THIS FLAT ADVENTURE IS GOING TO FALL FLAT, THE HISTORIAN I SO ADMIRE & NIJINSKY.

If the upcoming meeting were to be a jumps meeting, the clerk of the course would have put on more water than if, as it is, it were a flat meeting. Flat trainers would have complained bitterly if the course had been drenched to good-to-soft, and that is National Hunt good-to-soft, which is a different kettle of fish to flat good-to-soft, as they would not want their delicate 2 and 3-year-olds to have testing races this early in the season. Nicky Henderson has walked the course, a fair undertaking for a man of his age, and declared Constitution Hill a non-runner and the John Porter is reduced in both prestige and interest.

Unless we have a wet late Spring and early Summer, Nicky Henderson will be walking enough courses to determine for himself the state of the ground to get himself fit enough for a fun run. Forgive the unwoke old saying, but I like to annoy people by keeping it alive - this is the nigger in the woodpile, summer ground, ask Alan King who had the same problem with Trueshan, forever having to scratch him on the day of the race due to the forecast of rain not materialising.

Personally, I think they are taking the wrong approach with Constitution Hill. They should forget about Group races until he has shown the form to think he could win a Group 2 or 3. If he is already a Group-class horse, surely rated 101 he would be a good thing in any top-grade 12-furlong+ handicap? Also, I do not understand the theory that Constitution Hill is all speed. He is a former champion hurdler and to quicken up the Cheltenham hill needs stamina, at least that is what is said of potential Cheltenham Gold Cup horses. If Group races is the dyed-in-the-wool plan, I would like to see the horse in either the Sagaro Stakes at Ascot or Sandown's Henry the Second, both over 2-miles. Michael Buckley, perhaps jokingly, suggested he would like Constitution Hill to run in the Melbourne Cup, a 2-mile handicap, so why rule-out the same distance in Britain? Anyway, there may be top-class flat racing at Newbury on Saturday and the party vibe may still go ahead but the star guest will be unavailable to attend. Has anyone mentioned the Northumberland Plate to Nicky Henderson. Newcastle will almost certainly provide ground that Nicky will sanction as satisfactory.

To celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the Racing Post, the newspaper is running a series of article relating to that glorious day when the Post came into being. Today, the paper's historian, John Randall is featured, a man who won half-a-million quid on 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' and celebrated by asking the editor of the Post at the time if he could reduce his working week to 3-days. If I could be anyone else in life, and I might even consider selling my soul to the devil for such a life-change, if I couldn't be Patrick Mullins, I would be John Randall, if only for his library of racing books. Imagine having that depth of knowledge about the history of the sport and then being able to document all those story-lines with the fluency, wit and economy of words, as Patrick Mullins. I would take that above half-a-million quid any day of the week.

In a charity shop window, there is a small pile of racing books. Now, I have stopped adding to my small library of 200+ racing books as shelving is becoming a problem and though I already own four of the five books in that pile, I do not have a book on Nijinsky, which is daft because as a schoolkid, rather than having pictures of footballers, movie stars or pop singers on my bedroom, in the living room I had a print of Nijinsky.

Until I came to believe that great flat horses had to achieve the accolade of greatness by proving their worth at both 3 and 4-years-of-age, I revered Nijinsky as one of the true greats. Now I view him as a horse, if he had stayed in training beyond his 3-year-old season, who did not fulfil his true potential. I still want that book, though. But should I buy it? And if I buy the book, how much hassle is it going to cause trying to find a place for it on the crowded bookshelves? It is the right type of book to be reading at this time of year, of course, rather than the biography of Baulking Green I am presently re-reading. A lovely book, by the way, worth seeking out. England when England was still English in every way, when the amateur side of the sport still had superstar horses. Nijinsky may have represented Ireland, but when he was racing England was also still a recognisable England. Crossed-fingers the book is still is there. Nijinsky, I think I am coming for you. Watch this space.