Racing Diary

The Aussies may thrash us at cricket, rugby and even lacrosse, but not at jumps racing. Down Under, only one per cent of their racing is of the tougher jumps code, and it takes place in only three states - Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.

This month's Australian Grand National was worth a pitiful £38,000 to the winner, compared to the £500,000 on offer at Aintree, and Leading Bounty, who registered a second win in the race, is actually from New Zealand anyway, along with the runner-up and third-placed finisher.

Is a rival candidate emerging to Quixall Crossett, the 16-year-old diary horse of the year front-runner who this month recorded a century of consecutive defeats?

At the ripe old age of 10, when most Flat racehorses are revelling in a life at stud, John's Call, an American gelding who lost any prospect of that when suffering the unkindest cut of all, made a winning seasonal debut last weekend, adding to the £1 million already won for his Baltimore trainer, Tom Voss. Voss deserves every penny as it can take forever at bedtime to catch John's Call, who happily spends non-race days in his field and isn't caught easily. "Sometimes it's about an hour," admits Voss. "But we always get him in the end."

Jockeys rejoice. While England's highly-paid footballers shake the sand from between their toes in pre-season training, Britishbased riders, including National Hunt stalwarts who had no time off between the last day of the old season on 28 April and the first day of the new one the following Monday, can celebrate a 3.5 per cent pay rise from Wednesday. So that's an extra £3.25 for jumps jockeys and £2.38 for those riding on the flat. Well worth a leg up in the saddle, then.