A LESSON IN HOW THE SPORT SHOULD BE PRESENTED

The prospect that the Covid 19 crisis would provide racing with an uncontested shot at conjuring up interest from an untapped, fresh audience, is now diminishing through a combination of the massess gradually returning to work, those at home venturing outside to soak up the sun, not to mention the approaching return of football.

It now seems an age ago that we were monitoring markets by the day inviting us to speculate whether the Grand National meeting would go ahead. As hope of that faded, the focus then moved to whether the sport would resume by the first day of May.

Throughout this enforced sabbatical there has been spirited talk of how resilient racing is, that it possesses such a magnetic pull with audiences to be able to dust itself down and get back up and running while at the same time overcoming the inevitable short term funding problems that threaten to develop into a long term crisis.

Let it not be in any doubt that the restart cannot come soon enough but with hindsight the sport could of been up and running in late April when it would have been offered countless, sole attempts at auditioning to a potentially vast pool of viewers who were offered no other live sport to watch. 

Mind you, I would have priced it up strongly in favour of them repeatedly fluffing their lines. It's a crying shame how the presentation of the sport has  nosedived to basement level in which a casual viewer could be forgiven for believing that it's all about forced fun, false laughter, loud oscillating voices, females speaking the universal student language with raised intonations at the end of each sentence, males under thirty five obeying an unwritten law of sporting designer stubble or a trimmed beard, along with an overall agenda to simplify and devalue the sport that is meant to be holding court.

Many over a certain age remember how it was. And how the sport was presented to us in a gentle style that allowed the atmosphere of the build up to an important race to enter into the viewers living room. A healthy sport that did not require hype.

And thankfully for the many whose video collections accumulated over decades only to find them ruined by mould, the sterling work of those who have minded their collections better and transferred them to You Tube cannot be praised enough.

Two in particular, who come under the pseudonyms of espmadrid and Eddie Cr, have continued to give valuable service to the sport as they transfer their historic video archive for racing fans to enjoy free of charge.

We watch races that we sometimes have not seen since the actual day of the event but shamefully often forget to click on the thumbs up, so immersed we have been in  having memories stirred.

Which brings things back to the wonderful old style presentation. Wednesday July 29th 1981 is famous for a Royal Wedding; to racing fans it was leg three of the To Agori Mou v King's Lake grudge match in the Sussex Stakes.

Eddie Cr has added an uploaded extended version of the race on You Tube. It begins as the runners are leaving the paddock and going out on to the course. Jimmy Lindley, calm and controlled - he could be no other way - discusses the runners.

There is no attempt by Lindley to try to be cute and invent an angle into the race. Nor did he drum up cheap excitement by playing up the bad feeling between the connections of the two main protagonists -  King's Lake having beaten the Newmarket 2000 Guineas winner in the Irish equivalent, only to lose the race in the stewards room then be reinstated after an appeal, then to lose the rematch in the St James Palace Stakes when Greville Starkey gave Pat Eddery the two finger sign passing the line.

Though Lindley had strong links with the Guy Harwood yard from his riding days there was no bias towards To Agori Mou in the coverage. But he does makes some delightful horseman's observations about the colt, describing him as having, " nothing pretty about him, a real workman with a big, honest intelligent head."

We often use to hear them described as "common" heads and they have become much rarer, particularly in flat racing. Oddly enough, in that Henry Cecil book, this was the perceived changing trend that caused a controversial non ranking member of the team to experiment by altering the bridles on the inmates to fit a narrower head.

Apart from two betting shows read out off the stencil on screen, Lindley was in charge until John Hanmer took over when the runners reached the start, where he brought Lindley back in once or twice. Hanmer, while known to many in the general public for being part of the in running Grand National commentary for many years, was also Steve Cauthen's agent at the time in addition to being part of the team that do the 'close ups' for the official form book.

Similar to Lindley, he was not prone to outbursts of excitement, rather oozing calm, control and intelligence. One shudders to think how they would feel if required to fit in with a modern, presenting team. Having to hand over to the 'social stable' where no doubt on this day they would of found themselves surrounded by screaming attendees in mock wedding dresses and tiaras bought out of tat shops, along with others sporting rubber Prince Charles ears.

The field assembled was typical of a time when the jam was spread wider; nine runners, nine different owners, eight different trainers with the trainer of King's Lake, Vincent O'Brien, also running Last Fandango, who was there on his merits in the Sangster colours. The Maktoum's sole representative was Noalto in the Sheikh Mohammed  colours. Little did we know the rate at which their involvement would suddenly escalate.

And finally over to the voice of racing for a faultless no thrills commentary. To Agori Mou looked likely to confirm the Ascot form as he took up the running approaching the furlong marker under Starkey with his distinctive, rythmical bobbing style, elbows pointed outwards. Alas under a patient Eddery ride, King's Lake got up on the inside to lead close home and win by a head with, we later discovered, his rider voicing a few revengeful expletives towards Starkey.

It could be pointed out that if a certain French trained colt named Northjet had not been withdrawn from the race following a late setback, then we would have discovered earlier who the real boss of this division was. For while To Agori Mou came out marginally ahead of King's Lake when they clashed for a fourth and final time in the Prix Jaques le Marois, it was of little relevance as Northjet trounced the pair of them. Still, it was a final twist that took nothing away from the entertainment the miler's division gave us that summer.

But most poignant of all is realising just how coverage from the BBC racing team, fronted by the inimitable Julian Wilson, with a small but top notch team who realised that if the product was so good, you let it do the speaking itself. Now, resuming next week, we not only have an inferior product but one presented to the public in a painfully demeaning style.

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THE SMUG, CLEVER CLOGS COURSES, HAVEN'T BARGAINED FOR THIS !

After some over eager false dawns, horse racing in the UK is in the countdown process to a restart that promises to offer an abridged first two months of the season squashed into a couple of weeks.

Moreover the month of June will see a wider European Pattern programme delivered in a strange order, almost as if it has been determined from being on 'shuffle play', which will continue into July, with one of the oddities of it all being Royal Ascot sitting in its normal slot amid this fixture chaos.

Long term racing fans undoubtedly appreciate the long established order of the fixture list and this off sync presentation feels uncomfortable even, as is hoped, it will only be a one off.

Sadly though, almost all of those representing the emerging generations would not care less about race planning or whether the order is coming from a list put on 'shuffle play', being the sorts who prefer their music in this disordered, untintended mode.

They will have no respect for the planning of order in which tracks were intended to be played when those albums from the great rock bands were produced in the late 1960's and 1970's, with a strong first track similar to an opening chapter in a book that gains the attention.

A Pattern programme does not necessarily need a big opener to the season but showcase meetings need a gripping opening event such as the Supreme Novices and Queen Anne.

Some of these characters who have their music on 'shuffle play' would not see any problem if the Cheltenham Festival opened with the conditional jockey's hurdle event, or Royal Ascot with the Queen Alexandra. But they are inheriting the world and are the category of audience that many racecourse's have been courting with their business model dependant on attracting the cult summer crowds to make their operations a success.

Mouthpieces make statements insisting that modern racegoers like to have an extra added on to the racing when they make a racecourse visit, this of course to justify these trashy concert meetings. They make no distinction between a racing fan and the racegoers that frequent the modern weekend meetings, in particular the summer gatherings that are now simply too much of an ordeal for many of us.

Well, those that pull the strings at these courses that have embraced the trash angle are going to have to place their thinking caps on as this modus operandi which they apply is not only redundant for the rest of 2020, but if, as is possible, no effective Covid 19 vaccine is found with the result that we have regular waves which we will have to permanently live around, then they are going to find themselves in a quandary.

Take Chester as a prime example. This course that once emanated a delightfully quaint atmosphere, with a protected programme, has turned itself into ritzy shambles with fixtures coming out of the ears so plentiful they now are.

Frank, Harry and Ernest, carrying their scribbled on Sporting Life's and Chronicle's, or the Daily Express racing pages with O'Sullivan and Benson writing, or the Daily Mirror with Bob Butcher's analysis, are not this sort of racecourse's bread and butter anymore - they won't even be welcome in Tatts unless they meet dress code requirements.

Instead, this is a course that will be desperately examining all the options for finding a way to accomodate the hordes of cult attendees that have provided them with rich rewards for some time now. They will soon realise that this income stream has run dry.

A quick appraisal of a Chester raceday discovers almost everything that simply does not fit into a world with no choice but to live with Covid 19.

Right from the moment the throngs depart the trains at the main station, pack the bus ride to the city centre, make the way down to the course on densely populated pavements, stopping off on the way at one of the many heaving public houses with Tudor style facades. This will not be happening again anytime soon.

It is likely that the racecourse, with help from the local council, may seek the creation of a designated walking route from the station to the city centre, then down to the course. The route will be monitored by Police and stewards to ensure social distancing rules are adhered to.

All advertisements for the venue would have carried a recommendation that attendees arrive early at the course as the admittance process would be lengthy, most unlike what they had previously been familiar with.

It would be fascinating to see how this scene, from which there is no alternative, would play out in reality. A group of twenty and thirty somethings, some with partners, finding they are unable to have a drink in the city centre before racing, having then to qeue socially distanced, have their pockets and bags searched by masked, bolshy halfwits, then after finally gaining access to the course after the first race has been run, find there are ridiculous queues waiting to gain access to makeshift, outdoor seated areas where drink or food can be ordered.

If they somehow possess the temperament for this, they'll then have to be subject to further protocol when visiting the Gents or Ladies. Then, after a thoroughly stressful day, they will be able to look forward to a strictly marshalled, socially distanced walk all the way back to the station.

Bearing in mind that none of these attendees will have too much genuine interest in the racing and that in between visits to a racetrack would not have a bet on horse racing, are they really going to bother coming again?

While this all may sound far fetched, those who are familiar with this track, its
location, along with the surrounding streets, will be well aware that if Covid 19 is here to stay indefinitely, then it is a scenario that will play out if Chester racecourse desire to hold race meetings again with an attending audience.

And for those of us dismayed at the direction this venue has chosen to take over the past twenty years, we may just partake in a jolly Dickensian belly laugh.

image taken by author

A SPORT THAT MAY HAVE NO AUDIENCE TO COUNT ON ANYMORE

It might of been Ronnie Barker bringing our attention to the vertical line going downwards to the bottom of the state of the economy graph, or John Cleese presenting the news on Monty Python, reminding us of Government issued protocol on social distancing, wearing masks, and not to congregate in groups of more than two.

We would chuckle at such sketches, never imagining that one day they would become reality.  And inside horse racing's domain confusion abounds as to the extent of damage that will be done from the fierce fall out from this very real tragic sketch that is blasting in all directions.

Jump racing may just come away with damage that can be contained. Trainer's licences will be handed in, some courses will lock their doors for good, but this is the sphere of the sport that retains a sporting spirit, where the big owners operate at a loss which they accept as worth it for the thrill of being players on the big days, and as in Trevor Hemming's case, continued to support the sport after losing a ridiculous amount of his fortune in the Royal Bank of Scotland share collapse.

Hemmings was left with plenty enough to ensure he wouldn't be going hungry but a similiar reversal to his equivalents in the flat racing arena would probably have hastened a withdrawal of their interest in the sport.

Northern Hemisphere flat racing is in a mess. In the UK the first two classics should have been settled and we'd now be digesting the results of the classic trials at Chester, while looking ahead to the declarations for the Musidora and Dante.

French racing is scheduled to resume on Monday with a welcomely interesting card at Longchamp. All eyes will be on the public engagement factor which will be measured by the size of the off course Pari Mutuel pools, along with the amount of money bet on the card in the UK and Ireland.

This will give some clues to how much punter response UK racing attracts after an unprecedented sabbatical. With restrictions lifted on the freedom to roam outside in warm weather, it must be seriously doubtful whether the return of the sport will reach out to an untapped audience. As many will have had their fill of sitting infront of a TV set the prospect of watching an AW card at Gosforth Park is hardly going to be allowed to interfere with venturing freely back outside again.

The small number in control of the animals with fashionable stallion pedigrees must be anxiously watching the clock tick away, desperate for the Pattern programme to be completed as near to its entirety as possible, with at the very least, all of the Group One races to be run. It will frustrate them even more when they observe how Australian racing has remained in motion.

With the two most powerful conglomerates having  long established racing interests down under, both in horses in training and an arm of their breeding operations, there is a real danger that their involvement in that part of the world will expand even more, with European racing being the chief sufferer.

This, of course, would be a worst case scenario but it would be foolish to believe that it's not been noted the difference in the levels of respect and consideration the Governments of the UK and Ireland have given to the sport compared with Australia.

There is something else that racing here will need to adapt too. It might not have sank in yet but the days of a racing daily newspaper are almost certainly finished. If the Racing Post returns in print form then expect Saturday only and showcase festival editions. In fact, it would not take too much imagination to see a situation where an amalgamated Racing and Football Outlook and Weekender appear on a Tuesday or Wednesday, with the Racing Post coming out on the Saturday.

With many of the lockdown frozen high street betting offices past the point of no return and unlikely to open ever again, racing will be relying more than ever on to its ability to hold it's share of the online betting market. The proportion of the betting pie held by the sport has been steadily decreasing for many,many years.

At the very least the BHA should find a way to fund a free, quality online form book, similar to the full subscription Raceform version on the Racing Post website, along with a video library. They should also have a regularly updated version of Horses in Training.

It would be an excellent public relations excersise if details of  horses arriving and leaving yards was available to the general public - after all a copy of Horses in Training is way outdated by the time the jumping season proper starts, with the powerful jumping yards full of a host of new names from the pointing field along with those bought from France, not too mention the Newmarket Tattersalls Horses in Training Sale.

This is a sport that cannot survive in this country without the punters.Those days where the punters needed racing as much as racing needed the punters have long passed. Wonder can I watch a reply of that race ? mmm no, seems not, well not unless I subcribe to this and that, or open an account here. Oh well stuff it, I'll just get stuck into the footy, golf and cricket, with everything needed free.

Those believing that there is a mass of punters out there chomping at the bit, waiting to unleash unspent money on horse race betting when the sport returns may be in for a shock. Sabbaticals break habits. Even leaving aside the impending financial problems set to beset millions, many out there may just not fancy picking up where they left off with the horses, at least for the time being.

The schedule is going to be fragmented and topsy turvey. It will make even the avid followers uncomfortable. For example, how would you define a 2020 early season two year old ?  Some sort of normality may have have been regained for when the jumping season starts proper but we have six months to wait until then. In the meantime, it's going to be a bizzarre head spinning sport to follow.

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