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.