LESS POPULAR THAN ARCHERY

Search across the sporting landscape and you will not be able to find a sport to match horse racing where such a high percentage of those who make up the live, attending audience are, by their own choosing, so distanced from the sport by are supposedly fans of.

We are often reminded that racing is the second most popular sport in the UK; a misleading claim based solely on attendance figures.

For the large summer weekend and evening crowds that shape these figures, come from the 'cult' courses that are filled by work, pub and family parties. They travel to the course in large groups, and many get dragged along, Chester, Haydock, or York, it matters not where they are going.

 It is clearly ludicrous to cite these souls as racing fans and to use their willingness to go along with the flow as a measure of racing's popularity. A more accurate gauge would be a survey asking people  if given the choice, which sport they would like to attend.

The sports that racing competes with are not ones where you just get dragged along to. Some will say that T20 cricket is a booze and chant fest while at the same time forgetting that the attendees have no option but to watch proceedings develop, during which they are invariably captured by the excitement as a match builds to its climax.

Contrast this to a work party at a Chester summer weekend meeting. They are just happy to congregate in the sun, eat and drink, bet if they wish but have the option of a good get together while ignoring the racing if they so choose.

With football and rugby; all come along to get behind their team and feel part of what is happening on the pitch. Golf, tennis, boxing and Grand Prix racing are very much for true fans to attend bar the smattering of VIP, or names and faces, such as when Liz Hurley was interviewed walking around the grid prior to a Monaco GP one year and revealed that she was looking forward to the 'take off '.

The T20-20 cricket comments could apply to the darts while I would guess that you would have to be a true fan of snooker to turn up and watch it live.

Thus, it follows that if choosing which sports they would wish to attend in order of preference, then racing would be some way down the list. If it was one particular sporting event, then only Royal Ascot, Cheltenham and Aintree would reach a certain level on the list, and only then as an occasion to mark off on the bucket list.

Another gauge of horse racing's true popularity, is to examine how much coverage it receives on Wikipedia. This is more a significant aspect than most will give it credit for. The Wiki community is an unselfish one where true enthusiasts of their favourite subject will assist its profile without wishing to have their name in lights.

Admittedly, there are always going to be clowns who will attempt to insert information that ranges from misleading to downright false, some of which has caught out slothful journalists too lazy to do their own research, but the self policing community works effectively and racing is not popular enough for these jesters to get involved.

It's interesting that on Wiki flat racing receives more coverage - even in the UK alone. There is not that many omissions of the good horses on the level over the past fifty years.

By contrast it is surprising the number of high class jumping horses missing. I got myself involved around eighteen months ago penning pages on some of the top class chasers and hurdlers from the 1970's and 1980's. It's an enjoyable exercises and in  the spirit of Wiki there is no room to take subjective stance. It must be factual and supported by documented evidence.

In the spirit of the community additions to pages are encouraged, but those that contribute to the horse racing pages do not rearrange your piece for the sake of it. But the work is not your own, it stands inviting to be developed. Happily, the racing enthusiasts in the community will add only if necessary, it's not a competition. We are all just pseudonyms who have no wish to have our names known but at the same time cannot be fail to be delighted at the number of hits the pages receive.

Try searching for a reasonably well known racehorse and the Wiki entry will be high up in the search engine result.

For sources, you invariably use a mixture of Timeform Annuals, Raceform Annuals, the now discontinued Raceform/ Chaseform Note Books, and other material - Pacemaker magazines from the 1970's and 1980's are gems. You will not find any from this period reproduced on the internet. The web is however useful for finding obituaries of those linked to the subject horse that you are writing about.

Once you get using the templates and learn how to link without over linking, you are away. My first contribution was the page on Silver Buck, my most recent Midnight Court. No one has vandalised my contributions yet. The only additional add on to a write up was someone quite correctly adding See You Then' s brief comeback from retirement.

Only those who do or have at some time in the past been smitten with a particular sport would wish to contribute to Wiki which is why it is humbling to see how far down the sport is on the number of Wiki  contributions - in fact it does not get into the top twenty five.

Football tops the list from Basketball, followed by American football,then cricket. Maybe, you could claim that the list is skewed with the population of the USA giving basketball and their main form of football such prominence, with the mega population of India giving cricket such a lofty position. However, there is no explanation to account for the likes of archery, lacrosse, badminton, volleyball, softball, handball, netball and field hockey making the list, unless these are all popular in China.

With the exception of the lamentable state of the two mile hurdling division we've come of the back of a pleasing 2018/19 jumping season. Maybe, we'll be similarly enticed by the fare on the level throughout the summer. But however the flat season unfolds, no benefit comes from putting the sport up on a higher pedestal than it deserves to stand on and the attendance figures alone, do not tell half the story.

In true popularity, horse racing per se is a sport some way down the list and some of the proposed dart throwing innovations that may be brought about in the immediate future will not reverse this fact. It would be a shame to spoil the fabric of what is already there.

A LOAD OF TRIPE

Let's just say Lingfield got fortunate with the weather yesterday. There is nothing unusual about large numbers of folk , many of them families, flocking to outdoor events on  Bank Holidays. So to interpret the healthy gate as a mark of All Weather racing's popularity is anything from naive to disingenuous.

Anyone sat at home watching who is not a follower of the sport may have been mislead by the National Anthem playing before racing. Allied to the over enthusiastic claptrap being spouted by the presenters, they may have believed that this is one of the sport's big days.

The ten thousand who attended is half of what Cartmel is able to pull in on holiday weekends. And the Cumbrian course is one of the hardest to reach , situated in a remote location. This fact puts everything into context and dampens the misplaced optimism from those who believe racing on artificial surfaces in the UK is about to take a major upturn.

Being honest, we all know that the majority yesterday's Lingfield crowd would have attended if they had raced greyhounds, motorbikes or rally cars. With betting allowed on such events the crowd number may even have been surpassed. For the record, Bath had the same size crowd as the Surrey venue which shows that this was all about weather and less about the popularity of this form of the sport.

I'm guessing Luke Harvey had, under instructions from the director, sought out the lady sitting on the steps who seemed a genuine fan and not just stumbled upon her randomly, which was the impression he tried to convey. He had no option to do this after previously finding himself speaking to a gang of half inebriated bonehead types who had no doubt come for a day on the booze and would have been instead at a football fixture if whoever they support were playing at home. I doubt they'd of been having a bet on the horses today.

Those with respect for the traditions of the game would have felt their heart sink when Jason Weaver stated that this form of racing is now a big part of  the sport and is here to stay. That he had to make this remark is indication that there are large numbers who have never taken to this dreary arm of the sport. That is gratifying to know.

And then we had the ITV racing team polishing Kachy's crown, announcing that he was a star and the real thing. To his credit, he finished second in a Group 1 on the turf, chasing home Quiet Reflection in a weakly contested Commonwealth Cup in his three year old days. But he has had three attempts at that grade since and the highest place attained was ninth.

As a result you cannot help asking yourself how many of the numerous other sprinters in training would have taken to the surface and proven themselves superior to this dubious champion. It's akin to the depleted stagings of the 1980 and 1984 Olympics.

The show was set up to reach its high point with a comfortable victory from the star billing Wissahickon. He went out like a damp squib and it would be no surprise of he was now transferred to the States. The winner certainly won't be winning a Group 1 event on the turf, no matter how much they eulogise over him.

There were racing yard open days yesterday. I would bet that many long term racing fans living within reasonable travelling distance of both Lingfield and Lambourn, would have fancied the Lambourn open day but would not have accepted a VIP spot at Lingfield for free.

Loitering in and around Seven Barrows for a few hours would raise the hairs on the back of the neck. Which box was Grundy in ? may have not have gone down too well, though being truthful, as the winter sport is more popular in this country, it would not be wide of the mark to say that the present set up at this famous establishment is playing a more important role for the sport than ever before.

Those of us who have it embedded in us that flat racing is for summer and jump racing for winter, are right in the middle of changeover mode at the moment. There is an Irish Grand National .There is Punchestown too, and the old Whitbread day that has stolen Altior but whose main even has lost its mojo.

Unbelievable now to think we didn't blink an eye when Desert Orchard met Kildimo in this once celebrated event. From the top of our heads how many winners can we immediately name from the last ten years yet alone remember how the races unfolded ? Tidal Bay yep, the rest a blur.

There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that this sugar coated day at Lingfield contributes in attracting new long term fans to the sport. Indeed, this is very much an arm of the sport that fails to entice, excite, and has less chance of pulling in new fans compared to even what the Queen's Prize  Kempton meeting did in the days this race was a fairly prestigious handicap and run on the green stuff. Today, this event that can be described as part of the furniture of the sport, doesn't even get a look in on terrestrial TV.

Ed Chamberlain ended the programme yesterday mentioning that the curtain had fallen on the AW season. How many of us wish that that was really it until the whole show encroaches into next winter. Sadly though, it never goes away.
image from wiki commons

A PLEASING TIME FOR THE GRAND NATIONAL IN NAME ONLY CHASE

Even the most devout pessimist would be forced to suck lemon and admit that both of the recent National Hunt festivals went down as unqualified successes, showing the sport in a positive light from all angles.

What must now be faced up to though, is the home truth that it is not simply a case of kicking on forwards with some magic spell dissipating all problems that are threatening to destabilise the sport.

Back in the cold light of day, we must realise that we are back to square one and that even Tiger Roll cannot solve the problems of the prize money cuts that will hit the sport from next year ! He is a remarkably versatile character but exists in an era where you can choose to let the event pass by unnoticed. 

What useful purpose is served by this myth being repeated each year of this six hundred odd million watching the race worldwide ? Talk about massaging figures, if the sports news in Russia shows a thirty second clip from the race, then those watching are classed as viewers.

I was speaking to someone who spent the weekend in Mallorca, and who was met with a nonplussed gaze when asking the barman in a 'Sports Bar' they frequented, whether they would be showing the Grand National. Fact is, they had never heard of it which is very much the norm in all these countries in which we are told sit down in their masses each year to watch the race.

Another aspect of the past weekend which I find disconcerting, are all these sly little digs that those who should no better are having at Red Rum.

It has been alluded to that better quality fields are now assembled for the race without adding that the race is, in reality, 'The Grand National In Name Only Chase',  so far is it now removed from the fearsome but fair examination for its contestants that gave us knots in the stomach from those walking the course on  'Jumps Sunday', right up to and during the race itself, particularly on the occasions the runners approached Becher's Brook, which now resembles a Lion that had been killed, stuffed, and had his head put on the wall.

That 1974 performance by Rummy, on his favoured good ground, giving weight away to former dual Gold Cup winner L'Escargot, showed he was top class at his best as well as being durable.

And those of us who are able to boast that they were present on that famous day in 1977 will not yield to opinion that there are days that have since surpassed that. Quite frankly, the day had it all.

For the racing connoisseur we were graced to witness live that tremendous tussle in the Templegate Hurdle when Night Nurse and Monksfield dead heated. The former was giving away six pounds to his rival and the Timeform organisation have that performance down as the best by a hurdler in the history of the sport. Even the Racecourse Association voted him horse of the year ahead of Red Rum, by twenty three to sixteen votes.

On to the big one. The horse that had become public property being willed on by all present. We know Andy Pandy was tanking along when he came down second Bechers, (can we forget the cheer that erupted ..oops ! ), and in truth  the strong likelihood was that he would never have been caught had he stood up. However, the challenge of the race centred around the obstacles which the winner took in his stride to produce one of Britain's greatest sporting moments.

Rummy performed in the day's of three channel TV. His legend could not be ignored as it grew and blossomed. The face of the lad who looked after him for the second part of his Grand National career, the late, long haired Billy Beardwood, was more recognisable than any other stable lad before him, and probably all since.

There have been better steeplechasers than Rummy and numerous better one off individual Grand National performances. But no animal ever did more for the sport in Great Britain.

And since his time, only Desert Orchid could be put on the same equine celebrity level, with the ability to pull in swathes of new fans to the sport. It is possible to heap deserved praise on Tiger Roll without resorting to besmirching past greats from the race, when it was the real Grand National.

On a positive note, it was pleasing that the racing press handled the three fatalities at the meeting in the way that they should have done all along. It was mentioned that there always lurks a trap door in National Hunt racing. That could not describe the nature of the sport more succinctly. And the message to all was, it's a thrilling sport but can never be made danger free so fatalities have to be taken on the chin.

This is a stance that must continue as the other media outlets will not be so dismissive. The Mail On Sunday concentrated on the death of Up For Review, circling the fallen horse in a picture of the field racing away from the first fence. They also put up a picture of the field passing erected screens around a runner that survived.

That paper along with the Daily Mail itself, a so called patriotic paper, has long took quite a few snipes at National Hunt racing down  the years, even giving the impression that they would not be sorry to see it consigned to the history books. In the present day of falling paper sales the Mail is still able to sell on average one and a half million copies a day , and by making mischief is capable of causing angst in the sport if it choose to make a concentrated effort up that path.

In the evening when they review the papers on Sky News, they had a strangely ambivalent character by the name of Simon on who first praised Tiger Roll, said he loved the horse, then unexpectedly added that steeple-chasing is barbaric and akin to bull fighting ! The presenter did not ask him to elaborate.

In the readers comments section in a paper local to Aintree, someone wrote , " Post pictures of the injured and dead horses if you wanna report the truth. This blood sport is barbaric. We don't want this. You bet they die. All lives matter."  

Another reader responded with, " Who is 'we'. You and your tree hugging, unemployed, smelly charity shop clothes wearing  greasy haired scruffs ? " 

Perhaps if everyone had taken the stance of this reader a few decades back then we would still have the race that has now gone forever.

Image by Karen Roe reproduced under creative commons licence