WHAT I WOULD DO WITH A HORSE LIKE BALLYBURN & BY NOW, IF LIFE WAS FAIR, WE WOULD KNOW WHICH RACE FACT TO FILE IS TO RUN IN, LOSSIEMOUTH, TOO.

Horses like Ballyburn fascinate me. To the punter, they are an enigma, even to those who side with 'going off a cliff' with them rather than abandon them as a lost cause just in case they bolt-up one day at 33/1. Remember, Willie Mullins, not one to call his geese swans, once said that Ballyburn could be the best horse ever trained at Closutton. If Ballyburn runs in the Stayers Hurdle on Thursday he could easily go off a 33/1 outsider, that is some fall from grace.

Perhaps those at Closutton are aware of whatever ails Ballyburn, be it physical or mental. To my knowledge he never suffered a bad fall over fences and though he blundered at the last at Kempton behind Sir Gino, he jumped adequately up till then. So, something has gone amiss and I am intrigued to know what. Since returning Ballyburn to hurdles he remains a shadow of the horse that won at the Cheltenham Festival in something akin to a common canter. The manner of his victory that day would have him as favourite for this season's Stayers Hurdle, not a forlorn outsider. He was that good and now he is, seemingly, that bad!

Could it be that in carrying his head so low when galloping he is putting too much strain on his back, hocks or withers? Although it seems as if he is a puller, horses that carry their heads low can be very enjoyable to ride, once the jockey gets used to the 'standing at a cliff-edge with the wind behind you' sensation. One possible cure that I know worked on a horse with Ballyburn's style of galloping was to ride  him in a hackamoor or bitless bridle. It is counter-intuitive, I know, to remove the steering and brake mechanism but in the example I am referencing the horse was far more receptive to his jockey, including pulling-up. I would add that this experiment was conducted on a gallop that bordered a large river, with everyone involved, most of all the rider, more than half-expecting disaster to occur at the first bend.

So what would I do with Ballyburn? The fault-line in someone like me suggesting a solution when a) I do not have the full facts at my command and b) here I am in my ignorance attempting to tell great men - Mullins, Townend, Casey, Walsh etc - where they are going wrong, a clear example of teaching my grandmother how to suck eggs! So, here goes: I did not think he jumped fences so badly that he needed to return to hurdling, so I would give handicap chases a try. If not done so already, I would try schooling him in a bit-less bridle, perhaps ridden by the most easily expendible rider on the payroll, and if all goes well, with or without the bit-less bridle, I would find one of those easy-peasy conditions chases that Willie Mullins farms so well and inform all the staff to cross their fingers once the race in progress!

That said, Ballyburn will now, as fate so often decrees, go and win the Stayers Hurdle for no other reason than those great men at Closutton had already found the solution to the problem that was Ballyburn!

I fully realise that he who pays the piper calls the tune. I also realise that trainers figuratively live or die on the decisions they make and to give themselves the best chance to make the correct decision they need to leave that decision to the last possible moment. But for the professional gambler, the hobbiest punter and the enthusiast, not knowing on the Saturday before the Tuesday whether Lossiemouth runs in the Champion Hurdle is infuriating. And the same goes with whether J.P. is going to supplement Fact To File for the Gold Cup. Personally, though I accept horses should be allowed multiple entries, when it gets to within five-days of any race it should be mandatory for a trainer to specify which race is their first choice and they should only be allowed to deviate from that choice under strict conditions. Slightly unfair on Willie Mullins, obviously, but better for the rest of us.