YESTERDAY, WHAT IS WORRYING RACING POST READERS & HORSE OF THE YEAR.

Great Horse. Great Jockey. Great Trainer. Even Greater Owner. Same old. Same old. Let's move on.

The letters column of the Racing Post today comprises some well-written and constructive moaning. I like moaning. It means the moaner cares and doesn't mind who knows it.

Mr. Simms of Scunthorpe is of the opinion, given the increase in attendance at so many of the Easter Bank Holiday meetings, that the B.H.A. should allow or encourage more racecourses to stage racing over the holiday period. He is right to remind readers that back in the day there might be up to fifteen or sixteen meetings on Bank Holiday Monday alone. What he fails to note, though, is that very few of the races that comprised those fifteen+ meetings were competitive. Sadly, though, the main reason why the B.H.A. should not allow the number of Easter fixtures to swell is the much smaller number of horses in training than back in the 1970's 80's and 90's.

What I would like to see is every one of the smaller racecourses given the opportunity to stage a fixture during one of the national bank holidays. Of course, for a racecourse to achieve a swelled attendance and a boost to their finances, what is required is help from the weather gods.

Mr. Hall of Birmingham is equally perplexed by the race planning department of the B.H.A.. He bemoans 21-fixtures in 3-days, followed by a quiet Easter Tuesday and no race meeting north of Birmingham. When the Jockey Club 'owned' the racing schedule, if there were three meetings on any one day, they would be spread across the country - one in the north, one in the midlands and one in the south. The problem we have - is it self-imposed or were the law court responsible, I forget - is that racecourses own most of the fixtures and bookmakers want as much racing as possible for 'betting turnover' purposes, when the solution to the problem is for the B.H.A. to take back ownership of the fixtures, with a return to two or three races per day maximum, with a few more at weekends. When it comes to competitiveness, less is more.

Mr. Page of Leigh-on-Sea has me slightly on the back foot with his letter. Ordinarily I do not have a good word to say about Sulekha Varma, Aintree's clerk of the course, as I believe she is chiefly responsible for castrating the Grand National and taking away its soul, but I have no problem with the amount of irrigation she applied to the ground last week. I agree with Mr. Hall that good ground should be good enough to start any race-meeting but today, and I blame the trainers for it, good is the new good-to-firm. One must remember, the National is Aintree's and the Jockey Club's cash-cow. Speed kills. It was a warning seen on many roads in the past, and what Aintree does not need is the bad publicity of a horse losing its life taking part in the race. Slow ground is a safer bet when it comes to ground conditions on the National course and that was the purpose of all the water applied to the ground last week. Punters who bet on horses needing good groud was not factored into the debate on how much water to sprinkle on the precious turf.

The sentiment expressed in the letter written by Mr. Dennis Jones of Bargoed mirrors my own. It hurts when an active racehorses loses its life. Mr. Jones particularly references the recent death of Sir Gino and other young horses of massive potential that died young. The cut was particularly deep at Aintree this week when Gold Dancer lost his life in victory; another young horse of great potential. We cannot afford to be seen as flippant or uncaring when a horse dies, especially when the public eye is focused on the event. But we also must move on. Horse racing is as much a life as it is a sport or industry. With caring for racehorses there comes tears of joy and tears of sorrow. We love them and the public must be as exposed to the quality of care and love as they are, unfortunately, occasionally, to the news of the sad duty carried out by  the racecourse vet in having to end the suffering of one of the planet's most noblest of creatures.

When the next acehorse of the year award is presented, I hope that not only will Home By The Lee be nominated and hope his achievements this seasons wins his connection the honour and the prize. Eleven-years-old, always, seemingly, overlooked by expert pundits, yet in the form of his life. A home-bred mighty horse trained by a young genius of a trainer.