Licensing Committee releases can often be quite mundane - especially these days when the turnover of jockey licences is much lower than it once was - but Monday's provided more than usual, with the new trainers announced and a change to the jockey population for the final part of the term.

We're sorry to see Tim Clark leave because he probably hadn't been on the scene long enough to take the real benefits of competing here, but some things in life supersede improving your riding, and his departure leaves an opportunity for someone else.

Tommy Berry's licensing, hot on the heels of winning a Golden Slipper, was serendipity at work. On face value, it looks like the Jockey Club has snapped him up as flavour of the moment, but discussions had been going on for some time and the Slipper win was a bonus.

We wish the new trainers, Chris So Wai-yin and Benno Yung Tin-pang, all the best as they step into what is, well, not exactly the unknown but the uncertain. They have something in common as they begin to train in their own names - leaving the security of one of the most successful training operations in town.

Some people might wonder whether Yung, an integral part of the John Size operation since the champion trainer landed here, or So, just as vital to Caspar Fownes, might have second thoughts about leaving behind that strong a safety net but it's in the nature of most to want to find out what they can do in their own right.

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