There is no one in racing that I respect more than Ruby Walsh. Obviously, he cannot be right 100% of the time, though I have no doubt he is right far more often than he is wrong. In his article today in The Racing Post, he gives forth his views on the rightness of the professional foul, the wrongness of some of the rules of racing and reminds the less educated amongst us, and in include myself in that category, that there are two definitions of the word interpretation. Along the way, he has made me reverse my opinion on the 14-day ban imposed on Freddie Mitchell by the Warwick stewards. 

I am unclear where we stand in British law regarding the enforced taking away of someone's right to earn a living for a set period of time for making either a silly mistake or a misjudgement where no criminal offence has occurred. Usually, I am of the mind that a ban serves no correctional purpose, except, that is, when malice aforethought is involved. I remain convinced that where breaches of the whip rule are concerned a better punishment is to impose a period of time that a jockey can carry a whip but not use it in earnest, except in an effort to avoid an accident. In Mitchell's case, perhaps a either a fine or a period when his riding fee goes to charity instead of his bank account might be more appropriate.

I would hope that Simon Cox will see fit to arrange a meeting with Ruby to hear first-hand his ideas on how to improve stewarding, stewards' inquiries and how to make the punishment fit the mistake. Ruby should also be listened to about the public and t.v. audiences being able to hear the starter at the start of a race and for stewards' inquiries to be made available to the public. Ruby may not be always right but I bet a shilling he is more often right than the rules allow stewards to be right.

I was wrong about something else yesterday. Harry Cobden was excellent aboard Jonbon and my fears that Jonbon would take against his, as he did when James Bowen first rode him, were way off the mark. And 'the bloody experts' who crab Jonbon, especially when they ask 'is he better away from Cheltenham', should go boil their heads. 21-wins from 29-runs speaks for itself.

I know the weather keeps getting in the way, we do though have wet weather arriving from tomorrow and for the following four-days, at least here in North Devon, yet on Wednesday at Ffos Las, the 1.48, a Beginners Chase, there is the prospect of the best novice chase ever run in Wales, with only £15,000 for the winner. We all think that there is no way Nicky Henderson will run Old Park Star at Cheltenham this afternoon, so he should take up his place at Ffos Las, with the opposition including Baron Noir, Bossman Jack and Sober Glory, with several other half-decent sorts in the race as well. The winner will doubtless become favourite for the Arkle at the Festival, if Old Park Star is not already favourite.

The ground was in question yesterday at Cheltenham, and doubless will be again today, the low sunlight was again talked about as if there is nothing that could be done about it and if the position of the sun was not worthy of debate, it was the shadows it created. Oh, and frost also came into the equation. My view is that if there is a problem that puts life, equine and human, in jeopardy, the meeting should be abandoned. Good ground is not firm ground. I still believe a study should take place to determine if it is practical to erect some sort of screen in the distance to shield obstacles from the glare of the sun, and whether lights might be used to remove shadow from the take-offs of hurdles and fences. And if enough was not already said on the subject of the ground, Dan Skelton piped-up with the query 'is the drainage too good at racecourses', as if was ignorant of the number of meetings that were abandoned at Cheltenham in the past due to waterlogged ground and it was an idea to dig-up the present drainage and replaces it with a system that is less effective. Oh, and then Ruby, perhaps right again, weighed in with 'flat courses are over-watered and jumps courses under-watered'.