In today's Racing Post, the paper's Irish editor, Richard Forristal, asks if horse racing should be concerned by both the Welsh and Scottish parliaments ban on greyhound racing. And the answer is a resounding yes. If you do not know the how and why the Welsh government have banned greyhound racing, I advise you to read Forristal's article as the how was not so much based on the issue of greyhound racing but on political expediency. Greyhound racing's fate is due to historical intransigence by those involved in the sport. There were just too many scandalous news stories in the News of the World and similar national newspapers regarding cruelty, the 'dumping' of dead or unwanted greyhounds, the need for outside charities to step in to find homes for retired greyhounds, that sort of thing. Horse racing is not immune to the same criticisms. I was horrified to read that the...

It seems a long period of time since Trials Day at Cheltenham, the day Sir Gino fractured his pelvis in the Bula Hurdle or whatever it is titled these days. The initial prognosis was that the fractured pelvis would heal and he would return to action the following season. Alas, it was not to be. The superbug type of infection that had laid Sir Gino low the previous season, and which he was lucky to survive, returned during his latest spell in the 'horse hospital' and after a long struggle to defeat this infection, the vets treating him were left with no option but to euthanise that most handsome of horses. We all die sometime and as you get older, as I do daily - yes, no matter your age we 'all get older on a daily basis, but believe me, when you pass six score years the downward spiral in...

The National Trainers Federation have a plan, or perhaps it is a suggestion, which, perhaps, the B.H.A. and its stakeholders will take into consideration when next they declare their latest cunning plans for the sport. Of course, I am in favour of the proposals of the N.T.F.'s proposals as they chime to a great extent with the bell I have tolled over the past few years, which is heartening for me as I am fixed to the belief that the few who read my ramblings must think me extraordinarily naive for someone of my age. The N.T.F. suggest that race-planning should be organised around a bottom-up strategy rather than the elitist position of top-down. This suggestion makes so much sense that it beggar's belief that the people at the top cannot see its merits. There are far more lower-grade horses in training than graded horses and for growing the sport this...

In Ireland, the flat turf season began the day after the Cheltenham Festival came to its mighty conclusion. Aidan O'Brien dipped his toe into the water at Leopardstown, though he waited for Naas yesterday before he started to make a splash. Already he is voicing possible classic trials for horses that we heard very little about last season. It is the flat on repeat; the same old, the same old. For me, someone for whom the flat's existence is just to fill in the time while the jumpers take their rest through the summer and autumn, the start of the flat is an impudence, an intrusion, bullying its way into the headlines long before the National Hunt season has drawn to a close, before the once most popular and greatest horse race in the world is run. Although the Aintree National is rarely run before Easter, before the Irish equivalent at...

Although it is a significant landmark to achieve £4-million+ in prize-money, and the first National Hunt trainer to do so, I hope it is not a sign that Dan Skelton will go on to become as dominant in Britain as Willie Mullins in Ireland. This is nothing to do with the man himself; he is a credit to the sport, but if it becomes a case of Skelton always first, the rest nowhere, the sport becomes predictable and that would be unhelpful in rebuiding its popularity. We need each season to begin with uncertainty as to who will win the major races and which trainer will emerge with the champion's trophy come late April. Although I was unhappy last season that Dan was mugged by Willie Mullins when it seemed going into Aintree that he was home and hosed, the manic surge from unlikely to all-out winner by Mullins made it...

On this website there is a list of possible names owners might want to avail themselves of if they are having difficulty naming a horse. It is a long list, now in alphabetical order, but it is no longer an ever-extending list, partly because I have forgotten the instructions I was given on how to upload to the page. But that is good, even if I continue to scribble potential names on to bits of paper and the back of my note-book, as what was originally simply a point-proving exercise had become an obsession, which remains an obsession, though no longer in the public domain. I was annoyed by someone - his name was Khan - at the B.H.A. claiming it was difficult to name a horse without occasionally resorting to famous names of the past. I disagreed, pointing out the large number of languages in the world, with famous names...

Sometimes I stumble across evidence to suggest that I might actually know what I am talking about, odd as that may seem to anyone who does me the honour of reading me more than once. When the talk about Constitution Hill was all about the group races he could run in, I was of the opinion that the ambition, until proven inadequate, should be to target the heritage handicaps, with the Ebor as the ultimate target. It seems my thoughts on the matter have somehow travelled east towards Seven Barrows, with Constitution Hill's next appearance on the flat slated for another novice race at Kempton next week. Though the John Porter at Newbury remains on the radar, it seems Nicky Henderson is taking the more cautious approach of seeking a handicap mark for the former hurdler, which will make it easier for him to find suitable future targets, especially in the...

As is now tradition, the equine Closutton Cheltenham heroes paraded along Leighlinbridge high street yesterday. Gaelic Warrior seemed to be on his best behaviour, although Il Etait Temps and Lossiemouth were reported as lapping up all the attention that went their way. As reported in the Racing Post today, Willie Mullins also lapped-up the attention, signing his autograph for anyone who asked and posing for selfies. Heroes should always be granted ceremony and be recipients of civic pride, though with no ill-will extended to Willie Mullins and his staff, I must admit to sort of praying that there will be no repeat after the Aintree National. Surely it must be someone else's turn to taste the glory of blue riband success. That success, I hope, will go to Dan Skelton this time around with the mare Panic Attack. If she gets in - she needs eight to come out, though in...

It does not take a great man or greater woman to realise that there are just too many race meetings per year in Britain. I am neither a great man nor an even greater woman, so you will not be surprised to hear that I believe there is a compromise to be found between the stubbornness of the racecourses in wanting as many race-meetings as they can get and the less selfish majority who witness on a daily basis that comeptitiveness is being affected by too many race-meetings. When I was a much younger individual, growing up in Bristol, a city without a racecourse, a typical racecard comprised six-races, except when races were divided. I vaguely recall a race-meeting at Hereford that had 12 or 14-races due to the novice hurdle being vastly over-subscribed. But mainly it was six-races. Of course, there was no all-weather racing back then; the main cause,...

The era of the super-stable is nothing to be excited about. Elitism is the death-knell of competition. It is all very well, and perhaps acceptable in certain cases, to elevate someone into the realm of 'genius', but who is to say if others had the same ammunition to fire they too would be equally successful. Yes, the likes of Aidan O'Brien and Willie Mullins started their careers on the lower rungs of the ladder and only moved forever upwards due to hard work, ability and dedication, but there must have been an element of luck on the upward trajectory, luck that the present-day journeyman trainers never get to enjoy. O'Brien has the good fortune to be backed by the Coolmore 'boys'; Mullins had the good fortune to come across Rich Ricci, for example. I am no socialist, believe me, and would jump for joy if Britain's Labour government were to mysteriously...

The Skeltons, and that includes Harry and Dad, I suspect, are pondering on whether to go chasing with The New Lion next season or go down the Stayers Hurdle route. What I admire in Dan Skelton, besides his optimistic approach to life, is that he has no problem in saying 'I was wrong' or that one of his horses is not exactly what he expected them to be. He honestly thought The New Lion was a Champion Hurdle horse and when the form book told he was wrong, he accepts the fact and goes to plan b or c and always with a smile on his face. The new plan for The New Lion is a hurdle race at Aintree either over 2-mile 4 or perhaps even 3-miles somewhere else.  The New Lion could be brilliant over fences, his class should assure that. Yet his hurdling technique would be a worry,...

Stuart Riley, writing in the Racing Post today, believes there is a case to be made about Cheltenham following Aintree and Epsom (Aintree National & Derby) and having 72-hour declarations for all races at the Festival. I think he makes a good argument for his point of view. For the sport to grow, marketing and publicity requires a precise narrative. While the many hundreds of articles were written on whether Fact To File should run in the Cheltenham Gold Cup or the Ryanair were not generated by the trainer or owner but by racing journalists themselves, it would have been helpful to those whose job it is to create interest in the Festival outside of those already invested in attending the meeting to be able to use Fact To File as a headline act to create attention. Prevarication is very unhelpful to those charged with the responsibility to get more bums...

Firstly I want to correct something that was said by several of the I.T.V. presenters yesterday. Rich Ricci, great bloke that he is, is not the first man to own both the Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup winners in the same year. Dorothy Paget, a woman even richer than Rich Ricci, owned both the Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup winner in 1933, with Insurance and Golden Miller, though back then it was not an achievement worth heralding as the Champion Hurdle was as much a novelty to racing people as the Cross-Country race was in its formative years.  Gallic Warrior was the easiest winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup since A Plus Tard. He was a magnificent sight, turning the most competitive Gold Cup in twenty-years into a procession of his brilliance, the brilliance of Paul Townend, now being talked about as being the best stable jockey Willie Mullins has ever...

When asked if Fact To File would run in the Ryanair, J.P. McManus said it was 70/30 that he would not. We can take from that 70/30 quote that not all members of the McManus and Mullins teams were in full agreement, otherwise J.P. could have answered 'unlikely' to the question. J.P. also said that his opinion overpowered whatever Willie Mullins was thinking and the hard line taken by Mullins in a subsequent press release might have been fuelled by the trainer having to concede to the owner's request for Fact To File to be withdrawn.  To all of us outside of Closutton, Willie Mullins comes across as mild-mannered, even if subject to over-riding the thoughts of his 'boardroom' if his intuition demands it. Yet to offer the threat of not bringing his best horses to the greatest race-meeting in the world if the ground conditions do not meet the requirements...

I never used to think about the Cheltenham Festival as a British v Irish clash and it did not really bother me the year British trainers only won 5 or was it 7-races. It was always the exciting yet simple pleasure of watching great horse, ridden by great jockeys and trained by great trainers at the greatest racecourse in the world. This year, though, I have become fully invested in the swings and roundabouts of the Prestbury Cup and became overly excited, after accepting that the Irish were about to win another race, when Martator sprouted wings after the last to spoil the Irish celebrations. I am no longer bound to the horses I have tipped for any race as all I want to see is British-trained winners. I think it is 8-6 to the visitors after the second day. All to play for. The stewards need to take into account...

If I were the owner of the horses I tipped yesterday I would be content. Sober Glory would have won bar the mistake at the last, Golden Ace probably ran as well yesterday as she did in winning last year; Downmexicoway ran a solid race behind a runaway winner and if I tipped anything in the last race I have forgotten all about it. Yes, Steel Ally was put in his box by far classier horses and in such company he wants a longer trip. I was right about Kargese, though, and if Romeo Coolio had run in the Arkle, I would have tipped her as my instinct after the D.R.F. was that she would get her revenge on him at Cheltenham, not so much that she would win an Arkle in which he did not appear. Given the opportunity, Lossiemouth at last proved herself at 2-miles. She won an ordinary...

The thing is this - I am disappointed by the ground at Cheltenham. Last week, given the weather symbols, I could not see the ground being anything other than softish not goodish. Well, you can throw the form-book out the window as it is not about horses that can handle soft ground but those who will improve for goodish ground. What I can predict with great confidence is this: the Supreme wil be won by one of the following; El Cairos, Leader D'Allier, Mighty Park, Mydaddypaddy, Old Park Star, Sober Glory or Talk The Talk. After long consideration I  have decided to remain loyal to Sober Glory, though I suspect the ground has gone against him. In one of many YouTube videos I have watched over the past two weeks the horse that knocked my eye out was Mydaddypaddy, he looked nothing short of magnificent. What of Mighty Park, the next...

As quoted in the Racing Post this morning, Richard Hoiles has criticised the Training Fees Credit Scheme as 'Money to Money' and he is correct in his thoughts. When I originally read the headline to this news-story, my reaction was that at last the B.H.A. were endorsing a scheme to help owners both pay their bills and to buy new stock. Bad on me for not being more thorough. This scheme only applies to Grade 1 races and is for only an unspecified 2-month period. As someone with expectations of his owners being in the running to take advantage of the £20,000 to winners or £10,000 to runners-up, it is no surprise to read that Paul Nicholls speaks highly of the scheme, whilst at the same time lambasting those who are critical of what they also see as 'money going to money.' I believe the B.H.A. have a long-term strategy in...

Today is International Women's Day. In general, I believe days dedicated to a single aspect of life - days in celebration of the sausage, for instance or historical novels - are a waste of everyone's time as though they may focus attention on a subject for a short time, life moves on a pace these days, while tomorrow is always a celebration of something else, something, doubtless, trivial or commercially orientated. That said, given the topic is given space in today's Racing Post, it does allow me another opportunity to chew on one of favoured bones of contention. There are two certainties in racing - the old adage of 'to win a small fortune at horse racing you need to start with a large fortune' and one that has just flashed across my mind. 'To be successful in horse racing you have to work your arse off.' On occasions, normally when...

Horses like Ballyburn fascinate me. To the punter, they are an enigma, even to those who side with 'going off a cliff' with them rather than abandon them as a lost cause just in case they bolt-up one day at 33/1. Remember, Willie Mullins, not one to call his geese swans, once said that Ballyburn could be the best horse ever trained at Closutton. If Ballyburn runs in the Stayers Hurdle on Thursday he could easily go off a 33/1 outsider, that is some fall from grace. Perhaps those at Closutton are aware of whatever ails Ballyburn, be it physical or mental. To my knowledge he never suffered a bad fall over fences and though he blundered at the last at Kempton behind Sir Gino, he jumped adequately up till then. So, something has gone amiss and I am intrigued to know what. Since returning Ballyburn to hurdles he remains a...