A Great Week For Racing

Well that was quite a week wasn’t it?

I came into this year’s Royal Ascot expecting a somewhat unbalanced week with Frankel on day one, Black Caviar on day five and, frankly, very little in between – how wrong I was.

It turned out to be one of the best Royal Ascot meetings I can recall – even the weather was relatively kind.

Even without Frankel I always think day one of the meeting is the best, with three group one contests. Of course the presence of the best racehorse in the world made it even better and to add a thick layer of icing on an already rich cake he, arguably, put in his best performance ever.

He certainly laid to rest the ghost of his run in last year’s St James’s Palace Stakes and he stamped his authority as the best living racehorse and depending on whose ratings you choose to believe he is either be best or second best horse ever.

My only grouse about his run was it was the first race on the card and to use the old cliché, an impossible act to follow.

It was known some time in advance that Frankel would be heading to the Queen Anne Stakes – could Ascot not have changed the running order so The Queen Anne was the feature race at 15:45, so we would, at least, have had an even bigger build-up to the contest?

He certainly was a hard act to follow and the favourites in the Kings Stand and St James’s Palace Stakes all disappointed. Indeed in the St James’s Palace Stakes the winner was the aptly named Most Improved.

For me it was a profitable day in that I backed Excelebration to win in the “without Frankel” market and my bet of the day was Simenon in the Ascot Stakes – more on him later.

After Tuesday and Frankel Wednesday’s card was going to struggle to live up to the same billing and with four of the six races going to horses with double digit odds it was a day for the layers.

The big race was the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes where there were hopes for a Royal Winner in Jubilee year as the improved Carlton House, owned by The Queen was a well backed second favourite. However, not for the first time, the Ballydoyle team came along as the party poopers, although there can be few complaints as So You Think chose to finally show his full potential and he came home a very worthy winner.

After two days of sunshine there was an almost certain inevitability the weather would change for Ladies Day and it sure did, luckily the precipitation was showery as opposed to the forecast persistent variety, however it was blowing a howling gale, making life difficult for racegoers with hats and horses (without hats) alike.

For me it was to be a second losing day on the trot, with only a couple of placed bets.

On the course we saw some great performances. Princess Highway in the Ribblesdale and Energizer in the Tercentenary both put in scintillating late runs to win their respective contests, the former being one of the most eye-catching runs I’ve seen from a filly in a long time.

Thursday’s feature race was The Gold Cup, note not The Ascot Gold Cup, it’s the one Gold Cup race which doesn’t need a location descriptor.

Fame And Glory was sent off the odds-on favourite to retain the cup, looking to give the Ballydoyle team a sixth win in seven year – it wasn’t to be and their old “enemy” Godolphin claimed a 1-2 with Frankie Dettori on Colour Vision edging out, literally, Opinion Poll ridden by up and coming Mickael Barzalona.

The pair had a “coming together” in the final stages and in a televised Stewards Enquiry Dettori was given a fairly easytime by the stewards. Of course Barzalona wasn’t going to criticise his “team mate” but the Stewards could have been more probing. There was never any danger of Dettori losing the race but by not switching his whip through to his correct hand he was arguably guilty of careless riding and he should have picked up a two day ban. Instead the Stewards deemed the interference accidental and no action was taken.

For me Friday was the day I clawed the money back from the bookmakers as Newfangled, Estimate and, my banker of the week, Gatewood all obliged.

I was really impressed with Gatewood at Epsom who ran on late to win from an almost impossible position. He adopted the same tactics again here but with it being his first time on ground with the word soft appearing in the going description he didn’t seem to accelerate as well. He only got home by a neck but a winner is a winner.

For the rest of the world the big result was Estimate as she is owned by The Queen and it meant she had her 21^st winner at the Royal meeting but, more importantly, a winner in her Jubilee year. An almighty roar went out as Estimate hit the front and the commentary was drowned out as she came home five lengths clear.

By a strange quirk of fate the prize for that race was presented by The Duke Of Edinburgh – it’s a shame he didn’t give the winning owner a kiss.

Saturday, of course, was all about the one horse and a capacity crowd created a fantastic atmosphere, for me the best atmosphere I have even encountered at a flat meeting and I thought the atmosphere at last year’s Champions Day would not be beaten.

Of course we all know what happened and there is no point in dwelling on it to long here.

I will stick with what I wrote immediately after the race when I said “for me Black Caviar is still a great horse despite the best efforts of her rider to ruin her chances.”

It’s very easy, although justified, to be critical of Luke Nolen, however to his absolute credit he held his hands up and admitted his mistake and anyone who saw him in the aftermath could realise how upset he was at what happened. No private rollicking from a trainer or owner would be as harsh as Nolen was being on himself.

My biggest fear was what the reaction been had Black Caviar been beaten due to Nolen’s error – how would the crowd have reacted? Thankfully we never got to find out.

It is a great pity that Nolen’s ride overshadowed the race. At the end of the day she is still unbeaten, 22 from 22.

She may not have been 100% - she cannot tell us – but she still won, it wasn’t her fault she only won by a head.

The other shame of the final day is all the attention on Black Caviar detracted from a brilliant performance by Simenon who followed up his 2m 4f Ascot Stakes win on Tuesday with victory in the almost 2m 6f Queen Alexandra Stakes. Despite Ryan Moore failing to get a run against the rail and having to be switched he showed a great turn of foot to come home seven lengths clear.

That run was the icing on my punting cake as he obliged for me the second time in the week and coupled with winning runs from Sea Moon and Camborne gave me a good end to the week.

From a working perspective it was a hard week, I hardly got to see the runners in the parade ring and the media centre was rammed packed – even more than usual with all the international attention on the meeting with the two best horses in the world in attendance.

I hope Ascot do review how they deal with accrediting press at future Royal meetings, I know I am not the only one who is frustrated with the current system but that shouldn’t detract from what was a fantastic weeks racing.

It will soon be back to earth with a bump as my next scheduled racing is Worcester on Wednesday – one couldn’t ask for a bigger contrast after what has been a great week for racing.     

Not A Bowl Of Cherries

Since my last blog I’ve had a few people ask me about my comment regarding coverage of Royal Ascot, hopefully this will clarify things.

As the website has developed over the past five years so has the emphasis of the coverage. Initially it was a web site concentrating exclusively on reviews of racecourses and a beginners guide to racing.

Indeed the racecourse reviews are still and always will be an integral part of the site.

One area that has changed is the coverage of racing. Initially concentrating on race reports the emphasis has changed over the past years to also concentrate on paddock reporting as well, to this end the site also provides a Twitter feed, concentrating on paddock reports.

As well as the reporting the aim is to also add some colour to the meetings, particularly at the big festival meetings. At most meetings providing the paddock comments is relatively straightforward, it’s just a matter of popping down to the parade ring to see the runners and, if it is a particularly busy meeting and the crowds are ten deep, my press badge allows me access inside the paddock so I can still see the runners, although my preference is always to watch them from outside.

Now when it comes to the festivals it is a different matter. Due to the demand from “the media” there has to be some control and that I fully understand.

The number of people who say they are envious about me attending all these big meetings is huge, and yes it is a privilege to see all the great performers however it isn’t all a bed of roses.  

Basically there are five big Festivals in the UK and each have their own challenges. The first four all have separate arrangements in place for the media.

The year begins at Cheltenham. This meeting has a two class media set-up, the lucky ones get in the main press room, the remainder of us are in the temporary media centre in the Guinness Village.

Friday Crowds At Cheltenham

Only the chosen ones in the main press room have a vantage point from which to watch the racing with their own balcony, the remainder of us have to fight to find a vantage point to watch the racing – in reality the only option is to pay for a seat in the Guinness stand and that’s a furlong from the finish.

Regarding the parade ring now Cheltenham provide a viewing area for the press which is fine in theory but in practice is impractical as you have to fight your way through the crowds to get there, bad enough on the first three days and impossible on the Friday.

The media centre is well equipped but there is a big disadvantage with it being in the Guinness Village – the band.

Now I quite like Irish music but when you hear the band, located right outside the media centre, rehearsing at 10:00 every morning then playing their entire set four times a day every day it gets tiresome – especially when the marry ragegoers start stamping along on the metal infrastructure.    

Next up is the Grand National meeting in early April and one I cannot comment on. Aintree has a large press room /media centre but it isn’t big enough for all the demands. Unlike most of the  other Festivals Aintree don’t provide overspill areas for the media. One thing that is clear with Aintree is that if you are working for any online media outlet then you can forget getting any accreditation for the Grand National meeting. Actually that’s not quite true, you can have access to the course but no access to the media centre.

Now to provide coverage of a race meeting I carry a bag of equipment weighing around 25lbs. Now Aintree expect me to use this equipment to provide updates either sitting on a bench outside, if I can find one and it’s dry or, if it’s wet sitting on the floor of a bar and getting kicked and tripped over.

Needless to say I don’t bother with the Grand National meeting any more.

Early June brings The Derby at Epsom.  Now Epsom has a very small press room so a media centre is built for the meeting. Well-equipped and, usually, well located (this year it was inside the course which caused problems of its own as there were issues crossing the course). The press are given a viewing area in The Queen’s Stand (exempt from the strict dress rules). Now at Epsom access to the parade ring is severely restricted, however they do provide an easily accessible viewing area for all media, so paddock inspections are relatively easy.

All in all Epsom is the best festival to cover from a working perspective. There is no segregation within the media and everyone is treated equally and it works.

This brings us onto Ascot. No surprise there is segregation at Ascot, defined by the colour of your badge. The chosen ones have a red badge which allows access to the main press room on the second floor. Although not guaranteed holders of the red badges get access to the parade ring as well.

Us lesser mortals have the blue badge, it doesn’t mean we are disabled but we may as well be.  Blue badge holders are based in the media centre, or as we call it “the dungeon” a windowless,  cramped room in the bowels of the Grandstand.  The most frustrating part is just outside the media centre is a courtyard besides the parade ring but we are deemed unworthy to enter that hallowed ground because our badge is the wrong colour.         

The powers that be at Ascot have the view that blue badge holders have no need to see the runners in the parade ring or that if we do need to see them then we can stand with the crowd.

They are not in the real world – take day one tomorrow. By the time I have written my report on Frankel winning the Queen Anne and uploaded the report it will be around 14:50 – I am then supposed to go outside to a parade ring twelve deep with racegoers and carry out a proper paddock inspection – it ain’t going to work. That’s why there are unlikely to be any paddock updates this week. Very frustrating when there is a near empty courtyard just yards away.

Another interesting thing to note is with Ascot being such a large site there is a lot of walking involved – one of the days last year I wore a pedometer and it worked out I had walked six miles by the end of the day.

The final festival of the year shows why the other ones have special arrangements, namely Goodwood. At Glorious Goodwood there are no media restrictions – if you have an RCA press badge you can go in the press room and it doesn’t work. Despite being a large pressroom and Goodwood installing extra desks it does not work. Last time I tried it I arrived about four hours before racing and I ended up sitting on the floor bay the photocopier – my one and only day at Glorious Goodwood.

The other thing to bear in mind is the long hours, to get a place in the car park or media centre you need to be at the course early, any later than 10:00 am and you're in trouble. With the post race traffic it's often an hour after racing before you can think of getting away.  

So the media restrictions at the big meetings are a necessary evil, what does rankle however is how the places are divvied up. Many of those who automatically get the best badges are those who only seem to appear at the big meetings, indeed there are even some who turn up for the hospitality and don’t actually do any work. However those who attend the meetings throughout the year, come rain, come shine are effectively shunted out of the way.

It rankles, at Ascot for example, that I attend almost every meeting throughout the year, meetings most of the "glory boys" wouldn't be seen dead at, yet come the Royal meeting I'm not even allowed to stand in a courtyard to view the horses.

I do wish the courses would look at a more equitable system for the Festivals.

What happens is once you are allocated a colour or particular level then you are stuck with it, so if your needs change from when you first attended you are stuck with it and have to make do with your lot without complaint. On the other hand once you get the higher level access you have it for life, even if you no longer need the access given.        

Too Much Hyperbole

If you believe most of which you read in the press, there is only one horse running at Royal Ascot this year, the Australian superstar sprinter Black Caviar.

Whilst the appearance of an equine superstar, prepared to travel half way round the world, is undoubtedly welcome, the amount of column inches and broadcaster minutes assigned to the story is very much in the realms of hyperbole.

Interestingly, jockey Ryan Moore has said as much in his Betfair column today, as a consequence he is coming from of stick in the social media and racing forums.  Now, this is something you’re not hear me say every day but I do agree with Ryan Moore on this occasion and I think the criticism is undeserved, as he said “let the horse do the talking.”

The amount of coverage given to Black Caviar is ridiculous and in danger of becoming counterproductive, as it could well put people off.

Yes coverage of the great mare running at Royal Ascot is good for the sport, however this coverage needs to be measured and is currently in danger of running out of control.

I am very much looking forward to see her run in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes on Saturday but it needs to be remembered there are 29 other top class races over the week and they are increasingly becoming in danger of being ignored.

Indeed it seems to have been forgotten that the racecourse rated officially number one in the world, Frankel, is running in the opening contest of the meeting.  It could well be argued the opening Queen Anne stakes is the racing equivalent of a premature ejaculation, as with Frankel running the opening race of the meeting, there  is a danger of the meeting climaxing too soon.  I suppose the consolation of Black Caviar running on the Saturday is it gives us something very special to look forward to later in the meeting.

As I said, I think it is marvellous we attract these overseas runners but please, fellow hacks, try and keep some sense of perspective. 

Of course Ascot are delighted with all the publicity and it is no surprise that Saturday is already sold out,  let us all hope the capacity crowd will not be disappointed - I don’t think they will. For what it’s worth the only thing I can see beating Black Caviar is the great British weather and the ground being too soft.

Even though I have a preference for National Hunt racing, Royal Ascot is one of my favourite meetings of the year, it is certainly the one flat racing festival which has wall to wall, quality racing.

The meeting which encompasses Group One contests, with the best horses from around the world, alongside fiendishly impossible handicaps, is such there is something for everyone.

Granted many in the crowds are there simply to be seen, there are still many who simply come to watch top class horse racing.

From a working perspective is probably the hardest week of the year as it means seven am starts and if I am home for nine in the evening I’m happy.

Being at the plankton level of the racing journalism food chain I don’t get access to or anywhere near the parade ring and I have to take my chances with the huge crowds, which does make paddock inspection somewhat difficult - but I like a challenge.

I am fortunate that I am able to watch the racing from the balcony outside the main press room, which does afford the fantastic view of the action.

There is always a large contingent of overseas press at the Royal Meeting and I have a very strong suspicion this year, especially on the Saturday, there will be a large number of antipodean accents to be heard in the media centre - I wonder why?

There will be full coverage of the meeting for all five days on the web-site ORS Racing as well as Twitter feeds (time permitting) at @orsracing. 

Here’s to a great weeks racing and may the best horses win.

More Diversity Required

Whilst enjoying a sunny evenings racing at Towcester on Monday I happened to notice a group of Afro-Caribbean lads watching the horses going round the parade ring.

Since then it has been bugging me as to why I happened to have noticed them in particular. After all they were acting no differently than any other group of young lads you see at racecourses every day, indeed they were a lot quieter than many groups of young lads I’ve seen at courses.

Then yesterday evening I had that Eureka moment. It suddenly came to me why these young lads stuck in my mind.

The simple and arguably painful truth is racing crowds are predominantly white and it is actually very unusual to see a group of non-whites at a racecourse.

It is of course a sensitive subject and I am trying, possibly unsuccessfully, to find the correct phraseology to use without causing offence to someone or another. Yet in a supposedly multicultural society racing crowds are almost totally white.

Government statistics tell us that Leicester has an “immigrant population” of around 40% yet on my frequent visits to Leicester races that demographic is certainly not reflected in those attending the racing.

I suppose one factor is in Muslim communities gambling is not allowed and racings inexorable association with gambling may well play a part in explaining non-attendance from those particular communities. Then again Dubai is a Muslim state and the locals still turn out for the racing, even though there is no betting.

London is a multicultural melting pot but visit any of the London courses and you would not see that reflected in the attendees.

I wonder if Racing For Change have carried out any investigations into the demographics of the racing audience?

Why aren’t racing attendees more reflective of society in general?

It has to be said the racing media fares little better, it is very much dominated by white males and it is a very robust macho environment where the few ladies of the press need to be able to give as good as they get – and they invariably do. However this is another area where white skins predominate, the only notable exception being Ken Pitterson, who incidentally happens to be one of the best paddock judges in the business.

The make-up of crowds at courses has changed over the years. I’ve been going racing for over thirty years and when I first used to go it was unusual to see women at the races. Nowadays that has changed completely, indeed I have been to a few meetings where there have been more women than men in the crowds.

A great deal of this is down to the racecourses who have gone out of their way to attract more female racegoers and all credit to them – although with the proliferation of Ladies Days, many courses have gone from one such meeting a year to several, one wonders if they have gone too far the other way.

It seems very wrong that a group of Afro-Caribbean lads at a racecourse should stand out because they are the exception.

There another great untapped potential audience out there and Racing PLC needs to find a way of engaging with them.

Unsung Heroes

I was going to write exclusively about the Grand National in this week’s blog but, frankly, the subject has been done to death and I have, many times over the last year, stated my views on the race.

Nothing that happened this last weekend has made me change my views, indeed it has merely served to strengthen my opinion.

It gives me no pleasure to say this but this year’s renewal, apart from the near dead heat, panned out more or less as I expected. I had even predicted Synchronised’s fate to one or two friend before the contest.

The only other comment I would make is “Racing PLC” really does need to sort out it’s PR, circling the wagons, making crass statements about people not having to watch the race if they don’t like it and simply concentrating on portraying Animal Aid and their ilk as extremists is all counterproductive.

Yes, Animal Aid are idiotic extremists and should be exposed as such, but racing seems to use that approach as its main defence and it is not good enough. It should also be acknowledged that Animal Aid has a far superior PR setup than racing.

Anyway on to the main theme of this week’s epistle and I want to pay tribute to some of racings unsung heroes, the paramedics.

We all know the risks to horses and riders in our sport, especially in National Hunt racing. I think I read somewhere that a jump jockey can expect to fall every one in ten rides.

Most of the time they are quickly on their feet and bouncing back, occasionally the falls are more serious.

In recent weeks we have seen horrific falls for Philipa Tutty, Noel Fehily and Nathan Cook and it is the paramedics who look after and assess them.

When I was younger all ambulance crews did was “scoop and deliver”, now they are highly trained and, frankly, in emergency situations they are better equipped to deal with the situation that most doctors.

Theirs is a role which often goes unnoticed, yet when Nathan Cook had his terrible fall at Ffos Las, if you didn’t see it, he was unseated whilst leading only to have the eventual winner trample on his head as he was on the ground.

The paramedics were there almost immediately and were still treating him on the ground almost half an hour later, when an air ambulance arrived. The air ambulance crew then also treated and assessed him for some considerable time before eventually flying him to hospital.

There is no doubt their quick intervention meant he received prompt treatment but they also ensured he was quickly immobilised preventing any further injury.

Luckily Cook only suffered concussion and he was released from hospital later that day and he expects to be back at work later this week.

There are plenty of television programs like Helicopter Heroes and Emergency Bikers which show paramedics at work but, by their very nature, they only show part of the story.

Yesterday evening I had the fortune or, maybe – depending on how you look at it, the misfortune of experiencing their work first hand and I have nothing but praise for them.

It was 18:45, dinner was in the oven and I was about to serve it up, and I was sitting at my computer when I got this terrible pain in my chest, which then spread up my neck.

Thinking nothing of it I tried to “walk it off” – even getting dinner out of the oven ready to serve.

As I sat down to eat dinner the pain was not easing and I realised it was possibly a case of “Houston, we have a problem.”

Impressively, within four minutes there was a paramedic car parked on the drive.

The paramedic walked into the front room carrying more kit than a Nepalese Sherpa on an Everest climb and within a few minutes there was enough equipment set up to rival an intensive care unit.

All the time he was reassuring, whilst at the same time he was trying to get me to “relax” which was much easier said than done coming from my position.

Before I knew it he was attacking my chest with a razor and I was soon attached to a heart monitor which, thankfully, showed I wasn’t imminently about to shuffle of this mortal coil, which was actually quite a relief.

Despite the “good” heart trace he still insisted I chew the most foul tasting aspirin ever made.     

More tests followed and he was soon joined by two more paramedics, all of whom were thorough but, all the time reassuring.

By now the pain had gone and I actually felt a bit of a time waster but they still wanted me to go to hospital to be checked out.

Even when I was on board the ambulance it wasn’t just a case of taking me to hospital. They probably spent another 20 minutes doing more tests and traces and even sprayed some stuff under my tongue which was, at least, much better tasting than the aspirin.

By this time I was relaxed and even cracking jokes with the duo, in between apologising for having them called out and them telling me off for apologising.

That I was relaxed was wholly down to the paramedics and their manner and approach, they certainly showed to me they are the ones to have around when you need help.

Something, I’m sure, many of our jockeys (and of course stable staff who take falls on the gallops) well appreciate.

(By dint of the fact I am writing this some 21 hours later it’s obvious I’m still here. After a thorough “going over” at the hospital they believe the pain was the result of the infection I’ve had for the past six weeks. I was back home, finally eating some dinner, just before two this morning)   

Looking Forward To Chepstow

For the first time since I have legally been allowed to bet (and let me tell you that is more years than I care to remember) I shall not be having a bet on the Grand National this year, indeed I would be pushed to name more than half a dozen of this year’s runners without looking them up.

In the immediate aftermath of last year’s National my reservations about the race began to come into sharper focus.

I had thought, even hoped, with time my concerns would mellow but they haven’t.

Whilst last year’s race added a few nails to the coffin the final straw was the BHA review into the race and the prosed solutions.

The review was a typical fudge by committee even more that I believe the changes could even make the situation worse.

In their infinite wisdom the committee decided to make a couple of the fences easier. That, in my mind, is wrong. Making them “easier” will mean they will be treated with less respect, they will be approached faster and this will result in more falls, especially coupled with refusal to reduce the safety limit in the contest.

The one mitigating factor in this renewal is the long awaited rain will result in softer ground and, hopefully, the filed approaching the fences at a safer pace.

However too much rain and we have the danger of another Red Marauder contest, which in its own way was unedifying.

I really hope I am proved wrong and this turns out to be a National which makes the news for all the right reasons.

It is difficult to “walk away” from the National, after all it forms my earliest racing memory, watching Nicholas Silver win the 1961 contest, watching it on a fuzzy black and white television.

That was the second time the BBC had televised the race and it is, perhaps, a symmetry that the last Grand National I watched would turn out to be the second last the BBC will broadcast.

When I told one of my racing friends I had given up on the National he summed it up perfectly when he said:-

“The National is a funny race, I can easily see why people might fall out of love with it. For me it's a bit like a teenage crush. You don't want to admit when it's over and you never quite get over it.”

So I’ll be spending Saturday at Chepstow although my attempts to avoid the National may well be thwarted as there is a massive 1 hour 5 minute gap between races three and four so racegoers can watch the Grand National – I may go into town and do some shopping. 

Be Careful What You Wish For

The chatter in the racing world today has been around the offer of Sheikh Fahad to inject £700,000 to the Sussex Stakes prize money if Frankel and Black Caviar both race.

Frankel on Champions Day 2011

Needless to say the usual suspects have been salivating at the prospect and the hyperbole has already begun – without either set of connections confirming the race as a target.

I’m minded of the old adage “be careful what you wish for” for the offer could be more trouble than it is worth.

First of all there is the £1,000,000 purse should both horses turn up. Meanwhile racing has a funding crisis prize money is in a downward spiral and a new funding mechanism needs to be sorted out.

Yet, against this backdrop, one million pounds of prize money is offered if two horses turn up for one particular race.

I accept the extra money is coming from, for want of a better word, a benefactor but it still does not look right and it, potentially, sends out the wrong message.

If I heard an owner pointing out how poor prize money was I would ask him to reconcile his complaint against the money on offer for this one race.

To me it is akin to a family struggling to make ends meet, with maxed out credit cards, receiving a substantial sum of money from a generous uncle and blowing it on a luxury holiday.      

Now I admit I am a fully paid up capitalist and to me socialism is an anathema. I fully accept an individual is entitled to spend their money how they see fit but in the current economic climate even I wince at such a huge amount of money being spent just so two horses can race, even more so when you consider the other concerns I have.

Let us assume the money is not an issue there are plenty of other concerns.

Now Goodwood is a lovely racecourse, there is no better place to spend a sunny summers afternoon enjoying  flat meeting. However Goodwood is one of those courses that could be considered idiosyncratic with it being set on the chalky South Downs.

Now I’m no expert on Australian racing and I am quite happy to be corrected but I strongly suspect there are no courses in Oz configured in the same was as Goodwood. I strongly suspect Black Caviar has never run on an undulating track.

If Black Caviar were my horse why would I want to run her at Goodwood? For such an important race I would not want her running at a course where she will be at a disadvantage compared to her rival.

If there is to be a UK meeting then it should be at a flatter track like Ascot or York, this would be fairer on both contenders.

Then there is the danger the race will not live up to what will be almost unbearable hyperbole in the build up to the race and we all know the hype can backfire.

Remember the Frankel vs Canford Cliffs hype at last years Glorious Goodwood?  
What a damp squib that turned out to be.

All the “showdown” would prove is who was the better horse on the day, nothing more than that.

 You can go 1.01 that the connections of the losing horse will have their excuses ready the moment their charge crosses the line.

Is it also fair that one of the contenders has to travel half way round the world to compete?

If the showdown has to take place would it not be fairer held at a neutral venue where both horses have to travel and to that end staging the race in South Africa would probably be best.

- - - - -

Richard Hughes has also been a talking point at the moment, following his failed attempt to avoid having his Indian ban reciprocated.

Whether the penalty handed out to Hughes in India is deemed to be to severe is, frankly, irrelevant.

He chose to ride in India, he accepted he would have to ride under their rules and regulations, he then chose to show scant regard for their rules (on more than one occasion). He was not forced to ride in India.

Whether the reciprocity arrangement is formal or informal, there is one and the ban should apply here.

For the BHA to refuse the request from the Indian authorities, it would have looked arrogant and patronising to a "smaller" authority.

Hughes legal team can attempt all the mealy mouthed worming they want but at the end of the day Hughes committed the offence so he pays the price - ergo I have no sympathy for him at all.

If Hughes did not want to be in this position the answer was in his hands in the first place.

Whilst Hughes may be a good rider he does seem to have an ego issue - two bust-ups in India and his petulant (and actually meaningless and empty gestured) dummy spitting when he received a ban under the whip rules here shows a particularly nasty character trait.