A decision will be made this week as to the future of Constitution Hill. In fact, a decision haalready s been made, though until the weekend it is to remain one of those either or commitments. If Constitution Hill runs in the Champion Hurdle, and that 'if' depends on a vital schooling session mid-week, it will be his last race as a jumper and going-on he will revert to flat racing, with a spring and autumn campaign already partially mapped-out. The good news for Musselburgh is that Constitution Hill will race next on the flat in April in the race that formerly honoured Further Flight that has been transferred to Musselburgh from Nottingham. Though I have preached the past few weeks that whatever Nicky Henderson and Michael Buckley decides we, the sport as a whole, should fully support them and not make critical comments because they have not decided in favour...

If Constitution Hill was a four-year-old with jumping issues, yesterday's impressive win at Southwell would have provided the owner and trainer with the answer they were looking for. As a four-year-old gelding, there would two or three seasons ahead of him running and winning on the flat, after which they might look to returning to hurdling. Also, as a four-year-old, it would not be beyond possibility that he would improve as he matured. But Constitution Hill is a nine-year-old and though he won with grace and ease last night, how much could he build on a bloodless victory on the all-weather in a novice at Southwell? The big question, though, given he looked a speedy horse last night, is will he stay 2-miles on the flat? And how about the Ascot Gold Cup distance? Nicky Henderson, when running Constitution Hill on the flat was mooted when he had the hurdling division...

I was rifling through a drawer of my writing desk the other day and found the entries for the 2025 Aintree National and realised that this year I had not taken a copy of the entries from the Racing Post and neither had I payed any attention to the weights. I also believe I did not read the comments of the high and mighty who were in attendance at the announcements of the weights. I will be 72 in April and for far more years than I care to remember, perhaps going back to the days of when there was both the Sporting Life and Sporting Chronicle in existence, I have cut out of the paper the list of entries, removed the names of horses scatched from the race over the following weeks and months, kept abreast of the likely forty-running by underling the fortieth horse in red ink, that significant...

After 8 or so years 'winging it', I have finally taken the plunge and have employed a professional to re-design the site. It is nothing fancy, that is not my vibe, as someone young might say, and just because the site is now organised and a tiny bit sparkly does not mean anyone can expect better prose, greater insight or winners tipped on a regular basis. No, it will be the same old irregularity, same old topics and very little research as I have shovelled onto the page since day one. And the archive now only goes back to February 1st of this year. I must thank the expertise of Richard Hughes (no, not that Richard Hughes, champion flat jockey 3-times) but he of Gingerweb. Without his guiding hand and patience - believe me, when it comes to tech and all that jazz - it is to me like a foreign...

I was amused by a photograph on the front cover of the Racing Post today of Constitution Hill coming out of starting stalls at Lambourn. He is nearest the camera and the look on his face is implying  'what the f... is all this about!' Let's hope he finds out what it is all about on Friday, though he still needs one more horse to drop out to get the opportunity. Fingers crossed, as always nowadays when Constitution Hill is at the races.   In his colomn in the Racing Post today, Julian Muscat reports on the findings from a 'Future of Racing' event where five stands were dedicated to equine welfare. The young, who are, whether we oldies like it or not, the future of the sport, have equine fatalities as their main concern. If it were whips, betting odds or cost of attending a race-meeting, the sport could ease...

It would seem all my suggestions for achieving a run for Constitution Hill on the flat this Friday might be for nothing as Southwell has come-up with the work-a-round of using two extra stables. It had never occurred to me that a racecourse would not make available all of their quota of stabling on a day when they had over 200 horses declared at the five-day stage. Due to these extra two stables becoming available, Constitution Hill’s race can have 14-runners, leaving only two-horses to come out for the great horse to take his place in the line-up, with one of those, Secret Squirrel more of less already declared a non-runner as he ran last Saturday at Wincanton. So, hopefully, we can all shed a collective sigh of relief and everyone can wait in until after the most famous/infamous 12-furlong novice race ever to be run on the all-weather before going...

When a few weeks ago the Racing Post published my letter expressing surprise no clerk of the course of an all-weather track had considered putting-on a race – I suggested a 2-mile maiden – to help Nicky Henderson solve the problem that is Constitution Hill, I had no inkling that this small step would lead the Seven Barrows maestro having to solve yet another dilemma. My suggestion of a 2-mile maiden, I dare say, would not have been warmly received by Nicky Henderson, as it is believed Constitution Hill has too much speed for a marathon trip on the all-weather. Though even he might concede as things have turned-out that 2-miles would have at least allowed him a few less sleepless nights than the over-subscribed £40,000 novice at Southwell on Friday night. It is incredible how easily British racing can shoot itself in the foot. The race on Friday is only...

In today’s letters column of the Racing Post, Mr. Mayoh, a breeder of National Hunt horses, takes Peter Thomas, senior writer for the Post, to task over his stated opinion that championship races over jumps should not allow mares a 7Ib allowance as he believes races like the Champion Hurdle, Cheltenham Gold Cup and others should be about establishing the best horse, on the day, over a distance or type of obstacle. As with so many people when in want of making a point, Mr. Mayoh makes a comparison between horse racing and other sports, in this case athletics. In track and field men and women do not compete against each other for the obvious reason that at elite levels men are always going to be stronger and faster. But the comparison is flawed. A Percheron mare, for instance, is equally as strong as a Percheron gelding, with the two able to...

Reported in the Racing Post today is the worrying news that the future of Nottingham racecourse may be in doubt. Nottingham City Council, owners of the site, having purchased the 300-acre racecourse in 1965, have given notice that it is considering selling Colwick Park after several expressions of interest from parties they chose not to name, though Arena Racing (ARC) are thought to have had talks with Nottingham City Council.At present, and until 2029, the racecourse is leased to Jockey Club Estates and it would be disappointing if they too did not enter an expression of interest. The site is designated Green Belt and is a flood warning area, so it is long odds against it being considered for either housing development or a business park, though with a government with a policy of build, build, build … perhaps a community of stilt-house dwellers might be given priority.Nottingham has had a...

In today’s Racing Post, in his normal excellent manner, Lee Mottershead reminds his readers of the sorry state of affairs that has brought about the almost certain closure of Kempton Park.When Jerome K. Jerome moored-up on the banks of Kempton Park it was a pleasant grassy kingdom of nature. It was here Jerome, his two friends, not to forget to mention Montmorency, were harangued by an ‘agent’ of the riparian landlord in want of a fee to persuade him from having them charged with trespass. Jerome and his buddies, George and Harris, knew the ‘agent’ for what he was and offered him a marmalade sandwich and a large chunk of their minds. The three holidaying adventurers saw off the opportunist and enjoyed a siesta under the trees. An innocent enjoyment to be denied to river folk in the near future, sadly.Jerome’s famous book, a retrospective of his younger self, was published...

Apparently, and I have no way of testing this myself, if you ask Alexa ‘how many days to Christmas 2026’, the answer you receive is ‘there is no Christmas in 2026’, which, if true, suggests there is a secret plan afoot to increase the misery of ordinary life. No Christmas, no King George, no Welsh National or 4-Day Leopardstown Christmas Festival!If true, which I sincerely doubt, though with Starmer in charge and his allegiance to the W.E.F., nothing surprises me anymore, we really should make a supreme effort to enjoy out sport while we have the liberty to do so. At least the rain gods are due to shutdown the heavenly sprinklers by the weekend, so waterlogging and floods will be less of a problem and by early March racecourses might be able use the phrase ‘good ground’ to describe the going.There is now only 27-days to the Cheltenham National Hunt...

Where to go next? The problem was manifold. Firstly, the jockey who was desperate to ride him next time he ran was stable jockey to the largest stable of point-to-pointers in East Anglia and he was required over the coming weeks to ride at meetings where there were no races for Jack. Or at least no races easily won. What everyone who was a part of the horse all agreed was that it was not fair on a young horse with a temperament like Jack’s to be asked to run in Open company.At this point of the season, the other three horses in the stable had won a race and the owner was as keen as an Indian doctor for his son to come home from university with the highest honours possible that Jack should not let the side down, which is what he was achieving with form-figures of FFP.One keen-eyed...

Point-to-Points used to be strictly for fun, with Open races for men or ladies always the feature race. Nowadays, though perhaps not so much as in Ireland, the main interest of focus is the maiden races, with the most often asked question of the owner or trainer not where does he run next but how much do you hope to get for him at the sales. Point-to-Points are becoming in this country far more a fingerpost towards the sales ring than a gay and sporting family day out. When a horse goes from its maiden to the sales ring, perhaps the Hunt that staged the meeting and even perhaps the landowner, should receive 5% of the sales price from the lucky owner, in order to boost their coffers. Point-to-Points are very much a mainstay of the sporting countryside and those who are prepared to put their shoulder to the wheel to...

It is said by the B.H.A. and others that the reason the Irish authorities can be more flexible in re-scheduling fixtures that are abandoned due to the weather is because they have blank days in their race schedule. This is true, of course, but why can’t the British race program have a degree of flexibility, especially in the days after a big Saturday meeting.For instance, just to use three recent important Saturday fixtures, and my argument here is based on the presumption that the ground conditions on the following day would have allowed racing to take place, which might not have been the case in reality. If on the Sunday after the abandoned Warwick Classic, the Clarence House and this weekend’s ‘Super Saturday’ meeting at Newbury, there was only all-weather fixtures, the dual benefit would have been a breather for jump jockeys and trainers alike, and with the contrariness of some...

Seemingly, I have been missing for the last few days. I can assure you I have been here, tapping away as night slowly transforms into the dawn of the day, unaware that the domain name for this site had expired. Obviously, I was in a panic until I stumbled upon the facts of the case, that I-Page, hosts of this website (for now) had not given me notice of the expiration date, mainly due, I suspect that they are about to go out of business.I hereby give warning that I might disappear again while I have a new website constructed, one that will be secure and overseen by a local hosting service. When it comes to I.T., technology and all things internet, I need a guide as much as blind man needs the assistance of a guide dog.One of the aspects of horse racing that remain a fascination to me is...

I do not have the brain-power for mathematics, so what I am about to propose is based on instinct and a nod to the past.Though I am on board with the suggestion that Britain has too many meetings for the present horse population, I fear if there is a sufficient enough culling of meetings to provide more competitive racing, we might, in time, lose several of our smaller racecourses. To the hard-minded, this might be the road to travel, after all the sport did not experience withdrawal symptoms at the loss of Wye, Stockton, Birmingham or any of the racecourses that have sadly closed in my lifetime. I am a sentimentalist at heart, rather than a pragmatic business-minded executive who values money and profit before history and what might be. To see houses, tarmac and street lights where once sporting endeavour once thrived pulls at my heartstrings to a greater extent...

Golden Ace, if you take as fact what you read in the form book, has all the luck, while Sir Gino, a far more talented horse, one for whom there was no foreseeable limit, has no luck. Having twelve-months ago fought-off an internal infection that almost took his life, now, as Nicky Henderson put it, Sir Gino fights on another battleground. The pelvic injury he suffered on Trails Day at Cheltenham is not now the primary cause of concern for the veterinary team treating him but a new internal infection.I am not versed in these matters but perhaps the new infection is the old one rebooted by the trauma of the pelvic injury, having hid away unnoticed in a secluded area of his body, at rest, in wait of another opportunity to engage in a battle to take the life of this wonderful horse.Life is not fair, not on any of...

The call for diversity in society obviously has dark undertones. As with weather manipulation by various world governments, which is doubtless responsible for ‘climate change’ around the world, forced diversity goes against the normal order of things. I am not against, you must understand, allowing diversity to occur, as I believe everyone should be given an opportunity in life to succeed, not that everyone will achieve success beyond living an ordinary life, of course. When all is fair in love and war, the cream will always rise to the top.There has always been diversity in racing, even if in small measure. In the early part of the twentieth-century there was more than one black-skinned jockey riding in major races on the flat, for instance, and for the whole of the recent history of the flat, between and after the two World Wars, many were the years when the leading owners have...

A paltry entry number for the Aintree National this year is further proof that far from evolving into something better, the race is actually, year by year, going in a direction that will lead to the small numbers that lined-up for the race in the very earliest renewals of the race. The people do not, as the present clerk of the course might suggest, want a race fit for the elite but not the common man, but a race that resembles Grand Nationals of legend.What annoys me most is that the Aintree executive, the Jockey Club, the racecourse management, the clerk of the course, did not have the guts to admit that the last true Grand National was run in 2012 or 2015 or whichever year it was decided that the opposition were right all along, that those who invaded the racecourse had a justifiable point – the Grand National was...

I admit to the fact that thus far in his career Fact To File has not won me over. Mark Walsh, a man who is riding like he has nothing to lose anymore, on the other hand has great belief in him, and, though I have not lost any faith in The Jukebox Man, I would be prepared to forecast that the two will partner each other in the Cheltenham Gold Cup come March, with Walsh, not that he is likely to, having the last laugh by, perhaps, winning his second consecutive Gold Cup triumph. I fear Fact To File now, which before I did not.This time last year, Inothewayurthinkin was one of the ante-post favourites for the Aintree National and needed to be supplemented for the Gold Cup. This year it is Fact To File that needs to be supplemented to run in the Gold Cup, while the 2025 Gold...