Four winners this month makes April about par compared with previous years. The highlight was Agony and Ecstasy’s Listed win at Kempton, helped by the intelligent front running ride of Richard Kingscote. Florestans Match finally got off the mark with a confidence boosting performance at Pontefract on 5th April. Seaside Sizzler made hard work of it 24 hours later at Kempton where Jim Crowley was seen at his most effective. And Jim deserved a medal for winning on Sylvestris who dumped him (again!) on the way to post at Warwick on 25th April. Charleston Lady finished second yesterday in Listed Pretty Polly at Newmarket. She might head for the Ribblesdale. She was one of seven seconds last month, so we are on the right track. The Horseman’s Tariff goes from strength to strength. There was a walkover and a race voided, because of zero declarations in consecutive weeks at Leicester. Whilst Doncaster’s sub tariff Bank Holiday card had a total of 34 runners last Friday. Elsewhere more and more races are meeting the tariff. Yarmouth, which was the target of a boycott only 3 years ago, has announced that every one of their races will meet the tariff in 2011. If Yarmouth can then the other 59 tracks have no excuse. Whilst the media’s prediction that races would be downgraded to meet the tariffs hasn’t happened. On 29th March Greg Wood of the Guardian wrote that the tariff ‘was a wonderland idea’ and that it ‘surely cannot survive’. I am looking forward to his next article on the subject. Surely Towcester’s attempt to have all their races as ‘hands and heels’ contests was a publicity stunt on the back of Jason Maguire’s whip ban in the Grand National? The first that the BHA , who are the sports regulators, knew of it was when Towcester issued a press release. In the Daily Telegraph (2nd May) Charlie Brooks, a Towcester Director, wrote ‘for sometime we’d been wondering why Racing For Change was running scared of (the) issue’. But not wondering enough to actually discuss it with Racing for Change or the BHA, before announcing a ban!? The BHA are not infallible, who is? But on the whip issue they continue to lead the rest of the world. So for a track like Towcester to try and hijack the issue is frankly laughable. This, on the eve of their Easter Day meeting for which they charged an entrance fee, unlike their everyday fixtures.