28th February 2022

Naturally we are delighted with any winner at any level but yesterday was even more pleasing. Not only is Hereford on our doorstep but Immortal's Fame owner is having chemo. A winner for Rick was a very welcome tonic.

Henrietta Knight tied herself up in knots yesterday on Luck on Sunday. She contradicted pretty much everything she said and Nick Luck (who should run racing) did his best without stating the obvious contradictions.

The Irish have schooling races for young horses, we don’t. Yet, English trainers are the ones being accused by Hen of doing too much too soon with young horses. The p2p yards in Ireland have been the most prolific buyers of national hunt stores for a number of years. They operate a commercial business and trust me, they do a lot more with their young horses than any trainer in this country does. To get them to perform on the day, they have to. An English trainer who buys a nice store for the end user is in no rush. Hen is entitled to believe that Irish trainers are better than English trainers, that is an opinion not a fact. The reason the best horses are in Ireland is very simple. The lions share of future stars are bought at the store sales in Ireland, point to point in Ireland and are sold to Irish trainers for their English or Irish owners. For whatever reason, the Irish trainers do seem to have the owners with the deepest pockets. The more you milk the more cream you have! Henrietta spoke about the pace of races in Ireland when compared to those ran in England, horses do appear to get harder races in England. The jockeys blame the trainers for that as so many claim they are told to make it. Very very seldom do we set out to make it with our runners. She also mentioned something about bumpers on both sides of the Irish Sea. I have watched many bumpers run in Ireland and would not forgive a jockey for hitting any of our horses the number of times I’ve seen them struck in the closing stages of bumpers in Ireland. I am of the opinion that in English bumpers you never know what you are going to get until it is over. In Ireland they creep away and wind it up four furlongs out. I am a friend of Hen’s and remain so, on this topic I join Mick Easterby in that fact that she is “talking silly”.

Over the weekend, Matt Chapman was also taking silly in regard to Oisin Murphy and his antics. Yes, he needs help, it is very apparent that he is getting a loving arm around him from his boss and David Redvers. However, addicts also need tough love. Matt Chapman seems to think he should get a slap on the wrist and carry on as normal. That is not realistic, no rational thinking person would ever agree with him. We all make mistakes but Oisin went over and above a mistake. He committed serious offences and must pay the price and use the time to sort out his head. Matt’s pathetic argument about the length of time Oisin needs to sort his head is poppycock. Oisin Murphy will be living in Oisin Murphy’s head for the rest of his life. He will always be an addict but hopefully one in recovery. I really hope Matt Chapman stays working in TV, his knowledge on addiction is even more limited. Other jockeys have received longer bans for crimes that get nowhere near Oisin's. Over the weekend, Graham Cunningham felt the need to point out what Oisin Murphy had achieved whilst he should have been self isolating. Of course, no one else was privy to that, thank you Graham. I see no reason why Oisin Murphy can not have the title of champion jockey stripped from him and it be awarded to William Buick who played by the rules. I was once told that it is fine to think you are smart but don’t think everyone else is a fool.