Graham Cunningham on another remarkable weekend on and off the track in the world of British racing.
Just a normal weekend in Normaltown…
For a sport that seems utterly incapable of getting out of its own way - and you better believe I’m here for every single cringe inducing second of it - it should have been a weekend to savour for many reasons that involve high-class horses winning famous Cheltenham races.
The giant Jagwar belying his market drift to beat gambled-on stablemate Billytherealbigred in the illustrious Timeform Novices’ Handicap Chase.
Slick-jumping East India Dock confirming that Triumph Hurdle jolly Lulamba will have his handsome hands full if he goes for the Triumph rather than the Supreme.
Sean Bowen putting down a persuasive marker for ride of the season, bringing Moon D’Orange from another postcode then showing the balance of Blondin the tightrope walker as the Irish raider rooted the last.

L’Homme Presse getting the better of a rejuvenated Stage Star under the coolest of Cotswold drives, followed by a Deutsch debrief with Alice that must have resonated beautifully with the ITV audience.
Constitution Hill confirming he retains a frightening flair for the dramatic with a final-flight Unibet Hurdle Houdini act under Nico, and Gowel Road grinding to Grade 2 glory for the Twisters in the Cleeve.
So far, so warm and fuzzy.
But this is a sport that specialises in firing the ball into its own net and, hey presto, we ended the day nosing just as hard on a series of stories straight from the self-sabotage playbook.
Savill’s travails…
Full disclosure, I’ve spent a lot of years in the televised gasbag game and, throughout that time, working without pay has never held any appeal whatsoever.
So why do I feel uneasy about the news that Peter Savill is caping up for racehorse trainers and threatening a large-scale boycott of the airwaves unless they are paid for doing live interviews?
Savill’s Professional Racing Association claims to represent 170 trainers and Dan Skelton feels the former BHA boss is the ideal guy to “ask the awkward questions” with the aim of persuading Racecourse Media Group to part with £500,000 in media rights money.
The spectre of televised racing without hopeful handlers saying “he’s in good form and we’re hoping for a big run” looms unless a compromise is reached but it’s hard to assess this latest Savill stramash without asking awkward questions about a couple of his greatest hits.
The year is 2002 and Savill’s BHA drive to charge newspapers a total of £2million for the privilege of publishing racecards ends in a humiliating climbdown as it becomes clear that papers are willing to ditch cards altogether rather than be held to ransom.
Fast forward to the present day and Savill’s grand plan for the Premierisation of British racing – albeit bastardised by BHA tweaking – is limping and wheezing into its second year with a protected weekend window that has been smashed to smithereens and nary a soul to speak up for it.
The Racing Post’s Bill Barber has led the way in reporting on this latest bid to shake the magic money tree and it’s to Savill’s credit that he has been funding his PRA push from his own pocket thus far.
There’s a certain logic to his thinking that paying for access to managers and players is a vital part of media deals in football.
But the great god football dwarfs racing on every popularity metric. And as for those Leo DiCaprio comparisons well, Don’t Look Up, but racing’s sky is falling all around you as we speak.
Which brings us neatly to the man whose leonine head, even in a field of 170 containing plenty who have never seen a mic they didn’t like, was always money-on to be first above the prattling parapet.
"What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”

Ah, we were expecting you, Mr Skelton.
He is as short as 1/5 to snag his first champion trainer title this year and his relentless rise since flying the Nicholls nest has been built on a blend of hard graft, skill, positivity and a willingness to engage with the media as much as any of his peers.
But the geese he refers to here get followed at work by an ambulance while he and his garrulous fellow ganders, how shall we put this, gander from the grandstand safe in the knowledge they will never need to call on a fund to help those who don’t bounce.
Dan has long been one of the most quotable ganders around – his suggestion that Mullins horses are “basically getting a freebie” in Ireland remains a personal favourite – and he certainly hasn’t lost it in trilling that “we’re some of the actors walking on the stage of the racecourse."
If that sounds more like a soundbite from Daniel Craig than Daniel Skelton, then so be it.
This budding thesp insists “the vast majority of trainers are behind this” and is riding the Savill train even though the National Trainers Federation he belongs to says “we act on behalf of 435 trainers and our position is not to seek direct payment for media interviews".
Gone and Dunnett…
And now a racing nation waits and holds its breath.
Maybe an elegant settlement will be reached before picket lines are drawn at Sandown, Musselburgh and Wetherby on Saturday afternoon.
Maybe we will revisit the regrettable scenes of 2008, when some big hitting brave heart trainers slated Norfolk handler Christine Dunnett for breaking a Yarmouth prize money boycott and trying to snag a walkover with a plodder “owned by a racing club of OAPs and dinner ladies".
Or maybe Dan's mentor can intervene to smooth the Savill path?
Alec Baldwin lookalike Paul is no stranger to managing the hopes of famous thespians having given national treasure Dame Judi Dench some thrilling days with a jumper she shares with Fergie and Dem Boys.
The horse in question got the better of a good scrap with Skelton’s Flegmatik in a valuable chase at Kempton last spring. His name, just for the record, is Outlaw Peter.
Evan unaware of almighty punt…
There's the interview, what a man 😁 pic.twitter.com/f9h9wsd7qs
— Pete Turf (@PeteTurf) January 25, 2025
Pass me the ‘You Couldn’t Make This Shit Up’ File, Watson, because the next unwitting player on the stage has them rocking in the aisles.
Uttoxeter at just after noon on Saturday and pilot-turned-pundit Andrew Thornton approaches Evan Williams with a hearty “alright squire?” before asking about his runner in the first.
All is chummy until Thornton thrusts the Sky Sports microphone forward with “you’ve had one that’s been well backed in the last” and the response is not unlike that of Dracula to a crucifix.
Eyes to the floor, a pained grimace, an anxious pause. Then a new stance brings a disarming smile and a puzzled “I’ve only just got here but you’d be a brave man to do anything in the last".
Not to be deterred, Thornton shuffles his RP and lobs up a lovely softball with “just to mention it, though, Owl Of Athens hasn’t shown much so far, but at the right end of the handicap?”
But, while some brave men have been swinging for the fences at huge prices, Evan has brought the dead bat on the long drive from Glamorgan.
A plaintive puff of the cheeks is followed by “you’re clutching at straws now” and a mild positive for his other runner in the nightcap before ending by saying “I wouldn’t have too much faith in Owl Of Athens, that’s for sure."
Fortunately for straw clutchers the Owl hasn’t heard his harrumphing handler and – smashed from 66 to 85/40 favourite having been beaten 277 lengths in seven previous starts – he bounds clear to land one of the gambles of the season.
Consider the exquisite comedy timing of this Owl taking flight just as Savill and Skelton lay their Cash for Questions scheme out for all to behold. And maybe end by saying “and they want paying for this?!”
Keen to learn about “the ins and outs of it all", a mystified Williams tells the RP's Liam Headd on Sunday that one of the winning owners had a score each-way on and “if that’s what people consider a gamble these days then the game is knackered."
Maybe it is, Evan, maybe it is. And, if it is, the question of who is doing the knackering might be another suitable topic for discussion.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
"All horses should be ridden to obtain the best possible placing."
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) January 25, 2025
BHA steward Shaun Parker discusses today's two running and riding enquiries at Cheltenham around Iroko and Delta Work.
Both have Grand National aims - is there possible tension there with the weights not being… pic.twitter.com/tKz1w1fQpn
Rumblings from Cheltenham’s Inquiry Room as Commissars consider whether two high-profile chasers – one owned by JP, the other by Gigginstown – have been ridden with sufficient vigour by Jonjo junior and Sean Bowen.
Chief Steward Shaun Parker stresses that “all horses should be asked for real, timely and substantial effort” and then shuffles a shade nervously as he explains why there wasn’t a great deal to see here.
Now you may think it was always on the cards that an ageing, out of sorts National runner-up Delta Work was always going to struggle in the Cotswold.
You may think it’s a rum do when a previous Festival winner like Iroko stays on for fourth under a tender hands and heels ride (Parker’s words) in a major Saturday handicap.
Perhaps you will wonder why joint-trainers Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero weren’t consulted, especially when one (Guerriero) has stated that “we’re working back from the National, so we’re trying to keep him to two/two-and-a-half without exposing him too much.”
And maybe the cynics among you will wonder whether concerns about poking some of jump racing’s biggest bears in the run-up to the Festival led to Parker concluding that “we’ve noted explanations and that’s where we’ve resolved and left the matter".
And then six simple yet salient words from RTV’s Grand Inquisitress Lydia Hislop.
“What use is a noted explanation?"
The shuffling steward does a fair job of explaining that additional evidence may come to light etc but, as a native of South Africa, Big Shaun surely knows the real story here.
My mole in the tree world – aka Wikipedia - tells me the Iroko is a large African hardwood and legend has it that any man who cuts one down brings devastating misfortune on himself and his family.
Hmm. Taken all around, that slightly nervy and nebulous "noted" verdict suddenly seems a very sensible option indeed.
We’re going to need a new normal...
Of course, there are serious points at stake here and Dave Ord’s Saturday piece from Cheltenham nailed the dangers inherent in cutting the valuable cord between players and punters.
But questions over what comes next at this crucial juncture are manifold.
Will pugnacious Peter finally get one of his grand designs beyond the foundation stage and why wasn’t it made crystal clear right away that this is strictly a move to help “benevolent causes” rather than a brazen money grab?
Can leading man Daniel bestride the Stratford stage in a compelling version of Love’s Labour’s Lost or will it turn out to be another re-run of Much Ado About Nothing?
Will the mystified Evan become a breakout star in Season 4 of The Traitors without even having to adopt a lovely fake Welsh accent?
And will Big Shaun and his fellow Commissars note additional evidence with interest as Iroko lands a plunge at the Festival before storming to National glory?
Joking apart, we live in an era where a fair chunk of racing’s pliant broadcast media – not you, Hizza – simply dig out the cliché book and treat this strange weekend’s events as just part of a new normal.
But, from barmy boycotts to questionable big race rides and brazen bolts from the blue in the betting ring, none of this is remotely normal.
This sort of normal isn’t something to aspire to. It’s something a serious sport should strive to get away from. Especially if it wants to get out of its own way.
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