TO OFFER AN OPINION IS NOT TO 'SPEAK OUT', TWO LOVE ME TENDERS & AFTER ITEM AT 10/1, MY EBOR TIP.

When interviewed, I prefer people who express their true opinion over those who say a lot when saying nothing at all. Aidan, of course, is the champion at offering many words during an interview without actually saying anything we did not already know. Yesterday, in the aftermath of his horse Starlust finishing second in the Nunthorpe - in truth Starlust won the race that was going on in Bacio's wake - Ralph Beckett expressed his opinion that the B.H.A. should rethink how they handicap horses coming from the U.S.. At Royal Ascot, Bacio was given what has proved to be a too lenient mark and he strolled home in the Palace of Holyrood House, as he did yesterday in Europe's premier 5-furlong sprint. All Beckett was asking for was that horses coming from abroad without a hadicap mark should have to run first in a British handicap in order to establish a mark more befitting its true ability. It was fair comment; what he was not doing was 'speaking out', as was said in The Racing Post this morning.

David Jennings and others have criticised John Gosden for using the watered ground  for Ombudsman's poor showing earlier in the week and suggesting he thought all along that the horse would struggle. I don't know what they expected Gosden to say. Will Buick gave the horse a poor ride, they say. Gosden was more interested in protecting Ombudsman's reputation as the 'best horse in the world' in view of him going to stud next season. 'They' said he should just have said that on the day Ombudsman was not good enough. What journalists do not take into account, a sin that can also be applied to myself, is that Gosden and co is a business and the owners who send the Gosdens horses are clients, the people who pay the wages, and as joint-heads of the business it is the owners who John and son must put first. He may say to the connections of Ombudsman that on the day the horse was not good enough. He may even apologise for their mistake in not going to the Eclipse, when the ground was perfect for Ombudsman, in favour of waiting for York. But that was for their ears only. On occasions, racing journalists talk through their pockets. 

Personally I would prefer to have a horse trained by Beckett than Gosden, even if the former can be overly fervent when expressing his displeasure. It is easy to imagine Beckett as a whiskery sheriff walking into a saloon bar in want of arresting or killing the gunslinger who just shot-up the town and killed his best deputy. You can only imagine Gosden as a senator in Washington seeking to have the roads paved and owners of horses fined for not cleaning up their droppings. I hope Beckett gets another Bluestocking sooner rather than later. The Gosdens will certainly get another Enable, Field of Gold or Trawlerman.

The names given to horses is one of my main hobby-horses. Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the name Love Me Tender. What is wrong is when there are two horses of that name in training at the same time. It is even worse when two horses of that name are housed with the same trainer. When seeing the ante-post market for the Ebor, and when something gets into my head, it has a habit of staying there, and J.P. may have also been confused, that it was his horse that was favourite. But it is not, and I was only put right when reading The Racing Post a few hours ago. This Love Me Tender is owned by the people who own Ethical Diamond, the Hennesseys and their family. Surely, when a horse comes into this country to be trained and there is already a horse of that name in training here, the second horse could have its name altered in some way - Love Me Tender Two, The Love Me Tender, Le Love Me Tender or the name translated into French. Willie Mullins is the trainer, by the way, and he often displays confusion and memory loss when interviewed before or after a race or during a media day.

After my rare but not unique 10/1 winner on the first day, I hesitate to offer up a horse presently trading at 14/1 for the Ebor. Square Necker, trained by Kevin Philippart de Foy, a man in need of a good winner, owned by Amo, also in need of a good winner (Amo won the Lanark Silver Bell last night) and ridden by David Egan, a jockey in need of a high profile Saturday winner. He is, I admit, an inexperienced 4-year-old, which counts against him, yet he might also be the most unexposed horse in the race and capable of winning Group races next season. Or if he doesn't excell today, he might end up at the sales and find himself running in novice hurdles this winter.