Remember how we all said it would never last? Remember when it looked like racing on a beach and could be scorned as a wretched mix of dire horses, downbeat jockeys, desperate owners and deserted stands? Well, yes, some of the above may still apply but all-weather racing has come a long way and its 20th anniversary will be marked in style next week.

Arena Leisure, who held a monopoly on the code until the arrival of Kempton and the fleeting appearance of Great Leighs, are staging the celebrations at Lingfield. Many of us were chuntering about the desecration of a pleasing turf venue when the first all-weather card was held there on October 30, 1989.

Remarkably, there were 12 races and the inaugural winner, at 11am, was Niklas Angel, trained by Conrad Allen. Anyone who turns up next Thursday with the first-day racecard will get free entry - others get in at the 1989 admission price of £5.

Among the invited guests will be the Muddle brothers, Richard and Ron, who operated Southwell and Wolverhampton until selling to Arena. Philip Mitchell, who trained that shining sand star, Running Stag, will also be present and is presumably a candidate for the special recognition awards Arena are keeping secret.

Two listed races act as proof of the progress made since the surface changed to Polytrack in 2002 and another nice touch will be engraved plates for all the race winners, china being the traditional gift for 20 years of marriage.

Contrary to the rosy hopes of early spring, this has turned into an annus horribilis for the Queen's racing interests. Her various classic candidates faded from view and there was that distressing business involving Nicky Henderson, a royal horse and a prohibited substance. Just to make matters worse, Her Majesty's propitiously named Highland Glen, trained by Sir Michael Stoute, has been so mulish at the stalls, on more than one occasion, that a swingeing ban has been imposed on him. Hogmanay cannot come soon enough.

Kempton has a dizzying schedule these days but much of it is played out virtually in camera. Its attendances for all-weather cards this time of year are so tiny that the management must privately wonder whether its conversion to the code was entirely sane. The jumps days - 13 of them this winter - remain popular. How strange, then, that the page in last Sunday's racecard detailing fixtures for the rest of 2009 failed to mention the two-day King George meeting, the one occasion that will give the track's meagre crowd average a mighty boost.

When you have pedalled a rickshaw 450 miles across Britain, there must be some appeal in finding a more sedentary way of getting your adrenalin rush? It's one possible factor in Ben Fogle joining the Highclere syndicates for the coming year.

Typically, for one who eschews the easy life, Fogle caught the overnight sleeper from Cumbria to be present at the annual yearling parade this week. His first ownership involvement is to involve two colts about to go into training with William Haggas and Jeremy Noseda.

Talking of intrepid adventurers, Richard Dunwoody is doubtless casting around for his next crackpot venture in a good cause. Dunwoody has more time on his hands than he might like after failing to survive his first dance on Saturday night reality TV. Racing seems reluctant to concede that its potential publicity windfall came to nothing - a “Strictly Dunwoody blog” is still active on the British Horseracing Authority website.

Aintree does not stage many race meetings, so each one is an event. How sad, then, that the demands of television and the steamroller dominance of football mean that its popular fixture this Sunday now faces a clash it cannot win. They will be heading to post for the second race when Liverpool kick off against Manchester United at Anfield.

Colourful Welsh imagery from Evan Williams on the challenges of training his prolific but wilful juvenile hurdler, Barizan: “He should be living on a rough council estate, burning cars. He deserves an Asbo.”