A MEETING UNRECOGNISABLE FROM ITS TRUE GLORY DAYS

Another Cheltenham has gone by, the meeting evolving into something that is a depreciated version of the original butterflies in the stomach original that was at its zenith in the 1970's and 1980's.

One pleasing aspect was the willingness of many media members to come out steadfastly against the inevitable introduction of a fifth day. As each year passes more examples of the dilution element can be cited, just as we can cite races from old festivals and conclude what races each of the main protagonists would have been aimed at in today's spoilt for choice menu of a festival.

Of course it would be gross exaggeration and unhelpful in the debate to claim that Dawn Run would have ran in the mares hurdle if that race had existed in 1984, but she would definitely had been in the mares novices instead of that cracking renewal of the Sun Alliance Novice Hurdle in 1983, and it's also plausible to believe that in 1986 the Ryanair would have been considered as an alternative target to the Gold Cup.

You could fill a whole book with these hypothetical examples - just must add too that Allaho would either have lined up for the Champion Chase or more likely the Gold Cup in times gone by. No way he would have been kept at home with the excuse that he's a specialist two and a half miler, something you would never have heard at one time. His absence from one of these races was a great shame and undermines just how versatile many racehorses are if connections are willing to try things out. After all he finished only a length behind a future Gold Cup winner when he ran in the RSA. 

And what of plans for Constitution Hill? If, as is plausible, he is the best winner of the Supreme Novices since Golden Cygnet, then a Champion Hurdle route next season should be a no brainer. But talk of an Arkle route being mooted is on the verge of shocking and if connections went down this path, then it would be irrefutable evidence that the Champion Hurdle is now relegated in status behind the Champion Chase. Something very hard to come to terms with for the great majority of mature racing fans.

One must also remember that the Supreme Novices was overall a sterner test in the 1970's, larger fields with hustle and bustle, and generally better quality too. John Burke was aboard the Fred Rimmel trained Western Rose when he finished  a distant runner up to Golden Cygnet. His post race comments were testimony to the impression Golden Cygnet made that day. Burke recalled that he had been traveling well on Western Rose coming down the hill to the second last and thought he had a great chance of winning.    " Then suddenly this horse appeared on my outside. I couldn't believe it. He looked as though he had just joined in. He was pulling so hard there was blood. All his jockey seemed to do was let out half an inch of rein and he vanished "

When tragedy struck it was not on live TV. If memory serves that 1978 Scottish Champion Hurdle was not shown by ITV racing as it was late on the card. However. World of Sport did if I remember show the final stages around final score time. Golden Cygnet cruising to the front at the last besides Night Nurse when taking that sickening fall, landing on his head then somersaulting.

The viewing audiences then saw him on his feet and hope was that all would be well,  but alas he went downhill in the racecourse stables following which a decision was made to transport him from Scotland to Leasowe on the Wirral where the vetenary department of Liverpool University was situated. Sadly the animal who could of been the greatest hurdler of all time succumbed to the affects of a catastrophic neck injury.

If Constitution Hill travels to Punchestown to take on Honeysuckle we will know if he is entitled to be spoken of even in the same breath as Golden Cygnet, but the odds are that he'll now be put away for the season. Let us just hope they do at least start the new campaign with the Champion Hurdle as the target. It would be a great sin not to find out his true level of merit over timber.

It would however be a fair assumption to make that a smaller percentage of the attendees than ever before would be considering these issues. After midway through one of the days you could hear what sounded like the whole stands voicing football chants. 

These courses are now reaping what they have sewn. It was certainly hard not to chuckle at the news that many, disgusted at the price hikes for food and drink, vowed not to return again. These seemed to be English ' racegoers' with the profile of those that attend the cult venues during the summer months. The type that the courses are in competition with one another to pull in and why a fifth day will look so attractive on the balance sheets.

The problem going forward is that spare money in the pocket will be generally in shorter supply meaning that racecourse outings will be near the top of the list to draw a line through, particularly as this category of racegoer has no genuine passion for the sport. They 'll search for cheaper attractions away from the racing scene. There will be plenty to be found, leaving many the racecourses at risk of going in the same direction as the greyhound stadiums. With the sport facing crisis on several fronts, such a fall from grace is a possibility. It really is.

This, from a supremely gifted singer, entered the charts in Golden Cygnet's Cheltenham week.

TALKING ALCOHOL

Oisin Murphy's fall from grace will have had many followers of the sport self examing there own drinking habits and asking themselves whether they often teeter near to the edge where they go into that zone from which the wonderful stuff is the boss and has you in its grip.

I recall a documentary, late 1970's or early 1980's, with Fulke Walwyn in the twilight of his career as a trainer, partaking in a dram of Scotch shortly before retiring to bed. It was a common, long established  custom at the time, to clear the arteries and aid sleep.

It was an image that gave an impression that the great trainer was self disciplined and in control, unlike many in the racing game. There was that well known story of Jeffrey Bernard agreeing to present himself as the subject of a college lecture in which the teacher introduced as someone who " clogs his arteries by smoking eighty cigarettes a day, the clears them by drinking two bottles of vodka. "

Walwyn's legendary Lamborn rival Fred Winter fell down the stairs, banged his head and suffered a stroke, which he never fully recovered from, Charlie Brooks running the yard in the period when Celtic Shot won the Champion Hurdle. Still, Winter too gave the impression that any drinking habits would be under control.

There is however little doubt that drinking problems are more rife within the horse racing communities than in any other sport. I remember reading Barry Brogan's autobiography when it was first released over forty years back. A chronic alcohol, compulsive gambler, compulsive liar, jailbird and thief, it was hard to take some of the tales in that book seriously, though apparently they were indeed true and not overplayed.

Images of Pat Eddery in his final years were truly unsettling, though we are told he had a problem when he was in his pomp, with all that dash, sharpness and vigour that was part of the package. And it's still hard to believe now that Walter Swinburn went so young. It can be hard to accept that these people actually die - same with the likes of Ayrton Senna and right now, Shane Warne.

Alcohol also disrupts careers mid term - Timmy Murphy jailed for sexually assaulting a stewardess on an airplane. and Paul Carberry so fortunate not to suffer the same fate owing to a mid flight incident, the crime this time was foolishly setting a newspaper alight.

Oisin Murphy will be handed the chance of getting his career back on track and has every liklehood of doing so at the heady level he was at before the enforced sabbatical. It would be wrong to make comparisons with Robert Winston who may have been robbed of a jockeys title by a devastating fall at Ayr. 

Winston too had issues with alcohol and once climbed up the wall of a Malton cinema and smashed one of the lights overlooking the adjacent car park.Winston made it back but operates at a much lower level than he once promised to. However, his setbacks came at an older age meaning too many miles were on the clock for him to catch back up. 

Perhaps the chief concern over whether the present reigning champion will return fully recovered from his addiction is the revelation that drinking issues run in the family. If it's a gene thing then it may be something that is not permanently reversible.

Alcoholic beverages form an important part of many a life. I've a drinking bud who is adamant that he would give ten years of his life for not having to abstain from the booze. Our drinking sessions, sometimes with one or two others, usually hit the ten to fourteen pint mark, but without any shorts. If I stick to Guinness I survive just about OK.

Around fifteen years back I was in a specialist wine store, one of only two of its name in the country, that provide for many restaurants - some very upmarket. I was accompanied by a now retired work colleague who would rather buy two £50 bottles of Barolo than twenty from the supermarkets. He introduced me to the store manager as somebody who ' drinks' his wine. On seeing me looking rather baffled, he explained, " we enjoy our wine".

It was something I could not comprehend at the time but I've now seen the light with my red wine drinking and would like to believe I've come along way in my understanding of this heavenly potion since I got hooked on it in the mid 1990's when the Supermarket shelves were full of the Hungarian stuff that tasted like vinegar.

I am in a wine club, have a wine rack with thirty berths that is always at least half full, and am accumulating knowledge on the subject by the week. I'll decant and make a bottle last for a few hours. Appreciating and ' enjoying'. Drinking a bottle then opening a following one can spoil the experience and I'll only weaken to this habit less than six times in a year.

Martini Rosso and Cinzano Rosso are always in reserve. Not for regular drinking, but for Christmas, Easter, or the big racing festivals or sometimes a major golf tournament. It feels like a celebration of the 1970's. Leonard Rossiter promoting the Cinzano brand in those delightful adverts with Joan Collins. While  Martini conjures up images of Monte Carlo, of the Brabham racing team and their number one driver Carlos Reutemann, and of the mighty Roger Moore.

Around three or four times a year I'll partake in a full bottle of Cinzano followed by a full bottle of Martini. If this was a regular habit it would be a sign of crossing to the point of possibly no return, where the stuff has you in its grasp. That would be alcoholism, though not quite on the level of that chap from the Pogues who drinks two bottles of Martini in the morning to give him the confidence to leave the house, from which he goes into the pub right to last orders.

Or The Who's Pete Townshend who went through a period where he drank Remy Martin by the pint, had a magnum of this potent drink (44% proof) nearby on stage, and would sometimes sleep with a magnum bottle in the bed. When recovering he went into a state of shock from the withdrawal symptoms and awoke to find his bedroom looking and smelling like a sewer, his own vomit and excrement spread everywhere.

The point of all this waffle - just to demonstrate how life enhancing alcohol is to many hundreds of thousands provided you keep check and prevent yourself crossing over into the zone of no return from which the drink has you captured and locked in.

Right now in the world of racing there will be some in the professional ranks of trainers, riders, along with owners and stable staff will be already fighting a losing battle. But at the end of the day the most that can be effectively achieved is to ensure a strict and effective, no escaping testing regime ensures jockeys are not riding under the influence of either alcohol or drugs. Away from that, whether it be a gene thing or personal choice, then there is not alot that can, or should be done.

From an album released in 1982 but containing previously recorded tracks that were left out of albums. This terrific track recorded just before Approaching won the 1978 Hennessey.