The trainers' championship should be changed to end on Champions Day

The Sun

20 October 2023

The trainers' championship should be changed to end on Champions Day

I AM incredibly lucky because I absolutely love my job.

Mind you, if my bosses ever get sick of me I’ll probably apply for a role hanging mirrors… it's something I can see myself doing.

But one of the main reasons I love my job? I get to have a good moan to you lovely folks every Saturday.

This week, I feel irrationally angry that the Flat trainers’ championship runs from January 1 to December 31.

In 2015, they completely restructured the jockeys’ championship so it began at the 2000 Guineas meeting and ended on Champions Day.

I was never a fan of that move - it should still run from March to November - but once they’d tinkered with one championship, surely they had to tinker with the other?

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It would actually present an opportunity to create a bit of extra drama at Ascot today, where there is £4 million on the line.

It's a relatively tight race this year between the Gosden’s and Aidan O’Brien and they could easily trade blows this afternoon, which would be a great spectacle if today was the decider.

Imagine if there was a fag paper between them going into final race with the title still on the line…

Instead, it pointlessly drags on for another two months when everyone’s attention has turned to the jumps.

Anyway, as it is (sort of) the end of the Flat today, I thought it as good a time as any to dish out some awards.

Let’s start with a couple of easy ones.

My Trainer of the Season is Ralph Beckett - just make sure you pronounce it ‘Raith’, like Fiennes, and not Ralph, like Wiggum.

He’s long been one of Britain’s best and this year he’s had 128 winners and counting - 24 more than his previous best - and banked £4 million in prize-money.

And big Ralph’s year could have been even better - he has finished second in a gut-wrenching nine Group 1s this season. Great year, take a bow.

There are any number of candidates for Ride of the Season, but Tom Marquand gets the nod for his effort on the King’s Desert Hero at Royal Ascot.

Not only did it give us a great moment, but he had to ride him with balls of steel in a massive field and was rewarded big time after making a bold run up the inside.

The Result of the Season - without a shadow of doubt - was Live In The Dream’s emotional win in the Group 1 Nunthorpe at York.

What a moment for Epsom trainer Adam West and his owners, Steve and Jolene de’Lemos. Mark my words, the horse will win at the Breeders’ Cup in a fortnight.

Now for my favourite part of this glittering gong ceremony: the Anti-Awards, where we celebrate all that is God-awful about this great game.

We are never far away from the next balls-up in this country, but for me the Biggest Cock-Up has to be our leaders' handling of the whip and sauna debacles.

Both the BHA (U-turned more times than Frankie Dettori) and the PJA (spineless leadership and awful communication) made a dogs dinner of both sagas.

Charlie Appleby’s recent upturn in form has spared him from being crowned the Biggest Underachiever.

Instead, that dubious honour goes to the lads at Wathnan Racing, the private racing operation of the Emir of Qatar.

They have spent a fortune buying up exciting horses already in training but they’ve only had one winner in the UK since Royal Ascot despite forking out millions. Ouch.

And now for the special Biggest Bunch of T*ssers Award - you can breathe easy BHA, I’ve no beef with you - which goes to the Gambling Commission.

They do not understand betting, they do not know what they are doing and they are threatening the very existence of our great sport. Top work, lads.

Now, who is ready for some twig-hopping? Did somebody say Road To Cheltenham?