Gordon Brown, once in the running for being the worst Prime Minister the country has ever had to endure, is demanding the government increase the tax on slot machines in betting shops. I believe most of our sport's problems with affordability checks began with the introduction of gaming machines in betting shops. Slot machines, I believe, should only be found in arcades, and not in any form on the high streets of Britain. In fact, I would suggest betting companies might do well to remove these machines from all their shops, thereby thwarting the government's raid on our sport. If we cannot be enriched by these infernal machines, why should the government? Fixed odd betting terminals, to give this incidious and no doubt addictive form of gambling its correct name, has no place in an environment where a certain amount of knowledge is required in an effort to work out the...

The Doncaster St. Leger is now reduced to being the 'Consolation Classic', its fame and glory as the oldest classic race in the world lowered in stature comparable to the family member that only gets invited to the party as no one has the pluck not to invite the black sheep. 16 remain in the race, with seven of those trained by Aidan O'Brien, two from son Joseph, two trained by Andrew Balding and one each from the Hannon, Appleby, Burke, Bramley and Eustace stables. And let's be honest about it, unless Joseph can uptip the apple cart, the race, and the trainers' championship in this country with it, is bound for Ballydoyle. Something has to be done to save the St. Leger from its slow descent into irrelevance. Even in its 250th anniversary year the race is shunned in favour of other races, mainly outside of this country. The Ebor...

I was disappointed, though not surprised, to read in The Racing Post today that Maltese Cross is to be aimed at the Arc and not the St. Leger. To me, this is a kick in the teeth for the St. Leger in its 250th anniversary year, another example of a leading British trainer giving his silent ascent to the destruction of the oldest of all classic races. Yet if I said to William Haggas or any of our leading flat trainers that the St. Leger should loose its classic status they would as one man rise up to defend the race as if I had insulted one of their children. Maltese Cross could have won at Doncaster this year and gone to Longchamp in search of Arc success next year. Horses in the past have gone from winning at Doncaster, or in the case of Alleged, suffered defeat in the St....

I have already expressed my opinion on pacemakers, plus the useless use of pacemakers on occasions, but now my ire has been piqued by Aidan O'Brien using a 2-year-old as a pacemaker. This, to me, is an abomination. Yes, Carry The Flag held on to finish second, with his stable favoured Man's Best Friend out with the washing. But why subject a young horse to such a hard race? I dislike myself for being critical towards the Coolmore/Ballydoyle axis as they are overwhelmingly a force for good within the sport, and the only breeding operation dedicated to breeding 12-furlong+ stock, yet over the past few years, and perhaps guided this season by Aidan's attempt to break his own Group 1 winning record, a win at all costs attitude seems to be creeping into their racing policy. Two-year-olds are still babies in some respects; the breed does not fully mature until five-years...

Brierley Turk - the third Arabian stallion imported into this country alongside the Godolphin and Darley. Memory failure from the other day. Came to me while watching York yesterday.  I am not a jockey or never was a jockey or ever likely will be, in this world or the next. Yet I remain wedded for life to my opinion that a whip does not make a horse go faster or give more effort than nature will allow it to. I am not an advocate of banning jockeys from carrying whips as in desperate situations a whip could save the life of both the rider and horse and causing damage or injury to others. But when people have suffered censure, fines and suspensions for trying to make a horse start a race against its will, when assistant starters are no longer permitted to use a long tom behind a horse holding up...

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...

Billy 'the kid' Loughnane going forward should be referred to as 'Billy the Cool'. His ride yesterday on Libertango was not the ride of a twenty-year-old but the ride of long-established rider of multiple major winners. Poorly drawn, wide of his main adversaries, 'Billy the Cool' took a pull coming out of the stalls, edged his way across the course until he had Dylan Browne McMonagle in his sights and proceeded to plunder the spoils with the authority of a Ryan Moore look-a-like. Great ride; already a great jockey. The Legend of Billy the Cool is already taking shape. Of course, there is only one Ryan Moore. Loughnane may be the future but Moore remains the present. His ride yesterday in the sales race was a masterclass of keep calm, keep winning. Out the back in a twenty-runner field, scrubbing along, looking here, there and everywhere for space to appear, balked...

Tom Marquand has won a St. Leger, now he wants an Arc on his c.v.. That is what I got from his comments after winning the Great Voltigeur yesterday on Maltese Cross. It is not an absurd suggestion that Maltese Cross should go to Longchamp instead of Doncaster, he won well yesterday, making his challenge still on the bridle and then instead of winning by five or more lengths he idled and only exerted himself enough to give the backers of Pierre Bonnard false hope. I am sure if it was left to his trainer, a proud Yorkshireman, I am sure the master of Somerville Lodge would like to go for the St. Leger. And he would be right, I believe. Maltese Cross can only win a classic this season. Next season he could add the Arc to his roster of success. If owners, trainers and jockeys do not lend their...

Finally we have arrived at the top destination for many of the flat season. York, and more precisely the Ebor meeting. And advocates of sexy milers should take note: this meeting is named after a race for stayers. This great love for sprinters, milers and ten-furlong horses is why, in my opinion, the sport is off-kilter; the sport has lost its true course, kicked its history down the street like it is a balloon worth popping and followed the fictitious yellow brick road of the Breeders Cup and U.S. dirt racing. York is a beautiful round course so befitting the running of long-distance races. Our sport will remain in the doldrums until we take stock and appreciate our history and make a point of reversing wayward thoughts that speed is king and return to the thoughts of old, that the highlights of the season were always races won by a combination...

I am not a conspiracy theorist. However, I do like conspiracy theories and mysteries and, yes, that includes U.F.O. and stuff like it, and whether there is life after death. The unknown intrigues me. Now, whether I am peddling a conspiracy theory of my own making when I suggest there is a universal policy of natural existinction for human activities that take place in wide open spaces intended for nature in the future to develop in its own way, only time will tell. Yet, world-wide, fifteen racecourses have closed, including both racecourses in Singapore (?), as well as the famous U.S. racetracks at Aqueduct and Arlington Park. The two racecourses in Singapore (?) closed for different reasons than the other racecourses and may not be included in the figures released by the I.F.H.A. Council on Anti-Illegal Betting and Related Crime. In five-years, closure of racecourses have increased 50% and the I.F.H.A....

If this sport had grasped the nettle forty-fifty-sixty-years ago, would this sport be in the mess it is? I am not anti-bookmaker and do not agree with A Burnham that betting shops are a cauldron of sin and vice. But bookmakers have contributed greatly to the mess. Fixed Odds Terminals are, I believe, the sin and vice that started the downslide. Greed was the driving force for the F.O.T.'s invading the High Street and as they are now feeding the greed of government, bookmakers should be voluntarily removing them from their shops. And the aim of government, alongside banks, post offices, supermarkets and churches, should be to ensure there is one such establishment in every high street, although in the case of betting shops not at least one but only one. In the town in which I reside, we have two remaining betting shops that are side-by-side. One would be enough....

No one moans about the minutia of our sport more than I do. And despite all the consequential problems the sport is plagued by, most of which has hung round the neck of the sport for far too long, it does not mean that the smaller issues need not be addressed. For instance, I believe the names of racehorses matters and that the names of outstanding or even infamous names of the past should not be used in this day and age, especially when the options are wide and various. Around this issue is whether commentators should be taken to account if they mispronounce a name. In today's Racing Post, in the letters colomn, Mr.Hamer of Brighton provides a list of names regularly incorrectly pronounced. I see the matter from both sides, especially as I have a dislike of French, especially the mixing and mangling of English and French in the...

I am forever, it might seem, though not in reality, taking issue with the thoughts of Craig Thake. Recently, we clashed with the verocity of two dancing Morris men with their bells and hankerchiefs over the use of the whip. Today, in the 'Another View' column of The Racing Post, he proposes that due to climate change horse racing should stage less racing on grass during the summer months and far more racing on artificial surfaces. Obviously, with my fear that all-weather will eventually become all-consuming, I take issue with this prospect. Firstly, and for those appalled by what comes next, I suggest a deep dive into climate prediction since the 1940's, predictions for future climate change over the past 70-years have all proved incorrect. A new ice-age has not come upon the planet, Peterborough remains a respectable distance from the sea, with no sea port up for planning consent, and...

The Green Party M.P. Adrian Ramsay, as reproted by Jonathan Harding in the Friday column of The Racing Post, has retweeted his only contribution during the Westminster debate on 'The Future of British Horseracing' where he described racehorses as 'expendable assets' and which 'many of them injured on the track could have been saved but were euthanised for financial reasons'. Although there may be cases when his comment has some validity - as in any walk of life, even amongst politicians, there must be despicable human beings within the racing family - on the whole he could not be further from the truth.  Only in today's Racing Post there is a report on the retirement of Tim Easterby's grand old stayer Art Power. He will spend his retirement at Owenstown Stud in Kildare, the very place where he came into this world. In the main horses are euthanised as a last...

If it were not for the Irish pony racing circuit it is possible that Dylan Browne McMonagle would not be gracing the world's racecourses and neither would Paul Townend and a hundred other jockeys past and present. So it is surprising to learn that Horse Racing Ireland are proving miserly at a time when pony racing is in crisis. Horse Racing Ireland receive 79-million euros from the state, yet they refuse to allocate 150,000 of those euros to ensure the continuence of pony racing. Horse Racing Ireland excuse for not digging deep to keep pony racing alive and well is that it pony racing has no central governing body and in having four regional committees somehow leaves the sport open to corruption, as if the top brass fear unscrupulous members of these four committees, all of whom are volunteers, might be potential embezzlers. At present, pony racing is kept alive by...

The debate is now moot. No longer can anyone suggest that Bow Echo is the next Frankel. The best horse in training, certainly the best 3-year-old, has proven unsound and due to injury he is to be retired. 6-races, 6-wins. The sad aspect of his retirement is that we will never really know how good he could have been. Alas, down the years, it has proved the same with many potentially brilliant flat horses, one injury and retired to the stallion shed to protect their value as stallions. Of course, as it is with colts retired prematurely from the racecourse, we are not given any specifics when it comes to the injury to Bow Echo, though we may speculate it is a tendon injury. He could, no doubt, be returned to active service if it were not for the mega-money he can now earn his connections as he transitions into a...

 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...

There was another example at Chepstow yesterday of a jockey dropping his whip and yet still able to win the race. Finley Marsh is the latest jockey to provide evidence for my theory that horses do not need to be whipped as encouragement to strain every sinew. Redhot Whisper won by a short-head, so every sinew had need of being strained. I am not always right in my opinion but on this subject time will prove me right. Dan Skelton's reputation as a man capable of thinking outside of the box has landed him the prize or poison chalice of becoming the latest trainer of Il Est Francais. Richard and Lizzie Kelvin Hughes are not giving up on their wayward star, a direction they had every right to go in due to the lacklustre performances of their ex-French one-time superstar over the last two seasons. He is not the first chaser...

I thoroughly enjoyed the Shergar Cup. I might even have fallen back in love with it . And there certainly was no need for Oli Bell and Kevin Blake to waste air-space defending the event or even belittling it as harmless and a novelty. To start with, five of the six races had ten-runners and due to a late non-runner (why no reserves?) nine in the other race. There have been plenty of meetings during the summer less competitive and with fewer declarations. Anyway, the public gives it endorsement year after year, so who gives a single hoot what the Bells and Blakes of this world have to say. In its 26-years, Ryan Moore has only honoured the Shergar Cup with his presence twice, 20-years apart. Both times he was leading rider and was a member of the winning team. Unlike the other four jockeys who won at Ascot yesterday, he...

Mr. Strong of Andover, in a letter published in today's Racing Post, makes a similar point to what I have been saying for many years, that for our sport to go forward we need to look to the past. Any idiot, including this idiot, realises that we cannot a regular source of competitive racing when the number of racehorses in training is going down while at the same time fixtures are not being cut accordingly.  I have argued recently that if racecourses will not commit to fewer fixtures during these troubled times, the easiest option for the B.H.A., if they have the power to enforce such a proposal, which I doubt, is to return to the days when the majority of meetings were composed of 6-races. Such a measure would cut the number of races per season without the necessity of cutting the number of race-meetings and would improve competitiveness on...