ON REFLECTION, SAVE THE TRIPLE CROWN & A QUOTE FROM THE ADMIRAL.

 I watched again the Sussex Stakes. In my mind, I remembered a different race than the one I watched on replay. In my mind, Bow Echo was an easy winner, his turn of foot devouring the opposition with the ease of Homer Simpson eating free food. Yet a second look determined a change of mind. On reflection, though the class shone through in the final strides, Bow Echo had to strain every sinew (once more) to get to and then defeat Gstaad. The thing that slightly annoys, is people better educated in the history and nuances of our sport are portraying Bow Echo as the inheritor of Frankel's crown as the king of kings. For information purposes only, I rate Brigadier Gerard slightly in front of Frankel. But that is another discussion.

In fact, I came away from that second look at the Sussex Stakes with the notion that Bow Echo is beginning to look in need of an extra furlong, whereas Gstaad looks as if in the top company he is an out and out miler. To rate Bow Echo's performance without the aid of rose-coloured glasses you have to use Ten Bob Tony as a barometer. As striking as he is to look at, Ten Bob Tony has never been anyone's idea of a classy, Group 1 horse. Yes, he won the Queen Anne at Royal Ascot but the concensus was that he won a race that fell into his c.v. rather then by any stroke of brilliance on his part. Yet at Goodwood he was only a stride or two behind Bow Echo at the winning post.

At this point of the season I will only have Bow Echo as the best miler around and as far away from the heights Frankel achieved as a 3-year-old as I am from my first flush of youth. He is top-class, no doubt, though I dare to say that a good percentage of the hoo-ha surrounding him is the youthful good looks of his rider, the new Lester Piggott. Perhaps even the reincarnation of the great man.

In their rush to inflict a Racing League style event on the sport in the U.S., a top class league rather than the Conference League-style event that has died a lingering death in this country, the  progenitors of this 'Formula 1 style' league have no qualms about ripping asunder the American triple crown, with the Preakness not included in the million-dollar League, while both the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont are included. To me, triple crowns in all distances should be the future, yet seemingly, as in the U.S., the concept of the triple crown is being considered a redundant concept. Nijinsky was the last colt to win the triple crown in this country, though Oh So Sharp won the 1,000-Guineas, Oaks and St.Leger, which, to my mind, makes her the last winner of the triple crown. Ireland and France, too, have abandoned the idea of triple crowns.

If we are to keep the triple crown as it is has been since its inception, the Guineas, Derby, St. Leger, the latter must be protected to keep it relevant. In this country, outside of races like the Queen's Vase and the Park Hill, which are restricted to 3-year-old, there is no major race outside of the St.Leger over 14-furlongs. In a bloated European calendar what I am about to suggest would be somewhere between difficult and impossible to implement, especially in this country, with Goodwood following so closely after the King George and Queen Elisabeth Stakes. But I feel there should be a 14-furlong Group 1 run somewhere during the summer, open to 3-year-olds and upwards, geldings included. The Doncaster St. Leger is an outlier in the European race schedule, with the French nowadays completely ignoring a race that is now kept alive by the realisation of Coolmore that it is the easiest classic to win in the whole of Europe. The winner of the St. Leger must either go back in distance or up in distance the following year. It is a bit mad that 14-furlong races do not exist in this country for the previous year's St.Leger winner to target.

(Phew, I have actually written about the St. Leger without mentioning my proposal that the Eclipse should be restricted to 3-year-olds and upgraded to the third leg of the triple crown).

The admirable Admiral Rous, who may live on in the persona of David Jennings, once said of jockeys. 'Any man who follows the advice of his jockey is sure to be ruined.' The first great handicapper of horses had no great opinion of jockeys accept that they were a hindrance to his work, even the jockeys he employed to ride his own horse. Such was his integrity, Admiral Rous handicapped races that his own horses were entered in. He was not a greatly successful owner, surprisingly.