UPPING THE ANTE

BIG-RACE WINNERS IN 2009 INCLUDED:

DARLEY SUN 9/2 (advised at 18/1 and 14/1 for the Totesport Cesarewitch, up to TEN WEEKS before the race)
GENKI 14/1 (advised at 16/1 for the Stewards' Cup at Goodwood)
CONDUIT (advised at 9/2 for the King George at Ascot)

This week's ante-post advice
(given on February 8):


RSA NOVICES' CHASE
(Cheltenham, Wednesday March 17)

WEIRD AL
11/1 WIN Paddy Power

UIMHIRACEATHAIR
33/1 EACH/WAY Ladbrokes and William Hill








FOR THE NOTEBOOK 



WINNERS FROM THE FIRST THREE LISTS OF THE 2009/10 JUMPS SEASON INCLUDED:
ME VOICI 10/1, MENORAH 7/2, NOMECHEKI 3/1, SPIRIT RIVER 11/4, BOBBY EWING 2/1, KILLULTAGH QUEEN 2/1, PEDDLERS CROSS 11/8, WISHFULL THINKING 11/8, SHILLINGSTONE 5/4, ARAUCARIA 11/10, SALDEN LICHT 10/11, PEPE SIMO 10/11, TELL MASSINI 4/5, PEDDLERS CROSS 8/11, DOOR BOY, SECANT STAR, LITTLE JOSH, ALEGRALIL, VOLER LA VEDETTE, ZAYNAR and KNOCKARA BEAU



LATEST LIST UPDATED:
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 2
NEXT UPDATE:
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 28

ADVISOR
(WON, Ascot January 23)
I have been alarmed all season by the lack of strength in depth in the juvenile hurdling department, both in this country and in Ireland. Slowly but surely, the Triumph Hurdle field is taking shape but it seems certain that the race will be far from the vintage renewal we enjoyed last year when ZAYNAR beat the likes of WALKON and STARLUCK. In which case, Paul Nicholls’s tough and reliable grey Flat recruit could well come into the equation. He’s done nothing wrong in each of his outings so far and quickened up nicely to win this race. The form has since been let down by the runner-up but Nicholls is convinced his charge will appreciate a better quality contest and, significantly, he reveals that he’s never known a horse of his improve so much for a gelding operation.

CANNINGTON BROOK
(2ND, Towcester January 24)

The Tizzards are dab hands with young staying types that appear to come to the fore in Bumpers or long-distance novice hurdles. And although this six-year-old, who won two point-to-points in Ireland, flopped badly when pitched into a Grade Two novice chase at Newbury’s Hennessy meeting, he underlined here that he has bags of ability and potential. One of two to draw a mammoth distance clear from some way out, the son of Winged Love couldn’t find as much as the impressive winner (WATAMU BAY, noted below) but he still kept on and looks sure to regain the winning thread soon.

COOLE RIVER
(WON, Leopardstown January 24)

For him to lower the colours of strong Cheltenham Festival fancy QUEL ESPRIT, Jessica Harrington’s six-year-old son of Arc winner Carroll House showed massive improvement for a step-up in trip to 2m4f. He appreciated the lesser pace and after stalking the odds-on favourite, he responded gamely to pressure to get the better of him in a ding-dong duel from the last flight. Most observers attributed the surprise result to an off day for Willie Mullins’s hotpot, while it must be said that Harrington considers her charge to be more of a chaser in the making. But it looked far from a fluke to me and I wonder if she will be tempted by the spring festivals now.

DRAGON’S ROOST
(WON, Newbury January 29)

Nicky Henderson tends to farm the Bumpers at his local track, and his representative here, CUCUMBER RUN, was backed as if defeat was out of the question. So for him to be so readily turned over marks down his conqueror, Gary Moore’s five-year-old son of decent Flat performer Craigsteel, as an exciting prospect. Held up, he travelled so smoothly through the race that he was able to make ground menacingly on the bridle before drawing alongside the favourite as the pair pulled a street clear. Once jockey Philip Hide released the handbrake, his mount picked up to quicken away, leaving connections to ponder a tilt at the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival.

HEY BIG SPENDER
(WON, Cheltenham January 30)

Given that Paul Nicholls considered his novice, INCHIDALY ROCK, good enough to be pitched into the Argento Chase for Gold Cup possibles, Colin Tizzard’s seven-year-old, who’d given him a fright here previously, looked a good thing in this ordinary handicap, even off 11-12. And so it proved as he jumped, travelled and picked up when required at the business end. He’s a strong, solid, good-looking chaser very much going the right way and given that this 2m5f trip seemed to suit him better than 3m, he could be a force to be reckoned with in the Jewson back at Cheltenham in March, providing there is some cut in the ground.

HIDDEN UNIVERSE
(WON, Leopardstown January 23)

In recent years, we have been used to the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival being bossed by Willie Mullins. But this year, it could be the turn of fellow Irish handler Dermot Weld because after the impressive performance of ELEGANT CONCORDE on Boxing Day, which I mysteriously neglected to include in last month’s FOR THE NOTEBOOK, he unveiled another exciting sort in this son of Linamix. Unusually for races of this type, it was run at a healthy gallop, which appeared to aid a sparkling debut in which everything went to plan. OK, four-year-olds do not have a good record in the Festival race but the manner in which he quickened effortlessly clear must surely persuade Weld to have a go. If he doesn’t, that decision in itself would be a tip for his stablemate, about whom he was unusually bullish, praising his “abundance of class, pace and stamina”.

MAD MAX
(WON, Kempton January 16)

A belated but pleasing chasing debut by Nicky Henderson’s giant eight-year-old, who was a very promising Bumper and novice hurdle prospect but who has always been plagued by breathing problems, which have necessitated no fewer than four operations and restricted his racecourse appearances. There is a strong suspicion that he’s best on a flat and/or galloping track, which could rule against him at Cheltenham. But his laboured effort at last year’s Festival can be forgotten because the 2m5f trip was too far. Two miles is what he wants and there is no doubt that when on song, he is potentially top class. Here he travelled with customary aplomb and really impressed with his jumping, which was aggressive and clean.

MAHONIA
(2ND, Kempton January 16)

On the face of it, Paul Nicholls’s seven-year-old was readily brushed aside by the aforementioned MAD MAX and looks destined for life in handicaps. But keep an eye out for the mark he is allotted because there was a time not too long ago when this horse was producing novice hurdle form that made him an extremely interesting proposition. Form such as beating MEDERMIT, now a Champion Hurdle hope, by 13 lengths and then running KARABAK to nine lengths, giving him 8lbs. The previous campaign, Nicholls had also considered him good enough to pitch him into the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival. After losing his way, he was sent for a wind operation and switched to fences but he showed enough here to suggest he’s steadily regained his sparkle.

MEATH ALL STAR
(WON, Ffos Las January 17)

I’ve not managed to get there yet but I must say that I’m impressed with the impact our newest racecourse at Ffos Las appears to have made. A fair, galloping track (almost a mini-Newbury), it is staging good, competitive racing and producing very good ground. The occasional, decent horse is emerging too, including this interesting six-year-old son of Presenting, who was one of Willie Mullins’s runners in last season’s Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival. He’s now with up-and-coming handler Gordon Elliott and although his first two runs for him were disappointing, significant improvement was induced from this step-up in trip to 2m6f. Tony McCoy, with whom the yard have a 50% strike rate, was booked for the ride and the horse looks ready now to fulfil the promise that once made him a £120,000 purchase as a four-year-old.

MADE IN TIME
(WON, Ffos Las January 17)

Emerging Welsh trainer Rebecca Curtis could do with one star horse to really put her on the map -- and although ADAMS ISLAND is flying the flag in style, I just wonder if a more likely candidate is this big, strong five-year-old who could hardly have been more impressive on his Bumper debut. It’s hard to know how strong the race was but he absolutely toyed with his opponents, arriving on the scene full of running and drawing clear, unextended, to fully justify the booking of Tony McCoy in the plate. Fascinatingly, he’s a son of the lightly-raced but brilliant Zagreb, the runaway winner of the 1996 Irish Derby, and is a half-brother to the smart 2m chaser MADE IN TAIPAN, who was fourth in the Arkle.

MEDERMIT
(WON, Haydock January 23)

All season, I have made no secret of the fact that I expect the Champion Hurdle to be fought out between ZAYNAR and SOLWHIT and I’m only too happy to produce ante-post betting slips as evidence! However if there’s one rival beginning to scare me, it’s Alan King’s gritty grey, who has improved with every single one of his appearances on the racecourse -- and continues to do so, judged by the fabulous manner in which he dismissed last season’s champ, PUNJABI. OK, his earlier form behind KHYBER KIM and CELESTIAL HALO suggests he still has plenty to find next month. But don’t forget King’s horses have been wrong for most of the season and he even suggested that this one wasn’t 100% here. The six-year-old has pace, attitude and a turn of foot and is also proven at Cheltenham, so current odds of 14/1 are an each/way steal.

PRESENTING FOREVER
(2ND, Doncaster January 29)

Given the amount of money owner Graham Wylie has pumped into Jumps racing, he deserves one or two more heady prizes -- and I just wonder if the Grand National could be on the agenda some time over the next three or four years for this likeable grey. He’s certainly bred for the job, hailing from the families of crack staying chasers such as Therealbandit, The Bajan Bandit, Belmont King (who won the 1997 Scottish National) and even Andy Pandy, who might have beaten the great Red Rum in the 1977 Aintree spectacular had he not fallen at Becher’s when clear on the second circuit. It’s also presumably why Wylie paid 370,000 guineas for him. After showing a modicum of promise in novice hurdles, he has made a fine transition to fences this term and in jumping superbly here, he looked every inch a long-distance natural.

The mercurial Tom Segal, of the ‘Racing Post’, is prone to the occasional outlandish comment -- and after Dermot Weld’s six-year-old son of Giant’s Causeway had landed this maiden hurdle in silky-smooth fashion, he was at it again. “I can’t decide which he will win first,” said Segal. “A Melbourne Cup or a Champion Hurdle.” Fanciful maybe but possibly realistic too because the performance had class stamped all over it as he picked up to beat a useful runner-up, despite being hampered by a loose horse rounding the home bend. Since the race, he has been the subject of a monster ante-post plunge for the 2m5f Neptune Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival and it has been generally assumed that he will go for that race to avoid a clash, in the Supreme Novices, with the mighty DUNGUIB, who beat him into third in last year’s Champion Bumper. But Weld stresses his charge has improved enormously since that day when, incidentally and to emphasise his home reputation, he started favourite. Yes, he is bred to stay the Neptune trip but as he showed here and as he showed when beating Champion Hurdle possible DONNA’S PALM by eight lengths, giving him 11lbs, on the Flat in November, he doesn’t lack speed.

ROBINSON COLLONGES
(4TH, Newbury January 29)

Bloodstock agent Anthony Bromley has assumed almost legendary status for the success he has enjoyed in plucking talent from France -- and he could have unearthed another star of the future in this five-year-old grey. Because of victories in his native country, he had to carry a 7lb penalty for his UK debut in a cracking, competitive novice hurdle, loaded with quality and potential. But he travelled noticeably nicely and still held every chance until the second last flight, which was highly encouraging considering he has been bought primarily as a chaser. He shares the same sire as recruits who have already proven themselves over fences, NEPTUNE COLLONGES, NEW ALCO and NAIAD DU MISSELOT.

SPORTS LINE
(2ND Leopardstown January 24)

The Arkle is developing into one of the biggest puzzles to solve at the Cheltenham Festival but Willie Mullins’s seven-year-old did his chances no harm at all in this Irish equivalent. It was some ask to throw him into the lions’ den of a Grade One on only his second start over fences but he underlined his huge potential with a fine performance, travelling and jumping impeccably, even though they went hard up front from the off. I suspect that if Ruby Walsh rode the race again, he’d hold on to him a little longer. After easing to the front at the third last, he looked a 1/100 shot as they turned for home but just began to tire approaching the final fence and was collared on the run-in by a rival arriving from the clouds. Mullins stresses he can be a difficult ride but is convinced he has what it takes for Cheltenham.

Paul Nicholls’s Graham Roach-owned six-year-old never really caught my imagination as a novice hurdler last season but he did end up finishing sixth in a hot Ballymore Properties at the Cheltenham Festival and is considered “a high-class chaser in the making” by his trainer. It was difficult to argue with that assessment after this clinical fencing debut, in which he tracked his main rival, jumping big and bold, asserted from two out and really powered up the run-in. The effort gained added merit when Nicholls revealed he wasn‘t 100% after taking a while to recover from a breathing operation. The Ditcheat handler has other fish to fry in the Arkle, so it would be no surprise to see this one gunning for the Jewson instead. If so, get on because he’s going to be better than a handicapper.

UIMHIRACEATHAIR
(WON, Gowran Park January 21)

With the greatest respect to all Irish readers, I do not profess to know what this word means and know even less how to pronounce it. But I reckon there’s a chance we might have to find out come RSA Chase day at the Cheltenham Festival because Willie Mullins’s eight-year-old son of Old Vic looks set to go there with a live chance, on the evidence of this highly accomplished chasing debut. He was no great shakes over hurdles but he was consistent and his final run, when not far behind the smart NOBLE PRINCE, suggested he was improving. Here I was most taken by his proficient jumping and the way he found when necessary over a 2m4f trip probably short of his optimum. He has already proved he stays 3m and he also acts on any ground.

WATAMU BAY
(WON, Towcester January 24)

Because it’s such an idiosyncratic track, producing form unlikely to be repeated elsewhere, it’s very rare that I note anything from Towcester. But the first two home in this 3m novice hurdler both look promising stayers in the making, especially Charlie Mann’s seven-year-old recruit from the Irish point field. Burdened with a 7lb penalty, he travelled strongly throughout and visibly changed gear when shaken up to see off his sole rival -- no mean feat at the end of a severe stamina-test on one of the stiffest courses in the country. Mann confirmed that he’s heading in the right direction and although he views him very much as a chaser in the long term, I suspect he might be tempted to have a crack at the Albert Bartlett at the Cheltenham Festival.

TURFBLOG: The Thoughts Of A Racing Fanatic

One good thing to emerge from the Channel 4 cuts (SEE YESTERDAY'S ENTRY)  is the removal of Alastair Down from their Flat racing coverage.

Down’s style and demeanour have never been ideally suited to TV. But through his ‘Racing Post’ columns, his disdain for the Flat has shone through alarmingly in recent times. So for him to front major meetings on the level sits uncomfortably with many racing followers. Just as Down sits atop the throne of negativity and division.

At a time when racing should be pulling together in a positive fashion, he spearheads the media campaign to drive a wedge between Flat racing and the Jumps game, as if they are two different sports. He was at it again yesterday when declaring that Flat racing “is in serious trouble in terms of public appeal”. Oh really, Alastair? Says who? Where is the evidence?

Thank goodness the racing authorities are alive to the fact that too much personal opinion is being passed off as fact by cynics in the racing media. It is high time, though, the BHA and all true lovers and guardians of racing began to aggressively challenge such personal opinion, which is in danger of poisoning the sport.

Given that Channel 4 Racing is propped up, financially, by the Levy Board and Dubai, I am flabbergasted that more has not been made of the revelation that they are to slash £800,000 a year from their budget.

£800,000 of whose money, would that be exactly? The punters’? Or Sheikh Mohammed’s?

When you consider that Sky Sports fork out millions for the privilege of covering Premier League football, Channel 4’s decision really brings home the extraordinary pickle racing finds itself in with regard to terrestrial TV coverage.

The sport is paying the channel £3 million to cover racing. Yet it allows the channel to continue to dictate how and where that money should be spent, while racing continues to kowtow to the channel’s every whim.

Take this Saturday at Cheltenham, for example. I note that the two flagship hurdle races, the Boylesports International (the Bula) and the Relkeel, have been moved to the last slots on the card to accommodate Channel 4. Which means that two of the chases must be staged earlier and run the risk of being reduced to farce because of the omission of fences, caused by low sun.

It is a classic tale of the tail wagging the dog. And yet while it is going on under our noses, the industry’s trade paper, the ‘Racing Post’ wants us to support a campaign slagging off the BBC for its coverage of the sport.

Given that the Beeb pay a whopping £2.5 million to racing to cover 13 ‘crown jewel’ days and would willingly pay a lot, lot more to take meetings like the Cheltenham Festival, the Guineas meeting and Champions Day off Channel 4’s hands, such a campaign is absolutely bonkers. Indeed we must thank our lucky stars the BBC has not told racing to shove it, full stop.

There is a pleasing postscript to the praise I gave Newbury for their Winter Festival. For the official attendance figures, which have now been released, show that crowds were up on last year by more than 1,000 over the three days -- to an aggregate total of 28,366.

Of course, the success of a meeting should not be measured on attendance alone but, in the midst of a recession, the figures do suggest that Newbury got its marketing, branding and innovative thinking spot-on.

They also suggest that the track’s managing director Stephen Higgins should not tinker too much with the race programme for the three days. Although a seventh race would be welcome on the Friday, the Grade Two novice chases he is threatening to axe, because of small turnouts, should surely stay in place. It was interesting to note that, like Newbury, Sandown’s big novice chase yesterday, the Henry VIII Chase won by SOMERSBY, also attracted only four runners . But there were no moans from the track’s director racing, Andrew Cooper. Indeed the race was a fine example of how a small field can yield a thriller, as three jumped the last in line.

Cooper also deserves credit for accepting that the Tingle Creek card as a whole needs bolstering -- probably by a handicap hurdle that punters and bookies alike can get their teeth into. As I mentioned in yesterday’s Tip Of The Day synopsis, the field for the once-prestigious 2m handicap hurdle was little short of deplorable. Cooper held his hands up and confessed this was probably caused by a huge drop in prize money. He aims to get it back to £50,000 for next year.

Outside of Liverpool, I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a three-day meeting as much as Newbury’s Winter Festival last week.

Of course, the highlight was DENMAN’S mesmeric triumph in the Hennessy. But it wasn’t all about the ‘Return Of The Beast‘.

Over all three days, not only was the racing competitive and compelling, it was also clear that the hard work Newbury had put in to the branding and marketing of the event had paid rich dividends.

Numerous side-attractions, such as music, entertainment, trade stands, competitions and an imaginative link-up with the Mayfair nightspot Mahiki helped to create a real sense of occasion for racegoers.

And they were side-attractions that complemented the racing, rather than impinging on it. Unlike that famous afternoon in the summer when the track plonked a stage halfway up the home straight (for a Simply Red concert later in the day) that blocked the view from the stands of a couple of furlongs of the action!

One of the most successful innovations was the unleashing of the ubiquitous Derek Thompson as ‘master of ceremonies’ for the racing on Hennessy Day. Live from the paddock all afternoon, via the course’s PA system, Thommo and a steady stream of guests set the scene and knitted the action together in a supremely professional, engaging and entertaining way that appealed to regular racegoers and novice punters alike. Say what you like about the ‘Big Fella’, but he has few peers in such a field and did Newbury proud.

The highlight for Thompson, of course, was the return to the paddock/winner’s enclosure of the mighty Denman after the big race. Eliciting the instant thoughts of master trainer Paul Nicholls, astounded jockey Ruby Walsh and ludicrously incongruous ‘Odd Couple’ owners Harry Findlay and Paul Barber, he helped to encapsulate the sights, the sounds and emotions that created a truly rare ‘I Was There’ day.

The horse stole the show, though. And the significance of this should not be lost on Newbury managing director Stephen Higgins who, in the wake of the Simply Red fiasco, made the startling admission that “racing alone is not always enough to drive attendances”.

Oh yes it is, Stephen, when the racing is as good as this. When, on your doorstep, you have a horse like Denman, waving the punters through the gates with every stride he devours of Newbury’s long home straight.

In some cynical quarters it already is, but I feel it cannot be underestimated what a phenomenal performance Denman produced last Saturday. It wasn’t the carrying of top weight that was so special. It was the fact that he was burdened with a mammoth handicap-mark of 174 after a year plagued by serious heart-problems and topped by a crashing fall at Aintree in April.

They say sportsmen never come back. They say it with more frequency about racehorses. So from which reserves of miraculous fortitude did Denman rediscover that rhythmic ruthlessness he has made his own?

The return of Denmania was the coup de grace that Newbury deserved for their heroic efforts in raising the profile of the Winter Festival to a point where they can seriously think of competing against Cheltenham’s Open meeting for the high spot of the pre-Christmas racing schedule.

What a pity then that it was soured only by another depressing, downbeat comment by Higgins -- this time about the low turnout for the meeting’s Grade Two novice chases, which were the showpiece events of each of the opening two days.

Expressing worry and disappointment about each race attracting only four runners is one thing. But threatening to bring the axe down on the contests, which Higgins has done, is entirely another. And entirely wrong.

Both races have a history of small fields. But equally, they have a history of unearthing quality. Yes, it would be preferable if they were more competitive but on balanced cards, they have a valuable role to play in the development of potential. And I firmly believe that racegoers are quite happy to put up with them if they witness the rising talent of stars of the future.

The terrific displays of PUNCHESTOWNS and MICHEL LE BON certainly fitted that bill last week. Joining an illustrious roll-call from the two races that reads like a who’s who of high-class steeplechasers.

The likes of BARTON BANK, GLORIA VICTIS, JAIR DU COCHET and BACCHANAL are novice chasers who cut their teeth at Newbury’s Hennessy meeting.

Oh, and one other, I almost forgot. In 2006, a horse called……. Denman.

Racing yearns for its superstars to fly the flag for the sport. And last Saturday, Denman underlined how he shares top-billing for that role.

But let us not forget that he had to learn his trade somewhere. And that somewhere three years ago was one of the novice chases that Stephen Higgins, beneficiary of all that was good about racing last week, is proposing to scrap.

He bemoans the “very, very difficult job” he has in selling four-runner races to sponsors. But if he truly understands and embraces the fabric of jumps racing, it should be easy.

If he’s still struggling, all he needs to do is get out the recording of the Hennessy Gold Cup Handicap Steeplechase, Saturday November 28 2009, take a deep breath and marvel at it one more time.

Mahiki? Nice gimmick. Denman? The real thing.

So Tom Segal, of the ‘Racing Post’, thinks yesterday’s Hennessy was not a good race.

For those of you who, like me, are scratching their heads in disbelief, let me help you with the relevant statistics.

The race contained two Cheltenham Gold Cup winners, two former Hennessy winners, a Grand National winner, an Irish Grand National winner, four other Cheltenham Festival winners and the winners of 26 other Graded races.

Now correct me if I’m wrong. But in this day and age, for a staying handicap chase, that’s just about as good as it gets.

Never mind Cheltenham’s Open meeting. The Jumps season truly came alive yesterday with a string of magnificent races and performances at Haydock and Ascot.

It was a day when class counted. Sometimes, as punters/tipsters, we over-complicate the pursuit of winners, seeking hidden imponderables that were never there in the first place. And the performances of the likes of KAUTO STAR, DIAMOND HARRY and ZAYNAR and, to a lesser extent, ALBERTA’S RUN and SHINING GALE, underlined that it’s far better to concentrate on sheer quality. It will always out in the end.

I thought Diamond Harry and Zaynar were breathtaking. In fact, I doubt we will see better displays all winter. And yet, who can be sure which races they’ll end up in at the Cheltenham Festival?

The seasonal bow of Nicky Henderson’s grey underlined why I flagged him up for the Champion Hurdle in Upping The Ante. I honestly believe the form of last year’s race will be left behind and that the 2010 Champion will be between Zaynar and SOLWHIT.

Very perturbing to see the introduction of two new but weak and inconsequential handicap hurdles on Ascot’s card today.

I know Ascot have been worried about a shortage of runners at their jumps meetings in recent years. Is this the start of a dumbing-down process in a bid to attract more?

If so, it’s a misguided move and one not worthy of one of our top tracks.

Amid the tiresome Flat racing v Jumps racing debate, propagated by the ‘Racing Post’, at the whim of Alastair Down, one of the leading arguments is that the National Hunt game is more progressive, more enlightened, more in tune with what the public want.

Yesterday that was exposed as a myth, if not a downright lie.

The ‘Post’, bless its cotton socks, ran a piece on the prospect of 48-hour declarations for Jumps racing, which included the views of several top trainers.

Rarely have I read a collection of such self-serving, blinkered opinions, completely oblivious of the good the move would bestow on punters.

Nicky Henderson, Philip Hobbs, Nigel Twiston-Davies, Charlie Mann, you name them. All lined up to condemn the proposal with illogical, short-sighted arguments that revolved entirely around their own personal inconveniences. To hell with racing as a whole.

To balance the piece, the ‘Post’ also trotted out the views of local evening newspapers, who underlined how crazy it is during the winter that in their Friday editions, for instance, they are able to publish, by deadline, the final decs for Saturday’s Flat all-weather cards but not the jumps cards. Frustrated readers bombard their offices with complaints. The papers, quite rightly, blame the racing authorities for being unable to release the runners and riders to them in time.

How can racing possible benefit from such an anomaly? Quite simply, if punters cannot access the runners, their enthusiasm will wane. I accept that, in this day and age of rapidly evolving media technology, the public do not rely only on their evening papers for racing information. But as I said in this blog a few days ago, it is an irresistible fact that the longer the final declarations for any race, any meeting are in the public domain (via whatever platform), the greater the potential for stimulating interest among punters, either through having a bet, actually going to the meeting or simply having a chat down the pub, over the phone or on an online forum.

Of course, as the jumps trainers pointed out, we run the risk of an increased number of non-runners. But invariably, that is caused by late going-changes because of the weather. And given the sheer unpredictability of the weather in this country, there is just as much possibility of that happening on the night before a race or even on the morning of a race as there is 48 hours in advance.

I have spoken to Nick Attenborough, the new PR director for the Racing For Change initiative, about this and I know he is strongly in favour of bringing the Jumps into line with the Flat on 48-hour decs. I wish him well in the onerous task of persuading our stick-in-the-mud training brigade.

I read in the ‘Racing Post’ the other day observations from a reader about the deteriorating state of some of the facilities and stands at Cheltenham.

I agree. They’re stuck in the 80s and 90s. It can’t be long now before a major facelift is announced.

I suspect that many punters and professionals are resigned to the same but daren’t speak out too loudly in case the facelift they get is a monstrosity of Ascot proportions.

Whenever it happens, the task of coming up with a plan that suits all and protects the hallowed venue of the greatest sporting Festival on earth is going to be a monumental one.

Was it me imagining things amid a series of losers or was the buzz missing from Cheltenham’s Open meeting last weekend?

Maybe it was because the weather was so bad. Maybe it was because crowds were down (haven’t read that in the ‘Racing Post’….oh no, silly me, of course not, it’s jumps racing). Maybe it’s because the Irish raiding party wasn’t as strong as in previous years. Maybe it was the recession. But something was definitely lacking.

Yes, the victory of WELL CHIEF helped to raise the spirits and pump up the atmosphere on Sunday. But there’s no doubt that the quality and strength of depth of the cards was not what we have come to expect from the Open.

The turnout for two of the three novice chases was desperate and too many of the handicaps were ordinary. I can’t remember Paddy Power Gold Cup day serving up worse fare than Saturday’s card and I am beginning to despair about how much longer we must endure the wildly uncompetitive cross-country dross.

I know I have a bee in my bonnet about six-race cards. But this was another example of how they fail to provide true value for money, unless they are enriched from top to bottom. As things stand in the British racing calendar, only the Cheltenham Festival itself and Royal Ascot are blessed with sufficient quality to get away with just six races per day.

Every year I promise myself not to get involved with the Tote Ten To Follow competition for the jumps season.

It’s not that I don’t like the competition. It’s fantastic. It’s just that failure, barring an unfeasible amount of luck, which you need to win it, depresses me beyond belief! I also reckon the competition affects your betting judgement during the season in that you tend to remain too loyal to the horses in your lists.

However every year I succumb. Last year, it was as late as ten minutes to 12 midday on the first day of the Open meeting when I rang my lists through on my mobile amid a cacophony of noise in O’Neill’s pub at Montpellier in Cheltenham!

The truth of the matter is that the competition is irresistible. So I have burned the midnight oil this week trying to produce the names of ten horses that could change my life!

I am peeved and stunned that two of Ireland’s most promising jumpers, VOLER LA VEDETTE and TREACLE, are not even available to be chosen. But as I write, miraculously, I have whittled down my choices to these 16 animals……

BIG BUCK’S, BIG ZEB, CASEY JONES, COOLDINE, DUNGUIB, HURRICANE FLY, KAUTO STAR, KILLYGLEN, KNOCKARA BEAU, MASTER MEDIC, NOTRE PERE, SHINING GALE, SOLWHIT, TAROTINO, THE TOTHER ONE and ZAYNAR.

Now how many lists do I need to accommodate all options?……..Aaaargh!

In Friday’s blog, I touched on the “wonderful” coverage of the Breeders’ Cup by the US TV networks. So it was pleasing to read in yesterday’s ‘Racing Post’ confirmation of my view from columnist Rodney Masters.

I quote……”A US television sports producer must have noted that President Obama’s speeches are refreshingly unobstructed by soundbites and verbosity. ESPN’s coverage of the Breeders’ Cup adopted a similar strategy, and it created the perfect blend for the racing regular and non-specialist viewer, a delicate balance.

“A thoroughly professional presentation, with an array of novel and easy-to-understand graphics, their Santa Anita team was enhanced by our own Nick Luck.

“He skilfully filled in snippets of information for the US audience in the European challenge, including a precis of the Fallon story and the Conduit death threat……..”

I couldn’t have put it better myself. I wonder if Matt Chapman, of At The Races, took note. Or are we lumbered with his irrational, immature ejaculations and outrageous criticisms and exaggerations for ever more?

So there goes another Flat season riding off into the sunset.

An excellent one too, in my view. Watching the breathtaking performance by ZENYATTA in the final race at Santa Anita on Saturday night, only one regret crossed my mind. SEA THE STARS really should have been there.

With Cheltenham‘s superb Open meeting on the horizon, it won‘t take long to switch fully into jumps mode. In fact, I’ve just received the track’s pre-meeting magazine, which they send out every year to members. Talk about whetting the appetite!

Watching Johnny Murtagh floundering on LILLIE LANGTRY at the Breeders’ Cup on Friday night saved me lots of money yesterday.

For I was suddenly hit by vivid flashbacks from last year when Murtagh encountered all sorts of problems at the same Santa Anita track on fancied mounts from the Aidan O’Brien yard.

Those problems surfaced again on an awful second day for Ballydoyle when, incredibly, not one of their five top-notch runners was even placed. So I was relieved to have kept my ALFRED NOBEL, VISCOUNT NELSON and RIP VAN WINKLE money in my pocket.

Why is it that O’Brien horses do not seem to be suited to American racing? Many question their ability to hit the gates running. But question marks must surely be hovering over Murtagh now.

Argue all you like about the reasons for Ballydoyle’s record at the Breeders’ Cup. But the statistics don’t lie. O’Brien has saddled only four winners from 59 runners, while Murtagh has ridden three winners from 26 rides and only one for O‘Brien. By the time next year’s event comes round, Murtagh will have booted home only one winner in ten years -- and that was MAN OF IRON in the uncompetitive Marathon on Friday night, which ended a barren spell for the yard of six years and 28 runners. With the quality of ammunition Team Ballydoyle have had to fire, it is a record that bears no resemblance to their magnificent performances in the UK, Ireland and the rest of Europe.

It all came to a head in the Breeders‘ Cup Dirt Mile last night with the defeat of hot favourite MASTERCRAFTSMAN in a weak renewal -- thanks largely to Murtagh failing hopelessly to keep the colt balanced as he made his challenge on the rail.

Contrast that to the wonderful ride, from a very similar position, given by Tom Queally on MIDDAY to win the Filles and Mares Turf on Friday. Tactically and technically, Queally’s judgement was spot-on -- and this in his first-ever Breeders’ Cup ride.

Mind you, Henry Cecil’s pilot cannot escape criticism. For 24 hours later, it was most unedifying to see his wildly excessive use of the whip on TWICE OVER in the Classic. I counted at least 20 fierce backhanders in the final two furlongs, which gave the horse no time to respond and would have landed him with a lengthy ban in this country.

Ryan Moore was similarly hard on CONDUIT in the Turf and while I accept that both were gunning for huge prizes, I will be surprised if the two horses don’t take a long time to recover from their experiences.

Add Murtagh’s shortcomings and the impression left from an entertaining weekend was that, Frankie Dettori and Olivier Peslier excepted, the American jockeys looked far more polished and effective than their European counterparts.

I must confess that the Breeders’ Cup is beginning to grow on me.

There was a time when I was totally indifferent to the end-of-season jamboree. Particularly because the racing surface, the time of year and the rules on medication loaded the dice against the European challengers. Why do we even bother going over there, I used to ask myself.

My prejudice was fuelled even further in 2007 when the great GEORGE WASHINGTON perished at muddy Monmouth Park. His death remains one of the saddest things I have seen on a racecourse.

However, times have changed. The racing world has moved on. And the temptation of global competition has become hard to resist.

I am still nervous about diving in to have a bet -- simply because I am not confident of my knowledge of American form. LILLIE LANGTRY, VISCOUNT NELSON, ALFRED NOBEL, CONDUIT and ZACINTO all appeal to me over the next two days but can I trust them to be finely tuned and acclimatised in alien surroundings at the end of a long and hard season?

Mind you, at least I’ll be glued in front of the TV, transfixed by the magnificent coverage provided by the US networks. Which is more than could be said of me a few years ago.

I still don’t think the Breeders’ Cup is the event worthy of the sycophancy afforded it in some quarters. And it is still not the definitive Europe v USA showdown. At The Races are even billing it as the World Thoroughbreds Championship. Pardon?!

But few can doubt that this weekend’s meeting at Santa Anita is a fascinating, irresistible occasion, providing a suitable tailpiece for our Flat season.

Let’s hope that the O’Brien, Stoute, Cecil and Godolphin camps can bring home a prize or two.

Want more evidence that you’re in the right game?

Consider this report prepared for the BHA and entitled Racing Together 2009. It reveals that racing does more work, and earns more money, for charities, communities and good causes than most other sports.

For example, more than 180 charity racedays have generated at least £1.8 million. Open days at trainers’ yards and racing centres have raised more than £700,000 for charity in the last ten years. Racecourse charitable trusts have donated more than £400,000 over the last six years.

Other activities include a Racing To School scheme, whereby more than 55,000 schoolchildren have been helped with their maths, literacy and science skills, plus a Horse Power scheme, whereby children with special needs learn life skills through interaction with horses. Also, youngsters in disadvantaged, inner-city areas are given access to horses, racing and riding as a tool for learning or the potential for employment.

Add to this the work done by rehabilitation centres for retired racehorses and the help given to former jockeys as they seek new careers and it is clear that the sport of racing is far from just a vehicle for gambling.

Full marks to the BHA and its admirable chief executive Nic Coward for bringing the report into the public domain. To read it all, go to britishhorseracing.com

Do I smell a rat or a red herring?

William Hill reckon they slashed the value of their sponsorship of the big handicap hurdle at Ascot on Saturday because the race was not afforded terrestrial TV coverage.

Oh really?

There was not a terrestrial TV camera in sight at Exeter today -- and yet who sponsored a card worth a whopping £133,000?

Yes, you’ve guessed it. The one and the same William Hill.

With only hours to go before the Melbourne Cup, Down Under, it seems an opportune time to mourn the loss to British racing of ALANDI.

A gritty, fast-improving stayer, John Oxx’s four-year-old won a high-class renewal of the Irish St Leger in the Curragh mud and followed up three weeks later, on very different ground, to deny the likes of Yeats and Kasbah Bliss in another Group One, the Prix du Cadran at Longchamp.

Indeed he looked the natural successor to Yeats and would have taken some stopping in the Ascot Gold Cup next summer.

Sadly Alandi won’t even be there because news has broken that he has been sold by owner the Aga Khan to race in Australia, with the primary aim of winning the Melbourne Cup in 2010.

Given that the staying division is desperately threadbare in this country at present, it is a terrible letdown. Unless Sir Michael Stoute can get PATKAI back on track, next year’s Royal Ascot showpiece could well be the weakest in living memory.

The common perception these days is that the National Hunt game is flourishing and has got its act together in every way, while Flat racing is in crisis.

Utter nonsense, of course. Jumps racing, while magnificent in the main, does have shortcomings to address. Such as too many six-race cards; such as the omission of fences because of low sun; such as the paucity of runners in too many of the decent races outside the Festivals; such as the unedifying sight of tired horses trudging through testing ground in slow-motion finishes; such as the diminishing identity and importance of too many big races through the winter because they are perceived as little more than trials for the Cheltenham Festival.

One area where the Flat is definitely ahead of the National Hunt game is that of 48-hour declarations.

Save for the grumbles of one or two trainers, 48-hour decs have been a godsend, particularly for punters. Preparing in advance matters so much, especially at weekends, so to be able to sit down for an hour or two’s study of Saturday’s Flat cards on a Thursday night, knowing exactly what’s going to run, has been bliss. The extra time has also been particularly valuable during the big week-long festivals, such as those at Royal Ascot, York and Goodwood.

Most of the major meetings over jumps between October and March are staged on Saturdays. So how annoying it is for most punters to have to wait until they return home from work on a Friday evening to find out what’s running. Especially when Friday means a night out for many.

The issue is brought into sharp focus at this time of year when the two codes collide. OK, the system is sometimes at the mercy of changes in weather, which can lead to non-runners. But that can happen with 24-hour decs too. In essence, as far as punters are concerned, the longer the cards are in the public domain beforehand, the more interest those punters are likely to show, which can only benefit the sport. So surely it makes sense to bring the jumps into the line with the Flat.

St Nicholas Abbey are the words on everyone’s lips as a humdinger of a Flat season draws to a close. Notwithstanding my comments of yesterday, déjà vu are two words also on mine.

For correct me if I’m wrong but weren’t we in similar awe after last season’s Racing Post Trophy, which was also won by a breathtaking performance from CROWDED HOUSE? And aren’t we getting it similarly wrong about the winner’s main target for 2010?

I have no doubt that St Nicholas Abbey will turn out to be a better three-year-old than Brian Meehan’s colt. But things might have been different if the latter had been prepared for the 2,000 Guineas, rather than the Derby. Because it was pure speed and an electric turn of foot that characterised Crowded House’s Doncaster win. Assets that cried out for him to be campaigned as a miler at three and assets that were also there for all to marvel at in the triumph of Aidan O‘Brien‘s colt four days ago.

The way he was ridden, the way he travelled and the way he picked up and quickened suggest the Guineas must surely be the first port of call for St Nicholas Abbey next spring.

Indeed I am a little surprised that more doubt has not been cast on his suitability for the Derby. OK, like Crowded House (by Rainbow Quest), he is by a rock-solid middle-distance sire in Montjeu, who has already produced the winners of two Epsom Derbies and three Irish versions. But like Crowded House, there is plenty of pace in the pedigree too, especially on the dam’s side. He himself is a brother of a miler, the grandsire was a miler and the dam is a half-sister to a high-class miler.

Yes, I know St Nicholas Abbey’s bloodline is laced with stamina too, featuring sons of the great Sadler’s Wells and the 1990 King George winner Belmez. But in such debates, I always defer to the evidence of my own eyes. Cast your mind back to Saturday. What did you see? Stamina or speed?

A mischievous thought has entered my head regarding the new superstar on the block, Racing Post Trophy winner ST NICHOLAS ABBEY.

Although they would never admit it in public, the Ballydoyle and Coolmore empire must have been hugely miffed to be upstaged by a fellow Irish trainer with SEA THE STARS this season, given the shedloads of money they throw at their admirable racing operation and given the fiercely competitive nature of it.

Most racing followers are in agreement that John Oxx’s colt is one of the greatest horses of all time. Many say he is the best they have ever seen.

And yet…… the decision to retire him now, shunning the Breeders’ Cup and shunning the chance to conquer the world as a four-year-old, having previously shunned the chance to land the Triple Crown, has left the door ajar.

The door ajar for someone to come along and to achieve something even better. To gobble up the same great races Sea The Stars won but also to take in the Breeders’ Cup, maybe even the St Leger along the way, and then to be kept in training to do it all over again.

Impossible? Maybe. But if anyone will be thinking about doing it, it will be O’Brien, Magnier, Tabor, Smith and Co. And the performance of St Nicholas Abbey at Doncaster on Saturday might just have persuaded them to think that little bit harder.

Congratulations to the ‘Racing Post’ on its new, all-colour look, unveiled yesterday.

I can’t decide whether it was genius or folly to announce a related price-increase on the day of its flagship race, the ‘Racing Post Trophy’. But the new look certainly gives the paper a polished, svelte appearance, in keeping with the enormous strides the ‘Post‘ , and its associated website, has made since the instalment of editor Bruce Millington.

There are aspects of the ‘Post’ that I find annoying. Notably many of its columnists and their over-eagerness, at times, to knock the sport. Indeed I feel its stable of columnists could do with an injection of fresh blood. More use should be made of the likes of Laura Thompson and Ian Carnaby, while Lee Mottershead deserves his own column and Dave Nevison and Lydia Hyslop would be welcome ‘new signings’.

Similar negativity often clouds the paper‘s news coverage too. Their current agenda is blighted by an apparent bid to draw a dividing line between Flat racing and jumps racing, which can only be counter-productive. And in the absence of any meaningful competition, the paper often assumes a misplaced, moral high-ground.

But on the whole, the assets of the ‘Post’ far outweigh its shortcomings. As a purveyor of information and statistics, it is a goldmine and unmissable for any serious punter or racing aficionado. The sport is truly blessed.

Tomorrow is a day for giving thanks for racing’s TV coverage.

It’s a day when the best of the end of the Flat season collides head-on with the best of the start of the jumps season.

I could, quite happily, scoot off to Aintree, Chepstow, Doncaster or Newbury -- and feast on a quality card. Instead I’m going to pull up the armchair, turn on the fire and park myself in front of the telly to feast on all four cards at once. Laptop or mobile phone close by in case I fancy a flutter.

I’m able to do this courtesy not only of Channel 4’s terrestrial coverage but also of two dedicated racing channels, both, by and large, slick, professional, informative and successful.

Is any other sport as fortunate as racing in this regard? Why, we even have a national daily newspaper devoted to the sport too.

So let’s stop bleating about the BBC’s attitude towards racing which, incidentally, is far more sensible than it is given credit for, and let’s remember, as AL ZIR storms home in the Racing Post Trophy, how lucky we are.

I only hope the afternoon isn’t spoiled by the forecast heavy rain. Or by Matt Chapman…….

Some racing journalists are so cocooned in their Press-box ivory towers that they lose sight of the real world.

Protocol prevents me from naming this one. But he was guilty of an incredible assertion in a recent column. Jumps racing, he said, has “lapped” Flat racing in terms of popularity because trainers, like Paul Nicholls, are more open with the Press and “punters up and down the country believe they get treated so much better through the winter months”.

This is patronising prattle. As if the average racegoer, when taking stock of where he might go racing this coming weekend, will choose Chepstow or Aintree, ahead of Doncaster or Newbury, because that naughty Sir Michael Stoute doesn’t talk to the Press very much.

Let’s expose this myth once and for all. While it would be preferable if all trainers spoke openly about their horses, it boils down to freedom of choice, not to mention obligations to owners, and cannot possibly be made mandatory. The real reason -- and here is the crux -- why some members of the Press fraternity bang on about it so much is, quite simply, because it would make their job far easier.

While on the subject of Press men, with depressing familiarity, Alan Lee, of ‘The Times’, yesterday criticised Champions’ Day at Newmarket because of its crowd figure of 12,500, which he branded “risible”.

In actual fact, such an attendance was perfectly satisfactory, compared to the average figure for the Rowley Mile and considering we are still gripped by recession. Furthermore, it was THREE times bigger than the average daily racecourse-attendance for 2009 and 2,500 higher than the number of signatures the ‘Racing Post’ attracted for its flawed and futile petition against the BBC, despite a rabid campaign.

The main point to make here, though, is that the obsession of Lee and others with measuring the success of meetings by their attendances has become glib, simplistic and misleading, particularly in the digital age, which provides so many platforms for following racing.

Unlike many other sports, such as football, a host of factors needs to be assessed. Not least the size of sponsorship, a field in which Newmarket so excelled, they were able to stage a card worth more than £1.2 million.

And what of the public response? Well, consider this comparison with football. The primary raison d’etre of most football fans is to support their team, which can be most effectively achieved by going to a match. The primary raison d’etre of most racing fans is to have a bet, which does not have to be achieved by going to a meeting.

There might have been only 12,500 behind the gates of the Rowley Mile last Saturday but how many thousands more were following the absorbing action, as it happened, on TV or online or in the betting shops? How many thousands more showed their interest in the meeting by having a flutter?

Lee suggests reforming the format of the meeting and forcing Newmarket to alternate, as its venue, with Ascot and York “to get the punters queueing”. No problem, but he knows that if Champions’ Day was held at Ascot even in its current format, it would attract a crowd of around 25,000 and if it was held at York even in its current format, the gate would probably be nearer 30,000, so he cannot have it both ways. He cannot use attendance figures as a stick with which to beat the meeting.

It is the equivalent of judging Lee‘s newspaper, ‘The Times’, on its circulation figures when held up in comparison to ‘The Sun’ or the ‘Daily Mail’. They are nowhere near as high but that is not to denigrate an excellent paper, nor its place in the overall scheme of things.

Mainly for geographical reasons, Newmarket (as well as other Grade One venues, such as Newbury) cannot attract the gates of the big-city or big-festival tracks. Unless, of course, they are staging sideshow concerts, which excite the non-racing locals and followers of the particular artiste or band.

Champions’ Day does not need Simply Red or Madness to sell it. The event represents high-quality racing in its purest form, appreciated richly by the sport’s dedicated devotees. We must not lose faith in it.

‘Hitting a flat spot’ is a well-worn, over-used cliché that is now part and parcel of the racing vernacular. There isn’t anyone in the sport who doesn’t know what it means.

But who coined the phrase? Who is responsible for its universal acceptance?

Could it have been the great INGLIS DREVER? The horse for whom flat spots were obligatory moments in nearly all of his races. Usually about a mile from home and usually followed by relentless surges, or even genuine turns of foot, that would land him major pots, including three Ladbrokes World Hurdles.

It was a characteristic that earned Howard Johnson’s hurdler a place in the hearts of all jumping aficionados. And it is why his death is seriously mourned. Not just because when he dug deep, he dug many a punter out of a financial hole. But also because he possessed the two attributes we all demand most from our equine heroes -- class and guts.

Farewell, old fella.

A message this morning to those of you who believe that Flat seasons require new-fangled, super-sparkly finales. Or at least one not confined to the Bois Du Boulogne or California.

Jump out of bed. Wipe the sleep from your eyes. Remove the National Hunt blinkers, sponsored by the ‘Racing Post’, from your face. Pick up the said ‘Post’. And study the card for Newmarket today.

I defy any of you not to salivate over the quality of such a mouthwatering set of races. And then I defy any of you to devise anything better (within the realms of realism, not fantasy) that could have rounded off what has been a magnificent Flat campaign.

I have been meaning to get this off my chest for a long time now. So here goes.

Why, oh why, when racecards are published in the morning papers are trainers allowed to add the rider “will only run if the ground is suitable”?

What the hell does such irrelevant dross mean? What is their definition of ‘suitable’ for that particular horse? Do they want rain? Do they want sun? Do they want snow? The information is of no use to punters whatsoever.

In these days of increased openness, if there is a doubt about a horse’s participation, the authorities should ensure that trainers are far more specific.

So what do you make of the decision to retire SEA THE STARS?

Are you annoyed that he has been deprived of the chance to add the Breeders’ Cup to his string of Group Ones and so claim world domination? After all, the Americans are very insular in their attitudes towards sport and will take some persuading about the greatness of the colt now that he has shirked the chance to beat their own.

Or are you pleased that a line has been drawn under his remarkable career to avoid the risk to his reputation or wellbeing that participation in the Breeders’ Cup might have carried? After all, the American jamboree has limited appeal to a European audience.

You decide.

As the new jumps season gathers momentum at Chepstow and Bangor today, a full-scale row has broken out about the BHA’s new rule to ban the remounting of horses once a race has started.

The reaction of many professionals within the jumping game has been little short of scandalous.

OK, we live in an increasingly politically correct world. But the image of the game is of paramount importance and the welfare of the horse is sacrosanct.

Gone are the days of trainer Tim Forster instructing his Grand National jockeys to “keep remounting”. In this day and age, the practice can be construed by the public as risky, dangerous and cruel.

In my view, the BHA should have banned remounting after the unsavoury sight of Ruby Walsh getting back aboard KAUTO STAR after a fall at the second-last in a novice chase at Exeter in 2005 and setting him alight again as if nothing untoward had happened. Kauto was subsequently injured for nine months and, who knows, we might even have been denied his glorious achievements since.

Better late than never, though, and the BHA are right to implement the ban now. Justification can be found in the outrageous comment attributed to champion jockey Tony McCoy when he was asked why he objected to the ban. “I won £55,000 for an owner when I remounted in the Grand National, so it doesn’t make any sense to ban it,” said McCoy.

Sorry AP, but the horse must come before the money.

It has become almost de rigueur (I’m still in Parisian mode), in many quarters, to predict doom and gloom for racing amid the economic recession. I recall one particular piece by Alastair Down in the ‘Racing Post’ about five or six months ago suggesting the sport was heading for unmitigated disaster.

I hope Down and his ilk have read the findings of a new economic-impact study prepared for the BHA by Deloitte. It reads:

“We are confident the sport has the ability to bounce back once economic conditions improve. An intrinsic advantage that racing has is the passion and commitment of its core followers and participants.

“There are challenges for owners and breeders but racecourse attendances are holding up quite well and media rights revenues are increasing.

“One impact of the recession has been a ‘flight to quality’ where consumers increasingly focus on the top events. Racing has the advantage of having a number of such events and attendances at the big festivals in 2009 have generally held up well.”

Full marks to the BHA, with whom I am increasingly impressed, for shouting about this study from the rooftops. Chief executive Nic Coward has been quick to describe its findings as “striking” and urges everyone within racing to stay positive.

“Racing remains, by a clear margin, the country’s second biggest sport after the modern commercial and social phenomenon that is football,” says Coward.

“The report is not intended to be an exercise in showing off but more people should shout a little louder about things going on in and around the sport, particularly about the impact on the lives of those influenced by it.

“Racing is part of the country’s social fabric and makes an enormous contribution to a wide variety of communities. In spite of the economic downturn, we have a lot to shout about.”

Hear, hear.

The Racing For Change brigade have made it clear that they are determined to attract a younger audience to the sport. People, perhaps, from the same generation as Christopher Tsui, 28-year-old owner of the great SEA THE STARS.

Tsui confesses to being bowled over by all the attention afforded him this season. But what does he think of racing? As a young man, he surely views the sport as old-fashioned, outmoded, floundering in a rut of tradition, ripe for change?

Not a bit of it. And I quote: “I love European racing because this is where you have the history of the thoroughbred and the great races like the Epsom Derby and the Arc. There is so much racing history in Europe and when you study all the great champions, it is fascinating.”

Tsui’s remarks come from a wonderful, enlightening interview by Lee Mottershead, of the ‘Racing Post’, which adds even more to the uplifting experience that everyone in racing seems to have felt through the crowning of Sea The Stars in Paris last Sunday. The interview underlines that, like trainer John Oxx and jockey Mick Kinane, Tsui has handled the horse’s rise to superstardom with professional, dignified aplomb all season.

It’s hard enough to win an Arc, the ultimate middle-distance race of the year. It is even harder to win it after a long, hard season that has already taken in five Group One victories, at various trips, tracking back to the first Saturday in May. But to manage it also after the kind of tormented run SEA THE STARS had to endure through the race at Longchamp yesterday is quite extraordinary and utter confirmation that he is, very probably, the greatest horse of all time.

After breaking smartly, jockey Mick Kinane was forced to take a pull of restraint for fear his mount might end up in front. But one pull became several as the colt proved reluctant to play ball and, as a result, he lost his prominent pitch. Although Sea The Stars just about settled eventually, he remained further back than is ideal and almost surrendered his place on the inner as they turned into the home straight, which would have been catastrophic.

What happened next only THE superstars can achieve -- and they don’t come along very often. The colt unleashed breathtaking acceleration and also astonishing dexterity at the same time, quickening while Kinane manoeuvred room for himself, weaving in and out of horses in front. Suddenly, from being in a position that most equine mortals would have found hopeless, Sea The Stars was ahead, clear and on his way to history. Stacked up behind him were no fewer than six Group One winners.

In my pre-race blog on Saturday, I asked for an Arc worthy of its status as the maker and breaker of champions. We got that. Rather crassly, I also asked someone to explain to me why it would be so good for racing if Sea The Stars won it. The horse himself provided the answer. It was a spellbinding exhibition.

With hindsight, the question I posed was churlish and mean-spirited. I knew what I wanted to say. I was annoyed that such a marvellous race as the Arc was being billed as a one-horse party, to which no others were invited. But my message was clumsily and insensitively conveyed.

Now that it’s over, it is all so obvious why Sea The Stars’ triumph is so marvellous for the sport. Because he has elevated standards to heights never occupied before. He has turned the impossible into possible.

Debates will always rage about the best horse ever seen, and the search for a definitive answer is severely hampered by the need to transcend different eras, different generations. But to win the 1,000 Guineas, Derby, Eclipse, International, Irish Champion and Arc in the space of five months is a unique achievement and one unlikely to be matched. To top it off at the Breeders’ Cup would represent Utopia.

Sea The Stars’ achievement is also a timely shot in the arm for Flat racing, at a time when it has become fashionable to deride it, particularly among ‘Racing Post’ opinionists. And it is a timely reminder for the Racing For Change brigade that what matters most within the sport is the product and its protagonists. Never mind the sideshows and the gimmicks. Have the confidence to market and promote the racing itself and to focus on the horse. Surely even Newbury can see the advantage Sea The Stars has over an Abba tribute band.

Also, let’s hear no more of this nonsense about the Flat game lacking ‘narrative’. As he progressed from the Classics against his own age group to taking on the older horses at 10f and then 12f and on to the top international contests around the world, Sea The Stars’ season has underlined that a compelling ‘narrative’ does indeed exist, via an often-criticised, but brilliantly conceived, European Pattern that stands the test of time over and over again.

Now we wait to see if Sea The Stars’ majesty stands the test of time. Somehow, I think it will.

Do you get the impression that this weekend’s Arc is being treated in many quarters as a SEA THE STARS’ benefit? Like a testimonial for a cricketer? He turns up, everyone pats him on the back and massages his ego and he rides off into the sunset with all the booty?

With dreary predictability, personalities from within the sport have been wheeled out this week to say how they hope SEA THE STARS wins and how good it would be for racing if he does.

Would someone please explain to me why it would be so good for racing? As if, by implication, it would not be so good if CONDUIT ended the long wait by one of the world’s great trainers, Sir Michael Stoute, to win the race. As if, by implication, it would not be good for racing if DAR RE MI made the French stewards eat humble pie for what happened in the Prix Vermeille by winning the race.

If, as many clearly expect, Sea The Stars trots up, it would be good for the horse and his connections, not to mention the legions of punters who have money on him. But what would be good for racing most of all is an Arc worthy of the race’s great status as the maker and breaker of champions.

Sea The Stars is, of course, already a magnificent champion. But like all champions before him, he cannot be considered a legendary great unless he wins the Arc. It is the ultimate test at the end of a long, hard season for a three-year-old.

The odds have shortened on him managing it after the draw allotted him a handy inside stall. And there is no doubt his price reflects his chance according to the formbook, even if there is a suspicion that he has beaten only the same handful of rivals and has yet to be given a true examination over this 12f trip.

But the idea that racing would, somehow, be doing him some kind of disservice unless he wins is utter nonsense.

Personally, I always prefer my Arc selection to have been prepared specifically for the race. Under the misguided understanding that the race is generally run of Softish ground, John Oxx has been firmly against it for most of the season as a target for Sea The Stars.

In contrast, Sir Michael Stoute has trained Conduit for two assignments this term -- the King George and the Arc. The colt is a three-time Group One winner. He is a Classic winner. A Breeders’ Cup winner. He acts on any ground. He has shown the pace to win over 10f and the stamina to win over 14f. When he was beaten by Sea The Stars in the Coral Eclipse, it was over an inadequate trip under an injudicious hold-up ride. From his modest draw, he will need the ride of a lifetime, this time, from Ryan Moore. But when you erase all the sentimental, patronising hype, there is no doubt he would be as worthy a winner as Sea The Stars.

Having trumpeted the merits of the Cambridgeshire meeting at Newmarket, I must say I have been taken aback by the small size of the fields on the opening two days, particularly today.

It is no surprise to see the two Group One events numerically challenged. After all, there is only so much top-class talent to go round. And in any event, both the Middle Park Stakes and the Cheveley Park Stakes are fantastic renewals.

But why does the Listed event attract only four runners? And why does the £20,000 10f handicap for three-year-olds attract only three runners? Even the two-year-old maiden, which split into two divisions for almost 30 horses last season, boasts a field of only nine. And it beggars belief that the Newmarket Challenge Whip, an anomalous event carrying no prize money whatsoever, can attract as many runners as the Godolphin Stakes worth £40,000.

No doubt the inquest will unfold in the coming days. I look forward to the reasons put forward by owners, trainers, the course and anyone else with a vested interest. It would be tragic if Newmarket was forced to re-think the superb format of this three-day meeting.

The unsatisfactory result of this afternoon’s Group Three Somerville Tattersalls Stakes (won by the 33/1 poke SIR PARKY) continues a curious trend with recent Pattern races for juveniles. What did you make, for instance, of the big two-year-old contests last weekend?

I was desperately disappointed by the Fillies’ Mile and Royal Lodge at Ascot. The former was won by a maiden and the latter by a colt beaten in a Nursery last time.

The Sales races at The Curragh were as fascinating as ever but, again, I was miffed to see them won by juveniles already exposed.

Similarly, I was not as impressed as most by the victory of ST NICHOLAS ABBEY in the Group Two Juddmonte Beresford Stakes.Yes, it was a nice performance from Aidan O’Brien’s colt but nothing more, especially when you consider he was a 2/5 shot in a very ordinary renewal of the race. On a line through the runner-up, his form still has some way to go to match the hype -- or even to match his stablemate, VISCOUNT NELSON, whom I suspect is being wildly under-rated.

Hold your bets on the weekend’s big two punting races, the Cambridgeshire and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

The latest weather- forecast predicts heavy rain for the Newmarket area on Friday night into Saturday. While a maximum field of 20 looks probable for the Arc after the latest declaration stage. That might not frighten SEA THE STARS supporters but a big field adds importance to the draw and it is a telling statistic that 13 of the last 15 Arc winners have been berthed in stalls seven or lower.

I do try and bite my lip and stay calm whenever I read Alastair Down’s column in the ‘Racing Post’ these days. I find myself disagreeing with most of his opinions and I am saddened by the fact that once the wittiest and most incisive writer in the game is now, in my estimation, the ‘grumpy old man’ of the racing columnists.

Over the last year or two, Down has given the impression that he has rarely wasted a moment to decry racing and predict doom and gloom for the sport. Whether this be in the shape of a full-blown assault or a quiet aside. All apparently bolstered by the views of half-baked mavericks or by unattributed quotes from anonymous acquaintances.

In recent months, his personal agenda has taken a new twist with attempts to portray racing as, actually, two sports in one. Jump racing, whose virtues must be extolled, and Flat racing, for whom the bell tolls.

This agenda was extended last week when the ‘Post’ conducted a ‘great debate’ over whether racegoers preferred the National Hunt game or the Flat.

Now I totally accept that Down has a right to his own views. It is annoying that they might help to influence opinion within racing, particularly at a time when the mood is for change, but he is an experienced, award-winning journalist whose columns remain widely read.

However it is one thing having an opinion and quite another claiming that the public at large agree with it. So my lip could be bitten no more, and my laptop could be buttoned no more, after reading his latest diatribe in today’s ‘Post’.

Very conveniently, Down is at hand to give his reaction to the findings of the paper’s ‘debate’ on the two codes of racing and the statistics which show that 63% of readers prefer the jumps, 21% the Flat and 16% both. He suggests that such figures should be taken on board and acted upon by the Racing For Change brigade.

What Down fails to acknowledge is that these statistics do NOT relate to a proper survey, poll or vote carried out by the ‘Post’. The 'debate' was never even billed as such. Instead the figures merely relate to the responses by readers who were simply asked to let the ‘Post’ know, via their terrific website, which code they prefer. Crucially, the option of loving BOTH codes was not even touted, yet still 16% of readers went for it. Which suggests to me, very strongly, that had a proper, comprehensive survey been conducted, complete with three options -- jumps, Flat or both -- and embracing ALL 'Post' readers, not just those who use the website, the result would have been very different. Indeed I would go so far as to say that ‘both’ would have won.

Then again, that would not have suited Down’s agenda which, in my opinion, is tantamount to Racing For Division, rather than Racing For Change. Not good at a time when the main priority must surely be to aim for unity at long last among the many parties and interests within the sport.

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 24

Please forgive me if the Turfblog goes a bit quieter than normal over the next week or so. I’m off to Ascot for three days this weekend, swiftly followed by three more days at Newmarket next week. And in between time, I’ve somehow got to hold down a full-time job!

The Ascot Festival has perhaps lost a bit of its lustre in recent years. But it is still a terrific meeting, combining quality and variety. And going racing at the ‘new Ascot’ has been much more enjoyable since admirable guru Charles Barnett started calling the shots. Barnett transformed Aintree and he’s even showing signs of making Ascot’s spectacular but spectator-unfriendly grandstand work.

The Cambridgeshire meeting at Newmarket is, in my view, the most under-estimated, unheralded three days’ racing of the entire Flat calendar, particularly on the juvenile front.

There is also a tremendous card at The Curragh on Sunday, not to mention the Arc jamboree at Longchamp to look forward to next weekend.

Great times! Best of luck and see you soon!

I am pleased to hear that Racing UK have all but achieved the 30,000 subscribers they need to survive as a viable, stand-alone TV channel after the demise of their partner, Setanta Sports.

Setanta going bust was hardly their fault and the decision to revert to their £20-per-month fee did not warrant the criticism it received in some quarters.

Many of the critics wrote to, or even work for, the ‘Racing Post’. Yet to buy the RP every day adds up to £11.50 per week or £46 per month.

It beggars belief how anyone can argue that £20 to have access to some of the world’s best racing, either via your TV or laptop, is anything but sensational value for money. I vehemently disagree with Racing UK’s insistence that we must pay extra for a second TV/box (unless it is to be used for commercial purposes) but that’s a discussion for another day.

Mind you, as generous subscribers, we now have the right to demand answers to questions. Questions such as: why don’t Racing UK broadcast the breadth of programmes featured on the free-to-air At The Races channel? And why is the RUK website lamentably worse than ATR’s?

And we can also demand standards of high quality. Unlike those spotted in RUK’s latest ‘Club Magazine’. The publication is a decent read, particularly the brilliant Nick Luck’s illuminating views on the crackpot notion that jockeys and trainers should be forced to speak to the media as a condition of their licences.

However it lets itself down badly in the ‘What’s On’ section, which previews forthcoming big meetings to be shown by RUK. On November 28, apparently, we can see the Hennessy Gold Cup from Newbury, which “has been won four times in the past by the mighty Florida Pearl”. Wow! They must have been some weight-carrying performances!

Is it just me or does anyone else find the Ayr Gold Cup the hardest race of the year to solve? At the risk of sounding like Tom Segal during a bad run (which he palpably isn’t at the moment!!), I simply cannot fathom it.

I have twice backed the winner at tasty odds. Funnily enough, both horses were trained by Richard Hannon -- WILDWOOD FLOWER and PRESTO SHINKO. But don’t ask me how or why. Most years, there just seem to be too many imponderables to conquer.

At the ante-post stage, you start wondering whether or not your horse will even get a run. My fancy this time round, ROKER PARK, missed the cut by five.

Next you wonder about the state of the ground. This week, Ayr was Soft at the start of the week, yet the race was run on a fastish surface.

Next, you have the draw, and all the crazy theories surrounding it, to contend with. Again, the week began with most ‘experts’ sure you needed a high stall. After the Silver Cup and the new Bronze Cup, it appeared clear you needed a low berth. But even then, many felt it didn’t matter. It was a case of needing to be where the pace is.

The fact that this year’s renewal was won by a horse in JIMMY STYLES who had become a desperate disappointment since starting favourite for the Wokingham at Royal Ascot and by a trainer in Clive Cox who was unable to claim the draw he wanted because his phone wouldn’t work just about summed up the whole shenanigan.

For Ayr Gold Cup, read Headache Gold Cup!

A quick quiz for you today. Can you spot the odd one out among these sporting scandals? Which are real and which is made up?

BLOODGATE (RUGBY UNION) -- one of the country’s top teams, Harlequins, and former England star Dean Richards are accused, of, and found guilty of, cheating by faking an injury, using a toy blood-capsule, to gain an advantage. Public outrage.

DIVEGATE (FOOTBALL) -- one of the country’s leading strikers, Eduardo, is vilified and accused of cheating after apparently taking a dive to win a penalty for Arsenal in a Champions League tie against Celtic. Public outrage.

GENDERGATE (ATHLETICS) -- one of the world’s top runners, 18-year-old South African Caster Semenya, is accused of cheating by storming to victory in the women’s 800m World Championships when she is, in fact, a man. Public outrage.

CRASHGATE (MOTOR RACING) -- one of the top Formula One teams, Renault, are accused of cheating by ordering driver Nelson Piquet Jnr to crash deliberately and so help teammate Fernando Alonso to victory in last year’s Singapore Grand Prix. Public outrage.

LEGERGATE (HORSE RACING) -- two horses from the one of the country’s leading stables, Godolphin, are neck and neck in the final furlong of one of the year’s top races, the St Leger. The jockey on their number two contender and lesser fancied horse, MASTERY, lets the jockey on their number one contender and the favourite, KITE WOOD, win the contest.

And they reckon racing is bent.

My four days’ punting at Doncaster’s Leger Festival were not particularly successful. However I felt I did little wrong. Made very few bad decisions. It was just the way the cookie crumbled. Lots of seconds and pieces of bad luck. You know the kind of thing.

In contrast, I am overwhelmed today by a feeling of sheer frustration at two bad decisions I made in races at The Curragh over the weekend. The failure to be brave enough to back, or even tip, KINGSFORT and BORDER PATROL, even though I identified both of them earlier in the season as potential stars.

Both represented glaringly good value against short-priced favourites from the Aidan O’Brien yard. And yet I wasn’t courageous enough to ignore the worry that both were stepping up in class and both were coming back from long absences.

Class told. By surging home in the Group One National Stakes on Saturday, Kingsfort underlined that he is a serious prospect for Classic glory next season. This is always a hugely reliable race and Kevin Prendergast’s colt must be some animal to win it on the back of a sole maiden win and after being laid low, in the meantime, by a virus. By grinding down the favourite in a Group Three contest yesterday, Border Patrol showed that he must be respected in any company at 7f or 1m, providing the ground is not too quick. This was only the fifth start of his career and he has improved for every one.

So was the Leger rescued by a top-class performance? The simple answer is no.

In a nutshell, MASTERY outstayed his stablemate, KITE WOOD, on ground a shade too lively for the latter. Kite Wood would have won with cut in the ground. There again, MONITOR CLOSE would have won had his stamina not given way in the final furlong, so strongly did he travel up to that point. And there again, on his form in front of Mastery in France, AGE OF AQUARIUS would have won had he not suffered a late setback.

Ifs and buts that sum up the 2009 Leger really. Lacking in outstanding quality.

It must be the first time the Leger has been won by a horse that had been well beaten earlier in the season in the Queen's Vase, a Group Three 2m event at Royal Ascot. Mind you, I did suspect at the time that it was an above-average renewal. Mastery was third, behind the very impressive winner, Mark Johnston's HOLBERG, who has not been seen since because of injury, and YANKEE DOODLE, of Aidan O'Brien's, who went on to run well behind ALANDI, the gritty winner of the top-class Irish Leger, which was also staged yesterday.

Holberg's re-appearance, very possibly for Godolphin next season, is now eagerly awaited, while the subsequent efforts of Yankee Doodle suggest he might have been a better choice for the race than his Ballydoyle stablemate CHANGINGOFTHEGUARD, who was disappointing in his first crack at Group company.

The sub-standard Doncaster showpiece failed to detract from the four-day meeting as a whole, which was a success, I thought. Clearly helped by a gift from the gods in the form of glorious weather , it was capped by a bumper crowd of 30,000 on Leger Day itself.

Surprisingly, I felt the course coped well with such a turnout. Lessons had clearly been learned from previous years. Bars and food outlets were well staffed and strategically placed to ensure the crowd was evenly spread, and queues and congestion were limited.

My only complaints concerned the main stand. It is one of the newest in the country, so why is it not blessed with an air-conditioning system? Or if it is, one that works. I accept that the management were probably taken by surprise by the warm weather but the public areas inside the County Enclosure were uncomfortably clammy.

Even more uncomfortable would have been Trades Descriptions Act watchdogs had they been present to read the track’s promotional blurb about a stand that promises “panoramic views of the famous Town Moor course”.

As I touched on in this column last year, and others have touched on since, it does no such thing -- unless, maybe, if you’re lucky enough to be waited on in one of the highest corporate-hospitality boxes that rise into the South Yorkshire sky. Pay at the turnstiles and take your place on the public terracing or in the public seats and your view of the whole of the back straight is blocked by a double-decker hospitality building, a funfair and an array of trees, all inconveniently situated in the middle of the course. In other words, from the Leger start to the turn into the home straight (more than 1m), you see virtually nothing.

A plethora of big screens are on hand, of course, to show the action as it unfolds. But the best way to watch on a screen is to stay at home. Racecourses that are unable to provide a decent view of what their customers pay for -- and Doncaster are not alone on this -- are playing a dangerous, risky game.

Tipster Tom Segal, aka Pricewise of the ‘Racing Post’, makes me chuckle. I am amused when he openly sulks in his columns during bad runs without winners and blames the tracks for his own shortcomings.
 
Goodwood and Ascot consistently receive flak. To such an extent this year that Segal made the extraordinary assertion, after another traumatic week on the Sussex Downs, that the reason he can’t tip winners at Goodwood is because it doesn’t suit the kind of horses he goes for -- animals who are held up on the inside rail. Too many, he reasoned, get blocked in and don’t get a run.

In a further veiled dig, he lauded the appeal of York as a galloping track and made the preposterous prediction that the fare at this year’s Ebor Festival would be better than Royal Ascot!

How hilarious it was, then, when his big tip of the week, CHANGINGOFTHEGUARD in the Ebor itself, was given just the kind of ride he purports to support, held up on the inner -- only to be denied victory because jockey Johnny Murtagh got hemmed in!

Anyway, the reason I’m focusing on Segal is because his current woes continued yesterday when he got himself in another almighty muddle while assessing the Prix du Moulin at Longchamp. He decried the chances of the eventual winner, AQLAAM, because of his outside draw, completely forgetting that, in France, horses with low draws race on the inner!

Notwithstanding such a schoolboy error, Segal deserves full marks for being brave enough to tackle the big autumn handicaps, the Cambridgeshire and the Cesarewitch, in a couple of ante-post ‘Pricewise’ specials in the RP last week.

At this stage, with more than 100 entries remaining in each, the races look impossible to solve.

Segal has somehow narrowed it down to one or two recommended bets. The best I can do is narrow it down to NINE possibles for the Cambridgeshire and SEVEN for the Ces!!

For the record, these are: CAMBRIDGESHIRE -- Sirvino, Foolin Myself, Shamali, Alazeyab, Fareer, Invisble Man, Tryst, Credit Swap and Applause. CESAREWITCH -- Darley Sun, Swingkeel, Aajel, Wells Lyrical, Saga De Tercey, Alanbrooke and Hawk Mountain.

Regular readers of this column will know that I bow to no-one in my admiration of the skills of dual-purpose trainer John Quinn. His ability to churn out winners with all types of horses, both on the Flat and over jumps, bears the hallmark of genius.

So one can only imagine the devastation and grief that must have ripped through his Malton yard since the news broke of the death of one of Quinn’s apprentices, Jamie Kyne, in a fire at nearby Norton.

Under Quinn’s shrewd tutelage, Jamie (18) had quickly developed into one of the best apprentice jockeys in the country.

The sense of loss is so great that the tragedy has sadly overshadowed all the headline-making events on the track this weekend -- most notably the continued brilliance of SEA THE STARS, the comeback of Kieren Fallon, the wonderfully gritty victory of REGAL PARADE in the Betfred Sprint Cup and the masterstroke by trainer John Gosden to apply cheekpeices to entice a return to the Group One winner’s enclosure by RAINBOW VIEW.

My deepest sympathies and condolences go out to all the family and friends of Jamie Kyne and 19-year-old fellow apprentice Jan Wilson, who also perished in the fire.

So Kieren Fallon, six-times champion jockey, is back. Riding on British tracks for the first time in more than three years.

And boy, hasn’t he made sure the world knows it! The PR machine has hit overdrive in recent weeks as Fallon has made himself available to every racing and sports journalist under the sun. The coverage has been comprehensive, to say the least, and Fallon has not been slow in coming forward about his prospects. “Back me with all the money you’ve got,” he is reported to have told one journo asking about a bet to become champion jockey in 2010.

We now sit back and wait to see if the hype is justified. Can he rekindle the magic flame? Is he really a changed personality?

Fallon is a man who polarises opinion within racing. He arouses strong views, both for and against. But there is little doubt he has been, and might well be again, an outstanding jockey and a gifted horseman. One of the best of the modern era. I still drool over the ride he gave KRIS KIN to win the 2003 Derby. I talk through my pocket but it was a ride that had control, finesse, judgement, timing, courage, strength, the lot.

As far as his well-documented misdemeanours go, I’m a great believer in doing time for the crime and starting from a clean slate afterwards. Racing should welcome him back.

However the tone of the fanfare to herald his comeback has been unduly hysterical in some quarters. One racing columnist with a national newspaper, whose opinions I normally respect, profferred preposterous notions that Flat racing has been dull because of Fallon’s absence and forecast that he would return with a blitzkrieg of winners. The ‘Racing Post’ threatened to follow a similarly OTT direction earlier in the week but retrieved the correct balance with wise, sensible pieces today by James Willoughby and David Ashforth that sounded proper notes of caution.

Fallon’s comeback is sure to enrich the sport and add fascination, intrigue, colour and drama. But he comes back as one player in a huge game that has moved on since he booted home DYLAN THOMAS in the 2007 Arc. He has a long way to go before he can be considered champion-jockey material again and also before he can be considered ‘changed-person’ material. Yes, he’s happy, smiling and relaxed now. Raring to prove a point. But aren’t we all after a holiday? The test will come when the daily grind of riding, travelling, riding, travelling kicks in again. When the pressure mounts and when the searching demands he and his PR machine have placed on him over the last few days need to be justified.

In recent days, fellow fanatics will, no doubt, have received through the post their paraphernalia from Cheltenham and Aintree, reminding that it’s time to book tickets for the jumps season. It’s always an exciting, if expensive, moment!

Recouping the cost with a successful ante-post bet is harder than it sounds. But scanning through the ante-post lists this morning, I note that ZAYNAR, whom I advised at 16s at the end of last season, is still available with Coral at 14/1 for the Champion Hurdle.

For me, that is a very attractive price for a horse still on the upgrade. Given that Victor Chandler is a part-owner, it could be significant that his firm are as low as 8/1.

A new month -- and a terrific one for racing, in my opinion, what with Betfred Sprint Cup day at Haydock and the marvellous St Leger meeting, followed by two excellent and informative days at Newbury, plus the Ayr Gold Cup, and all topped off by what used to be known as the Ascot Festival.

It’s hard to remember two more unsatisfactory Leger trials than those we have had at Goodwood and York this season. The form of the Gordon Stakes is not working out at all, while the Great Voltigeur was an utter mess.

KITE WOOD is a solid, worthy favourite for the final Classic. It’s hard to crab his victory over older rivals at Newbury last time. But is he sexy enough to win a Leger?

I’m yet to be convinced and I’m pleased I had the foresight to have a bit on CHANGINGOFTHEGUARD at 16s before he ran so well in the Ebor. But potentially by far the most fascinating challenger to Kite Wood is Henry Cecil’s rangy, exciting colt MANIFEST.

He has yet to be supplemented and because he has only contested maidens, all the Doncaster stats and trends are against him. All recent Leger winners had previously run in some form of Group race, while most had contested a Derby (Changingoftheguard, incidentally, won the Ulster Derby!!)

But Manifest was staggeringly impressive at Newmarket last time and has earned rave reviews on the gallops, not to mention a seal of approval from Kieren Fallon. By all accounts, the colt left stablemate FATHER TIME for dead over the weekend.

Now Father Time is no superstar and disappointed in the Voltigeur. But he’s no mug either. After all, he is a Royal Ascot winner. If the gallops report is to be believed, Teddy Grimthorpe and Co are surely going to find it very hard to resist stumping up the cash to saddle Manifest on the Town Moor on September 12.

I’ve had time to reflect on a letter I had published by the ‘Racing Post’ yesterday. It was written a little in the heat of the moment. At a time when I was spitting feathers. But I’m pleased I sent it.

My main motivation for the missive was a response to comments made by Stephen Higgins, managing director of Newbury racecourse, who himself was responding to criticism of the track at their Simply Red concert day on August 15.

If you recall, the day was hailed a huge success by the track because it attracted a record crowd of 26,000. But by all accounts, many regular racegoers did not enjoy the experience one bit, mainly because, unbelievably, the stage erected for the concert blocked the view from the stands of the racing between the 3f and 1f markers!

Higgins tried to justify the decision and what drove me to the pen was his comment that “Racing alone is not always sufficient to drive attendances.” A shocking admission, if ever I’ve read one.

“Was this the pivotal moment when racecourse managers finally gave up on the sport they serve?” I wrote.

I continued in similar vein, questioning why racecourses like Newbury do not promote their fine, quality racing with as much energy and vigour as their ‘cashflow sideshows’.

I am not against post-racing concerts. Providing racecourse managers are honest and admit that they exist to fill the coffers. There is little or no evidence that they are encouraging more people to go racing, while there IS evidence that they are in danger of alienating regular racegoers. And when they physically hamper or handicap the primary reason why tracks exist (ie: blocking the view of the racing) it should come as no surprise when those regular racegoers complain and say: hold on, that’s a step too far.

The ‘Post’ published Mr Higgins’s response to my letter. It is a reasonable defence of the course’s position. But I do feel strongly that racing purists/fanatics/addicts, call us what you will, speak up in situations like this. Sadly, we have no official body or organisation within the sport that will do it for us and if we don’t speak out, our views will be trampled on.

I love Newbury and I love going racing there. It is one my top-three favourite courses in the country. The racing and its facilities, in my view, are spot-on. But there is a balance to be found between looking after your core customers and attempting to woo new customers. A fine line has to be trod. I believe Newbury stepped the wrong side of the line on August 15 and, judging by the way they market their Flat season, they could soon be taking giant strides the wrong side. Only by disaffected people standing up and saying so will they start to think twice or to think again.

Anyone who hasn’t seen my letter and wants to have a look at it should contact me at richard.silverwood@sky.com I will send it by return e-mail.

SUNDAY AUGUST 30

The ‘Racing Post’, too often depressingly negative about racing, gets full marks today for the most inspirational and uplifting article by Brough Scott.

It focuses on an idea by the Horsemen’s Group to put together a promotional film extolling the virtues of racehorse-ownership -- and their success in persuading stars and celebrities to feature in it.

Michael Holding tells how his first winner as an owner was better than taking ten wickets in a Test match. Judi Dench tells how she was reduced to tears when her horse, Smokey Oakey, won the Lincoln.

But it is actor James Nesbitt who steals the show, and the article. Savour this: “The first thing I would do is encourage people to go racing. People are turned off the idea because they don’t think it is for them. They don’t understand the majesty of the spectacle, the thrill of entering this vast arena filled with people with the right bonhomie all focused on this one, sharp, exclusive event. Racing is good for the spirit. Good if you win, sad if you lose, but still great. You can get as much pleasure in moaning about your losses as celebrating your victory. But what I have really discovered about owning a horse is how adored and cherished the animals are by the trainers and lads and everyone.”

There is more of the same, lots more, and I urge you to try and read the article, if you can. What’s more, I reckon it should be pinned on the walls of everyone involved in the Racing For Change initiative.

SATURDAY AUGUST 29

I’m often asked what kind of horse I would love to own. I usually reply any that proved good enough to run at either the Cheltenham Festival or Royal Ascot. But watching Newmarket on TV today brought the definitive answer -- an animal with the talent and amazing consistency and durability of THE TATLING.

He’s been on the go since 1999! He’s now 12 years old and this was his 129th race! Of those 129 races, he’s now finished in the first three 52 times -- not far off a 50% strike-rate -- and won prize money in excess of £673,000. Now that’s what I call a dream horse to own.

FRIDAY AUGUST 28

A healthy debate is raging within racing at the moment about York’s decision to extend their Ebor Festival to four days. Sadly, it is lacking a contribution of any significance from the course itself, which seems happy to rely on the glib terminology of the marketing men.

I am fiercely protective of York. Along with the Cheltenham Festival, the Ebor meeting was the first major meeting I made a point of staying away for, back in the 1980s. Terrific racing in a wonderful city.

Personally, I have no complaints about the switch to four days and it puzzles me how York can possibly deny what even the dumb and dumber realise -- that the move has been undertaken to make more money.

However I have one large proviso -- that each day’s card carries SEVEN races, rather than six.

The three-day festival had seven races per day. A programme of only six races on each of the four days undoubtedly dilutes the appeal of the meeting.

Of the major meetings, only the Cheltenham Festival and Royal Ascot can get away with six races per day. York’s fare isn’t strong enough.

The handicaps sometimes lack quality, while the Group races sometimes lack strength in depth and a competitive edge. OK, it was great to see SEA THE STARS and SARISKA in two of the meeting‘s Group One events. But only one serious rival turned up to take each of them on, while the 2m Lonsdale Cup was possibly the worst Group Two I have ever seen.

On a six-race card, it only takes one of the races to come up short to devalue the whole day. York 2009 was still most enjoyable. The course continues to get most things right. But only the fourth and final day of York 2009 delivered all the goods, in my view.

Whether the racing community agree with me or not, only time will tell. But whatever they might say in public, I’m not so sure that the hierarchy at the Knavesmire will be too pleased with the figures from the first four-day festival, revealing that the total number of spectators rose by only 7% from the last three-day format in 2007.

Ensuring value for money is the easiest way to improve those figures -- and adding an extra race each day is the obvious option available.

FEEDBACK


IF you have any comments on this column or on racing topics in general,
e-mail me at richard.silverwood@sky.com

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