IT is high time there was a review of the safety policy in amateur and apprentice races.

In the last couple of weeks, both Chester and Pontefract have seen nasty falls in these type of races.

These races are important to teach our young jockeys their craft.

However, when the safety factor on any track - especially when racing round tight bends - is the same for apprentices and amateurs as it is for our very experienced professional jockeys, then the size of the fields has to be cut before we have a death on our hands.

Kirsty Mullineaux had a lucky escape in an apprentice race at Chester last Saturday. The event, over seven furlongs, had 18 runners - the same number of runners allowed with experienced riders. I feel that the safety number of runners in these races should be cut by at least 30 per cent.

TOMORROW sees an example of both a safety factor which is too high and prize money which is far too low.

Redcar stages first and final races which are confined to apprentices. Each race has a value of £2,500 prize money, with 27 runners in each division.

Each runner receives £300 appearance money, amounting to £8,100 for each race.

However, the winner of each division receives less than £1400 - a disgrace.

IT appears that the bookies have yet again landed on their feet with racing missing out on £1m a month when betting duty is abolished on October 6 due to a controversial clause in the agreement reached last year.

When deductions from punters are scrapped in October, it will raise the levy for the year ending March 31 2002 by an expected £6m to £72m, but the clause caps the payment from bookmakers at £67m instead of £72m.

It's high time the bookies were put in their place and we had a Tote monopoly like Hong Kong and America, with more money going back into racing and proper prize money.

The big bookmakers take money out of racing and build hotels and casinos. They should be stopped before it's too late for racing to be saved because once disillusioned owners leave the sport, they won't return.

NORTHERN Echo ran respectably at Sedgefield on his hurdling debut on Thursday night. He raced up with the pace until the run to the final flight and I'm sure he'll do well over hurdles.

DARLINGTON-owned Smith n Allan Oils is a nice horse and he ran a promising race at Hamilton on Thursday.

He might run at Newcastle next week but we'll be looking for a bit of give in the ground.

l Few losers will ever enjoy as rapturous a reception as Quixall Crossett looks sure to receive at Southwell tomorrow.

The 16-year-old veteran of the racetrack is out to avoid clocking up a milestone century of defeats in the second division of the Ropewalk Chambers Maiden Chase.

But win or lose, his presence at the racecourse is certain to attract plenty of attention from the public and the media.

Since his popularity started to grow, camera crews and reporters from across the world have descended upon High Crossett farm, near Middlesbrough, the stables of Quixall Crossett's trainer, Ted Caine.

The gelding, trained near by permit-holder Ted Caine, already has his own fan club and website.

''I've been getting call after call after call and all these messages, and I mean to return them but there's jobs still to be done on the farm I'm not used to all the attention,'' Caine explained yesterday.