURES.

There are many, many languages, if owners cannot find a nice name for their horses using the extensive English language. The name Silver Buck, for instance, could be translated into Italian or French, the name Sea Pigeon also. One could name a horse Silver Pigeon or Sea Buck, if those words are important to the namer. And the B.H.A. could be both proactive and sensitive when approving names given to horses by their owners. Jimmy You Mushroom is a contemptible name to give a majestic creature. The poor horse runs in the opening race at Beverley today.

At Cartmell, this evening, in the opening race. there is a filly called Big Gypsy King. Big Gypsy Queen would have been acceptible, in my eyes, at least, but not Big Gypsy King. Yes, the part owner of the horse, along with his manager, is Tyson Fury who is big, he has gypsy blood in him and he is a king of the boxing ring. None of those facts, though, should give him the right to name a female racehorse a king, not even a big gypsy king. I am two-years beyond 70 and wear glassses and if I were to optain an appointment with Fury, I would carry a walking stick and shuffle my feet rather than stroll up to him. But I would not be scared to berate him for the choice of name. He would not like it if I addressed him as Miss Fury or Queen of the Furies. I hope in his next fight, he trips over his own feet and punches himself in his great big noggin.

Also today, at various race-meetings, you will find Slalom, a good 3-mile hurdler of the past, Sydney Carton, a former 3-mile chaser who won plenty of races and Flying Ace, the winner of 58-races from 88 starts. It is a sorry state if a horse that registered 58 victories from 88 starts cannot have its name die with him. Flying Ace, was in case you are in ignorance of him, a legend of the point-to-point and hunter chase field. His legacy deserves respect. Of course, are we to know if horses are given names by their mother or when in a herd by the patriarch or matriarch? I doubt they are. It is a just a small mark of respect by humans to a) give a racehorse a name fitting its status as the main player in our sport and b) for us to respect their achievements as our partners in the sport by allowing their names to die with them. Not the majority of horses, as that would make it difficult to name a racehorse, but those who left an indelible mark on our sport, as is the case with Flying Ace.

The Haydock hole issue has led to this weekend's meeting at Haydock being transferred to Carlisle, which as a great liker of Carlisle, I am delighted to see them have 15-minutes of fame. The official reason for the cancellation is that the inner course, which staged 2 and a half days racing last week, is unfit due to general wear and tear. But if the outer course had not got a ruddy big hole in it there would be no problem staging this week's intended two-day meeting. The wise sage that is John Gosden has pointed out that no one, it seems, past or present, has bothered to think it a good idea to record where the ancient drains are at Haydock, with the same being the case at most racecourses, I would guess. Also, and this must be a factor in the recent embarrassments at Goodwood, Cheltenham and now at Haydock, is the amount of irrigation that is used nowadays to produce ground conditions no worse than good-to-firm on the flat and good-to-soft over jumps. I remain convinced, as a matter of urgency, that every racecourse in this country should be inspected, using Lidar or some other hi-tech system, in order to see how widespread this problem might or might not be. I certainly hope Epsom and Ascot are inspected in the following days to establish if such a problem could emerge during the Derby meeting or Royal Ascot.

Equine welfare is always being touted as racing's first concern, and rightly so. Yet, we can rearrange in a few days a meeting that should be staged at one meeting to a raceourse fifty-miles away, but not, in times of death valley temperatures (relatively) to change an afternoon meeting to early evening, thereby saving our racehorses from having to compete in worryingly high temperatures. I dare say horses can cope with heat better than humans, though that is not the point. Some horses do not cope with heat and one day a horse will collpase and die from heat exhaustion and the mantra of 'equine welfare is paramount' will sound like a catchphrase for incompetence and perhaps even not really caring. Today or tomorrow should be the last day of his infernal (inferno) heat wave and we will not perhaps have another one this summer, but that does not mean the B.H.A. should not allow scheduled afternoon meetings to be changed to an evening meeting, with 24-hours notice, when temperatures climb to levels that allow the N.H.S. to issue red for danger warnings.

And yes, I do not do well in the sun. Give me cold temperatures any day of the year.