RIGHT UP MY BALLPARK, HE SHOULD BE LISTENED TO & OVER THE TOP BY A COUNTRY MILE.

The names given to thoroughbred racehorses sometimes taxes me. I do not believe a serious sport such as horse racing should allow owners to give our beautiful partners names that ring with ridicule or silly humour. And when I see a name of a former popular or great horse replicated on a racecard, I am, at best, annoyed. Racehorses should be respected and honoured from conception to the grave, and this right should begin with its name.

In his column in the Racing Post today, Chris Cook rambles around the name Sexy, a name given to a well-bred two-year old owned by Amo Racing. Sexy is related to Chaldean, in my eyes a fairly ordinary winner of the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket. Although not a name I would ever give to a horse - if only - it is far from being the worst name ever given to a racehorse. Chris Cook makes mention of a filly named Bouncy Bouncy - a line from a song, if I am not mistaken - the daughter of Wunderbra. If you want to associate Bouncy Bouncy with the name of her dam, then it is doubtless inappropriate for a racehorse to be chained for life with the image of a well-endowed female athlete who has forgotten to wear her sports bra. I myself, have no problem with Bouncy Bouncy as horses of all kinds can be described as bouncy bouncy while under saddle.

I also have no problem with Manchesterskytrain, Hellcatmudwrestler or Wiki Wiki Wheels, others also mentioned by Chris Cook. It is the tongue-twisting French and Arab names that pull my chain in the same way disrespectful names and the reuse of famous names from the past that annoy me. (To the point that on this site - something that started as point proving and became, and still is, an obsession - a thousand or more names that an owner might like to use if they are in need of inspiration)

Peter Scargill, in his column in the Racing Post today, introduces to the uninitiated, me included, Jim Cockburn, a racehorse owner better known under the banner Teme Valley Racing. As with anyone who cares for this sport, Jim Cockburn has a vague blueprint on how British racing could get itself back onto solid ground. Cockburn believes the sport needs to do more to persuade ethnic minorities - not that they are in a minority anymore - into the industry and on to the racecourse. A theme I fully endorse. This is why Aamilah Aswat should be given every opportunity to succeed or fail. While respectful of Cockburn's thoughts and proposals, and I would encourage every owner, trainer, jockey etc, to voice their own opinions on how the sport can be improved upon, I believe that the core product, the actual racing aspect, should not be tampered with. What horse racing needs the most is someone at the top of the sport, a supremo, if you prefer, with experience at the cliff-face of the sport, and with an independent board made-up of top people from the sport and advisors from the world of finance and marketing. That should be the starting point of all proposals to kickstart this sport back to prosperity and popularity. Horses sold in guineas, decimal odds and all the other nuances of the sport are but chicken feed in comparision to the set-up at the top of the pyramid. We do not need C.E.O.'s or Chairs. Just one man or woman in the hot seat. Max McNeil, perhaps, with the likes of John Gosden or Henrietta Knight on the board. Not princes of business light on actual knowledge of the sport.

I am rarely shocked these days but that was my reaction when reading this morning that Billy Loughname had received a 3-week suspension for 'improper riding' for acting against the instruction of a vet by riding his mount, Beelzebub, back to the stable after vets had withdrawn the horse after witnessing the horse kicked at the start. The trainer Dave Loughnane (not Billy's father) is outraged by the decision, claiming a horse had backed into Beelzebub and that the scar the vets pointed to came with the horse when he first entered Loughname's stable. According to Loughname's staff, when trotted up at the racecourse stables, the horse was as sound as a bell. 

What will be interesting in the aftermath of this event is whether, with footage of Beelzebub returning to the stable, and the report of a vet Loughnane (trainer, not jockey) intends to commission to provide an independent report on the soundness or otherwise of Beelzebub, whether the appeals panel - surely Loughnane (jockey not trainer) will appeal - can go against the word of a vet. 3-weeks suspension seems a harsh sentence when compared to 7, 10 or 14-days for a whip offence.