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.