As the Longchamp meeting drew ever closer with the tempo of the anticipation increasing by the day for those still engaged with the sport, there was an item of news in the Racing Post that would have escaped unnoticed by those focussed only on the Arc, but one that should serve very much as a reminder to those who believe the future of the sport is a bright one.
News that the Yorkshire Racing Club was putting up the shutters may not have particularly seemed the most damning communication. Why should anyone care when it was a time to be positive and lap up the energy surge emanating from prospect of Enable earning a unique place in history, Even the industry paper itself left it at that without a follow up to the story.
The cold truth however is that it would not be far fetched to construe the announcement as yet more evidence that beneath the rosy facade of these big showcase events, the foundations beneath the sport are decaying. And in the times of global warming panic, it would be quite tickling to go the whole hog and to show graphics of racing's percentage of the betting pie shrinking, just as they show these time lapsed photos of the ice caps.
Racing Clubs began to grow during the 1970's before taking off to a different stratosphere during the 1980's. Wherever you lived it was likely that there would be one within a short travelling distance, if not on your doorstep.
The daily and Thursday racing publications made room for racing club news briefs, detailing events being held, which guests from within the industry would be appearing, not to mention membership offers for club visits to yards, racecourses, sometimes even stud farms.
It was a vibrant scene that seemed sure to last indefinitely. Alas, the scene is now retracting and it should not surprise those of us who are adamant that long and lasting damage to the sport resulted from the trend beginning in the 1990's for sport betting to soak up the the largest percentage of the new betting generations.
People accuse you of being dramatic when you state that the ageing racing enthusiasts follow the normal course of becoming ill, infirm and dying with no one to replace them; but listen to some of the comments made from the Yorkshire Racing Club secretary David Beardsall, himself seventy eight years of age.
Beardsall spoke of the younger generations not being attracted to the game, as they come solely for an all day bar and concert. He recounted that the club had hundreds of members at one time but that it had sunk to a level where at one recent meeting only a dozen turned out.
Most solemn of all was the mention that many were pensioners who were passing away with time. As they passed on no one has replaced them. It brings home the fact that these pensioners would have been thirty and forty somethings during the 1970's and early 1980 's when racing had a higher public profile than now, and when gambling was predominantly about horse racing.
Back then Yorkshire had a vibrant National Hunt scene. Jockeys, trainers and horses that were household names were based in the county. A midweek Wetherby or Donny card would have Cheltenham and Aintree prospects turning up.
Enthusiastic racegoers gathering in the racecourse bar long before the opener. A pint of best bitter, accompanied by Players No 6, speculating whether Crump had a National horse in the yard. They would talk of Lorimer, Sniffer Clarke, Chris Old, Harvey Smith, Tony Currie, and of course Geoffrey.
And as it was the days of three channel TV, many would have watched the same programmes the previous evening, so they would laugh together recounting the gems Rigsby came out with, or perhaps it was something Molly Sugden had said, Sally Thomsett and Paula Wilcox having the last laugh on Richard O'Sullivan, or that weird Steve Priest guy from The Sweet , who they saw on Top Of The Pops sporting make up.
They, like most of us, could not have envisaged a time when the generations aged under 35, (this continuing to rise with the passing of time), link having a bet with football more than horses. And when the numbers filling the racecourses would consist of many who mix drink with cocaine or amphetamines.
When they visit York , some of these will be amongst those who eagerly join in the chanting of stuff like, "we are Leeds ," and maybe the same ones who could be heard singing Lanfranco Dettori's praises to that tune from the The White Stripes used as Michael Van Gerwin's walk on song, and played at halftime at many Bundesliga matches.
Sadly, the prospect of this trend reversing is a remote one. It has come too far. Hollow racing fans. Try speaking to them.
I was speaking to a vague acquaitance who has been betting socially on horses for a few years, in his forties, but had never heard of Nijinsky. Of course, what does it matter if they are using some of their betting funds for horses meaning they are making a contribution. Well, if they had a passion for the sport then surey a larger proportion of their betting bank would be played on the sport.
There was a time when the great animals would pull large numbers of new fans into the sport. lndeed, there was certainly a time when a fully tested, admirably consistent, tough as nails and from the top drawer quality wise, mare like Enable would have put petrol in the tank of the racing fanbases.
Unfortunately, this is not something that can now be guaranteed. It's seven years since the highest rated racehorse in living memory last raced. At the time Prince Khalid Abdullah's racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe was championing the effect Frankel ( in picture) would have on the sport, enthusing that a whole new generation of racing enthusiasts would would emerge.
Those twelve at the time would now be nineteen, those sixteen now twenty three, those nineteen now twenty six. Where are they all then ?
Truth is, that if we accept the reasonable assumption that the winter game draws in more new fans, and that the vintage era we had ten years back when Kauto Star and Denman stood at the top of the tree has not added mileage and refuelled the fanbase, then we'll be waiting in vain for a Frankel generation of fans to appear.
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