Reported in the Racing Post today is the worrying news that the future of Nottingham racecourse may be in doubt. Nottingham City Council, owners of the site, having purchased the 300-acre racecourse in 1965, have given notice that it is considering selling Colwick Park after several expressions of interest from parties they chose not to name, though Arena Racing (ARC) are thought to have had talks with Nottingham City Council.At present, and until 2029, the racecourse is leased to Jockey Club Estates and it would be disappointing if they too did not enter an expression of interest. The site is designated Green Belt and is a flood warning area, so it is long odds against it being considered for either housing development or a business park, though with a government with a policy of build, build, build … perhaps a community of stilt-house dwellers might be given priority.Nottingham has had a...

In today’s Racing Post, in his normal excellent manner, Lee Mottershead reminds his readers of the sorry state of affairs that has brought about the almost certain closure of Kempton Park.When Jerome K. Jerome moored-up on the banks of Kempton Park it was a pleasant grassy kingdom of nature. It was here Jerome, his two friends, not to forget to mention Montmorency, were harangued by an ‘agent’ of the riparian landlord in want of a fee to persuade him from having them charged with trespass. Jerome and his buddies, George and Harris, knew the ‘agent’ for what he was and offered him a marmalade sandwich and a large chunk of their minds. The three holidaying adventurers saw off the opportunist and enjoyed a siesta under the trees. An innocent enjoyment to be denied to river folk in the near future, sadly.Jerome’s famous book, a retrospective of his younger self, was published...

Apparently, and I have no way of testing this myself, if you ask Alexa ‘how many days to Christmas 2026’, the answer you receive is ‘there is no Christmas in 2026’, which, if true, suggests there is a secret plan afoot to increase the misery of ordinary life. No Christmas, no King George, no Welsh National or 4-Day Leopardstown Christmas Festival!If true, which I sincerely doubt, though with Starmer in charge and his allegiance to the W.E.F., nothing surprises me anymore, we really should make a supreme effort to enjoy out sport while we have the liberty to do so. At least the rain gods are due to shutdown the heavenly sprinklers by the weekend, so waterlogging and floods will be less of a problem and by early March racecourses might be able use the phrase ‘good ground’ to describe the going.There is now only 27-days to the Cheltenham National Hunt...

Where to go next? The problem was manifold. Firstly, the jockey who was desperate to ride him next time he ran was stable jockey to the largest stable of point-to-pointers in East Anglia and he was required over the coming weeks to ride at meetings where there were no races for Jack. Or at least no races easily won. What everyone who was a part of the horse all agreed was that it was not fair on a young horse with a temperament like Jack’s to be asked to run in Open company.At this point of the season, the other three horses in the stable had won a race and the owner was as keen as an Indian doctor for his son to come home from university with the highest honours possible that Jack should not let the side down, which is what he was achieving with form-figures of FFP.One keen-eyed...

Point-to-Points used to be strictly for fun, with Open races for men or ladies always the feature race. Nowadays, though perhaps not so much as in Ireland, the main interest of focus is the maiden races, with the most often asked question of the owner or trainer not where does he run next but how much do you hope to get for him at the sales. Point-to-Points are becoming in this country far more a fingerpost towards the sales ring than a gay and sporting family day out. When a horse goes from its maiden to the sales ring, perhaps the Hunt that staged the meeting and even perhaps the landowner, should receive 5% of the sales price from the lucky owner, in order to boost their coffers. Point-to-Points are very much a mainstay of the sporting countryside and those who are prepared to put their shoulder to the wheel to...

It is said by the B.H.A. and others that the reason the Irish authorities can be more flexible in re-scheduling fixtures that are abandoned due to the weather is because they have blank days in their race schedule. This is true, of course, but why can’t the British race program have a degree of flexibility, especially in the days after a big Saturday meeting.For instance, just to use three recent important Saturday fixtures, and my argument here is based on the presumption that the ground conditions on the following day would have allowed racing to take place, which might not have been the case in reality. If on the Sunday after the abandoned Warwick Classic, the Clarence House and this weekend’s ‘Super Saturday’ meeting at Newbury, there was only all-weather fixtures, the dual benefit would have been a breather for jump jockeys and trainers alike, and with the contrariness of some...

Seemingly, I have been missing for the last few days. I can assure you I have been here, tapping away as night slowly transforms into the dawn of the day, unaware that the domain name for this site had expired. Obviously, I was in a panic until I stumbled upon the facts of the case, that I-Page, hosts of this website (for now) had not given me notice of the expiration date, mainly due, I suspect that they are about to go out of business.I hereby give warning that I might disappear again while I have a new website constructed, one that will be secure and overseen by a local hosting service. When it comes to I.T., technology and all things internet, I need a guide as much as blind man needs the assistance of a guide dog.One of the aspects of horse racing that remain a fascination to me is...

I do not have the brain-power for mathematics, so what I am about to propose is based on instinct and a nod to the past.Though I am on board with the suggestion that Britain has too many meetings for the present horse population, I fear if there is a sufficient enough culling of meetings to provide more competitive racing, we might, in time, lose several of our smaller racecourses. To the hard-minded, this might be the road to travel, after all the sport did not experience withdrawal symptoms at the loss of Wye, Stockton, Birmingham or any of the racecourses that have sadly closed in my lifetime. I am a sentimentalist at heart, rather than a pragmatic business-minded executive who values money and profit before history and what might be. To see houses, tarmac and street lights where once sporting endeavour once thrived pulls at my heartstrings to a greater extent...

Golden Ace, if you take as fact what you read in the form book, has all the luck, while Sir Gino, a far more talented horse, one for whom there was no foreseeable limit, has no luck. Having twelve-months ago fought-off an internal infection that almost took his life, now, as Nicky Henderson put it, Sir Gino fights on another battleground. The pelvic injury he suffered on Trails Day at Cheltenham is not now the primary cause of concern for the veterinary team treating him but a new internal infection.I am not versed in these matters but perhaps the new infection is the old one rebooted by the trauma of the pelvic injury, having hid away unnoticed in a secluded area of his body, at rest, in wait of another opportunity to engage in a battle to take the life of this wonderful horse.Life is not fair, not on any of...

The call for diversity in society obviously has dark undertones. As with weather manipulation by various world governments, which is doubtless responsible for ‘climate change’ around the world, forced diversity goes against the normal order of things. I am not against, you must understand, allowing diversity to occur, as I believe everyone should be given an opportunity in life to succeed, not that everyone will achieve success beyond living an ordinary life, of course. When all is fair in love and war, the cream will always rise to the top.There has always been diversity in racing, even if in small measure. In the early part of the twentieth-century there was more than one black-skinned jockey riding in major races on the flat, for instance, and for the whole of the recent history of the flat, between and after the two World Wars, many were the years when the leading owners have...

A paltry entry number for the Aintree National this year is further proof that far from evolving into something better, the race is actually, year by year, going in a direction that will lead to the small numbers that lined-up for the race in the very earliest renewals of the race. The people do not, as the present clerk of the course might suggest, want a race fit for the elite but not the common man, but a race that resembles Grand Nationals of legend.What annoys me most is that the Aintree executive, the Jockey Club, the racecourse management, the clerk of the course, did not have the guts to admit that the last true Grand National was run in 2012 or 2015 or whichever year it was decided that the opposition were right all along, that those who invaded the racecourse had a justifiable point – the Grand National was...

I admit to the fact that thus far in his career Fact To File has not won me over. Mark Walsh, a man who is riding like he has nothing to lose anymore, on the other hand has great belief in him, and, though I have not lost any faith in The Jukebox Man, I would be prepared to forecast that the two will partner each other in the Cheltenham Gold Cup come March, with Walsh, not that he is likely to, having the last laugh by, perhaps, winning his second consecutive Gold Cup triumph. I fear Fact To File now, which before I did not.This time last year, Inothewayurthinkin was one of the ante-post favourites for the Aintree National and needed to be supplemented for the Gold Cup. This year it is Fact To File that needs to be supplemented to run in the Gold Cup, while the 2025 Gold...

I was informed yesterday, by the author, that Michael Tanner has commissioned the printing of 50 new editions of his book ‘My Friend, Spanish Steps’. If you wish to avail yourself of a signed and dated copy, price £14. 95, e-mail Michael at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. It is a prized edition of my small racing library and worth a place on the shelf of any racing enthusiast with a fascination for the history of National Hunt.Anyone who believes big, strong, wide-hoofed horses should be at home in heavy ground needs to think again. Very often a small mare with dainty hooves will skip through heavy ground to far better effect than a gelding of larger stature. I say this in order for the supporters of Final Demand, those with a financial stake in him winning the Brown Advisory at the Cheltenham Gold Cup, to not give up hope of cashing in those betting slips. He...

Sandown made the right call. Hands up, my criticism to pass fit the hurdles course was another example of my ignorance. It just goes to prove there is no substitute for experience and knowledge when it comes to making correct decisions.I thought Sixmilebridge was very impressive in the only Grade 1 of the season named after a local roundabout. He jumped well, adapted to the harsh underfoot conditions and galloped all the way to the finishing line. What was there not to like. It was an overdue second Grade 1 for a jockey whose ability in saddle suggests many more should have come his way by now and a fitting reward for the Megsons, owners of Sixmilebridge, people who invest regularly in the sport.For what it is worth, I agree with Fergal O.Brien, and disagree with Tom Scudamore, that Cheltenham and the Brown Advisory is the fitting next target for the...