A DISJOINTED MESS

Natalie Express got her head in front close home to win a 0-70 handicap at Lingfield on Wednesday. It wasn't a news worthy item but Sky Sports News showed a clip of the finish, which would have given many viewers the idea that this event was of some significance.

Look at it this way. The Sky Sports News loops generally begins with a football story, sometimes cricket or rugby, but always concentrating on topical items of importance. So for a non racing fan, which form the vast majority of Sky Sports New viewers, it would not be unreasonable of them to believe that Natalie Express's win was the most important happening in the racing world on that day, just as the Sanchez transfer news had been in the more understood one of football.

They have been doing this for years and it is something that adds to the overall disjointed picture in which the sport is portrayed.There exists a general order of importance in all of the sports, a structure that can be grasped by most.

If, on a quiet racing day, they revealed that Nicky Henderson had announced that Buveur D'Air would be taking on Faugheen in the Irish Champion Hurdle as his Cheltenham prep, then that would be a topical news item and one of some importance.

They could broadcast a recording comprising of the trainer speaking to a reporter on the phone accompanied by an archive clip of the horse in his box or on the gallops. The viewer would be able to appreciate that this concerned something from the top end of racing's pyramid. A briefing of high priority.

Instead, we are shown the finish of some low grade affair supported by a script that has been dumbed down and is read out by someone with not the slightest interest in the sport.Sometimes it can have amusing consequences.

When One Man folded up in the closing stages of the 1996 Cheltenham Gold Cup, Moira Stewart, on the evening news, reported that the "favourite Old Man dropped away to finish sixth".That must have caused some chuckles.

There can be no other sport where those from within shape a favourable angle to its news. As an example, the headline article in the Racing Post this week of, ' Young Person's Game: millenials to fore in driving down age of racing crowds.' turned out to be far from what the headline promised.

Evidently, yet another survey, one carried out by a marketing company called Two Circles for  Great British Racing, revealed that 44% of the racegoing public were born between 1980 and 2000.

However, the results were taken from advance ticket purchases, which is generally how the work party groups will obtain their tickets for the 'cult' courses such as Chester, York, along with the Cheltenham and Aintree festivals.

We know that the racegoers who make up these parties are almost all out for a day of drinking and feasting, something backed up when you delve deeper into the survey and discover that for 66% of those asked, the 'social aspect' was the main reason they went racing.

And for those who really did think that the future was a bright one for the sport, one revelation from the survey that really hit home was that 40% of the racegoers were female.

In fact, the picture accompanying the report of the survey on the Racecourse Association Website has a picture of two twenty something ladies on the course with staged smiles. One has tenner notes in one hand and a drink in the other.Some of those in the background also appear to be smiling for the camera.

No doubt some of these venues could put on an event with a concert, best dressed awards, Karaoke, and even lay some mats over the racetrack and have motorbikes whizzing around. Give the day a theme name with a local connection and you have the makings of a booming success, and all without any horse racing.

When Frankel was running Teddy Beckett was enthusiastically claiming that the horse will have won over a new generation of racing fans. Admittedly, for those already embedded in as racing fans the magnificent animal was truly appreciated.

However, flat horses rarely win over new fans.With some the flat game may eventually go on to equal or even surpass the winter game in personal affections, but the large majority are first hooked by the jumping game and most will still have it marginally ahead.

Late summer 1975. Grundy beaten in the Benson and Hedges. October and the eclipse of another star in the Arc de Triomphe, the mighty Allez France. The following month the reigning Champion Hurdler Comedy Of Errors reappears but he has challengers emerging. Night Nurse, Sea Pigeon, Bird's Nest, Dramatist. They seemed to run every couple of weeks, different combinations of them facing one another. If you never got hooked by this then you never would.

Frankel retired six years ago. There is no sign of a 'Frankel generation' of new racing fans appearing. They don't exist.

These good news interpretations of the sport tend to directly avoid the fact that racegoers are are of didly squat all use if they do not turn into regular horse racing punters. So unless these ladies are Laura Davies type characters, this will take out 40% of the audience.

So too with the majority of others who will enjoy their Summer Saturday day at York or Chester this year then return home and punt only on the World Cup ,pre-season friendlies, Cricket, or even the Grand Prix. Events at Saint Cloud, Naas or Pontefract on the Sunday, or Windsor on the Monday evening will play out unnoticed to them.

Sharing the headlines with these so called good news stories is the concern about the knock on effect for racing if as planned the maximum stake on the FOBTS is reduced to £2. We are told this will cause multitudes of LBO's to close, severely reducing media rights payments from the bookmakers. And the powers that be quite rightly realise that FOBT players will not suddenly turn their attention to betting on the nags.

It may just be that bookmakers have to turn back to taking racing seriously as a betting product and not just as the bacon in the mouse trap for potential FOBT addicts. It will be fascinating to see how it all plays out if the proposals go ahead as planned but it is probably too late with the emerging generations weaned on football betting.

They'll arrive home on a midweek winter day, watch the sport news and with it a clip from some low level, insignificant event from one of the AW tracks.They won't have any perspective for it and will conclude this was the chief newsworthy story in the sport.They'll think what a bloody awful sport it is.

FORGET THE SURVEYS, THEY DON'T EVEN TELL HALF THE STORY

Surveys, opinion polls, or any set of figures derived from the public responding to a question or set of questions. There may have been a time when many swore by them but two General Elections, a Brexit vote, and a US Presidential Election, have destroyed their credibility as well as severely damaging funds of those speculating on political events.

This is something to bear in mind when considering that You Gov poll conducted back in November, where the respondents were asked how they viewed various sports. Not surprisingly racing did not fare too well and less surprisingly still, the Racing Post put a positive spin on the results.

It is futile trying to delve deep into the results. On the plus side racing was only the joint sixth most boring sport, rated more riveting than thriving sports such as Golf and Cricket. But what does not feel right is when you look at the age groups, with not much difference in the opinions of the older and younger generations.

We know in our guts that racing does not appeal to the younger generations. And even in the unlikely circumstances that similar results would be returned in a larger poll, we would see opinions in a different light if it related to betting interests only, the only ones that really matter were racing is concerned.

On terrestrial TV coverage last weekend Richard Hoiles came out with the customary 'for the benefit of those watching for the first time', something that almost certainly is a response to orders from those pulling the strings. The commentator himself must deep down know that there is no fresh interest in the sport. Anyone believing so is less blind than deluded.

Who knows whether Ed Chamberlin was also 'guided' by others when recently advocating that racing put to bed the old mysterious terminology and replace it with a language to suit the modern era. He is not the first to call for this change but is treading on the wrong path.

The bizarre, odd customs and language of racing are a plus.They should be cherished. Applying the modernism angle cheapens the whole image and the brand, one that can boast of a stronger, richer history than all other sports.

I was chatting to a work colleague who is an avid Cricket fan, plays in a local league team, and lived many of his younger years in Australia. He is resolutely in favour of retaining the mysterious 'in house' terms used in his sport, believing that they add character, amusement, and protect the long entrenched customs.

In fact, during 2017 Sky Golf did a light hearted piece which involved putting some unexpected questions to tour players, such as asking which names for fielding position were real or made up. The players seemed genuinely tickled and engaged by it all.

It has to be accepted that the day of three and four channel TV has long gone and a sport like horse racing can easily pass people by. If on the rare occasion they are exposed to it they are unlikely to be impressed by a show condescending to their needs.If they do get bitten, then they'll go on a knowledge seeking binge on their own initiative.

Once, this would involve buying the Sporting Life and Sporting Chronicle daily, the Sporting Chronicle Handicap Book on a Thursday, and maybe even The Racehorse and Racing Specialist on a Friday. Any historic knowledge could be expanded by a trip to a bookshop or library.

Much of it is on a plate now. You can search and search the internet and call yourself a 'researcher'. But for those who like going through dusty hardcopy archives there are some gems that you can't make appear on the internet. Scrapbooks from the 1970's  and early 1980's for starters. Ah yes, I treasure my Pacemaker International magazines right back from 1974 until it was modernised in the early 1990's  - you can't get those online.

As for TV coverage there are plenty prepared to use the sport as a stepping stone. As a shop window to display their personal 'talents'. Claire Balding went from being an enthusiastic front, to a swell headed part timer. Now, swept away by her own self importance, she does not need the sport anymore.

Matt Chapman would have happily started down that path too but any of those ambitions have been curbed for the time being. I guess Rishi Pershad would be happy to ditch the sport if he could obtain employment covering his favourite sport of cricket. He appears on everything else but the role he probably wants most of all eludes him.

What cannot be fathomed is how a sport like racing that urgently needs to stem the dwindling share of the betting pie fails to make access to wider information cost free. It's a sport fighting for it's future so all racing channels need to be free to air, the highest quality online form books free to study, and racecourse admission costs reduced to match those in France.

It won't happen anytime soon.To be honest it may already be too late. But as a first step, what about a BHA website listing the movements of every horse in training. The publishers of Horses In Training will not be supporting such an initiative but for an aspiring student of the sport to be able to click on the details of every trainer's string regularly updated might just be a facility that wins over some new fans.

Which brings me to another work colleague, the one that once told me, 'racing is not a proper sport as it needs betting to survive.'  

He's been causing havoc for over ten years on one of the football forums for fans of a spectacularly famous Premiership Football Club. He cannot accept that he, as a long, long standing season ticket holder at his club, one whose ground he lives only three miles away from, is classed as no more of a fan of the club than someone who lives in Bath or Beijing, and has chosen a big name club to 'support' in a location they have no connection to and live many miles away from.

He is obsessed with what he sees as the injustice of it all and many of his bans have come from rankling many fellow posters by referring head on to them as 'parasites', or condescendingly as his  'distancely challenged friends'.

His usernames are generally 1970's themed. He had a long run lasting a few months out of Spangles, and is now attempting to build up posts under Amateur Hour, after Sparks second single. His interest in racing is limited but his 'put down' of the sport reflects how much too many people view it.

Racing does need betting to survive but has lost many opportunities to secure more from the betting pot. For starters, the Totalisor should have been brought into the sport's hands and molded into something that would make it competitive with SP betting. If the stimulation in trying to solve the puzzle of a race wains, so does the sport.

Back in the 1980's Rod Fabricius, with reference to Goodwood, stated that he would rather have a crowd of one thousand paying £10 each than ten thousand paying £1 each. The latter option with raw racing on show without the gimmicky pop concerts would be the choice if the clock could be turned back. But they took for granted that racing would continue to be the dominating domain for punters and the sport has suffered ever since.

A PR DISASTER IN WAITING

Searching for the next big thing is something that is needed to keep the fire burning in all sports. Music too, Marc Bolan was reportedly baffled when his droves of obsessed fans were replacing him in their affections with Donny Osmond and David Cassidy.

The buzz of unearthing new talent is why on typical solid looking Friday Newbury card with a fairly valuable handicap hurdle and a good quality handicap chase, we might just shown a bit more interest in watching the replay of the novice hurdle or novice chase.

It is also why on a decent looking Thursday or Friday  Newmarket card with a couple of good handicaps and a listed race, we'd be wanting to see the replay of the two year old maiden first.

There is a different type of pleasure at the opposite end, age wise. A Further Flight, Yeats or Boldboy on the flat, a Mole Board, Willie Wumpkins or Take The Stand (pictured), in the proper winter game.

It is horses like this that spring to mind with the speculation this week about the possibility of a veterans chase at the Cheltenham Festival. A prospect which for now at least has been disowned by course director Ian Renton.

The enthusiasm for the introduction of such an event at the premium meeting was stirred up by a Racing Post twitter vote where 76% of those who voted were in favour .The prospect of what only can be described as an insincere button pressing campaign influencing decisions in the sport is a worrying one.

The never short of words Mick Fitzgerald has come out in support of this proposed new race, along with the irksome Simon Clare, who was prominent in a list of 'the most disliked person in racing' by posters on a popular forum thread.

There are two main issues to address when considering how wise it would be to introduce a race like this at the festival. Firstly, more dilution of a meeting already diluted beyond reason over the past decade. And secondly, image and welfare.

Let us look at Mac Vidi. He lined up as a fifteen year for the 1980 Cheltenham Gold on the back of a terrific season where he defied his age to win seven races. To some 1980 does not seem ancient but consider this. Mac Vidi was foaled in 1965. His sire, the Cesarewitch runner up Vidi Vici was foaled in 1947, his paternal grandsire in 1935. Now that does feel ancient.

As others dropped away Mac Vidi was chasing the relentless Tied Cottage and though he could not keep tabs on that rival passed the post in third place, with only Master Smudge, who would eventually be awarded the race after the winner failed a dope test, passing him in the later stages of the race.

The only equivalent that springs to mind in other sports is the mighty Tom Watson coming so close to winning the Open Championship at Turnberry in 2009.

Mac Vidi ran another cracker on his next outing at Sandown and finished the season with the rating of a good, solid handicapper. Presenting a talent like him with the opportunity to compete in a closed event against veterans would be disrespectful to the meeting and the horse.

Pam Neale did allow Mac Vidi to make fleeting appearances as a sixteen and seventeen year old. His ability now gone from? him but thankfully he did leave racing in one piece.

Tied Cottage himself was twelve years old at the time of his Gold Cup 'win' and a grand old campaigner. Three years later at the age of fifteen, he would finish fifth in the Christies Foxhunters, adding some embellishment to the event.

Of course, in a high risk sport these adventures can have sad conclusions. The popular and former top class Doran's Pride also lined up for the same event as a fourteen year old in 2003. He got as far as the second fence before falling with fatal consequences.

His trainer Michael Hourigan passed some realistic and sensible observations after the incident which hit the  nail on the head.

'When we tried to retire the old fellow ' said Hourigan, ' he would be at the gate watching us come in every day'. So here was an animal passed his best but yearning for the old routine and giving signs that he wanted the show to continue.

Perhaps the prime example of all in support of animals racing on until they ask the retirement question themselves, would be Fred Winter's glorious old campaigner Sonny Sommers, who won two of his last three starts during the 1979/80 season as an eighteen year old.

For those of the view that the racing's own media machine has itself a habit of broadcasting the dangers of the sport , there can be no doubt that dead horses in a veteran's only event at the festival would be an absolute disaster. It would be met with the, 'too old to race against healthy horses but never say no to the chance of a nice little pot' sort of claptrap rhetoric.

Of course, it's the fact that the misguided with media space and time in the sport spend too much time debating risk to the horse that catches the attention of the groups who otherwise are tuned into what they rightly see as issues of a higher priority unconnected to the sport.

Perhaps the worst reasoned argument put forward for a veteran's Cheltenham event is the assertion that older horses are all at the mercy of the handicapper and need a little help. This view fails to consider animals who have had a couple of quiet seasons, change yards, have a new zest for life and an attractive handicap mark to boot.

And what too of those that turned to fences as five year olds and reached their ceiling at a young age. These go through the season showing they retain their ability so are given no leeway and are hard to place. Are they to be given a special event to help them along ?

Being reasonable, the Cheltenham festival is already diluted to give two hoots about how many new additions are added - they are apparently looking at introducing a mares only chase next. But a field confined to elderly animals going a bit too quick on better ground that they'd been racing on through the winter, is a recipe for disaster.