THE NEWS THIS MORNING that leviathan owner Nathan Tinkler and his very promising private trainer Jason Coyle had gone their seperate ways has shocked all in racing and completely dumbfounded me. I had previously lauded Tinkler's "balls" in appointing Coyle and pulling together a young, vibrant and relatively unknown team.

Tinkler, of course, had plucked Coyle from obscurity following his very well publicised split with trainer Anthony Cummings and previous racing manager Roger Langley. There can be no doubt that Coyle's results since taking over reins as Patinack's trainer have justified the confidence in him Tinkler showed.

In a very short period of time, Coyle has had 24 individual winners from just 85 starters, winning 38 races in all. He has also won two group one races, Onemorenomore (Champagne Stakes) and Linky Dink (T.J. Smith).

Of course, the mandatory spin statements were released this afternoon citing the "look forward to working together in the future" but it now raises into real question the stability in Patinack's operation.

IN WHAT READS LIKE A DICK FRANCIS racing thriller story, two of Britain's promising apprentices were burned to death in a fire that was deliberately lit in their block of apartments on Friday night in Norton, close to the North Yorkshire training centre of Malton. Two other apprentices living in the two story block of apartments excaped certain death by jumping from the top floor windows of their apartment, suffering minor burns, smoke inhalation and abrasions.

While Yorkshire police have not released the names of the two apprentices killed in the inferno, racing bloggers and "tweeters" were reporting on Saturday in the UK that pormising apprentice James Kyne was one of the two killed. Rumours swept all the racecourses in Britain yesterday as they prepared for what was a huge day on the racving calendar and jockeys observed a minutes silence on all racecourses for the two apprentices.

Police have arrested a 30 year old man in connection with the fire.

SEA THE STARS WAS SIMPLY emphatic in winning his fifth consecutive Gr 1 race when he took out the Irish Champion Stakes on Saturday evening prompting champion jockey Mick Kinane to declare him the best horse he had ridden - and Kinane has ridden some of the world's great horses. In fact, Saturday's win on the John Oxx-trained half brother to Galileo was Kinane's seventh in the Irish feature.

Once again Ballydoyle's Aiden O'Brien turned the race into high farce with a posse of pacemakers, designed to set the race up for his Irish Derby winner Fame And Glory. But, as in every other attempt the Ballydoyle team have come up with the unsettle or test the stamina of Sea The Stars, they failed. Even Mastercraftsman, who chased Sea The Stars home in the Juddamonte at York, was battling with three furlongs to go.Johnny Murtagh was probably forced to a little earlier than he wanted on Fame And Glory as the pacemakers collapsed on straightening with three furlongs to go, but no sooner had Fame And Glory reached the lead Kinane and Sea The Stars loomed ominously. When Kinane hit the "go button" it was all over in a twinkling and this wonderful racehorse simply charged away to win as he liked.

He is the best horse in the world, and will no doubt start a pronouced favourite for the Arc at Longchamps next month with bookmakers already having installed him 7/4 favourite for Europe's premier weight for age challenge.