If you were to ask me to draw a list of names as possible candidates for the post of Chair of the B.H.A. John Gosden would be the first name I would write down. He claims to be in no rush to hand over the reins of Clarehaven to his son Thady just yet, which is a shame as in three or more years he might think himself too old to replace whoever receives the poison challice of Chair this time around. When it comes to the B.H.A., of course, this time around may well be a period of months or even half a year. Why they thought it an investment to spend no doubt six-figures on engaging a firm of headhunters to locate suitable candidates for interview when two prominent and experienced men have already put up their hands for the position is for the B.H.A. to explain. To me,...

In his column in The Racing Post today, David Jennings summed-up the Rule 6 controversy with 'where common sense is declared a non-runner.' Never in my overly long life have I witnessed an issue where the argument was so one-sided. Nobody in the whole of racing is siding with the B.H.A. Peter Scargill did suggest in a Racing Post podcast that given the wording of Rule 6 the Epsom stewards had no alternative but to declare Benvenuto Cellini a non-runner, though even he thought the rule stupid and at the very least needed revising. Everyone else suggests the rule should be consigned to history as soon as possible. My one thought on how the B.H.A. may save face is to restrict Rule 6 to races that are included in the World Pool, integration with the World Pool, and the money British racing receives from being a part of it, being the...

Yarmouth yesterday, the 5 03 race. Wrist Art, ridden by Christian Howarth, reared in stalls prior to start, got foreleg over the next stall, unseated rider as stalls opened. Deemed a runner. Enough said, I am sure you agree. An on-course bookmaker, Spencer by name, in a letter published in today's Racing Post, suggests, quite possibly in light of the chaos caused by the application of rule 6 last Saturday, that pay-outs should be delayed for one race, and not, as now, once the weighed-in announcement was relayed over the tannoy, in order for the consequences of stewards' enquiries to be accounted for. Sensible suggestion,  as long as bookies do not do a runner straight after the last race leaving winning punters high and dry. Mr. Astin of Broadhempston, in a letter published in today's Racing Post, for me, makes a less sensible suggestion regarding multiple runners from one stable. In...

I never took to the Aiden O'Brien trained The Lion In Winter, but that does not mean I am not saddened to discover that he has suffered a catastrophic injury on the gallops resulting in him being euthanised. He was never going to be as good as his trainer made him out to be in his classic year, as seemingly will be the case with Albert Einstein, though I suspect he was one of those horses who did not have a distance he could excel at, stamina but not speed to be a 7-furlong/10-furlong horse and the speed but not the stamina for 12-furlongs plus. But no horse deserves to die at 4, especially when they are healthy and yet to reach their prime. The Haydock hole situation continues to result in meetings transferred to other courses. Nottingham have inherited two days and Newmarket one, the Old Newton Cup meeting, with...

Life can be unfair, if not perverse. Even the highly successful and the mega wealthy can be visited by the cruel hand of fate. Ask Pierre-Charles Boudot, once the poster boy of French racing, 3-times French champion jockey and the winner of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomph in 2019. 5-years ago he was charged with two rapes and at the request or demand of the French Interior Ministry, France Galop suspended his licence to ride. Now, after 5-years in the wilderness, 5-years in which, I guess, he pleaded his innocence, he has been exornerated and the charges against him have been dropped. Next week he is expected to have his riding licence returned to him. I expect France Galop will be relieved to return Boudot's licence; it was not their decision to consider Boudot guilty even before he had the opportunity to prove himself innocent. France Galop had no alternative...

The B.H.A. are standing their ground. They fight alone,doubling down, their only comrades the faraway stewards of such places as Australia and Hong Kong. Rule (h) 6 seems to be the hill on which the B.H.A. want to fight their illogical fight with those on whose standard bears the legend Common Sense is an Undeniable Truth. As Mr. Monger of Hertford points out in a letter published today in The Racing Post, if the B.H.A. were to be consisted in their thinking, how many horses at the Cheltenham Festival last season should have been declared non-runners due to being left standing as the tapes went up? Jockeys who, as with Ryan Moore, had to change from from plan A to a makeshift plan they may have considered beforehand but had rejected as unlikely to suit their horse. I suspect the answer would be in the dozens. Rule (H) 6 is a...

The B.H.A. are standing their ground on the controversial decision by the Epsom stewards to declare Benvenuto Cellini a non-runner in the Derby due to the horse playing silly buggers in the stalls. Public opinion is seemingly to a man against them. Who will win? Will the B.H.A. sees sense and ignore the ways of the East where punters are first, last and central to the sport? Or will, as unfashionable as it has become under a Labour government, democracy win the day? I do not remember the ins and outs of the Harry Angel incident, though I think it resembled Saturday's incident. The other incident of renown when two of the stalls were slow to open in the Dash a few years ago was clearly a mechnical issue and resulted in two horses losing all hope of winning. In the latter incident it was obviously correct to declare the horses...

Apparently, someone in London found a container recently in which were a few old coins and a hand-written note saying the money was winnings from backing Santa Claus in the 1964 Derby and advising the finder of the container to back Christmas Day in a future Derby. A prank, no doubt. But a story that will always be associated with Ronan Whelan's day in the limelight of an extremely inclement day. The weather, especially in Britain, is a great sporting leveller and we will not know until further into the season whether the best horse won or simply the horse that coped best with the underfoot conditions prevailed. What is for certain is that Christmas Day now joins Santa Claus as one of the most inappropriately named winners of the Epsom Derby. Whether he joins the Coolmore roster of stallions as a straight-to-jumps stallion will be determined by how Christmas Day...

In his banter with David Jennings in the Racing Post this morning, Johnney Dineen suggests, as his gripe of the week, that the Epsom Derby should be further holed below the water-line by excluding outsiders as the Epsom Derby 'should be a quality-based event and not cater for mediocrity.' He is wrong. There is no place in our sport for elitism and that is exactly what J.D. is batting for in wanting to exclude everyone bar the very top echelon from dreaming of winning the Blue Riband of our sport. He may have a point in wanting the best horses to have no excuse for not winning, for wanting every horse to have a fair shot at glory but who is to say, for example, that Benvenuto Cellini will not fall and splutter down the hill and then run wide round Tattenham Corner or that Item will not roll around on...

Yesterday when relaying my views on how the Epsom Derby will go on Saturday, I admitted to not having outsider Rebel Rocker in my memory box.Today, though, though not due to extensive research but simply by reading today's copy of The Racing Post, I am fully acquainted with his thus far short career. He won a Kempton Park maiden back in November and was second to Saxon Street in Epsom's Blue Riband Derby Trial. What I did not know, and should have known, is that he is a home-bred and his owner/breeder, Jennifer Dorey, lives locally to where I live. Imagine a home-bred, the only mare the breeder has, winning the Derby and who is regularly ridden out by former champion jumps jockey A.P.McCoy. That is the sort of story the Epsom Derby needs and deserves. If only. If only. If looking for a strand of hope it can be found...

If you believe what is said by the majority of the racing media, coupled with the current state of the betting market, Benvenuto Cellini is a sure thing to win the 2026 running of the Epsom Derby. Yet when I look at the 14-declared runners, I see a very open, competitive race, made even more intriguing by the inclement weather and the prospect of soft under foot conditions. After all the recognised trials were run, I formed the conclusion that Item had won the most competitive race and I believe him to be the best horse in the race, not Benvenuto Cellini. Of course, at this stage in their mental and physical development 3-year-old colts can be expected to change from geese into swans and if you take that into consideration you might as well throw away the form book and go for what your eyes will tell as the Derby...

I dare say I stand to be corrected but I will say that the working partnership between man and horse must be the longest in the history of Mankind. As transport in war, as a living machine in ploughing and sowing fields to sport, horse and man have lived and died together. Yes, in some aspects of the arrangement it could be one-sided, with man the master and the horse the servant. Yet the horse had to be cared-for and perhaps man's affection for the horse was greater than the horse's affection for man but down the centuries, whether it was riding into battle or as a coach and four going from town to town, horse and man have carved a unique niche for themselves in the construction of society. In today's Racing Post there is yet another example of the lure of the racehorse. Liam Headd, the Post's Lambourn correspondence,...

A gaggle of Racing Post experts, plus Richard Hoiles, are featured in today's newspaper giving out their views on the performance of Constitution River in the French Derby and not surprisingly their collective opinions range from gushing with praise to dripping with caution. Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion and whether you think them right or wrong one must respect their point of view. The time for evaluation, who was wrong, who was right, will be at the end of the season, not five-minutes after one race, even if it was the French Derby. Incidentally, from a typing perspective, and this may only represent a limitation of my skill with a keyboard (or lack of education - or the diminshing of my mental capacity) but the word Constitution troubles me, finding it a hard word to consistently spell correctly. When the other Constitution went away for his summer holidays,...

I will get this chestnut out of the way from the get-go: I do not believe that horses retired to stud after their 3-year-old careers should be included in the list of great racehorses to have run on the flat. This is why, even though I believe them to the best of their generation, I refuse to put the likes of Sea The Stars and Dancing Brave on the same page as Brigadier Gerard, Mill Reef or Frankel. And nothing any racing clever-clogs can say will get me to change my mind. In today's Racing Post, Julian Muscat has a fine analysis of the 1986 Epsom Derby, a 40-year reflection of a race that will stay a talking point not because of the winner but of the horse that finished second. Dancing Brave was the top horse of 1986, of that there is no doubt. He could have easily enhanced his...

In today's Racing Post, Mr. Reid of Haslemere suggests the Epsom Derby should be staged on the second Bank Holiday in May, previously known as Whitsun or Whit Monday. Previously, I had suggested that bank holidays were not being utilised to best effect by British horse racing, days when ordinarily there are no other sporting events to overshadow our sport. I did not think, as Mr.Reid's does today, that the Derby would be the right fit to become the sporting event associated with this bank holiday, though I am persuaded to his cause.  Of course, in reality, the B.H.A. could choose to stage the Epsom Derby on any of the three-days of the Whitsun weekend, though I would suggest the Monday would allow for more media coverage than the Sunday or Saturday. There is no reason if Epsom would prefer to keep to a two-day fixture that the Oaks could not...

As part of my subscription to The Racing Post, I receive newsletters in the form of e-mails penned by many of the Post's staff of writers. The other day it was the Post's Newmarket correspondent David Milnes who provided an interesting look at Godolphin Stables, historically known as Stanley House Stables when owned by Lord Derby and now home to Saeed Bin Suroor. The part of the e-mail though that lit-up what remains of my brain cells was the surprising fact that before he became a household name George Formby was once an apprentice jockey and worked for several years at Stanley House Stables. So perked was my interest, I actually undertook a small amount of research to see if I could uncover more about George Hoy Booth, jockey. Formby's father was a successful music hall performer and owned many racehorses. According to a biopic of Formby, and I take on...

In 1948, an Australian newspaper magnate, Sir James Joynton Smith, visited England and took quite a fancy to the Epsom Downs, the whole shooting-match, not just the racecourse. He was so wealthy he was in the habit of buying anything he wanted to buy and instantly knew he wanted to be the owner of the Downs. In an instant,as only mega-wealthy can afford to do, he had formed a great and adventerous plan for the Downs, including not only continuing with the Derby but also bringing the Grand National to Epsom. When told neither the racecourse nor the Downs were for sell, Sir James shrugged his shoulders and set his heart on Hyde Park in London, in want of erecting a racecourse there. How life would have been changed if Sir James had his way. Matt Griffiths is featured in the racing post today. Matt, once the rider of Dashel Drasher,...

What I admire about Richard Forristal is that he disguises his moaning behind the skill of a good wordsmith, and he has still achieved the professional status of Irish editor of the Racing Post. Unlike my contribution to life, Forristal combines his moaningness with great wisdom and expertise. He is not one, though, for the joke or absurd witticism, unlike his colleague and underling, David Jennings. It is to all our benefits that we are not all alike. The Racing Post, after all, is a serious newspaper and it would not do to have wannabe comedians on every page. Forristal's headline today is 'Change From Within The Only Way To Make Derby Great Again.' Below his columb this morning there is a letter penned by me putting forward my belief that any changes and great ideas that Epsom may come up with to make the Derby great again will be scuppered...

There are many, many languages, if owners cannot find a nice name for their horses using the extensive English language. The name Silver Buck, for instance, could be translated into Italian or French, the name Sea Pigeon also. One could name a horse Silver Pigeon or Sea Buck, if those words are important to the namer. And the B.H.A. could be both proactive and sensitive when approving names given to horses by their owners. Jimmy You Mushroom is a contemptible name to give a majestic creature. The poor horse runs in the opening race at Beverley today. At Cartmell, this evening, in the opening race. there is a filly called Big Gypsy King. Big Gypsy Queen would have been acceptible, in my eyes, at least, but not Big Gypsy King. Yes, the part owner of the horse, along with his manager, is Tyson Fury who is big, he has gypsy blood...

Even the smallest of racecourses are big enough to accommodate more than just racegoers. Many racecourses have conference halls which can double for a wedding reception or an awards ceremony. Many have nine-hole golf courses on the inner field, with Dundalk having a greyhound track for the days when there are no days for the horses.  I have long proposed the idea that racecourses should become community hubs or places where the local community can use them (mainly for a fee) for events like local or historic fairs, even jumble sales or antique fairs or motor bike or classic car rallies. Pony Club jamborees or gymkhanas, show jumping or dressage. Or any equestrian event that would fit the acreage. Racecourses should be thought of by the local community in which they reside as a place of entertainment and enducation, not simply a racecourse catering for the toffs. A racecourse is more...