After many false dawns for women jockeys in Britain, Hayley Turner is undeniably the real deal. Turner has broken many barriers recently but the most satisfying, for her, is in the minds of others. “What I really like now,” she says, “is hearing people say 'she's a good jockey' rather than 'she rides well for a girl.'”

Turner, 25, needs only one more winner to achieve her target of 70 in the calendar year and is now aiming for her first 50 in a turf season. She spread her wings with a listed success in Italy on Sunday and has now ridden winners on every British Flat course except Great Leighs - where she attempts to remedy the omission tonight.

She is also a hot debating topic on racing's forums. “The chatrooms are funny. There's a kind of war going on about me. Some of it is exaggerated but it's nice to see myself even compared with the top riders. I've definitely made a career of it now and I'm proud of that. I was always confident but, at the same time, I never expected too much - it's easy to get wound up by setbacks and lost rides and you could drive yourself mad very quickly.”

Turner has paved the way for another formidable female talent in Kirsty Milczarek, who has swiftly ridden out her claim and continues in demand. Milczarek, though, has her mentor close at hand, through her relationship with the banned Kieren Fallon. “I've just finished a 16-day ban and we went on holiday to the South of France,” Milczarek reports. It obviously did her good - she rode a double at Goodwood on her first day back.

Riverside locations have lost their charm to the excesses of climate change. Take Worcester, where the cricket ground and the racecourse are both out of action at present after yet another flood. Locals are starting to wonder if there is any future for either venue.

Worcester's meeting a week tomorrow has been switched to Southwell and the course is unlikely to stage racing again this year, although a decision is being delayed until the end of the month. Beyond that, the operator, Arena Leisure, remains publicly upbeat. Behind the scenes, though, thoughts may be different.

Facilities at Worcester remain the worst in the country and the track itself - previously a saving grace - is now subject to such patchy ground that one leading jumps trainer, Alan King, has pledged never to run horses there again. Arena is understood to have sunk £4million into the course for little return and it will be no surprise if closure is considered.

Diary is lost in admiration for anyone who volunteers to be humiliated by Anne Robinson, so take a bow, David Macdonald. The general manager of Uttoxeter racecourse not only plucked up courage to compete on The Weakest Link this week but came away victorious. “It started as a joke after the previous manager here took part and was the first eliminated,” Macdonald explains. “But really, I did it to help publicise the racecourse.” That much has been achieved, with the manager's new fame boosting the build-up for Sunday's themed Medieval Day. Now Macdonald plans to propose a celebrity racing edition of The Weakest Link for charity. Might be worth it just to see Ms Robinson's take on Big Mac.

Many in racing dread the prospect of the whip issue going to court but the respected Timeform organisation thinks it would be no bad thing. The subject is aired in the new, 1,200-page edition of Chasers & Hurdlers, with Timeform declaring that the bans imposed on Ruby Walsh and Robert Thornton at Cheltenham last March were “out of all proportion to the scale of any offences committed”.

“The authorities have bent over backwards to appease the RSPCA and the welfare lobby,” the tome continues. “Yet, for all the progress, jockeys continue to face threats of criminal action and of private prosecutions. A test case is surely long overdue. A court case might at least clear the air and enable fairer and more practical rules to be introduced ... It is our guess that any case brought against a top jockey would be laughed out of court.”

Britain's all-weather tracks are at last realising their lofty ambitions. Aidan O'Brien is talking of preparing some of his Breeders' Cup team at Great Leighs next week and, today, Kempton will announce a new link-up with Churchill Downs, fabled venue of the Kentucky Derby.