CHERISH WHAT WE HAVE

Imagine the uproar if the editorial team of Motor Sport suggested that to spice up the Grand  Prix season they should have a race where the drivers have to swap cars with a rival team halfway through the race, or if Golf Digest called for a regular PGA Tour event to trial a rule where the players tee off by firing the ball from a catapult.

All stupidity and nonsense of course, which is why it is baffling that there has been no stir in response to the Racing Post piece last week where members of the staff came up with ideas for attracting a fresh betting audience to offset the hit the sport is predicted to take from the loss of FOBT revenue.

Leaving aside the long embedded idea of racing forming its own variations of being its own bookmaker, be it an exchange or tote, some of the suggestions were ludicrous and move the focus away from what makes the sport so attractive and which has played a part in maintaining its longevity.

The daftest one of all was to trial 'relay races' in the 'pass the baton' sense. The idea was that there would be no harm trying it, nothing gained nothing lost with no damage inflicted if it didn't prove popular.

This is forgetting that such nonsense actually demeans the sport. We already know that the on course crowd at the likes of Chester and Haydock would respond positively to this, but if none of them are going to be regular horse racing punters as a result of their day put in the sun then it's been a waste of time as well as risking forming the final straw for those who like racing for the right reasons and have been racing punters for life.

There seems to be a focus across society at the moment to consider and address the needs of the emerging generations who will be inheriting the world. What is rarely considered is that people change as they mature, and in general are slower growing up than ever before.

Those adults immersed into the hippy flower power cults who believed they would turn the world into some eternally peaceful oasis ended up finally growing up aged thirty five and becoming materialistic, returning to their often luxuriant lives. 

So too did those caught up in the punk revolution. Doing the pogo and spitting on the live bands and years later, when of grown up adult age, still believing that a revolution would be possible whereby the punks sporting anarchist symbols on the back of their jackets would inhabit 10 Downing Street- they now own houses, cars and holiday in America, Australia and the like.  

The point is, if twenty and thirty somethings mapped out the path horse racing should go, then there would be a risk of the sport being done irreparable damage by a succession of hair brained ideas, that those who engineered them would look back on one day and cringe with regret.

It is disturbing that there exists an increasing tendency within the sport to point the finger of blame at what many believe to be tradition holding back progress. Practical and realistic people know that the customs and traditions allied to a calendar that has many similarities to one hundred and fifty years ago, is something the sport should be shouting proudly from the rooftops.

Instead, many are shifting too much emphasis on the incorrect belief that racing is trapped in a time bubble, as a chief reason why the shortfall from FOBT revenue will not be met without radical change.

The sport is not trapped, rather there is not too much wrong with the way it is apart from some injudicious changes  for change sake, such as the switching around of some significant late season races like the Champion Stakes to Ascot, the Royal Lodge to Newmarket, with no notable benefit to the sport.

Too many people, some with influence and clout, fiddle impatiently wanting to trial out their ideas,  ill -thought or not, as they believe doing nothing is damaging the game.

It would be wiser to take stock and accept that racing has been on the decline for several years in the face of the  maintained popularity of rival sports, some of which are thriving on an unprecedented level due to television media coverage not previously seen before.

Moreover, betting opportunities on these sports exist on a daily and weekly basis. It does not seem like that long ago when you could not place a golf bet outside of the four majors. Same with Tennis. And we all remember the minimum five on the long list on the fixed odds, save the minimum three on a short list compiled of the most difficult matches.

It is surprising that newspaper editors still give as much page space to the sport on a daily basis. The Saturday pull outs relay a false impression. They are subsidised by bookmaker adverts and the sport is often lost in the mix of across the board general sports coverage on that day anyway. 

Horse racing will not in 2019 offer a sporting moment to match Tiger Woods's Masters triumph but we've had a fascinating national hunt period, topped off by an absorbing renewal of the Punchestown Gold Cup that would have delighted every connoisseur. For the time being the importance of the race was half deflected by Ruby Walsh announcing his retirement straight after, but as we switch to flat mode, this race was the parting memory and already wets the appetite for next season.

We are now fully switched on to the flat, are digesting all that happened at the Guineas meeting, hope that the tough brute of an animal that passed the post first in the Kentucky Derby has the reversal overturned, and look forward to the racing at Chester this week, though many of those going will dread being among the swathes of suited attendees whose demeanour accords more to a June or July Saturday rather than this jewel in the crown meeting for the course.

It's a marked out road, a turf racing calendar that follows the same route year in year out but with not much that needs fixing. It may have to downsize but that is a damn sight better than the prospect of self destruction through unnecessary change.

image by Redmond and Campbell - CC licence