A GRIM OVERALL SUMMARY

There are plenty of positive news stories bigging up the health of horse racing at the moment. Maybe it is just that time in the calendar when the year is looked back upon and the we see only the high points. There is no doubt that those within the circle are 'given' a responsibility to advertise what is going right.

To be honest it wasn't the most memorable of flat seasons. The highlight being a Cheshire Oaks winner rising above the rest in Europe. While one of the low points would have to be an Epsom Derby winner who must have both shocked and embarrassed connections on his big day given the damage he done to the portfolio and the would be marketable Cliffs of Moher.

By a sire who had quickly been downgraded to the dual purpose ranks, Wings Of Eagles progeny will first be seen in the French provinces and the back of beyond, shop window point to point venues in Ireland.

On a lighter note an unusual distinction connected with Wings Of Eagles emanates from his run in the Chester Vase. He must be the first horse on the Epsom roll of honour to have had the in running form book comment  "ridden and 'disorganised' over 1f out" used in his Derby prep run. In fact he must be the only Epsom Derby winner ever to have the term 'disorganised' used in a form book commentary in any career run.The picture above shows him in fourth place becoming 'disorganised'.

The set in pattern to abandon the narrow and rigid but just as reliable set of form book terms, and give licence to the form book race readers to replace them with whatever words they see fit to use is arguably not needed, but not harmful to the sport. However, it is consistent with the way the sport is changing at pace and not changing for the better.

Changes applied without considered thought given to the long term impact they will have has caused irreparable damage to the sport.

The annual public relations pantomime that comes with the 'Grand National in Name Only Chase' is evidence that even the deluded individuals running the sport believe that the best way forward is to become apologetic,pliable and condescending to fend off a threat to the sport that had ceased to exist.

In a world where those who would in previous generations have had horse racing high up on their hit list but who now have more pressing issues concerning pollution of our oceans, those pulling the strings of racing have stupidly gone and exaggerated the dangers of national hunt racing.

Not only have they taken the challenge out of the 'Grand National In Name Only Chase', they've now also created a make believe scenario,whereby the equine participants need to enter a cold shower room to ensure survival from the consequence of their exertions.

What was a national treasure and a sporting event up with the best of them has now been ruined. National Hunt racing itself is in danger, the situation the fault of those within.

Adding to neutering the famous Aintree race, they have too taken the character from Haydock Park. Even the Cheltenham Festival is now beginning to suffer from the greed driven decision to stretch it out and dilute it.

The Ryanair Chase is detrimental to both the Gold Cup and Champion Chase, the Fred Winter has changed the hard knock ambiance that the old Triumph Hurdles had, while there was no need for the three mile novice hurdle. They either keep the old Sun Alliance Novice Hurdle at two and a half mile, or increase it's distance to three. Adding the extra event brings nothing but dilution of quality.

And what of mares only events ? If they are given sex allowances in the other events why should they have their own championship races installed. It would be idiotic to cite the flat programme as support for this as national hunt racing is in the main a true sport.

Think of  Vautour and think of the Ryanair. We'll never know how he would have fared in a Gold Cup but he was a mighty interesting proposition. If there was no Ryanair Chase we would have seen him in a Gold Cup, or even a Queen Mother Champion Chase. Cue Card is another. He could have added his quality and charisma to any of these two events in 2013.

The stayers with a touch of class who are ideally more King George than Gold Cup horses can prove fascinating contenders in the Champion Chase. One Man is a prime example.

And what of Best Mate's first Gold Cup?  Given that going into the race there still existed a niggling doubt as to whether he would truly see the full trip out,Knight, Biddlecombe and Lewis may have opted for the Ryanair in that particular season if the race had been in place then.

When Kauto Star beat Denman in the 2009 Gold Cup, Imperial Commander won the Ryanair. While he would win the Gold Cup the following year his presence would have enriched the 2009 renewal further, even if as just a supporting role player. After all it is supposedly the Blue Riband of steeplechasing and not an event to be even part compromised by some filler invention.

But the stories are all positive right now. A great product, going forward and all that. And record prize money on offer in 2018, despite the future funding of the sport yet to be resolved.

When the last generations of horse race punters cease to exist racing cannot survive at it's present level. Admittedly, the cult courses can rake in enough revenue to fund their own existence if needs be, but that does not apply to the majority of venues and the infrastructure will crumble when racing's share of the betting pie eventually becomes meagre.

This failure to look inward and concentrate on the weak points of the sport is a problem horse racing has had for many years. Such an attitude caused minimal damage when things were rosier, but this approach will cause tangible damage as the sport sinks to a lower tier.

picture, property of author

THE PART LEGACY OF TEN UP'S FAMOUS DAY.

c 1973 CBS TV

Jim Dreaper saddled Mullaghmurphy Blue to win at Musselburgh yesterday. A  famous name chugging along mostly unnoticed nowadays. Still, for many memories are evoked of him in his pomp and one eventful Cheltenham in particular when events played their part in influencing how the meeting would shape up in the future. 

On Tuesday March 11th 1975, the first day of the Cheltenham Festival was abandoned due to water logging. Telly Savalas was at the top of the charts, singing that dreary  ' If a picture paints a thousand words...', and the pictures from that day raised doubts as to whether the remainder of the meeting would be able to be staged at all.

Remember, this was an era when nature itself would dish out advantages as opposed to turf engineering.Connections of the good sloggers would be granted a reasonable expectation of having their favoured ground conditions come Cheltenham time.

The Wednesday went ahead with Comedy Of Errors convincingly regaining his Champion Hurdle crown from Lanzarote, who had taken it off him the previous year. Run in extremely testing ground, the race returned a time over 22 seconds slower than standard.

Dreaper trained two winners on the card, Lough Inagh who won the Champion Chase, saved from the previous day, and Brown Lad in the Lloyds Bank Hurdle. Brown Lad would end up being one of the most popular chasers of the decade.

Into the final day and conditions took a turn for the worse.Dark foreboding skies, persistent rain, waterlogged patches near some fences that led to two obstacles being omitted on the chase course.

The first three races were run in 59, 64 and 57 seconds slower than standard respectively. The last of those, the Sun Alliance Novice's Hurdle, was won by Davy Lad who would be successful in a dramatic Cheltenham Gold Cup two years later. Aldaniti finished fourth, and a future King George winner Bachelor's Hall came in eighth.

Next up was the Triumph Hurdle, with the winner Royal Epic returning a more respectable time, though God only knows what the true distance of the race actually was. A future legend in Night Nurse finished in the mid division. His ability to handle tiring conditions would be put straight two years later.

But this ground was a good deal severer than your average testing conditions. As they lined up for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, it was bordering on unraceable. Two former champions, The Dikler, and the warm favourite Captain Christy, were beaten relatively early on, with both eventually being pulled up.

It was Dreaper who made the winner's enclosure again with the hardy Ten Up. Racing in the Arkle colours, he dealt with the elements best of all to beat the ex American trained Soothsayer, with the mighty Bula back in third. Bula had been bidding to become what would of been at the time the first horse to win a Champion Hurdle and Cheltenham Gold Cup.

The race was run in 70 seconds slower than standard. After the race,the remaining three races were abandoned, the course deemed unfit for racing.

Fast forward to the typical Cheltenham Festival we have today. The over efficient drainage system can, and will in most circumstances, ensure that ground described as 'heavy' ten days before the beginning of the meeting, will be 'good to soft' when the first race is run.

Bob's Worth and Coneygree  share the distinction of being triumphant in the two Cheltenham Gold Cup's run on soft ground in the past twenty years. Or, to put in another way,  the only two renewals in the last two decades were the sloggers are given some hope.

Bob's Worth was more than a slogger and won despite the ground. Coneygree on the other hand would most likely not have won if the race had been on better ground. But who is to deny him his ground any more than the Spring ground performers for whom the cards are now massively stacked in their favour.

In the Ten Up times, you did of course have festivals run on good ground. A year later in 1976 for example. But during this most recent twenty year period , not a single Cheltenham Gold Cup was staged on heavy going. The message is to those connected to quality animals whose sin is to be able to produce their true optimum on heavy, is that they can go and whistle.

In contrast those with Spring ground horses can be confident of having the playing field laid out to suit them at both Cheltenham and Aintree. Not always, but most of the time.

It's rare for the elements to impose themselves at both meetings in the same year. Cheltenham 1980, another mudbath, Chinrullah and Tied Cottage. Then a couple of weeks after, Ben Nevis winning the Grand National in heavy ground.

Of the abandoned racedays at the festival since, the snowfall that caused the 1978 Gold Cup to be lost on the day and staged the following month could not gave been saved by any workable man made invention. Similar with the high winds that caused a day to be abandoned in 2008. And the dreaded  foot and mouth episode at the turn of the millennium, more to do with government than racing.

Yes, it's commercialism with the fear of losing all the course and bookmaking revenue and endangering future sponsorship if the meeting was lost, but the tide has surely turned too far now and it is an issue that should be revisited.

Bristol De Mai was twenty lengths away in last season's Gold Cup. If the race had been run on heavy he'd have been much closer. Enough to have made him a possible winner ? We are never going to get the chance to find out. A mid-winter mud lover is what he'll probably be remembered as unless the God's assist.

And we all have our favourites who we think, yes, he would have gone close in some of the old Gold Cup's. Keen Leader, a big giant dope with that something about him that can still make the sport special. It could have been different but it would have required truly testing conditions and a try with another trainer, particularly Martin Pipe.The shape of the course may still not have been ideal but he would have been damn interesting in such a set of scenarios.

Now we just appreciate some excellent performances in the mud, weekend after weekend. Particularly in Ireland. But we do so knowing that the face value of the form might not be worth a carrot come Cheltenham time.

BEING JUDGED AGAINST YOUR PEERS

It was clear there was no intention to be condescending, but that was how it sounded when Willie Mullins first post race comment after the Hennessy was to thank Sandra Hughes for the great shape Total Recall was in when he arrived at his new home.

Because of Mullins stature at the top of the training tree, he would not benefit from boasting, however furtively he may have chosen to.The notion that trainers are as good as the ammunition they are given is nonsense.No more than group huddle trainer speak.

When a small operations come away from a horses in training sale with a cast off  bought cheaply from one of the showcase yards, then rejuvenates their new charge, the narrative they bring out is the same one always.That one about treating the horse as an individual and all that stuff.

Early in 2004,Paul Nicholls took in Venn Ottery from the late Oliver Carter, who also owned the gelding. After a maiden chase win at Leicester, he won three off his next four starts all in handicaps, beginning off a lowly 87. At the end of the run his official rating was 117.

Pitted in the deep end in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, he started at 33/1 but the visual image of the race he ran sits in the memory as clearly as the winning performance of his stable companion Azertyuiop. Timmy Murphy arrived on the scene swinging away, and even allowing for the rider's often deceptive pose, the pair were in with a real shout of winning until finding nothing from the second last onwards.

Funnily enough, despite being portrayed as a bit of a fruitcake ,Carter  had been a champion point to point trainer and had also trained Otter Way to win the Whitbread Gold Cup back in the 1970's.Venn  Ottery had six changes of trainer after leaving Nicholls and never won again.

Of all the routine cases of horses being reconditioned after joining Martin Pipe, one of the most notable was in the shape of Shooting Light,who Pipe took over from Pat Murphy in 2001.

Formerly placed in the Triumph Hurdle, Shooting Light had turned into a useful novice chaser in his first season over fences, but nothing more. He did not on the face of it look to have any real improvement left in him.There were plenty of  miles on the clock after beginning his career on the flat with Michael Jarvis.

On his first run since his move to Pond House the impression he made was astounding. You will go a long way to see more strikingly impressive winner of a steeplechase.The race, a thirteen runner handicap at the Cheltenham October meeting was competitive enough.The winning distance was eleven lengths but he was value for any number you wished.

He followed up in the Thomas Pink at the same venue, then the Tote Silver Cup at Ascot. When he next appeared, when pulling up in Best Mate's King George, his official rating was 162, an incredible  39 lb higher than when beginning the winning sequence which began just two months earlier

In more recent times we have had the emergence of  David O'Meara who is curiously in danger of become a passing fad. Only two years ago many thought he had a magic wand, pondered how far he could go, and some were spouting rumours that he could even be the next boss of Ballydoyle.

At the centre of this furor was the improvement he managed to conjure from Amazing Maria. On the animal's final outing for his previous trainer Ed Dunlop, in September 2014, she started at 25/1 and beat one home in the Group 3 Sceptre Stakes at Doncaster. Her official rating was 101.

When she next appeared in May 2015, the now five year old had been moved by owner Robert Ogden  to  O'Meara's Yorkshire set up. Finishing third in a valuable Ascot handicap she followed up by filling the same position in a Group 2 at the Curragh. Then, unexpectedly, the level of her form spiraled upwards.

Victorious at the Royal meeting in the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge when starting 25/1, she then followed up at the highest level twice, firstly in the Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket, then the Prix Rothschild over in Deauville.

The actual measured improvement was little more than a stone, but the achievement in turning what seemed to be a animal limited by her ability in Group races into a rattling high class horse was noticed.

This consolidated the belief that O'Meara possessed a rare skill to yield results that far exceeded the norm. The previous season he had trained Move In Time to win the Prix de l' Abbaye, a horse who first ran for the yard 18 months earlier off a mark of 85 after arriving seemingly exposed from Bryan Smart's stable.

The previous month O'Meara had taken another top level sprint with G-Force in the Haydock Sprint Cup. G-Force had a contrasting profile. O'Meara took charge after his first run as a juvenile the previous season, nurturing him slowly up the ladder.

Since Amazing Maria's Prix Rothschild, O'Meara has not trained a winner at the highest level in Europe.While there has been three in North America it is still not what was predicted.

Being assessed against your peers can on rare occasions produce some misleading impressions. In the early 1980's the Dickinsons took in The Mighty Mac and Planetman from the yard of John Edwards.

The horses showed immediate improvement, looking different beasts , with a swagger about them, and a change in running styles too. This leaving a cloud over the training ability of Edwards.

Within a few years Edwards was showing himself a fine trainer with his handling of the magnificent Pearlyman, who won two Queen Mother Champion Chases. He also went painfully close to having a Cheltenham Gold Cup winner through Yahoo.

Returning to O'Meara; since 2016 he has operated from purposely built facilities in Upper Helmsley. While his turnover in winners and total prize money continue on the same sort of level, the many who anticipated him being the next big name to breakthrough have observed what touches on a scattergun style modus operandi. 

The truly big owners have not come in force and it could be that he is shackled with being pigeonholed as a trainer who exceeds with cast offs from others.This may or may not be overcome. John Thaw once bemoaned that when he was going about his private life in public places, people would point and say,' look, it's Reagan'.There is still hope but it's just as much in the hands of others as himself.  

image source - www.museum.tv / Archives

SHAPING MINDS

Behind the  regular faces and voices that broadcast  horse racing, there are clearly persons unknown pulling the strings, tidying up racing history, and influencing the direction the sport is taking.

Who knows how many of these individuals exist, whether they have a leader who has a final say, or whether they exercise committee style democracy while secretly and slyly trying to influence others.

What cannot be doubted is that they do very much exist and are part of a disturbing trend where the modern media crafts propaganda, as they the spinners believe they know best and what is best for others.

The most disturbing example of this during the past weekend in the racing sphere happened during that innocent looking piece on ITV racing,where they showed Tony McCoy and John Francome playing golf, buddying and talking racing.

During their chit chat, Francome claimed that he would have been just as successful a rider without carrying the whip. McCoy agreed that he too would have enjoyed the same level of success whipless.

Now what on earth has happened to the ' keep your nose out of what you know nowt about '  retort, that would be the normal response from most riders when non horseman made suggestions about whips and the like.

Indeed, when John McCririck used to harp on about banning the whip, whether sincere or just for the purpose of building a niche for himself, he'd be told that he had no knowledge of the area he was trying to reshape, that such subjects were for experienced horseman to debate.

Now, we are led to believe that someone like McCoy is all easy go about not needing a whip, and as far as someone new watching the sport is concerned, probably always felt this way.

There is something very sinister lurking beneath here. And I would not be surprised if there are plans behind the scenes to remove the whip from the sport.

Anyone with a modicum of common sense will realise that an air cushioned whip can cause scant harm to a eighty stone animal high on adrenaline. It is all to do with image.This is why for many years now, twenty four in fact, jockeys are penalised if they raise their whips above shoulder height.

Some very dimwitted persons truly believe that there are a potential multitude of young people who are pondering over whether to become racing fans and who will be put off by the sight of whips being raised in true Eddery and Piggott style.

If there is indeed secret directives issued for racing people to act our of character and be something different to what they really are to re brand the sport, the ridiculous thing about it all is the notion that there exists a would be fresh faced generation watching the sport and becoming fans.

Even Richard Hoiles, from the commentary box, familiarised 'those who may be watching for the first time', with the layout of Newbury. He is wishing.

Let's consider the three TV channel days of the 1970's  - in fact it was not until 1984 that Channel 4 came on the air. Compared to other sports, the live coverage of racing fared well in those times,

Remember, apart from the British Grand Prix you would have to tune into Radio 2 at 7pm on Sunday to find out the result of the Grand Prix. For pictures of the race you would have to buy a copy of Motorsport for your fix of Fittipaldi,Stewart, Sheckter, Lauda, Peterson and Reutemann.

If you wanted to find out how Real Madrid,Bayern Munich or Juventus fared, then you would have to buy a football magazine the following week. The US PGA Golf Tour, well we were oblivious to it. Same with the Tennis tour

What about the England Cricket team on tour. Radio 2 again, but at least there was commentary to help us form the pictures in our minds. The  cricket coverage now, both Sky and BT, is second to no other sport. Those of us staying up through the night cannot have failed to have been impressed by the BT team, particularly how Boycott and Gilchrist pair well together. And there is even a rare bookmaking advert shown at every interval which you never tire of, the one about how 'kwiffing' the Ashes price feels like when that teacher asks you to squash bubbles on bubble wrap

At least with racing, if you were sat at home with the TV switched on with nothing in particular to watch, there would back then be a one in three chance that you would be exposed to it.

Contrast with the present. All sports covered from head to toe, a thousand TV channels readily available, and even further competition from Play Stations, You Tube, i-Players and the like. The chances of newbies tuning into to watch a sport which they feel indifferent to whether it exists or not, are minimal.

On last Friday's ITV racing coverage, the 2017 LBO Manager Of The Year, Ron Hearn, was allowed, unchallenged, to express a forthright opinion about FOBT's , proclaiming that the victims would be betting office staff losing their jobs if the maximum stake per spin was severely reduced

Ed Chamberlin did at least, in defence of the upcoming change, say, ' something had to be done' but failed to elaborate, whether on his own accord or responding to a voice in his ear. Fitzgerald and Harvey chose not to get involved.

Hearn revealed that 60% of the business in his shop is on the FOBT's. Racing people often brush this aside by pointing out the trend to bet via smartphones, while forgetting that this applies to betting on the other sports and forms of betting, including casino games.

If you could see a breakdown of age groups and the sports they bet on, the prognosis for racing would be very grim indeed. The graph would take a steep dive as the age group reduced. And anyone hoping that the present punters aged thirty five and under who would have first suckled on football will turn to horse racing as they mature have no basis for such optimism.

image licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

THROUGH THE EYES OF THE MODERN 'RACEGOER'

Papering over the cracks is an exercise that those in denial over the true decline of horse racing are very efficient at undertaking.The emphasis is all on audience, whether it be the inebriated, sometimes unruly sorts who fill the coffers at the 'cult ' courses, or this imaginary mass of fresh born interest watching on terrestrial television.

Those of us who work daily among large floors of colleagues will know how inappreciable the sport truly has become. Reality chips away bit by bit until we suddenly stand back and think , 'Christ, this really ain't that popular anymore'.

A couple of years back I was chatting with a regular, everyday punter.Years ago, he would have visited the LBO everyday.This has now evolved to a mixture of online activity, with live visits mixed in to take advantage of concessions.

It was York Ebor week. 'What have you backed ?', I inquired. The answer was not the one I'd been expecting for he proceeded to give out details of his bets on lower league football. Sighing, I pointed out that I meant the horses. ' I know you did,' he replied, before agreeing that years back he would have been looking forward to the racing, ' But it's different now', he added,'there is more choice.'

This fiftysomething man was brought up with the customary betting link to horses, supported by greyhounds, along with the novelty of the long list on the fixed odds.The common and normal sight was the father of the household involving himself with racing and betting. He may have gone the football most weeks, but the betting was almost all on horses.

This is where the link is now broken. Anyone under thirty is now more likely to have been brought up in a household where betting is linked predominantly to football.This was a development that started to take hold in the mid 1990's.

And we can be even more certain that these under thirties, many of whom will already have young families themselves, will clearly put to bed once and for all the notion that a customary link still exists whereby betting is mainly all about horses.

In fact the person in question will often speak of his own adult son, revealing that he religiously backs Jason Day blindly, and has done for years.He'll recount his son's football bets from the weekend. His son does not bet on horses. He himself talks more of Jamie Lovemark than Jamie Spencer.

Trying to introduce someone to the sport can be pretty futile too.I took a drinking buddy to the races for the first time about ten years ago. I'll call him Gaz. To try and sell the sport to him I had to put a an angle of added interest on, as Gaz had not the slightest inclination to pick up knowledge about the sport.

So I took him out of his comfort zone of the bars and around the paddock. I began pointing out known racing people with comments such as, ' he's a crook', 'she's there because of a rich father ',
'he's a bit of a pysco', ' he's slept with that ones wife'.

It was hard work and not in the BHA  manual of how to introduce new people to the sport. And I soon discovered that my efforts were futile.

In one of the races, Gaz had backed a chaser who was held in second place approaching the last.
Clearly not familiar with expected racecourse protocol, he suddenly yelled,' Break a leg you bastard!'  leaving me gobsmacked and embarrassed.

Believe it or not this is an intelligent  person who at the time was working in the Probation Service with responsible roles, including articulating reports to magistrates. He is in a fairly well paid position now in another branch of the Civil Service.

This lack of respect, feel, care and understanding for the sport is not the remit of reprobates, but sadly also the norm across the respectable part of society as a whole.

Gaz does however does form a gang of three or four drinking buddies who have the Thursday of Aintree in our calendars every year. Between visits all of his bets are on football or rugby, and as far as I know he has no plans to take his son to the races, and does not watch racing when at home. The fact that he continues to go each year may in the BHA's eyes class him as being 'won over' by the sport.That could not be further from the truth.

Back in 2014, he was unable to attend so our party consisted of a gang of three. Chris has no interest in the racing, but will attend once a year. He likewise will not have a bet on the horses in between his annual visits. His yearly punting is on the odd combination of football, Grand Prix racing, boxing, and poker. He latched on to Leicester City relatively early in the season when they won the Premiership, backing them at 66/1, eventually laying off.

Phil is a dyed in the wool, long term racing fan. He sketches horses in his spare time, always has his camera with him at the racecourse, asks for the odd autograph, and will often take his wife and two primary school sons racing. He would make a good role model for the sport but unfortunately he is very much the exception to the rule. Besides, that he has no inclination to drink himself into a stupor would perhaps not please racecourse management at some of our venues.

On this particular day there were some curious conversations.Chris was offering post race summaries consisting of comments like ' my horse was winning but they still had to go around one more time ', while Phil would be discussing the progressive position in the pecking order of Craig Nichol in the Nicky Richards stable.

Perhaps, the best effort you could make to appreciate just how insignificant the racing per se is at the cult venues, is to go on an outing with a large work party

I did just this on a visit to one of these new trashy York fixtures on the day Bayern Munich beat Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League Final.

One of our party had a connection to a pub so conveniently organised for the premises to be privately open at 9 am for us to enjoy a hearty breakfast. Then straight into a minibus and off to York, the cans of beer already being cracked open.

Stopping for a short break at Hartshead Moor service station, one of our party was already vomiting in the car park. Arriving at the course after missing the first race, the whole party positioned themselves for the rest of the day inside the bar, making no effort to watch a race live.Some of these 'racegoers' did not even bother having a bet.

 A pure drinking fest.The evening in the center of York was enjoyable, the racecourse experience not. We later heard that a young  racegoer who had been sliding down the banisters in high jinks had fallen right down the stairwell to the ground floor.He never survived.

Indeed, racecourses have always had their share of drunks showing just a smidgen of care for the actual sport. But there can never have been a time when such a high percentage have no interest in it whatsoever, and who will not even cast an eye over a racecard between visits to the course.

This is the beginning of the tremor taking hold. It has come from the masses being weaned off betting on horses and will truly set in when the last real generation of racing fans disappear.

BRING SOME 'SOUL' BACK TO THE SPORT

The name of Royal Gaye will not mean much to racing fans who have not yet reached the wrong side of fifty. Trained by Fred Rimmell in the 1970's, the gelding was not even a top class performer in his own right, but will go down in history as the winner of what undoubtedly remains the most strongly contested handicap hurdle ever staged.

The way the racing program is now moldered with those in the top band having races 'made to fit', means that the quality of the field assembled for the race Royal Gaye won will never be repeated in a handicap. 

It was May Day 1978 when Haydock Park staged the first running of the Royal Doulton Handicap Hurdle. With a big pot on offer, not having today's wealthier version of the Punchestown Festival to contend with, and in an era without molly coddling conditions races littering the calendar, the event promised to attract some big names.

But the promoters could still not have possibly been expecting the response they received. It would be no exaggeration to describe it as fantasy board game stuff.

Night Nurse, still to this day the highest rated hurdler of all time by Timeform, had just lost his crown to his established adversary Monksfield, who remains the joint second highest ever hurdler on Timeform ratings. Both lined up.So too did the highly popular Sea Pigeon, who would go on and win the 1980 and 1981 running's of the Champion Hurdle, as well as an Ebor to add to his Chester Cups, just for good measure.

The three superstars were joined by the Bob Turnell pair Beacon Light, who had finished third in the Champion Hurdle, and the enigmatic Bird's Nest, the old foe of Night Nurse and widely acknowledged to this day as one of the best hurdlers never to win a Champion Hurdle.

It is outrageous to consider that something was actually missing from the field. For we had just lost the enigma and legend called Golden Cygnet, who for regretfully too short a time blazed across the hurdling scene then left us forever after being fatally injured. His loss was substantial, even in such a vintage era.

Monksfield with Dessie Hughes aboard, and Sea Pigeon, partnered by Jonjo O'Neil both carried 12 stone. Night Nurse, carried 11st 9 lb, Bird's Nest 11st 8 lb, and his stable companion Beacon Light had 11st 6 lb. Further down the field you had Schweppes Hurdle and Imperial Cup winners and the like, receiving shovels of weight. Amazingly,half the twenty runner field carried the minimum 10 stone.

Monksfield was the moral winner, failing by only three quarters of a length to concede a full two stone to the Colin Tinkler ridden winner,who himself had won at Aintree on his previous outing. Close behind was Night Nurse, who rallied gamely to finish just over two lengths further back in third.

Monksfield was arguably the toughest Champion Hurdler ever to look through a bridle. Prior to Cheltenham, he would be campaigned in his homeland, handicap after handicap, shouldering big weights in testing ground. Writing about Monksfield during that season, the Timeform organisation noted, with understatement, that ' his has been a strenuous career '.

In fact nowadays it would be termed a grueling career but, he thrived, incredibly remained an entire, and found a small stallion role when he retired.

He would do it all again the following season, retaining his Champion Hurdle then, after his customary visit to Aintree, returning for the second running of the Royal Doulton where this time, burdening 12st again, he found Beacon Light too good to whom he was conceding 13 lb.

In Ireland there existed no program of regular condition races that the likes of Istabraq and Hurricane Fly would later take in. Small fields, the odd scare, a rare defeat or tussle, but never that buzz when you watch a star tested in the big field handicap scenario, giving away lumps of weight. Neither of these ever ran in a handicap hurdle.There was never any need to.

If someone asked what 'soul' was in racing, then an acceptable answer could well be circumstances when horses are tested in a variety of conditions and who will try their hand giving weight away from the top of the handicap instead of being lovingly campaigned in a program of small field conditions events.

The UK did offer a conditions race program for top flight hurdlers at the time. You could start in the Fighting Fifth, then the Champion Hurdle Trial at Cheltenham, go for either the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton or New Years Day Hurdle at Windsor, then the Oteley at Sandown.

Some did, but some mixed handicaps in too. For example, Sea Pigeon carried top weight to win the Embassy Hurdle at Haydock one year, then attempted the same feat when finding Decent Fellow too good in the same race on a later occasion. This year he gave that event a miss as his season began with a fall on his only ever attempt over fences, in the Colonial Cup, at Camden,South Carolina. That's an event we never hear much of nowadays.

Top class established hurdlers do not appear in handicaps anymore. You'll get a Celtic Shot , Make A Stand or Rooster Booster going through the handicap route on the way up, but once they are established top class horses, connections would never use a handicap as a target in itself or as a warm up for the big one.

It will sometimes happen in the chasing sphere, Arkle, the benchmark for all, was of course was tested in handicaps, mostly when the only one in the handicap proper. Two decades later  Burrough Hill Lad was considered an outstanding Cheltenham Gold Cup winner only because of his weight carrying performance in the Hennessy. And not to forget that one of  the best and most popular chasers ever, Desert Orchid ,also could be said to have had a 'strenuous career' with regular weight defying performances in handicaps over all sorts of distances.

And if this smacks of ignorant rose tinted spectacle stuff, then what about Denman's two winning Hennessy performances, both under under 11st 12lb. They were exhilarating and testament to what the sport is regularly missing out on nowadays.

It would not be wide off the mark to suggest that when Denman won the second of those, in 2009, it was the finest example in the past decade of the sport at its very best. A few minuites that can mesmerize and win over new fans.

Such moments are becoming rarer. National Hunt racing could do with a sponsor with some initiative, ploughing a bundle into the Schweppes, or Befair Hurdle,whatever its called now, so those at the top of the tree will participate and give at least one cuddly conditions race a miss.

The Grand National has become a public relations exercise and the heady money on offer is not consistently pulling in the very best when they are at their zenith. So why not give the Hennessy such a monetary boost that the previous season's Cheltenham Gold Cup winner will take it in as part of his schedule. The Betfair Chase would have to suffer, but the sacrifice would be worth it.

SMOKE AND MIRRORS

The reason we don't answer calls to numbers we don't recognise or fail to answer the doors to curious strangers with clipboards is because we have no wish to engage with some unctuous, guileful character with a forced smile. When trying to picture and hear such a being, Corals mouthpiece Simon Clare could be used as a basis for a caricature.

Some months back a thread was started on the Betfair Forum inviting the posters to name the person they most disliked in racing. The name of Simon Clare littered the responses,though the general gist  was that all of the bookmakers reps are cut of the same cloth and disliked across the board by those with no vested interest in what they stand for.

If  the internet had existed in the 1970's and racing fans had then been asked the same question, it would be inconceivable that someone in the same role would get anywhere near the top of the list. Yarn spinners like  Ron Pollard of Ladbrokes ,and William Hill's Graham Sharpe were indeed 'personalities', but were colourful characters and not despised.

So when a post appeared on the Betfair Forum last Monday evening from a long standing poster by the name of Irish Whisper, announcing that he would be appearing on the televised ATR Sunday Forum with Clare and Paul Kealy of the Racing Post, and whether there were any questions forum members would like him to put to Clare, the response was predictably hot.

Irish Whisper is Kevin Blake. He has various journalistic roles in the industry, states he is a successful punter, and revealed that he also works as an advisor to Joseph O'Brien in the placing of his horses. He does not post on the Betfair Forum as frequently as he once did but appears to have retained his principles.

The ATR Sunday Forum rarely offers much to listen to. Most of us don't bother tuning in, too accustomed to the likes of combinations of John McCririck, Chris Cook, Peter Thomas and Gaye Kellaway going through the motions without rocking any boats.

This time we would be watching, without really knowing what to expect.

It got off to an underwhelming start with the announcement from presenter Sean Boyce that Paul Kealy was under the weather and would be leaving his seat empty. Moreover, the introductions by Boyce took far to long,wasting valuable time, though we did hear that Clare was from a middle class London family and the son of a head shrink.

Even before any awkward questions arose Clare looked visibly uneasy, lots of jestering with his arms, and already defensive in tone. And it was not as though he was in the pressure cooker straight away. There was no flow, issues began to be touched upon but it was not until over half an hour into the programme before Boyce read out a viewers question, apparently from a mysterious, well known journalist, who was getting knocked back with twenty quid bets.

Clare defended the practice by saying that it was wrong to look at the issue in the light of a single twenty quid bet being knocked back, rather we should consider that it could be a thousand punters all wanting individual bets at the top line price.

One very pertinent point raised by Blake here related to the wisdom in bookmakers closing down accounts early on, due to the patterns displayed by the punter predicted as unlikely to be profitable to the bookmaker in the long term.

He brought up the common scenario whereby punters can get in the mode of carefully finding some value wise shrewd bets, giving the impression of being in full control.That is until they hit a bad spell when the willpower quickly dissolves and the rule book goes out the window, and with it an inability to batten down the hatches.

The option of being patient and chipping away in a controlled manner until the tide turns seems less appealing than trying smash out of trouble which often ends up exhausting the whole betting bank and rendering fruitless all the good work previously achieved.

Ninety five per cent of us have all done this.

It can of course become worse for those who succumb to what is presently the most addictive and obtuse habit in gambling, the cancerous FOBTS, which as expected were attacked by Blake and defended by Clare.

These horrible, gaudy looking and gaudy sounding machines bring a new breed of desperadoes into LBO's. To observers the players appear under a spell. These machines offer no pauses to reflect and re-asses finances.

On the day Frankel won the Juddmonte, I left before the final race to catch a train. On the way to the station I popped into an LBO to watch the last race. There existed  two separate communities, a small group of punters, ready for the last event to get under away.A dying breed but visible enough on big race days.

Then there there was the other 'community', though these were made up of individuals who did not interact with one another. Seated, playing the FOBTS, press,press,press, oblivious to all else. I doubt they would have swiveled around for the few minuites it took to run Frankel's race.

The show's schedule was one and a quarter hours, but with it being slow to warm up and with the breaks, it soon approached the late stages and had not even got into full stride. It was regretful that Kiely had not shown, as Blake came out with a couple of late hooks.

He asked why it is left to journalists from outside the sport to report on issues in areas that the racing journalists themselves won't delve into, then suggested it's down to racing writers and broadcasters carrying out paid work for bookmakers, and not wishing to bite the hand that feeds.

In working for ATR Blake himself could be said in a roundabout way to be in paid employment by bookmakers, but his late rally left the viewer in no doubt what he was not frightened to ruffle some important feathers.

Putting him on a similar show alongside Bruce Millington ,Graham Cunningham, with Paul Haigh added to even numbers up, would be pay per view material. We could safely name the two who be most likely to pull sickies at the last moment.

A FREE VOICE FOR ALL

Until the birth of social media no platform was available for racing fans to freely express their views and put the racing world to right.Well, you did have readers letters pages in some racing publications, but nothing that would rock the boat could be uttered. 

Much respected trainer .... no jockey riding better.... charming owner and a benefit to the sport.That's all they wanted to print from you. Most of the time at least. It meant the voiceless thousands could be kept silent.Criticism was only accepted in a gentle way.

This meant a few 'yes people' with their fingers deep in the heavily agendasised pie had freedom of the stage and the microphones to themselves. The nearest the rest of us got to a public platform was airing views in a racecourse bar, or betting office.Nothing that could possibly rile Brough Scott and his like.

The arrival of internet forums changed all that.The gags came off and you were able to express views  that would make many uncomfortable. All of a sudden those who were use to their crowns being polished,often undeservedly, had to now learn to grow a skin.

Those who claimed never to read the Betfair Forum were clearly monitoring it. Never having had to contend with such riff raff before, they would be quick to take exception to any statement concerning themselves which they did not find agreeable.

Posters received suspensions or even lifetime bans for voicing opinions that did not even border on being libelous. As an example, a frequent but intelligent and coherent poster on the Betfair Forum, received a life ban for airing the view that a particular racecourse commentator was rubbish. It was nothing more or nothing less than this.

Another thin skinned writer and television journalist, himself a forum member, would lose it on the keyboards and has even invited posters to meet him for a physical fight.

Some challenged characters in the racing media are so precious that their names are starred out when you attempt to type them.There are rumours that lawyers scan the forum for potentially libelous comments. What is strange is that a post can be pulled for a comment that says very little about some jockeys, while others are accused of strangling a mount or purposely finding trouble in running, and the comments stand unchallenged.

Racing Post editor Bruce Millington once wrote that Betfair Forum members were not fit to be let loose with a set of crayons. He also suggested that some mental home residents must be getting access to computers.

While it was easy to conjure up a freaky image in the mind's eye of Gremlin like characters on keyboards up and down the country, cackling away and making mischief, there were and still are some excellently stated threads criticising how the Racing Post has fallen from grace, and that the publication exists to serve the bookmaking industry.

Some of these threads disappear. So do most that mention Millington's name.This is a court were career journalists are too scared to tread.

The most celebrated thread on the Forum was the one titled 'Clerkwatch', which began in April 2008. This was set up to build evidence that the going descriptions issued by clerks of the courses were on the scale of inaccurate to downright false.

There was an underlying allegation that confusing the playing arena for the punter would lead to more unpredictable results, increased profits for the bookmakers, which in turn would benefit racing through the Gross Profits Tax structure, used to determine the levy collected.

It was an open thread based on the trust that if you contributed, then you knew what you were talking about. Each day race times were studied against the standard times, then discussed in the context of the going descriptions and stick readings.

Patterns emerged where some racecourse clerks grew reputations for taking more liberties with going descriptions than others.The problem was with it being a free for all it would only take one or two to undermine the whole thread.

An owner who has had some decent animals with both Roger Charlton, and the Hannons, contributed to the thread making some interesting observations. He eventually left due to the views of one or two headstrong individuals who would not consider valid and well constructed views that challenged their own.

Furthermore, a popular racecourse commentator who is a member of the forum was dismayed when a poster accused Ascot of selective watering during the middle of the Royal meeting one year, in order to switch the bias of the draw and confuse the punting public.

The thread reached its high point when its two main engineers, Londoner Nick Davies who posted as 'Zilzal' , and a person from the Middlesbrough area who posted as 'Jonjo', were invited to a preliminary meeting with some clerks of courses organised by the BHA. They were led to believe that the meeting would be a precursor to a larger gathering, with the possibility of television cameras being present.

Nothing from the meeting was taken any further.They never heard from the BHA again.Not long after the thread went silent, hope abandoned.

The thread received recognition from Guardian journalist Greg Wood.The rest of the scribes, too snug and settled to risk biting the hands that feed, did not wish to turn any of their mutually beneficial friendships sour. Besides, they could  not contemplate giving recognition to a forum that may have fired arrows at them in the past.

When assessing the Betfair Forum in general, it has to be said that the number of intelligent and enthusiastic posters has declined in recent years.There are a handful of good ones but many have disappeared.

The other popular forum  is 'The Racing Forum' . Posters are generally more respectful to one another than the Betfair Forum, the pace is more sedate, but worryingly there are a few regulars who seem to work for major bookmaking firms,thus may have an agenda. Put it this way, a certain bookmaking firm appears to have more influence on the forum than Betfair do on theirs.

Hopefully there will be a resurgence in the Betfair Forum, an increased intensity ( without the introductions of tools if possible) on The Racing Forum, or even the birth of a new forum..

That we can only hope could be less of a sign that many genuine, articulate members were fed up with the idiots aboard the ship and more to do with the fact that interest in the sport of horse racing overall is declining. And that is a suspicion that should make every racing enthusiast uneasy.

Picture licensed by Creative Commons

FROM STARS TO STRAGGLERS

Steve Williams was once the highest earning New Zealand sportsman. He accrued considerable earnings from his percentage take for carrying the golf bag of Tiger Woods and, to what degree we will never know, having influence on the decisions that 'his' golfer made during a tournament.

A racehorse trainer has more influence on the outcome of an event than a caddy, but neither could be really classed as sportsmen. In horse racing it is possible to be next to useless and remain a participant. For training, as long as you have a wealthy, dedicated and foolish supporter, or have the wherewithal yourself, you can drift aimlessly along and make up the numbers.

William Jarvis hails from a famous racing family. With support from the Howard De Walden family, he burst to prominence early in his career with the top class Grand Lodge. The colt won the Dewhurst, was narrowly beaten in the 2,000 Guineas, then gained compensation in the St James Palace Stakes.

Jarvis has not trained a winner at the highest level in the twenty three years since.He has trained seven winners so far this year, eleven last season, and nine the year before. The last Group race winner trained by Jarvis was Gravitation a decade ago.She too was owned by the Howard De Walden family.

There was a general opinion that Robert Armstrong was a 'good trainer'. It was one of those mechanical opinions. A compliment delivered without much thought.In the written word there was never a word printed that bordered on questioning his ability, even when he had clearly lost the touch, interest, key staff or whatever it was.

Whether criticism was a no go because of him having a famous father trainer, being related to the Piggotts, and often being able to secure eye-catching jockey bookings, who knows.

Armstrong did excel with two champion sprinters in Moorestyle and Never So Bold during the first half of the eighties, but it cannot be denied that his career was only prolonged in the end by Hamdan Al Maktoum support.

The owner supplied him with his final Group One winner when Maroof caused a massive upset when winning the 1994 Queen Elizabeth 11 Stakes. Armstrong trained until the end of 2000. In his last three seasons he trained fourteen, eight, and six winners respectively.

On retirement he revealed that he wanted to have more time for other interests, such as sports car racing in Jersey.It was an easy choice to make given how his training career had regressed and is a clear indication that the enthusiasm had subsided.Very few others in a similar position would have had the option of pursuing such a glamorous, alternative hobby.

That Hamdan Al Maktoum sustained the flat training career of  Harry Thompson Jones is a story of its own, but not to forget the same owner likewise was the lifeline in the later stages of the training careers of a good few more, in particular Ben Hanbury,and the once revered P.T.Walwyn.

Hanbury was another trainer who received the perfunctory 'good trainer' label without much thought put into the statement. He retired in 2004. He always came across rather pompous in his television interviews. While he will be known chiefly for the exploits of Midway Lady, his last winner at the highest level was Hamdan's Matiya, in the 1996 Irish 1,000 Guineas.

Peter Walwyn's Seven Barrows yard was arguably the strongest in England in the first half of the 1970's, with 1975 seeing him enjoy his most famous year with the celebrated Grundy. Many forget he went close to winning the French Derby in that year too, with Patch, a colt carrying the same Dr Carlo Vittadini colours.

So, we go into 1976. Walwyn now with the yard that has the most kudos in the land. His main runner in the Epsom Derby that year was Oats, in the Oldroyd colours. He ran a fine stayers race if albeit a touch onepaced, to finish third behind Empery and Relkino.

What no one could foresee at the time, was that this would be the last ever time Peter Walwyn would have a runner in the frame in the Epsom Derby.

Bit by bit, the relentless motion of the combine began to slow, though it was not obvious unless you looked hard enough.The short flirt Walwyn had with the Wildenstein horses concealed the fact that all was not right with the Seven Barrow's operation per se. Slowly the owners went.Lord Howard De Walden and Louis Freeman gave the pick of their juveniles to Henry Cecil.

We were told, and have no reason to doubt, that a virus had set in and remained.Others noted that Ray Laing and Matty McCormack, lieutenants in the team, had now set up training on their own. Laing did not really prosper with a licence himself, though he was admittedly never given much to work with. Neither was McCormack, but he did achieve big race success with Horage.

In May 1979 New Berry won the Glasgow Stakes at York in a close tussle with Niniski. A genuine Derby prospect possibly, but it was not to be. Only four years on from Grundy this would be the last time Eddery and Walwyn would team up in the race.The whole set up was losing face, no surprise then when Eddery accepted an offer from Robert Sangster to move to Ballydoyle, after initially being approached in the Summer of 1980.

In an interview in the November 1980 edition of Pacemaker International, Eddery told Chris Hawkins,' I've never really thought I'd leave Peter who's a great trainer. But I found I was missing some of the big meetings trying to win races on moderate horses elsewhere, and that's not good for your career.'

And with an honesty you would not hear from a modern day Premiership footy player, he revealed, 'So when the Sangster offer came I had to think about it,especially when the money was upped after I originally turned it down.'

The humiliation for Walwyn  did not let up. The  highest priced yearling at the 1979 Keeneland Sales ended up in Seven Barrows, and was set to be trained from there for the duration of his career.I remember being told by someone who worked there at the time that the lads were expecting some prepossessing individual but were far from impressed with the smallish,compact specimen they set their eyes upon.

The following spring owner Stavros Niarchos transferred him across the Channel to the yard of Francois Boutin. He cited tax laws,although the other yearlings he had sent to Walwyn, remained with him .

The animal, who was removed from Walwyn before he ever ran, was Nureyev. God only knows how the Northern Dancer colt's career would have progressed if he had stayed in Lambourn.

If that was not enough punishment, the trainer tried to obtain the services of the champion apprentice Walter Swinburn, offering him a position of second jockey. Michael Stoute then stepped in and matched the offer. Walwyn then went further and offered him the position of stable jockey. Stoute matched that offer too and the rest is history, with Shergar's 1981 season being Swinburn's first with the Newmarket trainer.

P.T.Walwyn's career continued on a lower orbit. He did at least capture a Group One in his last decade training, in the shape of Hamas, winner of the 1994 July Cup. His last season with a licence was 1999. By then he had already downsized and moved back to Windsor House,with Nicky Henderson going in the other direction.

In addition to William Jarvis, there are other licence holders operating now who have taken a tumble downwards. A few other are close to the cliff, close to slipping.They can certainly all thank their lucky stars that racing is not a professional golfing tour as they would be at risk of losing their card.

THE ROOT CAUSE OF THIS CHAMPIONS DAY NONSENSE

I cannot remember many moaning that there was too much wrong with the Champion Stakes when it was run in its true home of Newmarket. Sure enough there was a winding down feel to the meeting, a worn hue to the turf, but the race itself could offer a final opportunity for a reputation to be consolidated or re-established, it could put the icing on a career, or could hold out promise for the following year for those remaining in training.

Three years before it moved from Newmarket, Derby winner New Approach won in commanding style, showing very much that the race was alive and still taken seriously. And there is no question that Frankel would still have competed if the race had remained in its birthplace. Certainly, the introduction of the Breeders Cup had not harmed it to any measurable degree.

The Cesarewitch would share the card, the Houghton Stakes would throw up something to deliberate about over the Winter, and the day before we'd have had the Dewhurst, deservedly being the showcase of the card. Far too important a race to be demoted to a supporting event.

Not much amiss with that original format at all, and no justification for tinkering with it. Brough Scott would praise the fixture to the hilt when he fronted it for C4. Which is all the more baffling that he expressed wholehearted approval of the race in its new slot when asked about it during racing on Saturday.

Let's lay down what this 'Champions Day' actually comprises of. It is the Newmarket race moved to Ascot ,then put on the QE 11 card along with the Jockey Club Cup, which has been given a new fancy name and a prize money boost.The old Princess Royal Stakes, and Diadem Stakes, have likewise been given pretentious names and prize money boosts.

Not sure if I'm missing anything, but could they just have not boosted the money levels for the original events,kept them in their traditional slots, and retained their race titles.

There exists a modern, unjustified belief, that things need to be jazzed up to attract attention. This meeting is the result of a naive eye-catching initiative that will end up being tampered with again sometime soon.Jam packing long entrenched races on the same card minimizes their individual importance in the eyes of observers.

Horse racing, at least in its original home of the UK, is  a sport whose clockwork, rigid calendar has been one of it's main strengths. Regrettably,it has seen more obtuse, misled individuals tampering with it in the past thirty years than in the previous two hundred.

This has arisen from a desire to emulate the Breeders Cup meeting.The first attempt was shoving a card of decent races together, with a prize money boost, on QE 11 day in the 1990's .Then came a bit of tampering with Champion Stakes day at Newmarket, such as adding the Dewhurst and all that.

Looking back,there can rarely have been so much fanfare, anticipation, and with it a little fear of the unknown, as the first ever staging of the Breeders Cup approached."From now on", a spokesman for the event announced, "all events in racing will be known as BBC or ABC"

In other words, the impact of this new event would be so significant that in the future historians would be required to know whether a set of achievements occurred before the Breeders Cup was in existence, or after.

Such a cocksure broadcasts did have to be taken with a pinch of salt. Particularly when you consider that the whole idea had been woven together to address the concern that horse racing was losing ground in the television audience figures to the other sports.

This was an attempt to make the sport a competitor with Baseball, Basketball, and their God that is NFL.Many years later in the UK, Peter Savill would be making not too dissimilar comments when supporting the explosion in the fixture list, and the intention to make racing competitive with footy.

Just three years before the first Breeders Cup, there had been plenty of pretentious noise over the introduction of the Arlington Million. In 1983, Pat Eddery gave Luca Cumani's Tolomeo an inspired ride to claim a first European victory in the event.

When the Breeders Cup got off the blocks at Hollywood Park in 1984, the importance of the Arlington Million dropped a league.The next new big thing had put the race in the shade.

Traditionalists wishing ill luck on the event would be left feeling sour. It was an unqualified success and gripped UK fans in its second staging at Aqueduct in 1985, when Pebbles, following on from a mighty impressive Champion Stakes victory, won the Breeders Cup Turf under another fine Eddery ride.

Moreover, who can forget the publicity generated for the sport back home when the mighty Dancing Brave took his place on the line up for the 1986 Breeders Cup Turf.

As well as getting a showing on a special late evening C4 broadcast, Dancing Brave's mission received considerable exposure in the mainstream news. Cameras visited a pub where Guy Harwood's lads readied themselves for what they, like most of us, thought  would be a formality.

With some wearing baseball caps baring the horse's name, the cameras recorded their frozen, disbelieving expressions, as it dawned on them that ' The Brave' would not be winning.

The event was now cemented as an extension of the European calendar.You could travel over after taking in Longchamp with not much to lose.There would be easy excuses in place for below par efforts if the sparks fizzled out.

Fast forward to 2008 at Santa Anita, the meeting now with fourteen races carrying a BC title.The event spread over two days.Something has been missing from the new, Punchestownesque watered down version ever since. At least they have cut out the Marathon which was producing the most questionable 'champions', but there are still thirteen events from an original seven.

They should watch they do not inflict self harm on what has been a great success. It has a history now, if only a recent one, but a very proud one. It is nevertheless a very American concept, and something that belongs there.Continually muddling up the fixture list to try copycat events will serve no useful purpose

Picture author Lisa Andres

A FRAGMENTED GAME

'Could Peter Grayson stop tomorrow being Sunday', was the curious title of a thread posted on a controversial horse racing forum, on a December Saturday back in 2010. It was alluding to the trainer's shocking run of form - in fact, for the calendar year 2010, he had a single winner from one hundred and fifty runs.

A poster, claiming to know details of how Grayson operated, quickly sprang to the suffering trainer's defence, praising his work ethic by revealing that he drove the horsebox and saddled up all the runners himself, as well as bringing up a young family.Basil Fawlty would probably have noted that it all sounds very tiring, but the gist of the defence was that you cannot be expected to perform well in your sphere without the material and means.

In 2006 and 2007, Grayson trained ten and seven winners respectively. Reasonable hope could have been held out for him to bed in and progress to what could be termed as the sustainable lower ranks.Yet,it was not to be.Just fourteen winners from his Formby yard for the remaining eight years over which he held a licence.

A cursory look at the present trainer's statistic table shows many to be struggling, and one wonders how they make ends meet.The fact that Grayson had to hand back his licence is testimony to him running an honest operation,but it would be hard to believe that all of these toiling souls are so pious as to not to be partial to stopping a fancied one and cashing in.

In this day of a bulging fixture list, with prize money on offer low for animals with winning ability at the lower ends, losers can be more profitable than winners, even allowing for the fact that liquidity on the exchanges at the smaller meetings is suffering.

Naturally, the horses chosen to collect off would have to have shown some ability to be close to the front end of the market,but when you note some of the low rating bands of races at the basement end of the game, even the stragglers in the training ranks will have a couple with a modicum of ability who will,now and again, have the odd winning opportunity.

Plenty of openings are available for dross, that even a horse rated in the 50's can find a race where there will be a realistic chance of success.The animal is therefore 'competitive' in its grade, so will occasionally open short enough in the market to make the opportunity of cashing in on defeat an attractive proposition.

Of the the seven upcoming races on the Newcastle card this coming Thursday, only one has prize money in excess of £5,000 to the winner.Three of the events have a mere £2,500 to the winner, two are 0-65's, the other a 0-60.

Some would say the plus side to this state of affairs that allows more garbage racing than ever before for more garbage animals than ever before, is that the safety net is widened for more animals who would otherwise disappear,fate unknown. However, one can argue that it is the increase in fixtures that has made room for so many horses to be produced in the first place. Anyway, that delicate expanse is a complex subject in itself

An unusual and unique aspect of supporting the little guy in horse racing,is that unlike in other sports, that underdog is more likely to see the average punter as a source of fruitful gains. Far more so than the silver spoon in the mouth, Charterhouse educated handler, who will be less likely to rely on resorting to laying non triers on the exchanges to help keep afloat.

It would  increase the integrity of the game if the bar was raised in the requirements set to be a fit and proper person to hold a trainers licence, with more emphasis placed on the financial position of the prospective trainer.

Indeed,while this sounds like the death knell for those who operate by cutting corners and costs, a tightening up would actually mean the punters, the great majority of who are rank and file members of society, would play on a fairer playing field. There would be no increase in the amount of winning punters, but the losing punters would lose on a fairer basis, and  if  realising this,would be likely to continue betting on horses, as opposed moving completely to other sports

While many of the corruption cases that have come to light in recent years concern racing on an artificial surface,it should not hide the fact that fraudulent practices continue as they always have done on turf, and in national hunt racing.

And who knows whether there is truth in the rumours that unofficial,unrecorded warnings have been  handed down. If indeed they are issued, what sort of secret procedure is followed for issuing them ? Is it a case of 'we are on to you,nudge,nudge,wink,wink'.

A very fine line exists between the racing authorities being seen to seek and rout out corruption, and unveiling too much of the damn thing as to turn the punters away.

A little bit of the smoke and mirrors stuff can heighten curiosity and interest in the sport, but if it is proven to be happening on a large scale, on a daily basis, it will turn people away. This is not the case of a 14/1 shot in a novice hurdle, where the jockey is instructed to 'keep swinging away in mid div'. This is right up at the very top end of the market.

Or even worse,when an actual race may have been fixed.Remember that Wetherby race a few years back, when the uncontested lead, lack of effort by pursuing jockeys, and the market pattern, all fitted together nicely.

And what is our opinion worth when you have had cases where the owner and trainer are in disagreement over the jockey's account of his intentions in a particular race.This happens.
In fact, it happened once after a major race in the last twenty years.

The animal concerned drifted suddenly in the market beforehand and never finished the race.On the outing after, the rider kept the mount. He won on that occasion, but the riders services were suddenly discontinued with from then on, after a change of opinion from connections on what had occurred in the first event.

There is a saying that goes, ' It's hard to see the good in people when you are only looking for the bad'. It's a very appropriate one for racing.

OUT OF SIGHT,OUT OF MIND

Remember those adverts, 'A dog is for life, not just for Christmas'. A reminder to those mulling over taking a small,cuddly puppy under their roof,to consider the time,expense,and duty of care owed to their new friend.

It would not be such a bad idea if such a message went out to those considering in investing in a racehorse. Apart from the linked sport of Greyhound Racing, which has a shocking record in protecting healthy, ex-racers with plenty of years ahead of them, its equine counterpart has plenty to be ashamed of.

Racing fans from the 1970's will remember the top class Exceller, who raced in the famous Nelson Bunker Hunt colours. When trained in France he ran twice in England, winning the Coronation Cup, followed by a third place in The Minstrel's King George V1 Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes. Moved stateside to Charlie Whittingham, he won seven times, including a surprise defeat of the mighty Seattle Slew, in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park.

Exceller began his stud career in Kentucky with high hopes,but ultimately failed to live up to expectations, thus accordingly his covering fee fell. He was eventually sold to to stand in Sweden, where his new owner would soon be declared bankrupt, and a further sequence of events led to Exceller being taken to a slaughterhouse and destroyed for meat. 

It was only by chance that the story came to light when the main American racing paper, Daily Racing Form, ran a ' Whatever happened to...' series. The publicity the case received led to the creation of an 'Exceller Fund'. They use the proceeds raised to save healthy ex-racehorses from the slaughterhouse.

It has been noted that Exceller was in his early twenties when he was destroyed, but the most reliable accounts indicate he was in good health.Furthermore, the method in which he was disposed makes grim reading.Tied and 'hung up', he was still alive when bludgeoned,before having his throat cut.

It would appear that this was, or is the method of 'processing' used in this particular Swedish abattoir, and it's far from the the kindly put to sleep and buried in a marked grave, that waits for most stallions who have stood in Kentucky.

Of course, we do have to be able to recognise that they are animals, and that being put to sleep will be the only option once they naturally start to decline,or if they are not suitable for re-training. The majority of us eat animal products, are happy to do so, but do not wish to know the details of everyday life in a slaughterhouse.

Still,some of the tales we hear are bleak.Serena Miller, when running the now closed Midland Racehorse Care Center,in Ludlow, was on record detailing her visit to Turner's  abattoir in Cheshire, which is one of the most used of its kind for processing thoroughbreds. Miller paid a visit to the location under the guise of a racehorse owner, and was given a tour.

She reported, ''There were some very young thoroughbreds waiting to be killed. They were just babies. Shots were going off all the time, and they were petrified.

'They were shaking, weeing themselves, eating each others' necks. Their eyes were wild, they were wet with sweat and there was a stink of blood. I asked how long they had been there for, and I was told a week.
'
A week waiting in terror to be shot. It was a sorry sight. I was told that their trainer had dropped them off on the way to the races.'

Centers like that run by Miller are few and far between, are only able to take in a limited number of inmates, and rely heavily on donations. They make good copy for showing racing in a good ,caring light, provided you don't think too deeply and wonder where the horses end up who are not able to find such a good,caring home.

Over production in racing results in an increase of welfare issues further down the line. In the main, we only get wind of the cases involving high profile names,whether it be equine or human.There are an estimated fourteen thousand racehorses in training at the moment in the United Kingdom alone. There is no tracking system that keeps tabs on them when they finish their careers. Many go through several changes of ownership.

Daarkom, who won the Ebor when owned by Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum, ended up being discovered in poor health in the hands of the travelling community. Hallo Dandy, was found abandoned and neglected in fields surrounding a stately home. If regular tracking and checking of a Grand National winner cannot be maintained, then what hope for the horses with no racing ability who are otherwise healthy.

Racing can count itself fortunate that there are three sets of  circumstances prevailing at the moment that save the sport from a public grilling, and a total destruction of its image.

Firstly, organisations such as Animal Aid fail to get their facts fully right which undermines the  credible aspects of their arguments. As an example, they don't seem to get that a 'jumping bred' horse is invariably sired by a middle distances staying flat horse, who will have a physique to stamp his stock, who will be stored and broken in late.

They list sires such a Presenting, and claim because he ran on the flat, his jumping stock are flat bred. This has always been the case with national hunt bred horses, even those with sires who have ran over timber.The only exception to this would the French jumpers, some of whom that are half breds.

Animal Aid go on to cite the flat pedigrees of some jumping horses who have met with misfortune, claiming that their fate was caused by the pedigree. However, they are on the ball with wastage, and if they sharpened up their argument and refrained from blighting it with,what is either misunderstood or artfully presented 'facts',they would gain more respect.

The second set of circumstances that is helping racing, again concerns organisations like Animal Aid. By claiming that the actual racing,particularly national hunt racing, is cruel they are taking the spotlight away from the wastage aspect, the area in which many genuine racing fans have grave concern over.

Thirdly, we are going through a phase where those who would normally concentrate their energy into waging war against horse racing, are more occupied with keeping the oceans clean, climate change, and Donald Trump. Social Media might convey the impression that opposition to racing is a strong as ever, but there is no way it rivals the umbrage directed at the sport in the 1970's and 1980's.

There are many owners and trainers who show a duty of care to their animals. The late Tim Forster, would go out of his was to ensure that horses retiring from racing when under his wing, were found a suitable home. Godolphin have a program for re -training their retired animals who are not good enough for a stud career.

Still, there are thousands every year who are not so fortunate.They change from owner to owner,or owner to syndicate or vice versa, and disappear, their fate unknown.

Many racehorse owners keenly get involved when their financial situation has taken an upturn,but plenty of these will have businesses that have enjoyed overnight success, but are equally vulnerable to taking a quick downturn.These characters come and go all the time.The welfare of the horse is bottom of the list.

Likewise, there are numerous holders of a trainers licence who cannot possibly be turning over a profit. Prize money low and all that, lets take more from the punters via the bookmakers. But truth is no one has a divine right to be in a position to train racehorses,and there are too many of them , as well as too many horses,too many races and too many fixtures.

Soon, an organisation like Animal Aid will realise that the part of the war they can make inroads with is the wastage angle.Then,they will have a cohesive, factual case to present, and will find allies in the national press. Racing will only be able to offer a cliched, token defence.

Picture Author Mlib FR

MISERABLE UP NORTH

Many will still be in flat mode, still caught up by the ripples emanating from Chantilly, and looking ahead to more top class fare in the remaining few weeks of the proper flat season.

But for those whose racing clock was set long before the needless messing around with the back end fixtures at home, and predated the introduction of the Breeders Cup abroad,we would be half switched to jumping mode,with just the Champion Stakes,Futurity and November Handicap left, to close the book on the Summer game for the year.

It would signal the time to open up the jumping form books, and we would be eagerly awaiting Free Handicap Hurdle day at Chepstow, which coincided with the publication of Timeform Chasers & Hurdlers, when that organisation was still a truly independent one,and not somewhat tainted as it now is.

We would also have our personal horses to follow lists compiled, a nice balance from both spheres, experienced campaigners and novices, two milers and the stayers.

There would also be a good spread of trainers. And sure as hell there would be plenty in the list from the northern based trainers.The list would include Dickinson family chasing built animals, both ex flat and stores with Peter Easterby, Greystoke based chasing types, a couple of Arthur Stephenson young novice chasers already trying their hand in handicaps who look far off their potential ceiling - looking for a Sea Merchant, or a Dusky Duke perhaps.We would drool over the names in the Jimmy Fitzgerald string. Proven high class animals supported by plenty who looked real plot types.

It's all a long time back now, but it feels even longer as it is hard to take stock of just how much the heart and soul has been teared out of the northern jumping scene. One For Arthur's success in the Grand National In Name Only Chase changes nothing.Though a success in this event, unrecognisable from the one existing no more, is the only way a trainer based in the North can reach a respectable position in the final trainers table, such is the relative lack of quality in even the 'top' northern based yards.

The trainers table at the end of the of the 1976/77 National Hunt season contained five northern handlers in the top ten. Admittedly, Donald McCain's eighth position was owed to the prize money haul from Red Rum's third Grand National, but Peter Easterby's second place, Arthur Stephenson's fourth spot, and Tony Dickinson and Gordon Richards sixth and ninth places respectively, came from solid season long performances.

Fred Winter topped the table with his rival Lambourn legend,Fulke Walwyn, in fifth, and another hall of famer, Fred Rimell, representing the Midlands in third.This was the typical balance of power in the jumping sphere at the time.

The tables five years later, at the end of 1981/82 season, had four northern representatives in the top ten. Michael Dickinson had won the championship comfortably. Peter Easterby, Gordon Richards, and Arthur Stephenson filled positions six, eight,and nine.Dickinson topped the table for the following two seasons.

Since then no northern trainer has been champion.

Gloomily, the general comedown extends beyond the trainers and horses.Two of the most notable venues have lost their character too.The Highways Agency put the boot into Wetherby,with the widening of the A1 as part of their Wetherby-Walshford scheme.

The Highways Agency produced a project evaluation report. Full of 'facts', figures, and meaningless statistics.Not too dissimilar to the nonsense concocted by projects and reports drawn up to Pacesetter standards in the civil service.

Reading through the report, the impact value on the locals has predictably been an adverse one. Increased noise,and a negative impact on heritage sites, with some completely left to perish.The fact that the character of one of the truly good jump arenas was tarnished, never received any comment, all of course consistent with how insignificant the sport has become.

When Wetherby reopened in 2007,that heart stopping open ditch,what was the fourth last, and first in the straight, had gone.In fact the whole nature of the course had changed ,and was much sharper in nature. Timeform use to describe the chasing course as ' ideal for the free running,long striding individual with plenty of jumping ability'. Those characteristics do not apply anymore.

Haydock Park's (paddock scene in picture) chasing course was one of the most revered in the country.When Aintree was under threat of closure its nearby counterpart was on the short list to host the Grand National.The drop fences  presented a real test.

Timeform once listed the fences here as, 'stiff,with steep drops on the landing side'. No coincidence that many of the Grand National types appeared here regularly. L'Escargot even won an Embassy Chase Final here in his early days. Red Rum was a regular.

That great course has now gone for good.The need to cater for the loiter at the bar attendees, and to empty the contents of their pockets into the course coffers saw to that.They needed a new flat course to run alongside the present one. More dross filled meetings.The abolition of the venue's biggest attraction meant nothing to them.

So they ripped up the chase course,replaced it with the new flat one, and wheeled portable fences onto the old hurdle course for the chase races. Admittedly, the venue has solid sponsorship with plenty of valuable events throughout the winter.But it's a different, less appealing one for those properly fond of the sport.

Sharper and less galloping in nature, neutered fences.Big money will always attract good horses but it's really all just cracks being papered over.When the old course was used for the last time during 2007, a spokesman for the course was unrepentant, stating that flat racing attracts bigger crowds as its mainly staged in the Summer, and added, 'because you're attracting more people it is more profitable, end of story' 

The Clerk of the Course, Kirkland Tellwright,was of similar stance. He brought up a scenario of a brand new racecourse installing drop fences, concluding that there would be an outcry as most would consider it cruel.

That the sport's future can be influenced by those who are able to be so dismissive about its traditions, confirms that it's travelling to a dead end where they might as well have motorbike races on a tarmacked over circuit, or a stock car mash up in the centre of the tracks.At least then they'll have little difficulty drawing in the audiences they are really out to target.