A WARNING SIGN

It's that time of year when most who follow racing are switching to jumps mode. For those who view the All -Weather scene as an unwelcome infringement into the winter months, all things surrounding the summer game will be of secondary importance as we become buzzed up in anticipation as the opening developments of the National Hunt season unfold.

Regrettably, one ingredient that had become part and parcel of this time of year is missing. This is that celebrated Ten to Follow competition that reached its crescendo around twenty years back. We all know the one. Interest in it bordered on fanatical, the prize money funds were huge but within reach of your average Joe, as just like when a single line could beat the syndicate entries in the Scoop 6, the Ten to Follow competition would sometimes be won by someone with a single entry.

Many people will look back and associate the competition with the Racing Post but it was originally run by Pacemaker in the 1970's and 80's. There was no razzmatazz attached to it then. It just ticked along nicely and felt quite homely.

Every October the likes of Tim Fitzgeorge -Parker, Noel Winstanley and Michael Clower would speak to the trainers on behalf of the magazine to ask for a couple of recommendations. They were looking less for dark horses than nailed on big race winners. And it's likely for this exercise they rang rather than visited.

At the start of the 1978/79 season Eddie O'Grady believed that Jack of Trumps should,  "certainly of captured the public's imagination by the end of the season." Fred Winter thought that Ten Dollars More would be a chaser to follow and Kilwarren, a decent handicap hurdler, while Peter Eatserby revealed that his 1976 Lloyds Bank Hurdle winner Town Ship was back in training after leg trouble.

For the beginning of the 1984/85 season it was Clower and Martin Julian contacting the handlers. This time Fred Winter mentioned a dozen names. Apparently, Hazy Sunset was the apple of his eye. His long-standing Lambourn rival Fulke Walwyn revealed that Everett " disappointed me so much in the Gold Cup that I had him tested." I'm guessing in the case of Julian he would have visited rather than just dialled their numbers.

The competition gained prestige and grew too big for its foundations. The Racing Post took control in conjunction with the Tote and the participants and prize funds multiplied. Other sports then followed. Their fantasy competitions remain healthy and continue to thrive.

I doubt the masses that participate will be aware or really care that the idea  originated from horse racing. Like when a famous band steals a rhythm for a track from a beneath the radar outfit, those other competitions pilfered their idea from the horse racing version. 

The horse racing one died a death a few years ago. It was not continued with soon after Betfred took control of the Tote but was on the slide in any case. In fact when the announcement was made in 2014 that the competition would cease, the reason cited was 'falling entry levels'.

Similar, smaller versions live on here and there but there does not exist the enthusiasm that the original one was met with at its peak.

This is most concerning for the true barometer for measuring the popularity of the sport in this country is to determine the following that National Hunt racing has once the cult racegoers are separated from the rest. And it is not unreasonable to conclude that when an event that was the domain of the enthusiastic followers perishes owing to lack of interest, then genuine engagement with the sport has fallen.

No matter how much we endear ourselves to the Sea The Stars and Frankels of the horse racing world, they do not draw in the same level of public engagement as a Bula, Night Nurse, Desert Orchid or Denman.

What it boils down to is that if the popularity of the jumping greats is declining, then there is a hell of a lot to be worried about. It is this sphere of the sport that first cements an individual following.  As an example, if someone took an interest in the sport after watching the Grundy versus Bustino duel, they would then have that interest locked in by the likes of Lanzarote, Captain Christy and Collingwood.

A disturbing aspect of this to consider is the likely average age of the enthusiasts who took part in the competition two decades back as the suspicion is that many have passed away and not been replaced.

In truth, given the current climate where the rival sports receive competent wall to wall coverage, it should not be a surprise that the emerging generations have not become smitten by the sport.

The welfare issue is often cited in the wrong context by individuals within the sport who don't think before making cliched comments. The general public do not ponder over issues involving horse racing and those who may in a different climate have actively been involved in anti-racing campaigns are quite rightly directing their angst towards matters involving pollution and climate change.

As an example, some may have heard about the petition started by Animal Aid in which they called for the running of the sport to be taken from the hands of the BHA and put under the control of an independent body. The petition reached 105,000 signatures, passing the 100,000 mark required to be considered for parliamentary debate, but when you consider that Animal Aid has a clique following, with over 80,000 followers on Twitter alone, the number supporting the petition is not particularly high given that followers of the organisation almost certainly put their name to all the petitions.

Maybe we should take more notice of a change.org  Petition opened seven months ago to ' ban horse racing in the UK and Ireland before more horses purposelessly die.' To date, this has been signed by just short of 1,800 individuals. Hardly alarming.

And what of the one with similar aims opened by an individual through gov.com which was closed yesterday. It had run its course of six months and required ten thousand signatures to take the issue to Parliamentary debate. The number of individuals who signed? A magnificent 47!

If anyone listened to the views of everyday people that don't frequent university campuses or loiter in anarchist bookshops, they will find that apart from the 'cult' tracks being used now and again as the location for a works day out, the nitty-gritty of the sport neither concerns or appetises them.

If the generation that fervently followed the sport as adults during the 1970's have now almost gone, what of their successors who have failed to endear themselves to the sport in the same numbers and who have children of their own?

From whatever angle you view it and however much they paper over the cracks, this is a sport whose future is far from secure. No reasonably minded person could possibly think otherwise. It is a pressing concern.