'Oh ye young man, take my advice, Beware of painted faces, And mind which way your pony runs When you're at Totnes races.' Totnes and Bridegetown races came to an end on September 1st 1938. The annual two-day fixture in September, celebrating the end of the Harvest, was described as an equivalent of a Roman Saturnalia, with theatre, cock-fighting, marching bands and fireworks, though perhaps that was in its earlier days as racing was recorded at Broad Marsh in 1794. I mention Totnes as it was a not fixed racecourse, with the fences placed to suit the condition of the farmland it used. Local landowners were happy to haves the races on their land but not on fields not yet harvested. The real quirkiness of Totnes, though, was that the River Dart had to crossed twice on any one circuit of the course. It was not unusual, if the Dart was...

Everyone in racing from the stable-yard to Portman Square is fully aware that after the Labour Government the governance of British horse racing is top of the tree for mismanagement, lack of credibility and for letting a golden opportunity fall through its fingers. The B.H.A. is crap; the idea that every facet of the sport could have a voice in every important decision was naive enough for the child of hippies to have made, and an organisation that cannot find someone to sit in its golden chair must bear all the hallmarks of a ship about to sink. We are doomed, I tell ye! We are doomed! As Private Fraser once said many times. Ascot's chief executive, Felicity Barnard gives the appearance of being Woman's Institute material, yet beneath the pearls beat the heart of a true rebel. She gave the R.C.A. (Racecourse Association) one-month's notice to create an air of...

Today is a bank holiday in Britain. In this country at this time of year, between April and the end of May, it is almost the bank holiday season with, if Easter is late, three bank holidays in a six or seven-week period. Why today is a bank holiday is hazy in my imagination and why we need a day off work between Easter and Whitsun is also lost on me. The B.H.A. deal with this rogue bank holiday by ignoring it. Now, nonsensically, we all know that horse racing, or the B.H.A., do not own the race fixtures that comprise the racing year, with the racecourses owning the majority of fixtures, and we also know that in many instances the B.H.A. is a  toothless tiger with no sense of direction and operates without a rudder and with little authority when it comes to the number of meetings per year. Bank...

I can be naive at times. For instance, I believe in weather forecasts. It was to rain with persistence in East Anglia yesterday afternoon. I did not, though the rain hammered down for hours here in North Devon. I hope no one took galoshes and water-proofs to Newmarket through reading my blog. I doubt either a tornado or a lightning bolt could have wiped the smile from Billy Loughnane's face yesterday afternoon. I not know what age he became before William Bonney stopped being referred to as Billy the Kid but as of 3.45 yesterday I think it became inappropriate to refer to Loughnane as 'the kid' as he is now a fully-fledged member of the exclusive club of jockeys to have won a classic. Billy is the new Piggott. I doubt if anyone who has visited this site since I had it tidied-up back in February will be aware but...

A correction: The Kentucky Derby is not presented by Longines but by Woodland Reserve. Anyone the wiser? Today it is 2,000 Guineas Day. A guinea, for the greater wisdom of the young, is £1 and 1-shilling. Or it used to be back in the days of black and white television and before that the Blitz of London and before that when young boys were poked-up chimneys to clear it of soot. The good old days, as us old folk like to think of those faraway days when races were started from barriers, the jockeys could wear spurs and the Daily Mirror was a penny a copy. 15 potential stallions turn-out on the Rowley Mile, with its dip and bushes the only landmarks from stalls to winning post. It is a straight mile, so you will get a better view of the race listening to the commentary on the radio. Be aware,...

Occasionally I take against a horse and I am later shamed when learning what a nice, friendly, individual they are. I had no love for City of Troy last season, even after he won the Epsom Derby, as everything said about him from his racecourse debut to his last race and final disappointment at the Breeders Cup, was about the marketing of him as a stallion. So many of the Coolmore Derby winners win moderate versions of the Epsom Derby and frequently never increase their reputation there after. That said, the Epsom Derby would be dead in the waters without the support of Coolmore. Field of Gold is the latest recipient of my negativity as people keep making excuses for him every time he is beaten. Also, I thought it was unfair that Kieran Shoemark received all the blame for the horse failing to win the 2,000 Guineas, with John Gosden,...

Willie Mullins had come to terms with the possibility that he might never have a Cheltenham Gold Cup on his c.v at the time of his retirement. Then Al Boum Photo came along to win him two in successive seasons. Ambition achieved. Mullins could die a contented man. Then, as has now become the norm at Closutton, an even greater steeplechaser came along in Galopin Des Champs, another two-time winner of the Gold Cup, a horse that also achieved big-race success at other venues and could race more often than Al Boum Photo. Gaelic Warrior has thus far only one Cheltenham Gold Cup to his name, yet there can be no one who believes it will not be two or even three before his career is over. As a big fan, and still a believer, of The Jukebox Man, it pains me to be so optimistic about prophesying a three-time Gold...

There never was a clash between Arkle and Flyingbolt, arguably the two greatest steeplechasers in the history of the sport. There was for Himself a short-lived rivalry with Mill House which was settled in pretty quick order. Flyingbolt, though, was the only true rival for Arkle's crown. With Arkle, of course, there is no debate; he remains the greatest chaser, perhaps racehorse, of all time. In his era the Gold Cup class horses had to run in handicaps, as the King George at Kempton was the only other non-handicap he could run in. If only there were not a King George, Himself, as he was known in Ireland, might have won 5 or 6 Gold Cups and run in a Grand National, a race Pat Taaffe longed to ride him in. But no, as with Flyingbolt, his career was cut short by an injury to his pedal bone. Flyingbolt contracted brucellosis,...

Though most people do not care a jot about the names given to racehorses, it is a subject that I believe that should be subject to debate. Firstly, great horses usually have sound names, not funny or disrespectful names. Frankel, Brigadier Gerard, Dancing Brave, Grundy, to name but four. Away from that division of naming, what makes my blood boil is the replication or reuse of great but not classic winners of the past. At present, John Gosden has a leading Derby hope by the name of Morris Dancer. A horse of this name is indelibly linked to Paul Mellon and Ian Balding, a great old handicapper who won - guessing here - over 20-races and gave a lot of young jockeys their first winner. This is one name that should have been allowed to die with the original Morris Dancer. Today, David Menuisier introduces a horse to the racecourse by...

It keeps being said that no horse has won the triple crown since Nijinsky, yet Oh So Sharp won the 1,000 Guinease, Oaks and St. Leger in 1985 (spent the last ten-minutes trying to find my book on Henry Cecil only to discover it was published in 1983!). Of course, I am unlikely to witness another triple crown winner as the St. Leger has lost its prestige, even if it is the oldest classic of them all. As anyone who has visited this site on a regular basis will be aware, I would like the Eclipse to be upgraded to classic status, thereby giving the sport a more respresentative look to the racing age we live:  a 8-furlong classic, a 10-furlong classic and a 12-furlong classic. To my mind the St.Leger should become all-age, with the sport throwing a bucket-load of money at it, upgrading it to be a complimentary race...

I hope in death I go to where Thistle Ask has gone. He was a happy horse. He died happy, I hope, even if his death, for humane considerations, was at the hands of an experienced veterinary surgeon. We had a wonderful ginger cat called Thomas. He taught me a lot about cats, more than I  taught him about humans. He was a happy cat, at least I hope so, right up to when he began to walk into walls, then he was unhappy, his freedom and independence lost to him. He had a brain tumour and, like Thistle Ask, for humane considerations, we had to have him euthanised. He died on our kitchen floor, his head in the lap of the vet called-out one Sunday morning to ease him on his way to wherever much-loved animals go in the afterlife, in such a realm exists. National Hunt racing gives us...

Earlier in the week I was of the opinion that Dan Skelton would fall short of winning £5-million in prize money. I was wrong; it is now, after winning here, there and everywhere this week inconceivable to think he will not achieve his latest ambition. It was Willie' world last year, now it is the Skelton world in which we are blessed to be a part of. The big question is when these two worlds collide next season, who will get to rule the universe? Dan, like Willie, is almost impossible to dislike but his success is not down to his affable nature or willingness to be interviewed but to planning, planning, hard work from his team, determination and yet more planning.  Winning a race at every racecourse in Britain is not only a unique achievement but testament to his no stone unturned approach to his job. At Sandown Park today...

Sean Bowen is critical of the summer jumping programme. I, too, am not happy with the formation of the summer jumping programme. Anyone would be, even if the problem lies not at the feet of the B.H.A. but with the racecourss and the stupid manner in which the race programme is determined. There was a time when racecourse would apply for a date to race, now though the racecourse just organise a fixture and decide the date upon which to stage it. It is like the child being in charge of the household sweet and chocolate distribution, with the parents only having a say on which biscuits the child can eat. In July/August there is a 19-day break for jump jockeys, time for a holiday and a reset. But for many jockeys that too is a problem as they like to be kept busy, even though through the season proper many...

Johnny Burke, a jockey with the ambition to become race commentator when he retires, is set to go freelance next season, leaving Fergal O'Brien after tomorrow's end-of-season meeting at Sandown Park. While it is a brave move for any jockey to give-up a retainer, Burke's career in the saddle would unlikely progress if he remained with O'Brien, as excellent a trainer as he is. When he is available, Burke is a bit of a go-to jockey when spare rides in good races become available, so at the age of 30 he must have decided it was now or never to roll the dice in hope of riding a better-class of horse on a more regular basis. If he had been a freelance this season, he might have been a good-fit for Paul Nicholls now that he has lost his faithful stable jockey. (Incidentally, it was only a few days ago that...

There is still plenty of prize money to be won over the jumps in the final week of the British season. Perth stage their popular spring meeting, with plenty of five-figure first prize-money on offer. Warwick have two Challenger Finals on Thursday and then, of course, there is the grand finale at Sandown this Saturday. Apparently, and I always grimace, sometimes laugh, when clerks of the course, in defence of providing ground without the word soft in the description, proclaim a drought, even though it is only ten-days since the last drop of rain. Given that long-range weather forecasts can be as right as they are wrong, I would have thought clerks of the course would take a pessimistic view and start watering upon the arrival of the third day without rain and then to continue topping-up until they can use the word soft in the going description. But what do...

This is the time of year for my annual moan about the ever-decreasing quality of the bet365 Chase, the old Whitbread. In its glory days, the Whitbread was won by Arkle and Mill House, the latter's return to the winners' enclosure wringing tears from the eyes of grown men, and, of course, the horse most synonymous with Sandown Park, Desert Orchid. The decline in quality and quantity seems not to concern either Sandown or its sponsor. There are still class staying chasers in training; not all of them are out at grass already. Punchestown with be replete with top-class horses next week and the bet 365, the old Whitbread, should be enticing the connections of a few of them to change direction. My cure for the old Whitbread's malaise is to change the distance of the race to 2-mile 5-furlongs, then the National Hunt season would end in a same manner...

My apologies for my non-appearance yesterday. Nearly all my own fault. Laptop troubles, that is all I am prepared to say. First a quibble. I only follow world events through YouTube and the B.B.C. Ceefax service. The latter gave scant review of the Aintree National result, yet chose to include the death of 'National Winner' Noble Yeats on the first page of the Ceefax service. The B.B.C. also described Evan Williams as 'Grand National trainer', which even he would think a stretch. Life is not fair, we all know that. It can be especially so for great racehorses, you only have to look at the comparatively short years of retirment that fate determined for Denman and Kauto Star. Noble Yeats, as a National winner, can be also be regarded as a great horse, a horse that won perhaps the only race in Europe that comes anywhere near to 'stopping a nation'....

When Joseph O'Brien's achievements are laid end-to-end, and combined with his relatively young age, it is almost fair to suggest that he is beginning to put his father in the shade. Today he has the favourite for the Scottish National, last week he had two winners at the Aintree National meeting, which might have been greatly improved upon if Ben Jones had taken a couple of deep breaths and thought about matters before boldly going where a more experienced jockey would have feared going, and he has managed to hoist an eleven-year-old into becoming the champion staying hurdler, yet foremost Joseph is a trainer of flat horses and is one of the best in the world at that game also. It is easy to forget that his father started as a jumps trainer and won races at the Cheltenham Festival and elsewhere. But not to the extent that his son is...

After the criticism that came the way of the B.H.A. when the Chelmsford Easter meeting was called-off ten-minutes after declarations, you would have thought a lesson had been learned. But no, apparently there was no lesson learned as tomorrow's meeting at Brighton has been abandoned after declarations due to badgers and birds digging-up parts of the racecourse in search of leatherjackets, the larvae of crane flies. No blame can be attached to Brighton for playing host to leatherjackets as the mild winter is the cause of the infestation, and Brighton have over the past fortnight tried manfully to kill-off the larvae, to no avail. And that is the seat of the present wave of criticism lapping around the ankles of the B.H.A.. For two-weeks Brighton groundstaff have battled with this problem, with the possibility of having to abandon tomorrow's first fixture of the season becoming more likely by the day due...

If the upcoming meeting were to be a jumps meeting, the clerk of the course would have put on more water than if, as it is, it were a flat meeting. Flat trainers would have complained bitterly if the course had been drenched to good-to-soft, and that is National Hunt good-to-soft, which is a different kettle of fish to flat good-to-soft, as they would not want their delicate 2 and 3-year-olds to have testing races this early in the season. Nicky Henderson has walked the course, a fair undertaking for a man of his age, and declared Constitution Hill a non-runner and the John Porter is reduced in both prestige and interest. Unless we have a wet late Spring and early Summer, Nicky Henderson will be walking enough courses to determine for himself the state of the ground to get himself fit enough for a fun run. Forgive the unwoke old...