26th November, Newbury, the Coral Cup, £142,375 to the winner, 15 runners, and all hell broke out at the start, which was False-Started about three times (more than twice anyway) Here are a few thoughts:

1. It is important that any racing authority worth its salt should start races fairly and safely. Does anybody dispute that?
2. Big fields can only be started properly if the horses are persuaded to remain calm throughout the process, which is easy to achieve if the job is handled properly.
3. During the last ten years, two BHA Raceday Regulators have taken on the job with no knowledge of the skills required in this area. Why this was allowed to happen is a mystery. They have been told a thousand times how the starting process should be done, and a thousand times they have refused to listen. As a result False Starts have multiplied disgracefully.
4. If Mrs Harrington (the BHA’s CEO) saw Leighton Aspell’s brilliant article in last Sunday’s Racing Post, she will be aware of the mess, the discomfort, the danger and the obvious unfairness of that Coral Cup start. With all due respect, she will recognise the seriousness of the situation and the desperate need for intervention from above.

(Postscript) The Becher Chase at Aintree on December 3rd was exactly the same: a disaster area that has been making British Racing look stupid for ten years.

Talking of disaster areas, just a word about the other unexploded bomb which the BHA has been nurturing for the same length of time. The Interference Rules need re-writing by responsible people and the stewarding community needs to be recognised as a hotbed of seriously dangerous malpractice. The failure to apply proper measures to discourage dangerous riding encourages jockeys to take more and more liberties. More and more liberties can only benefit the wheelchair industry and sometimes even the undertaker. (Postscript: please disregard the last sentence. It is the kind of unpleasantness one resorts to after ten years of being ignored when one draws attention to a serious and dangerous flaw in a rule book (and its administrators) which is the unexploded bomb I referred to at the beginning of the paragraph. I’m ashamed of myself.

The trick is this: when a jockey is up on a charge of interference, the stewards always have a quick chat among themselves and usually announce that no “dangerous” riding was involved. The charge becomes “careless riding” and the punishment generally becomes a slap on the wrist. What kind of people are these stewards?

Gloomy stuff. I am confident that the big beasts are going to save British Racing, but I was interested to read that the BHA will be going in to bat for the industry in the new reorganisation. So I thought it seemly in the season of goodwill to remind the beasts (and the racing community) that the BHA has more than its fair share of untrustworthy characters on its books. Do please keep your guard up.

Merry Christmas,

Successful New Year,

DONEC