Racing's disconnection runs deeper than the recent tales of discontent

Only connect. If only. The winter of discontent has started early this year – although, in one of those irritating asides that only serve to break up the flow, I always consider November to be winter rather than late autumn – and there's a lot of it about.

Punters have been displeased by the decision of Nicky Henderson to tell all his breaking news to a bookmaker before he tells anyone else (or Altiorgate, if you're that sort of guy).

Trainers and owners, in their turn, have been discomfited to learn that people would quite like to know what they do to horses in order to make them run faster, even if they don't always run faster. This has widely been described as Softpalatecauterygate, to the vexation of headline writers across the land.