BREXIT

When the referendum happened, sane people had every reason to think that life as we knew it was a thing of the past, but few would have imagined that the new model would be the handiwork of the treacherous Michael Gove and the beneficiary-in-chief the devious and politically worthless Mrs May.

Gove is like the common cold – not all that serious. I would have thought that sending the men in white coats to 10 Downing Street was the priority which should appeal to anyone interested in saving the nation from a hundred years of hell.

Shouldn’t be too difficult. Sack May. Heave sigh of relief. Replace her by one of five or six adequate people who happen to be available. Make sure that Boris is either the anointed one or an ally of whoever is preferred. One of these days the penny will drop: Boris is a one-off, certainly, but he is also a class act. It is amazing that many of those who know him best cannot bring themselves to accept this fact. They should check his work record, and then compare it to their own.

Even the most purblind Conservative will agree that the Eurodaleks thank their lucky stars thrice daily because they have been spared the ordeal of facing Johnson and Rees-Mogg. So far.

RYDER CUP

9.11 a.m. Saturday 29^th September

I suspect that the Americans had no idea what they were up against. I for one was taken by surprise. The whole estate on which the amazing Parisian golf centre is situated (like Versailles, only grander) was densely carpeted by hundreds of thousands of Euro-Sports-fans in national  costumes and matching flags. The sun shone, the earth shuddered under the irrepressible sound-wave with which the faithful of the Old World challenged the champions of the New. In the past, home advantage for Europe on British soil was a mere slap on the wrist for the visitors compared with what the Americans were being subjected to this time.   Roll on Day Two.

Saturday 29^th provided more of the same and the Stars and Stripes began to wilt, a process that proved terminal on Day Three. It really was a morality tale. The USA introduced mass hostility to international golf a few years ago. Europe simply followed suit,  substituting humour for malice. With  a cast of several hundred thousand humorists, speaking in a wide variety of languages on a stage which was designed for mass “manifestations”, it was an impressive performance.

NB…. Patrick Reed can play. He actually won his singles match on Day Three. The American bully boy of previous encounters now has two years in which to decide if international golf has any room for good manners and proper behaviour. If yes, in future he can try to win games on merit, rather than by dubious tactics.

What’s wrong with McIlroy? Nothing. In the past, when he confined his mental approach to “one shot at a time”, he was a champion. Nowadays one shot at a time has to share the benefits of his by no means unlimited grey matter with houses, cars, planes, women, bank accounts, and hecklers that he wishes to engage in fist fights. So he becomes a shadow of the player he once was. Note how he came to life when Poulter was on his case….. He is not a lost cause, but he is not self-sufficient……there is a gap in his entourage which has to be filled if he is to recapture his glory days.

RACING

I mustn’t allow golf to distract me from starting arrangements for big fields under NH rules. They are a mess and will stay a mess until the BHA does something about them.

Facts: approximately 95 percent of NH starts follow the traditional formula and embrace the traditional principles. The essence of this approach is to create and maintain an atmosphere of calm, quiet and relaxation in the starting area for as long as the process takes. It works extremely well and is a feature of which the BHA can be proud.

The other 5 percent do not follow the traditional formula. This is the 5 percent of races that involve big fields (between 17 and 35 runners). How are they different? As follows: the starters’ assistants take control of the runners as soon as they began to accumulate down at the starting area and organise them into a close-packed “Processional” formation which is then required to rotate in circles for as long as it takes until “start time” is imminent. This process is guaranteed to cause the maximum of tension and discomfort for the horses, and the longer it lasts the worse it gets.

Why the difference between the two approaches?

Because the creator of the starting process for the big field races (the 5 percent group) was an executive of foreign extraction with insufficient knowledge of British Racing, and his contribution to starting lore was dangerous rubbish. He is no longer on the BHA payroll, but his influence continues to contaminate. The safety of horses and jockeys remains under threat until such time as his input is removed from the pages of the Rule Book, and until  the processes he introduced are outlawed.

Am I entitled to be so adamant in my demand for change in the starting arrangements of a mere 5 percent of races? That “mere” 5 percent includes the Aintree Grand National and a glittering array of valuable and prestigious races  throughout the National Hunt season. It also includes the vast majority of the races that make up the Cheltenham Festival.

Without question big field NH races include the crème de la crème of Britain’s top jump races. Without a shadow of a doubt they deserve the crème de la crème of starting procedures. Nothing less. The present situation is disgraceful.

Which brings us back to the BHA. At regular intervals it issues press releases emphasising its commitment to Horse Welfare. Sad to relate, the facts of life as regards big field starting have been drawn to its attention on numerous occasions over the last six years, and nothing has changed.

With respect, I would suggest that the BHA should clean up its act in the area at which I have pointed an  indignant finger before it wastes any more time pretending to be the racehorse’s patron saint.

If a reader wants to know more, at the flick of a finger he or she can summon up SPORT 69 (1st June 2017) and all will be revealed.

Best wishes.

DONEC