A PAMPERED CATEGORY

The expansion in the National Hunt arena of events staged exclusively for mares has resulted in the opportunity for some performers to sit cosily in a niche and reap rewards that otherwise would not have been attaintable.

Lady Buttons has almost reached celebrity status within racing's confines. She has become something of a winning machine in these mares only races. Whether it is deserved is another matter, for some would point out that the females already have a carrot dangled in front of them in open events in the form of the 7 lb allowance, which was increased from 5 lb for the 2003/04  campaign.

Ten of the fifteen races won by Lady Buttons have been open only to the ladies, of which all seven of her victories in listed or graded company have also come in these confined events.

In her stiffest task in open company over hurdles she did not disgrace herself when fourth of the five runners in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle, not beaten a million miles. And probably the most difficult task she faced over fences was when she started second favourite for the Maghull Novices Chase, ending up far from disgraced to finish fourth, less than nine lengths behind the winner.

But in the creme de la creme of mares only hurdle events she had her limitations exposed when finishing only fourth, which would have been one further down if the sublime Benie Des Dieux had not come down at the last when having the race in the bag.

What cannot be emphasised enough is that as well as being one of the chief benefactors of these pigeonhole events, her connections are also fortunate that she is trained on the right side of the Irish Sea for some of the mares she would have been coming up against every couple of weeks in Ireland would have made her life hell.

Whatever, she has put her trainer on the map which resulted in some animals costing eyecatching amounts being placed in the yard. Admittedly they have since moved on but adding to the exploits of Lady Buttons, they have made the name Phil Kirby a more familiar one than it previously had been.

Mind you, I would guess there are many envious souls around when they look at the success enjoyed by this popular mare and her connections. What about all those talented animals who have not been favoured by a positive discrimination policy, and have no niche to home in on ?

This mare friendly policy is reminiscent of some of the mandatory courses public sector workers have to attend. There was one I heard from the grapevine fronted by a lady who opined that when she sees a room full of white, middle aged men, she is disgusted. Oh yes, she made it clear, such a sight is bland, outdated and disgusting.

If she had found employment within the BHA, I'm sure she would have championed the expansion of mares only contests, and would equally have expressed disgust at seeing a handicap chase field full of geldings in the seven to nine year old age range.

The expansion of veterans only events has not yet reached the same scale as the mares races.  Hopefully we will not see one introduced at the Cheltenham Festival, though on second thoughts as they have chipped away enough at the quality of the individual races, what would it matter to take a couple of runners out of the old Ritz Chase.

The BHA has not finished this project yet despite there being a record number of female horses in training in the National Hunt sphere.

A mares only chase planned to be introduced at the 2021 festival is undoubtedly part of the bridge to a five day meeting. A tiring five day meeting as opposed to the original all quality, pulsating three days.

While there is plenty of ammunition to oppose the justness of these confined events, particularly at the higher level, it would be unfair to spin the myth about Dawn Run missing the Champion Hurdle if the mares race had been in existence in 1984 .They will cite the fact that she was ideally suited by further than two mile, had indeed finished runner up in a vintage renewal of the Sun Alliance Novice Hurdle when far from the finished article, and that taking the easy route by making it fairly certain she would be Queen of her own domain, would have been too tempting to turn down.

What people forget though is that Dawn Run was right at the forefront of the Champion Hurdle reckoning after battling on to repel the challenge of the reigning champion Gaye Brief in the Christmas Hurdle. There was nothing in that Champion Hurdle field that would have frightened off connections

Which path those connected with Flakey Dove would have taken in the same circumstances is open to debate. She looked a fair place prospect in an open renewal of her Champion Hurdle, but on the evidence of her victory in the Cleeve, the extra distance of the mares only race would have been tailored for her.

Nevertheless, the crux of the matter is that no particular category of horse should have the fixture list tailored to increase their chances of success. Indeed, Lady Buttons got a taste of what those animals who are exluded from niche events have to put up with, when finishing a commendable but well beaten second to Moon Over Germany in that highly competitive two mile handicap at Aintree.  I doubt the race will be on her schedule again this year, same with the even more fiercely fought race in the same category at the Cheltenham Festival.

Lady Buttons is now ten years old. Perhaps she will be retired to the paddocks when this campaign closes.  Many would say she would have retired from action earlier without the help of a friendly programme of races.

But it's not quite so clear cut. Dubacilla raced as a ten year old mare finishing second to Master Oats in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, followed directly by another gallant performance to chase home Royal Athlete in the Grand National. Eyecatcher finished third in two successive Grand Nationals in the 1970's at ten and eleven years of age. And the popular Credo's Daughter, owned by James Bolam, raced on until ten years of age during the same decade.

Anyone trying to make comparisons with the increase of top level fillies and mares flat races in this country cannot logically equate the two scenarios. The flat racing world is a bigger, richer place,and action was taken to stem the flow of those crossing the Atlantic on a one way permanent journey to take advantage of the plethora of valuable fillies and mares races, mostly less competitive than the equivalents in Europe.

Those opposing the continued expansion of valuable mares only events in the National Hunt arena stand on solid ground and if Benie Des Dieux takes the easy option and bolts up looking like she'd have taken all the beating in the Stayers Hurdle, then this is an issue that deserves to be debated on a higher platform.

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QUALITY WITHOUT NUMBERS

Much has been written about the concentration of quality animals in a small number of hands. It is an issue that began to be of concern in flat racing during the 1980's as the strength of the traditional owner breeder began to flounder, and the Maktoum family investment flourished.

What we could not foresee at that time was that one day the National Hunt arena too would be made up of a map dominated by a few pulsating power spots; two in Ireland , one in Lambourn, plus a cluster of them in the West Country.

The situation may alter soon in Ireland with Gordon Elliott soon to feel the Giginstown Stud wind down, as Joseph Patrick O'Brien's yard continues to strengthen.

Over here, things are likely to remain the same for the foreseeable future. The Northern jumping scene has never been so poor, the Skelton operation in the Midlands churns out winners but the overall quality shows no signs of stepping up  a further level, while a combination of Nichols, Tizzard and Hobbs lead the way for the West Country - a situation that could not have been predicted when Paul Nichols raced clear of the Pipes and seemed set to be a lone dominant force.

One trend that has changed down the last few decades, indeed something that can be argued that had made the sport less fascinating , is the need for trainers to play the numbers game. What has happened to the , " I can only give my best if I have a manageable number of horses in my care", words that are now only used as an excuse by those unable to attract more owners.

From that last list of trainers mentioned,  you tend to think of Colin Tizzard retaining a select, limited number of horses, when in reality the number of inmates has shot up to one hundred and twenty !

How times have changed. The West Country was for many years the weakest arm in the sport, with David Barons running the main  operation in the region. Going into 1979, Horses In Training listed Barons as having forty five animals under his care, with future Schweppes Gold Trophy winner Bootlaces, the name you are drawn to.

Indeed Bootlaces victory in that race was a big moment for a region that had been starved of big race success. One year later the Triumph Hurdle would be won by Baron Blakeney trained by M.C.Pipe, and by the time Barons had the best horse he would ever train in his yard in Playschool, followed a few years later by the Grand National winner Seagram, Pipe would be the dominant force in British racing.

Going back two years to 1977, the Lambourn scene was business as usual in jump racing's sphere, dominated by two legends of the sport in Fred Winter and Fulke Walwyn.

In contrast to now where the famous Berkshire village is dominated by Nicky Henderson's one hundred and fifty horse yard, Winter submitted a string of forty three horses for publication in Horses In Training ( in picture), while Walwyn had four more in his Saxon House yard. At the time a young Henderson was Winter's assistant in addition to being the stable's amateur rider.

Namewise, Winter housed an embarrassment of riches led by dual Champion  Hurdle winner Bula,  one time Champion Hurdle winner Lanzarote, one of the best chasers never to win a Cheltenham Gold Cup in Pendil, plus future Gold Cup winner Midnight Court. Not to be left out were the veteran of veterans Sonny Sommers, twice future Grand National placed Rough And Tumble, former and future Embassy Chase Final winners Floating Pound and The Dealer .

Bula was now twelve years of age with the chance now gone that he would go down as the immortal who would be the first horse to win both the Champion Hurdle and Cheltenham Gold Cup. Sadly, he took a crashing fall in the Champion Chase that year, sustained a shoulder injury and had to be put down a few months later.

And if that wasn't enough bad luck for the Uplands yard, Lanzarote, when also attempting to be the first to win Cheltenham's two most famous races, was lost after breaking a leg in the Gold Cup.

Walwyn's stables housed an important cast member of the greatest hurdling era ever in Dramatist, the Champion American chaser Fort Devon, who would be in the Gold Cup picture for the next couple of years, along with two cracking two mile chasers owned by the Queen Mother, in Game Spirit and Isle of Man.

These were the days when delegation was used more sparingly, when a trainer would not need to ad lib or turn to a delegate when someone asked after the Cantab gelding purchased from the point to point field.

Nowadays, the most successful yards house numbers that would have seemed unmanageable back in the day. The consequence is that we are left with yards with assistants and head lads around every block you turn. And from what we are able to glean many are run in the same vain as Japanese owned car factories, with both animals and humans being numbers, spots or blobs on silly confusing wall charts.

It must be working for the most successful large yards, but it now seems pure nostalgia to think of a red skinned, weather beaten faced trainer with nicotine stained fingers, entering the box of every horse at evening stables, running a hand down the forelegs himself, and exchanging a few words with the lad who he would know by name instead of K39.

To demonstrate that the Winter and Walwyn yards weren't the exception to the rule in being highly successful yards while having what would now be considered smallish sized strings, it's worth looking at the numbers in some of the other jumping yards in 1977.

Neville Crump had a string of twenty two, which included quality performers Cancello, Narvik, Sparkies Choice, Collingwood, Even Melody and Ballet Lord. Fred Rimell had forty six horses listed under his care including the previous year's  Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand National winners Royal Frolic and Rag Trade, Grand National regular The Pilgarlic, former duel Champion Hurdler Comedy of Errors, and not to forget Andy Pandy who would be tanking along in a clear lead in the Grand National when coming down second Bechers.

Tony Dickinson had just twenty nine listed, mostly recognisable quality sorts including the future King George V1 Chase hero Gay Spartan, and although Peter Easterby had seventy listed under his care, it was a dual purpose yard with only twenty two animals four years old or older. Amongst this select group were Night Nurse, Sea Pigeon and Alverton, supported by other quality jumping horses in Canadius, Annas Prince, Town Ship and Midao.

In fact the two largest jumping yards were the seventy something of G.W.Richards, and the ninety two of W.A.Stephenson. Both had around a dozen flat horses at the time but by today's standards the total numbers were not exceptionally large.

No matter what way you contrast the two eras, forty years apart, you would search long and hard to drum up a convincing case that today's scene, dominated by a few large  industrial winner churning factories, beats the days of old, where the most gifted trainers sought a select number of horses to enable them to operate with a fully concentrated hands on approach.

AT LEAST ONE THING TO BE THANKFUL FOR !

January 1980 does not seem forty years ago. Certainly for those who spend their life diligently studying the works of Shakespeare, or the history of the French Revolution, time will have stood still. No doubt many in racing circles would wish the clock had stopped ticking in their world too.

Looking through a copy of Pacemaker International for that month, the one with the front cover showing Night Nurse and Jonjo O'Neil in mid air over the water jump at Newbury in the Mandarin Chase, there did not seem to be an awful lot to be concerned about on racing's frontier.

In all the changes that have occurred in the past forty years, there was no inkling that the emerging generations would be raised in a world where betting on football would overall become their main focal point of having a punt, and that racing would fall into a shadow of future uncertainty. The prospect of this was never considered in any publication or context.

Indeed, the article that stirred you most went under a headline that would be fitting for January 2020. Written by Tom Forrest, and  titled , ' The Case Against The Whip ', it was a prophetic piece that highlighted a couple of pertinent issues that have since been addressed.

The first was the free for all whip actions permitted at the time. Forrest recalls the whip actions of two riders from his racing memories, the Frenchman Paul Blanc, along with the Aussie Des Lake. Evidently their styles were likened to ' Catherine Wheels' , 'Dervish dances' and ' windmills',  whip actions that, according to Forrest, observers would remember for the rest of their lives.

Little did the writer know that over the coming summer a certain Australian rider by the name of Peter Losh would be riding in Great Britain, displaying one of those Whirling Dervish whip actions the writer thought he would not see again.

He then made reference to the ' ferocity ' used by Lester Piggott on both Roberto and The Minstrel in forcing them across the line in their respective Epsom Derbys. These were races discussed regularly then whenever the whip issue was raised. Eventually, following criticism from some notable figures within the sport, as well outside forces,  rules were  introduced restricting the height the whip could be raised, ending those familiar Pat Eddery and Piggott motions, with the instrument being brought down from sky high.

The other issue that has since been resolved is that relating to the size and weight of the whip. Forrest refers to a picture in the December 1979 edition of the magazine showing Morston beating Cavo Doro in the 1973 Epsom Derby, where he describes the stick carried by the rider of the runner up as having enough, " springy fibreglass to satisfy the average Olympic pole-vaulter."

He suggests that in the end the solution would be to, " insist that the whip must be made of such weight and material that no matter how hard it is applied, the horse cannot be hurt."

To the credit of everyone involved, this is precisely what evolved, but what could not have been anticipated was that it would not close the book on the matter and that we would move on to an age where the racing authorities would pander to the public and would be more concerned with image than substance and factual evidence

Another article that catches the eye from the January 1980 edition of the magazine is one composed by Patricia Smyly under the title, ' The Climate for a Course of Action.'

At the time, the previous 1979/80 National Hunt season had seen the highest number of fixtures lost to the elements since the winter of 1963. The response was increased speculation on whether the prospect of  all- weather racing would become reality.

Smyly discussed the subject with Air Commodore Brookie Brooks, who at the time was the Chairman of the Racecourse Association. Brooks opined that he could not see jumping taking place on the all-weather. This would have been to the benefit of the sport if this prediction had been correct as from the top of the head the things that spring to mind about that short lived venture were silly looking obstacles with a blue stripe, an increase in fatalities, Suluk, and Martin Pipe's  Run For Free who would end up winning the Welsh and Scottish Nationals.

Brooks visualisation of how the all-weather would fit in to the flat programme was slightly of course too. He talked of a Stateside scenario where a course would house a couple of hundred horses in stables, and where the cards would be made up only from entrants housed within. He spoke of Windsor being suitably located for this initiative.

Brooks passed away in 1988, a year before the first all- weather meeting was staged and would no doubt have been surprised if he had known how this area of the sport would expand, something that polarises opinion as to whether it has proved to be to the benefit or detriment of the sport.

Finally, that January 1980 issue contained a contribution by Howard Wright titled,  'The Metrification of Racing ', a piece that made uneasy reading for those of us who had never really got to grips with what we considered as Napoleonic garbage.

Admittedly, we can work out that the Derby is 2400 metres but trying to convert height given in centimetres into feet and inches, even more confusingly pounds and ounces into kilograms, is something most born within a certain period could do without.

Wright's article highlighted the opposition to any change by the then senior Jockey Club handicapper David Swannel, on the glaringly common sense ground that the conversions would not be straightforward - one pound being half a kilo or 0.453 to be exact.

That metrification did not take hold in British racing is something we should be thankful for. And it therefore makes it all the more baffling why some commentators still persist to randomly talk of distances in metres. It's now an abandoned path.

And as we are leaving the EU, maybe the number of television channels will be reduced so instead of having the space to broadcast unamusing trash like Ant and Dec, Gavin and Stacey and Ben Elton, they will have to roll out quality shows at peak viewing time, like The Two Ronnies, Morecambe and Wise and Benny Hill.

And who knows, a return to the times when if a household had the telly on during a Saturday afternoon, there would be a one in three chance that they would be tuning into some horse racing. That would be good news !

image author Kmtextor - licensed under CC.