A SPORT THAT CAN ONLY DREAM OF PAST DAYS

 

One can only chuckle over how many in the cricket world express deep concern over the future of the Test game as though the whole sport is in crisis - a sport that when put side by side with racing, is absolutely thriving on a global basis and whose formats that have unorthodox razzmatazz added will eventually create new fans, many of whom will then gradually be weaned on to appreciating the traditional format. 

It's now customary for all the household names of the game to keep to the script about the Test format being in grave danger but some of the suggestions to tackle the so called crisis are workable and could be the solution - such as Geoffrey Boycott's proposal for the five day game to be slotted into four, longer days, with stricter rules to deter slow over rates.There exists no unmovable object that would prevent a mass resurgence in the popularity of the Test game.

From a horse racing point of view it almost makes one jealous of the position cricket is in. For in racing they do not turn back from change. The Grand National In Name Only Chase will never revert back to the real thing, that butterfly in the stomach test of a race it once was. Haydock Park will never rebuild that wonderful old chasing course with drop fences and the second longest run in, in the country. That heart in the mouth second last on the old course at Cheltenham will never revert back to where it was once cited.

It's the problem of animals and sport not going together in the modern world. Even without this angle, there is also the damage created by greed ruining the fixture list. Do we really enjoy the Breeders Cup as much since the extra races and Friday were introduced?  And we know too well how the Cheltenham Festival has to a real extent been ruined by the increased number in opportunities for connections to dodge and dive when picking the race for their animals to compete in.

We can only sit back and marvel at the immediate success of the Dublin Festival that has more in common with a 1970's  Cheltenham Festival than the present Prestbury Park event does with it's former counterpart.

Curiously, some will be trying to use the marvelous Frodon to forward a view that the Anglo-Irish balance of power in the jumping game is not presently as one sided as the majority righly make it out to be. In reality it's a sad reflection of how threadbare the quality of fields that fill the British mainland programme is when you consider that on paper, the field that lined up for the Down Royal race yesterday could feasibly turn out to be better than the one that lines up in the Kempton Park showcase event on Boxing Day.

It's such a wonderful high quality Christmas programme in Ireland that it's now more likely the King George V1 Chase would be chosen as an opt out from the more competitive Leopardstown race, notwithstanding of course the different nature of the Kempton circuit,

And talking of the increasing pattern whereby the showcase Saturday events in the UK mainland jumping fixture list are producing fields with quality thinner on the ground than in living memory, yesterday's Charlie Hall not surprisingly saw a turn out weaker than what would have been expected in former times. A once exciting animal in Cyrname who had for a spell been officially rated the best chaser in training but who has now truly lost his mojo,  up against Shan Blue,  a high class novice from last season whose merits were exposed come Festival time.

Ironically, he may end up winning the King George, something which would be a reminder of how ordinary the quality of the British mainland National Hunt programme has now become. While it's true that the high class hurdlers and chasers are campaigned more sparingly nowadays, they do not exist in any sizeable number in the UK to fill the quality races even if more bolder approaches came back into fashion.

Those of us old enough to have got hooked on racing the year that Comedy Of Errors regained his crown from Lanzarote, then to witness the front running hurdler who was arguably the greatest of them all, Night Nurse, come onto the scene, will have given up trying to reason with those who use Istabraq as the benchmark to compare all top class hurdlers with.

With regularity the main protagonists for the hurdling crown would be appearing in one combination or an other with the magnificent array of support players, some such as Bird's Nest having serious claims for the title, others being solid animals worthy of their place in the line ups of such events such as Dramatist, Flash Imp, Tree Tangle, Navigation, along with a former Epsom Derby sixth who after being purchased by Scotsman Pat Muldoon had moved from the Beckhampton stables of Jeremy Tree to G W Richard's, then to Peter Easterby's yard after a fall out. Just Sea Pigeon and yes, at that stage of his hurdling career he was just a support player. What an era!

Back to the present and irrespective of whether or not the inbalance in Anglo-Irish strength is maintained - of which there is no guarantee that it will be beyond the near future - the sport must brace itself as its general profile and popularity declines in comparison to other sports.

It has been revealed that Spotlight Sports, the owners of the Racing Post, are up for sale. The appeal is being branded on the data products it owns with an emphasis of continued expanion into sports other than racing.This is further confirmation that the portion of the betting pie taken up by horse racing will continue to decrease.

And without doubt one of the other sports where eyes go blurred at some of the figures involved in the betting liquidity will be the shorter format cricket competitions  - although the amounts involved in tests involving the main teams are also impressive. If only those involved in that sport realised  how truly safe and secure it's future really is.

A track from an album released two months before Comedy Of Errors regained his crown, and which would have been in thousands of racing fans households by the end of the year when Night Nurse emerged  as a champion in waiting.

AN UNSIGHTLY SIGHT NOW COMMONPLACE ON THE RACECOURSE

One of the scourges of modern society, something that has unfortunately infiltrated horse racing, is the popularity of the 'selfie', a cheap, empty exercise which shows a lack of respect for the subject who has been approached.

It's baffling how this craze took off and thrived. For many it is seen as a replacement for the traditional autograph, something which shows much more dignity to the person being converged upon. They can do the deed or refuse - at least they are given full choice. In the case of a selfie, the subject sometimes just finds a camera shoved infront of his face from behind. A total classless act and annoying even just to witness. 

Even if asked politely beforehand, it's curious why anyone would consent to something that could be all around the world on social media and could in certain circumstances be manipulated by a Walter Mitty, something which signing a racecard creates no similar worries over - even if the autograph hunter seeks the signature for a little profit on e bay it will still end up in the possession of a genuine fan.

This is not to say that the 'celebrities' of their divisions should be fawned over - in fact in the sport of horse racing the media generally tip toe around them and give them an easier time than the big players in the other prominent sports are afforded.

It would just be more befitting of such a sport that once had so many unwritten customs that were adhered to if it could be spared an ugly trend that does not fit the ambience of which some still associate racing with.

Moreover, just  observe the ages of some of the people who are in search of selfies. They are grown adults. Once they have swooped upon their object and come away with their prize, if will then be put on  Twitter -  all so cringeworthy for why would you want to be photographed with your arm around a stranger's shoulder sporting a laddish type expression as though you are pals.

The selfie taker and 'celebrity' are not buds - so much more preferable to approach in a dignified manner and ask if they would sign your race card. They may oblige, they may not. God only knows what is going on in their lives for they'll have their problems too, they'll have their dying relatives too.

Although autograph hunting was low on my agenda I would get a mighty buzz as a kid obtaining jockey autographs - particularly approaching Pat Eddery as I had become truly obsessed with the sport in Grundy's year and the first racing book I read was ' Pat On The Back', published at the end of it.

From memory, think I was only refused twice by jockeys. Derby winning jockey Ernie Johnson sternly told me to see him later, while miniature lightweight Taffy Thomas cast me a rather contemptuous look then ignored me. On the Saturday that it became certain that Willie Carson would be securing the 1978 jockey's championship hordes of autograph seekers surrounded the weighing room and he was forced  to make a run for the paddock otherwise he'd never have got through.

I think my most memorable day in the signature seeking mode was when Solinus won the William Hill Sprint Championship. Have quite a few scribbles on the race card, Pat Eddery, Carson, Eddie Hide, a couple of others, think they may be Jimmy Bleasdale and Brian Taylor. 

The only media person I approached was Richard Pitman  who on the day Beacon Light beat Monksfield in the Royal Doulton Hurdle signed my card and had a little chat. Although I sought his signature for his exploits as a rider, there would of been a couple of media personalities in the sport in those days whose autographs I would have treasured - compared with now when there would not be a single one of them I'd have the slightest respect for.

Obtaining autographs can likewise be taken over to adulthood as it is not a process that is with the cheap, trashy act of selfie seeking. It would be no surprise if there was a consistency in the characteristics of those taking selfies, that could be separated from the characteristics of those who covet signatures.

Selfie- takers very likely stream their music and would be more likely to mix the order of play rather than respect the track order which the great bands of the late 1960's and 1970's would in general put a great deal of thought into just like the chapters of a book - a strong opening track being essential.

Those of us who despite the selfie revolution but who have an appreciation of autographed material will buy our music for keeps and have an i tunes lifetime bill approaching three thousand quid - alot of the stuff of which we have had and still have on vinyl, and perhaps have had on cassette too, before the inferior, tinny sounding CD revolution had its era. 

Irrespective of our thoughts on Apple the i tunes digitalised sound is the only one that surpasses that of vinyl and doesn't scratch! And despite this cheap argument that the artists have enough money already, buying for keeps rather than streaming results in jobs being maintained in the lower ranks of the music industry by normal everyday people.

The selfie brigade have much to answer for and racing would be better off without them.

A classic example of a celebrated album with a strong opening track, released three days before Henry Cecil's Approval won the Observer Gold Cup.

SOMETHING THAT UK RACING CANNOT COMPETE WITH

There will soon come a time when we will be able to see the UK racing model downsizing. Beneath the surface the erosion is already happening but once the long term damage from the slowing up of the economy takes hold, training licences will be handed back in, course closures will inevitably come, and job losses will be part and parcel of all of it.

In different circumstances the sport contracting may not have necessarily been a bad thing - the end of head spinning wall to wall racing plus a return to the old days of a manageable fixture list which can be comfortably digested and savoured.

But unfortunately that would be wishful thinking as the true trimmed down model would see even more power in fewer hands with the same sets of colours dominating even more than they do now. 

The media voices and  outlets within the sport are united in denial about the true extent of what will be a radical overhaul of the UK racing scene. It's happening slowly out of the spotlight but soon the shadows will surface and the sport will drop another tier in popularity.

Are there comparisons in the football world?  Well, we are soon to be in a situation where the Premiership will be dominated by four superpowers. This is something that has delighted a work colleague of mine with a full glass empty attitude to everything in life, who I have corresponded with almost daily for over a decade, debating sport, politics, and 1970's TV.

For the current football season, he's handed in his season ticket at a world famous club that he's been an active supporter of for 45 years. He will have the opportunity of claiming it back next summer but as yet is undecided. 

He despairs how the fan base has gradually changed from locals to what he terms as the 'distance challenged', who have no links with the location of the club and who have latched on to a fashionable big name, deserting in the process good clubs with a loyal fan base in their own locality. He is equally in contempt of locals who claim to be big supporters and talk of the club all day long but won't dip their hands in their pockets to offer in the flesh match day support.

He has for many, many years been turning up, taking his seat near the halfway line, and silently willing the opponents on, as each defeat, he hopes, will leave the 'imposters' who are taking over 'his' club feeling their loyalties waiver and lives in hope that the club will fall into steep decline resulting in this modern fanbase losing interest.

Needless to say he is overjoyed by the Newcastle United takeover, meaning that there will be four superpowers with the rest, including 'his' famous club left the cold. " I feel happy and content", he declared,  " The club will decline to mediocrity now but it will take time for it to sink in with these fans who I have nothing in common with that there will be no more league titles - all four of the superpowers would all have to have below par seasons to give anyone else a look in" 

In European flat racing Michael Stoute is in gradual wind down mode while John Gosden has been unable to keep them few years of spectacularly consistent success in motion. It was a sustained period that came out of nowhere - he'd settled into one of the top trainers when returning from the States but was never really right at the top. It's incredible to think that as relatively recently as 2003, Oasis Dream was his sole Group 1 winning performer for the session.

Now he'll soon be handing the licence fully over to his son and if there is a downturn in results, the owners will begin to fall away. Racing needs this yard to maintain its position near thet top and to be able to compete with the big two, for France is weak at the moment with the mighty Andre Fabre having less potent firepower than he's had in decades. 

Two superpowers, it's worse than footy. And the potential for the popularity of the sport itself to get back on track to the days of old is non existent. In the long term it's not worth a bean pulling in large summer weekend crowds if that so called engagement is not repeating itself in the percentage of the betting public who play the horses.

Admittedly some venues can survive and profit from this type of audience, though it's a fickle one that will not provide long term loyalty as quite frankly the sport does not interest them. Put on a rival attraction  with a wide range of alcohol beverages on sale, add in some gimmicks, and they'll soon turn their backs to the racecourses.

There is another obstacle in the way of attracting long term, genuine racing enthusiasts from the emerging generations in the UK. Some may poke fun at Grand Prix racing with the usual criticism stating how boring and repetitive it is but the fact remains that solid, good quality, Saturday horse racing cards cannot even compete with Grand Prix qualifying which is why racing coverage on terrestrial tv has in the past rescheduled times to avoid a clash it has no chance of winning.

And soon, the popularity in this country of this still most glamorous four wheeled sport is going to step up to a higher level than ever before over the next couple of years with George Russell and Lando Norris coming through to reach superstar levels as Lewis Hamilton leaves the scene, probably at the end of next season.

It's what everyone will want to talk about. A sport that blows racing out of the water. The engagement level with it amongst the emerging generations already dwarfs horse racing in this country and the gap in popularity between the two will only widen. Not good news for racing at all.

image author David Merritt, Daventry, England CC 2.0

This from a solid all the way through album released the day before Bachelor's Hall beat Fort Devon and  Aldaniti in the Hennessey.