In modern Great Britain horse racing is not part of the future and not only is it being allowed to totter along to what will be an eventual standstill, the demise is being speeded up by outside bodies. On the terrain of the emerging generations horse race betting is now dwarfed by the God that is football - and speaking of the next few days there will never have been a comparable Boxing Day for seeing racing's exposure minimized as the might of the Premier League is fired up back into action on full throttle.
The method of howTV audiences are measured has never been so out of sync with reality. With so many ways available of viewing our sports the significance of whether a meeting is shown on a main terrestrial channel or a support one down the lists matters not a lot.
So while Constitution Hill possesses the aura to focus the mind of even the most cynical racing fans who now accept that the sport here is on its way out, this exciting animal will not be registering in the mind of those outside the sport, irrespective of what the TV broadcasting front men will be repeatedly singing about on Monday.
And a typically exciting King George finish, where this year one of three potential new equine stars could be establishing themselves on the chasing scene, it will all be having the same indifferent effect on the wider public. In fact given the spirit of the times it would be fitting for fences to be cordoned off leaving the race unrecognizable as the field darts in and out of obstacles without a racing rythym established. Nobody wants this nonsense but it won't go away for the sport has reached a point of no return in this country.
The misguided holding the power strings began to allow those hoping there would be no long term future of the sport to slowly chip away four decades back. It seemed all innocent at first with the odd fence modernisation here and there. Then it began to gather momentum and in addition to steeplechasing being commonly staged at neutered courses, we are now witnessing such restrictive rules being applied to whip use that it makes one wonder how those many genuine professional animals, who will do what is required but no more, will fare with half hearted, confusing messages being sent to them.
It really is amazing why there is not a full open debate on the level of so called pain that can be felt by a fit, powerful, eighty stone beast full of adrenalin by a flimsy instrument much softer than in days gone by. This proves without doubt that the powers that be are concerned with the misleading images created far more so than the realities of what is occurring.
National Hunt's racing time in the UK will shortly be up. It will continue in Ireland though the sport there is not without its problems despite Governments in general looking far more kindly on it. It is common know that the great majority of Irish people are far more interested in rugger, footy and Gaelic sports and horse racing is very much a minority interest there, with a questionable amount of enthusiasm felt towards it by those from the large populated areas.
For racing in general - well, it will continue to thrive in Japan and Australia but the racing community in the latter nation will be looking over their shoulders with niggling worries as the anti groups over there are fast gathering influence.
Back to the UK, barely a day now passes without concerns being raised about the funding of a sport whose survival depends on punters betting on it - some have tried to twist this fact but truth be told is that as well as there being nothing from punters for the levy, media right payments would be needless without betting and as racing's share of the betting pie dwindles ( a pattern that will speed up once the affordibility checks come into play), we will be left at best with a small private club of people running a sport for themselves, without any press coverage, if anything at all.
More likely that they will migrate away and future generations will be reading about how famous some British people are in the likes of Japan, who they have never heard of here. In a sense the racing equivalents of the modern day Carl Fogartys of this world.
What is certain is that putting a positive spin on the future of the sport in Great Britain can never before have been such a difficult task.
There is zilch for UK horse racing to be joyous and festival over but in the spirit of things here is a seasonal tune from a class act.
