Now that there can be no further useful debate on the merits of a four-day Festival, nothing divides Cheltenham's public more starkly than cross-country racing. Plenty love it - as is clear from the packed infield for every race - but just as many believe it has no place at jumping's HQ.

The anti element will be mortified by an impending development that secures the future of this novel code at Cheltenham. Diary understands that an announcement in Paris this weekend will reveal a European Cross-Country Championship.

Six nations have signed up to stage legs of a series that is sure to have a niche following among trainers, as well as racegoers. Cheltenham will host the British race, though not necessarily at the Festival.

Jump racing may be enjoying unprecedented popularity in Britain but it struggles to extend its international rivalry beyond Ireland and France. Cross-country is a means of achieving this and Cheltenham is expecting runners from the Czech Republic and Sweden for its race at the Open meeting next week.

Exeter still has two Major Generals, a Commodore, an Earl and a Lord on its board but it has become a determinedly go-ahead venue. However, its latest enterprise, a £2.2 million extension to the grandstand, has been undermined by blimpish bureaucracy. No drinks can be served in the newDenman function rooms when they are opened next Tuesday, after Teinbridge District Council ruled that the racecourse's existing alcohol licence was not sufficient to cover additional buildings.

Even the intervention of a lawyer failed to dissuade the council from an act that seems especially petty, considering how much business and publicity the racecourse brings to the area. The guests attending the ceremony, at which a highlight will be a racecourse gallop by Denman himself, must now be served drinks in an older part of the stand.

Nicky Henderson can cut quite a dash and his arrival at Sandown Park on Monday, for the launch of the Esher track's jumps season, caused a cluster of photographers as he emerged from his chauffeur-driven car. Initially bewildered, Henderson soon discovered that he was a case of mistaken identity by the paparazzi gathered for another event at the course - a meeting of 1,500 militant airline crew. “I think they must have thought I ran British Airways,” the trainer said.

The reinstatement of Graham Bradley within racing has accelerated with news that Highclere, that most respected of syndicate managements, employed him to acquire their first jumps horse. Bradley, who has revived his bloodstock business following the end of his five-year warning off for passing inside information, sourced Sunwise, a three-year-old who won twice over 12 furlongs for John Oxx this season. Highclere paid 135,000 guineas and have sent the horse to Paul Nicholls, with the promise that Bradley may be used for the purchase of further intended jumping types.

Ascot staged a lively Sponsorship Showcase Event last week. One section saw the attendees split into teams for a workshop challenge involving a racing-based marketing campaign for an invented energy drink called “Motivator”. As the winning team had to make a presentation, there were, shall we say, certain non-triers in the field, including a group that included two high-profile racecourse managers.

Reckoning that an off-the-wall entry would disqualify them, our heroes concocted a zany plan. A series of three-furlong bullet races at far-flung tracks would produce a winning horse that would then race against Usain Bolt during Royal Ascot. As the drink was to be in blue bottles, the band Blue would reform to play at the horse-versus-man race and customers would recycle their drinks cans to produce a racing sculpture strung across the M5.

Such vivid imaginations had the unforeseen outcome of being judged the winning entry. Our managers plainly have a future in marketing.

Mysortofman, fourth on his hurdling debut at Exeter on Tuesday, is owned by Clare Bailey, wife of trainer Kim. Asked if she named the horse after her husband, Mrs Bailey said mischievously: “He thinks I did. But I'm sure I must have been dreaming of someone else ... ”