I read the news today, oh boy

Plenty to bang on about from my Australian trip, but I'll stick closer to home today. Good Friday being one of the few days in the year (one of three?) without racing, the Racing Post's brief was to fill the paper with things other than the day's cards. And it did a pretty good job of it, too. However, the most arresting piece of news was one which preferably would not have existed: the death of Eddie Butler, the former Curragh trainer and elder brother of Gerard, who trains down by the July Course roundabout on Egerton Stud. This was just so sad, and I can only offer my condolences to Gerard and the family. Eddie, you will have read, lost his life while breaking a horse, the exact circumstances being unclear as he was alone at the time, and what was found was the horse tacked up but loose, and Eddie dead on the ground. That's just so awful. There but for the grace of God go any of us, and, although we all know that it can and does happen, it's just such a terrible jolt when it does. I'd always heard that Eddie was a very good man. May he rest in peace.

Happily, there were some less gloomy items in the same paper. The highight was a nice feature on Brian Proctor by Nancy Sexton, who was making a rare foray away from the bloodstock desk. And a good job she did of it too - although, admittedly, she was working with very good raw material, as Brian is living history and both an extraordinarily nice man and a master horseman to boot, so it wouldn't have been too difficult to produce an interesting feature on him. He was riding out for Godolphin right up to last year (as he is pictured doing so in these two pictures taken last summer) and his retirement is the end of an era. Let's hope that retirement now proves for him to be long and deservedly happy. While Brian's article was easy to understand, the same could not be said of the same paper's Howard Wright column. Howard is a proud Yorkshireman, but he frequently belies his county's reputation for plain speaking by writing as ambivalently as the Delphic oracle. Even by Howard's usual standards, though, his column today was impenetrable. This leads us to today's prize: straight to the top of the class for anyone who can rephrase Howard's opening sentence - "Colleague Julian Muscat was spot on when he said the vast majority of British trainers missed the point by conducting themselves away from the action in Dubai last week" - in a way that makes its meaning clear. As it is, I have no idea what Howard was trying to say; but, as there is a strong chance that I am one of the vast majority of British trainers, I'd be fairly keen to find out which point I might have missed, and how I might have missed it.

Other than that, other points to consider from the paper include the thought that why, oh why, are we trying to get Black Caviar and Frankel to meet at Goodwood, of all places? It would be terrific if the pair could meet, and we should welcome any sensible attempts to bring them together. But on a steeply downhill right-handed track? Gedd oudda 'ere! A similar phrase is the only sensible response to the paper's latest attempt to rubbish the Horsemen's Group bonus scheme, which seems a fairly good way of distributing the windfall which has come from overseas sales of TV coverage of British racing. I can't see why this scheme should in any way undermine the Racing Post Yearling Bonus Scheme (which in my opinion deserves to be undermined, but that's not the point here) nor why it qualifies as "flag-flying nationalism" or parochial thinking. Again, a rational and lucid explanation of the objections would be appreciated.

Moving from the politics to the people, it was good to see James Banks win another race on Chapel House (on whom he is pictured at Southwell last month) at Hereford on Wednesday. Richard Harper has done really well with this horse, as has James. The only time I've seen him run was at Southwell when he was beaten, but he was clearly inconvenienced by the left-handed track that day (even though he still ran well to be placed) so it was no surprise to see him bounce back to form going right-handed again. James grew up in Newmarket but is now down south - which is the reverse of the way in which Jack Mitchell has spent his life. Jack grew up in Epsom, but has spent most of his working life in Newmarket, having transferred to Chris Wall for the latter stages of his apprenticeship after having started out with his father. Jack, of course, blotted his copy book last year, for which he was suspended for a few months; but we all make mistakes, particularly when we're young, so there's no reason for that to be the end of his world. The key is to learn from them, and Jack seems to have done that. He's kept himself busy during his suspension, riding out (mainly for James Fanshawe, in whose string he is pictured, in the pale cap, this morning) and now he is re-licensed. He seems to be booked to ride at Yarmouth on Monday, so let's hope that he can pick up his career where he left off. He has conducted himself very well since his lapse, so I wish him well.