STORM-HIT HORSE RACING, CONGRATULATIONS ARE IN ORDER & FRANK WOOTTON.

On reading this you may already be aware of the fate of today's racing. As I write, I do not. Given all four meetings in Britain and Ireland are subject to inspections, and with Storm Beolo unlikely to go away, it is possible that I.T.V. will be faced with just one race to televise, and that is Constitution Hill's jolly out in Italy. 

It is just our luck that after waiting since Royal Ascot for a deluge of rain to refill the rivers and reservoirs, the much-appreciated rainfall is likely to scupper the most competitive Old Roan Chase since its inception. Always be wary of what you wish for, as they say. Now, I realise this is not as easy as A. B.C. but if Aintree and Market Rasen are unable to race today, given that the only jumps meeting tomorrow is at Hereford, why can't either one or both of today's meetings be staged tomorrow, with the Old Roan Chase, in particular, a necessary race for some trainers to get a run into their horses prior to the big races that are now just around the corner. Both Aintree and Market Rasen will be dressed and ready to race, and though any temporary workers may not be available to work tomorrow, it can also be easily imagined that less people will be available to go racing tomorrow than today. The important factor, with so many fixtures already this season either abandoned or tansferred, is to stage these two meetings. The B.H.A. have proved themselves more flexible in recent times, whether their flexibility extends to authorizing a fixture to be staged the day after an abandonment we will have to wait and see.

It seems we have to congratulate Aidan O'Brien on another trainers championship title. What is notable is that he has achieved this latest trophy - there is a trophy, I guess - through winning only 29 races in Britain from 146-runners at a strike rate of 20%. What I find askew if not unfair is that as things stand Andrew Balding will finish second with a strike rate of 19% from 186+ winners from 992+ runners. It is conceivable that by December 31st Balding may have trained 200+ winners and yet not receive either an honorable merit award or a trophy for winning the most races. Another trainer who deserves a honorable merit award is Charlie Appleby, He has thus far trained 88-winners from 277-runners at a strike rate of 32%.

As I have said many times, for Champions Day to live-up to its name champions must be crowned, all champions in every division. And if Champions Day must remain the conclusion of the 'season', why can't all championships of the turf end on that day. Why can't all the championship begin the day after Champions Day and for a period of 12-months. I would like also to have awards for not only the most prize-money achieved by a trainer but also a trophy for the trainer with the most winners and the trainer with the best strike rate. With the same for jockeys, the most wins, the most prize-money won and the jockey with the best strike rate. It is a hard game; the sport should give out some love at the season's end.

Frank Wootton remains, and will always remain, the youngest jockey ever to be champion flat jockey. He might also remain the only jockey to be a champion at both codes, having headed the list of jump jockeys in 1921 with 61-wins, riding only over hurdles. He was first champion title on the flat was in 1909 with 165 wins, again in 1910 with 165-wins, again in 1911 with 118 and finally in 1912 with 118. At the age of twenty, due to losing the fight with the sales, he retired in 1913, to return a few years later as a jump jockey.

Wootton began his career as a jockey aged 12. Well, that is never going to ever happen again, except for pony racing. He was noted for his beautiful hands, brilliantly-timed finishes and that horses known for being 'rogues' responding kindly to his riding. The reason Wootton should not be consigned to the history books is that he is a reminder to every youngster who dreams of being a jockey that even if you are blessed with great natural horsemanship, as with Wootton and now with Loughnane, that even then careers can so easily be cut-short, making it extra valuable to heed mother's advise to stay on at school and achieve good grades. Loughnane has science and a team of experts to help him with his weight and the direction of his career but that will not make him immune from his weight naturally rising, with those few pounds dictating that his career will become a severe and neverending uphill battle with the scales. 

By all accounts I have read about Wootton, he was quiet and honest, with a good family at his side, with no alcohol issues and his life was not blighted with parasitical hangers-on fleecing him of his wealth, as was the case with so many talented jockeys of the time. I simply think Wootton deserves to be remembered as his story would make for insightful reading for any young talented young rider with the ambition to be the next Billy Loughnane.