If you want to find champion jockeys all in the same place and on the same day, the best place to look would be George Boughey's Saffron Place Stables on the Hamilton Road in Newmarket. Not only is the new champion flat jockey Billy Loughnane the retained rider but you might also see Jack Callan, the champion apprentice for this season and Henry Callan, the new champion amateur. I do not know if one stable has produced the champion of all three divisions in one season and in my ignorance I will suggest that Boughey must be the first. A small feather in his cap, in comparison to winning the 2,000-guineas, may be, but a featherof note nonetheless.
I do wonder if Boughey worries that one of the bigger operations might lure Loughnane away or if he is resigned to losing him in the next couple of years. Loughnane is perhaps too young at present to be considered for the Ballydoyle job if Ryan Moore were to retire at the end of this year or next. I should imagine Christophe Soumillon would be favourite at this moment in time for that coveted position. I also cannot see any change at Godolphin, with Buick safe for many more years as number one jockey to Charlie Appleby. Colin Keane, too, must be secure with the Juddmonte number-one position. So, perhaps, unless one of the above shock the sport by retiring, the Boughey/Loughnane team may survive for a good number of years. Eventually, though, Loughnane will become number-one at one of major flat stables. In fact my only concern with Billy Loughnane is whether he will be able to keep his weight to where it is now. He is a tall lad, as many of the leading flat jockeys are. But he is the Lester Piggott of his day and we all know it took all of the Tall Fellow's mighty resolve to keep his weight 2-stone below what nature intended. It was hunger as much as the bullet that killed Fred Archer, though the death of his wife was also culpable in his suicide. Let's hope Billy never stops smiling, keeps off the drink and finds a nice young lady for a wife.
To say I was sad to read that Gary Moore is to retire as a trainer would not be exactly true. He is seventy, after all; he has earned the right to live a quieter life. It will be strange, though, not to see his name on a race-card anymore, even if the Moore name will live-on with Jamie now joining Josh on the trainers' licence. I may be 2-years older than Gary, yet throughout my fascination with horse racing, Gary Moore has been there as first a jockey and then a trainer, with his father Charlie before him. But given Cisswood Stables is very much a family business, I doubt if anything will change in the day-to-day, only that the father will, from this Wednesday, become a member of staff, with Josh and Jamie as the joint bosses.
As with Aidan O'Brien, I would suggest Gary Moore's greatest achievement is his family. It cannot be coincedence that Ryan, Josh and Jamie are all so well respected in the sport, and that daughter Hayley has also made her mark within the industry. As I have never met any of the Moores, I always associate them with honesty and integrity. Good men, one and all.
Living in the South-West, I do not need reminding of how little rainfall we have had since June. The reservoirs serving the East of the county are running dry, with one being as little as 14% full. Although the north of the country has not suffered as much as down south, with reservoirs north of the Midlands pretty full, I expect, what concerns me is the drought of 1976 was caused not by the lack of rainfall in 76 but by the lack of rainfaill in 1975 and especially during the winter of 75/76. So the impact of our rainless summer of 2026 may continue into 2027 unless we have a very wet winter.
That said, trainers saying that they are 'waiting for the ground to change' is quite normal for this time of year. In fact, I would say we are in a better position, if only slightly, than in the autumn of 1976 as the present drought is confined mainly to the south of the country, if only because of racecourses now having better irrigation systems or indeed irrigation systems compared to fifty-years ago. This week the ground at Worcester, Ffos Las and Perth has been, just about, perfect jumping ground, and if Kempton Park, say, had been more pro-active during the spell when the grass started to turn brown and turned on the sprinkles to ensure green grass, they may not have had to abandon their first jumps meeting of the season. Why else would Kempton have a reservoir if not to keep the jumps course in good fettle?
Waiting for the ground is perfectly normal for this time of year. The time to worry will be if trainers are still saying the same mantra come the middle of November. So, again, I ask those of you of a religious bent to pray for rain, especially for those in peril in the south-west of the country.