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.

RELEGATED TO THE SECOND DIVISION

Although there is plenty of mileage remaining in the current flat season, one cannot help focusing a few weeks further on to when the National Hunt season begins to hit top gear. For those on this side of the Irish Sea, one can only look ahead with some trepidation.

This is not something necessarily brought about by the present Irish dominance of the jumping scene as such balances of power can tilt quicker than imagined, though it is something that is unhealthy for the sport irrespective of whether such a view is brought about by genuine concern or tinted more through envious eyes.

A reverse inbalance existed in the other direction during the second half of the 1980's  - remember for example Galmoy being the sole Irish triumph at the Cheltenham Festival two years running. I recall being there both those years and on one occasion hearing an Irish voice exclaim," hardly a reaction!" as the John Mulhern trained gelding crossed the line.They were odd times. Nearly all of the quality Irish stores were sold to these shores and when it resulted in one sided festivals it took something away from the scene for all genuine fans, no matter where they came from.

But all power holds eventually end in racing and the present situation will not run indefinitely. Micheal O'Leary is winding down his considerable string of animals and it would only take a loss of enthusiasm from someone like Rich Ricci to put the situation back in the balance.

It should never be a surprise when interest wains with influential owners. Who thought Graham Wylie's interest would gradually peter out? A  still relatively young and massively enthusiastic investor in the jumping scene who enjoyed some great successes. Surely, the most coveted four or five prizes would be coming his way and he could be banked upon to persevere, but the signs were ominous when he failed to reinvest and allowed his dwindling string, lately based in Ireland, to wind down.

Trevor Hemmings carried out a culling of his portfolio of animals and he now operates on a smaller scale than in the last couple of decades. However, there are age factors involved here. His mobility is unlike to be how it was and, allied to the stalling prize money versus increasing costs, a smaller, easier to keep tabs on string probably seemed preferable - though sadly, he lost Wetlands at Ayr in April who would have been the most exciting Northern trained animal going novice chasing this season.

Wylie cutting ties with the sport and Hemmings trimming his string, demonstrate how the involvement of powerful investors should never be taken for granted so it should not necessarily be a shock if like O'Leary, Ricci decided to move on from the sport. The concentration of quality in his manageable collection of animals that race in his colours is like something never seen before. Perhaps the only owner running a similar modus operandi in past times would be Sheikh Ali Abu Khamsin during the 1980's.

The Middle Eastern businessman started with Les Kennard then quickly developed an increased but manageable sized string with Fred Winter taking in the larger number, supported by Nick Gaselee and Mercy Rimmell. Winter provided the owner with many memorable successes with the mighty Half Free, as well as going so close in the King George V1 Chase with Fifty Dollars More, while Mrs Rimmell gave him his highest profile success when capturing the Champion Hurdle with Gaye Brief in 1983, an above average winner of he race who never got the credit he deserved. She also guided the Sheikh's Gala's Image to a shock success in the Arkle Chase. Nick Gaselee's most notable performer for the owner was Boland's Cross, considered a potential Cheltenham Gold Cup winner but who fell short of that level despite being very talented.

A fine quality string of limited numbers, very successful too but not on the mind blowing scale of Ricci. It should be remembered though that Khamsin also left the sport pretty quickly, almost without trace. It happens often unexpectedly, just when you had accepted that the involvement would be unceasing.

This is why for those concerned or even begrudging over the inbalance in quality between the two Isles, things may level up, no matter how unlikely that seems at present. Let no one undermine the damage done by the sitting on dead horses hullabaloo, or Gordon Elliott receiving a second dose of bleak publicity from the Panorama programme, or the painstaking digging up damaging evidence of illegal drug use by William Jones in his second book, ' The Black Horse Is Dying'.

Jones is peservering to unearth and make this issue public knowledge judging by the content in his ' The Black Horse Newsletter', and we now know that one major Irish  jumps trainer is alleged to have had one of his ex inmates test positive for illegal substsnces in tests privately summoned by an unnamed English based trainer.

Of course similar unproven allegations were in circulation with a major English trainer during the 1980's and 1990's and there seems to be a silent rule that if they are too good to be true then they must be up to something. It will be interesting to see if anything erupts from this but clearly, something is brimming beneath the surface.

And for this of us who realise we have a country that for the time being has an overall second division quality wise in National Hunt horses, then we also have to contend with the fact that our week to week programme is in a state of deterioration. The introduction of the Dublin Racing Festival exposes just how delusional it is to keep on expanding and diluting the Cheltenham Festival, the buzz of which is now all but gone.

The Dublin Racing Festival is jam-packed with quality, few options existing for animals to dodge one another. The timing is also perfect - think of all those animals down the years who have been prominent in the Cheltenham Ante Post markets but who meet with setbacks just prior to the meeting.The Leopardstown fixture catches and will go on catching these animals and for some it will prove to be their last appearance of the season.

For the exciting Energumene, Leopardstown would not be his final appearance of the season but he put up his optimum performance there before missing the Arkle due to setback, then reappearing at Punchestown.  Monkfish was likewise seen at his very best at the Dublin Racing Festival.

Aintree is also the poorer from the present scenario. In a sense it deserves reward for keeping to the three days but with the growth in status of the Punchestown Festival, not too mention an increase in quality support events at the Fairyhouse Irish Grand National fixture, it too is losing out.

So, into the new season proper we go. This side of the Irish Sea now clearly poorer relation by a mile in the sphere of National Hunt racing. A decade has quickly gone by since England last had a truly golden period headed by all time great Kauto Star (in picture) and the mighty Denman. It feels more and more like the distant past now.

image taken by author

A tune released just a fortnight before The Dikler won the King George V1 Chase. A time when the future of National Hunt racing seemed assured ad finitum.

NO PROPER BUZZ IN THE HURDLING RANKS ANYMORE

We are are just three weekends away from the Chepstow fixture that to many racing fans marks the time when the switch from flat mode to jumping mode gains momentum.

This year may seem a little bare to many as it will be the first time that the Welsh fixture won't coincide with the publication of Timeform's Chasers & Hurdlers, with the Halifax organisation for many years sponsoring the Free Handicap Hurdle on the card.

In fact, it's very rare nowadays to be able to get excited over the prospect of the previous season's juvenile hurdlers reappearing, for the Triumph Hurdle itself lost its mojo when the Fred Winter was introduced to the festival, the result being that the traditional juvenile championship is now unrecognisable from the large field cavalry charge it once was, though looking at the actual numbers that lined up before and immediately after the addition of the new race, there really should not have been much of a change in the nature of the event.

Whatever, there is no doubt that contestants who had looked visually impressive in small field, moderately run events, properly had their mettle tested. Some believed the old race ruined animals but the mighty Night Nurse finished unplaced in 1975, while Monksfield, a candidate for the toughest animal to ever look through a bridle, was placed in the race in 1976, and See You Then was beaten into second in 1984 - three all time greats coming through the race in ten years.

See You Then was having his first first outing since bring transfered from Michael Cunningham's yard in Ireland to Nicky Henderson. The trainer had another fancied runner in the race, the ex Michael Stoute inmate Childown, who had developed into a smart juvenile but who sadly sustained a fatal injury passing the stands for the first time.

While those aforementioned three renewals had field sizes of twenty eight, twenty three, and thirty respectively, with the first three years after the introduction of the Fred Winter fielding numbers of twenty three, seventeen, and twenty three, there was already a less chaotic feel to the big race at this early stage. 

If that impression may seem subjective exaggeration in hindsight, then it at least cannot now be denied that in recent times the field sizes as well as the chaos have fallen. In fact the largest field in the last nine runnings has been seventeen. Moreover there has been two single figure line ups in the last four years and if anyone attempts to put the blame on Covid for the eight runner field this year, they can try explaining why only nine horses line up in the 2018 renewal.

The new look, increasingly milder contest, has now been run seventeen times producing a real mish mash of winners. Tiger Roll is the eyecatcher but producing staying chasers has never been the purpose of the race so having this unique horse on the roll of honour cannot be used as justification for meddling with the juvenile races at the Festival. Same goes with the 2016 running that included two future King George winners in the field in Clan Des Obeaux and Frodon -  it is no compensation in any way for the race now becoming a near nonenty as a major pointer to future runnings of the Champion Hurdle.

You have to go back to Katchit, the winner in 2007, and the fourth in the same event, Punjabi, to find the last winners to graduate from the event and win a Champion Hurdle, the pair being the only winners to emerge from the event and take the Blue Riband of hurdling since the Fred Winter was introduced. And the fact that last season's winner Quilixios is shorter in the Ante Post markets for the Arkle than the Champion Hurdle, indicates that the drought will not be ending this season.

Indeed, the decline of the quality in the hurdling ranks is a factor that has diminished the National Hunt scene in recent times. There are just so many outlets for quality flat horses who may once have been snapped up by connections of the big jumping yards. There can be little doubt that if Sea Pigeon existed now he'd be racing at the Dubai winter programme or even more likely have been hunted down and secured by an agent from Down Under.

While it is indeed ironic that three previously mentioned greats in Night Nurse, Monksfield and See You Then would, if racing now, still have been put over timber, there is a good likelihood that Istabraq would not have been cast off to the Horses In Traning sales and would instead have been transfered to race at the Dubai winter fixtures. And as for the likes of Alderbrook and Royal Gait, the question needn't even be asked.

This state of affairs were the Champion Hurdle along with the other top hurdling prizes are less coveted than was once the case, impacts on trends across the whole jumping scene. Put it this way, if Altior had been running in an earlier era what are the chances that in light of that mighty impressive Supreme Novices successes, he would have been kept to hurdles for one more season at least to target the most prestigious prize in hurdling? 

Very likely that he would have been reappearing in the Bula Hurdle and if balancing the boost it would have been to the hurdling scene against the loss to the novice chase ranks, then it is surely right and proper that he should have remained over hurdles and aimed for the top. If he fell short, then the chasing ranks have missed him for just one season, if he succeeded then he remains over hurdles irrespective of the loss to chasing. That is how it should be.

image Katchit - taken by author

They say that certain music can poisin the mind - you often wonder sometimes if it can affect the sports you grow to like, even betting habits - for example, someone listening regularly to Arlo Guthrie, Eric Clapton, or Anne Murray may like the pace of life that fits nicely with betting on horses, while those who get addicted to more chaotic music may feel more inclined to bet on footy and general sports or even casino style games, and may even feel hostile towards horse racing. Music can have a retarded affect on some minds.In 1984 there was a cult VHS video in thousands of households called ' UK Decay', focusing on the second wave of punk rock, which emerged after most of the bands in the first wave sold out and moved on. Of course, both waves were influenced by the great rock bands of the late 60's early 70's, copied versions rejigged,with an anarchist angle added in. I think most of these here ( taken from 'UK Decay') would have ended up concentrating the majority of their betting on footy and other sports. Racing's loss indeed,

CHAMPIONING GARBAGE WHILE HIDING THE INEXCUSABLE

There will be many traditional racing fans feeling a smudge tickled at present by how much of a damp squib that stupid Racing League turned out to be - let no one put a positive reflection on the competition for it went by unnoticed and it won't be surprising if this turns out to have been its sole staging.

Very little of this whole wasted project had much in common with the long established ingrediants which attract people to the sport, then consolidate that interest and lock it in for life. Many must of chuckled at how much more alluring the sports are which the competition clashed with, supporting the suspicion that the whole hullabaloo was the creation of halfwits with no true feel for the sport, as well as bringing home the realisation of how only the top quality events in racing could share dates with the true major sports without having their viewer engagement steamrolled.

In contrast, cricket’s latest creation, 'The Hundred', proved to be a splendid success. Even those who were initially sceptical as to how it would be greeted, could not have failed to be mesmerised by the skill, excitement, and the many matches that swung back and forth. And unlike its doomed racing equivalent the  crowds turned up to live and breath the action on the field infront of them.

Furthermore, why did no one identify beforehand the negative impact that the Racing League would have on the established cards for a period of five weeks. It was no coincidence that many weekend handicaps just below showcase level pulled in fields with a shallow look to them. The congested fixture list has been having a negative impact on cards for many year - it's something that does not need intensifying. Truth is, only those with a vested interest in this daft concept would be in favour of a repeat next year.

The marketing was corny too.The image at the top of the main promotion page featured what were presumably a racegoing couple, with the gentleman looking the spitting image of George Michael  - no doubt a flat cap or trilby with binoculars would not fit the profile of who they were attempting to draw in and cash in on. Serious people not wanted, racing is fun haha.

And then, as the competition progressed, the pictures published included some of the jockeys adopting poses not too dissimilar to those we suffer as the line ups for a Sky footy match are shown just prior to kick off. It doesn't suit racing. Even if unintentional, it amounted to the ridiculing of the riders. 

The best photos of jockeys are those capturing them in deep thought, often in private moments, whether alone in the weighing room, in discussion with colleagues, or awaiting a leg up on the home gallop. And  those portrayals that show the drawn, ravaged look of those who have had to waste hard over the years - these are often best in black and white, adding an extra feel of nostalgia to them. Whatever, comparing them to images of riders posing with unnatural looking gaits is like chalk and cheese.

Those in positions of influence with regards to how the sport should be promoted give weight to these gimmicky events in the belief that change, no matter how ill thought out, is always preferable to doing nothing and allowing the sport to stand still.

Truth is, horse racing has naturally stood still while most other sports have evolved and thrived. There is not a lot that could have been done about this. Racing has no hand in the fortunes of other sports and one of the contributory reasons why the sport has slowly waned is that the horse itself, is an animal that has been of less importance to each succeeding generation.

An even bigger factor in the decline stems from the missed opportunities to install a Tote Monopoly, with the failure to do so mainly brought about by the smart brains of those characters in the bookmaking industry having the foresight and nous to be able to influence politicians and to easily outwit what was then an inward, almost inbred Jockey Club, who had control of the sport.

What is ironic about this is that the BHA have gone down the route of welcoming people into positions of influence from the outside business world but who have no true 'feel' for the sport meaning no appreciation or understanding of how to attract and keep hold of potential lifelong enthusiasts which is why we have concepts such as the Racing League, and why there will be a further attempt to get 'City Racing' off the ground - another idea which is the work of idiots.

Irrespective of all this, there is a strong indication that all those groups and individuals in positions of power are collectively sweeping under the carpet  the recent, potentially harmful, Panorama programme, along with the Gordon Elliott and Stephen Mahon scandals.

It's almost as if they feel they have had a phew moment, a near miss, but that the public have forgotten about if all. But if you speak to enough people with no interest in the sport, if will be a surprise how many are aware of or even watched the Panorama episode and previously had no idea of the high wastage rate within the sport.

The cat is now out of the bag and these grave concerns need to be addressed thoroughly. It's nothing short of disgusting that the racing media have chosen to not reflect upon the Mahon case. Anyone bothering to take the time to read the full report of the findings cannot have failed to be aghast at the gory details yet there is a suspicion that there is a silent consensus to leave things alone in the hope it will all pass over. Time will show that this will prove to have been an unwise course of action to take.

A track from an album released the month that Star Appeal won the Arc and Rose Bowl the Champion Stakes, in an era when the end to the flat season was less cluttered, when the order of events came at the right time with less options for skipping, avoiding and diluting quality. And this is more a snipe at the last two months of the rehashed UK fixture list rather than belittling the Breeders Cup in any way.. It's a sport that has been rolling and tumbling downhill for a while now. 

A RACECOURSE THAT COULD DO BETTER FOR ITSELF WITHOUT STAGING HORSE RACING

There can never have been a period before in UK horse racing like now were self examination has become such an obsession with everyone throwing in their two bob's worth in taking an inward look and suggesting solutions on how an ailing sport can be reinvigorated.

Some of the offerings are better than others, though there does disappointingly seem to be a general consensus that concert nights serve a purpose in bringing in a fresh audience to the sport - a claim in  which no evidence whatsoever exists to support it.

One member of the ITV racing team attended the concert night at Goodwood on Friday and witnessed trouble near to where he stood but put a positive on the event because one of two inebriated attendees came up to him to boast of winners they had supported earlier in the evening.

To suggest that this amounts to proof that these events are picking up and retaining a new fanbase for horse racing is ridiculous. They may have had a few bets as they began their boozing session to get in the mood for the concert but back home the following day, are we to expect that they would have watched the racing from their homes and carried on wagering? - Of course not, they'd have been watching and betting on the footy to the exclusion of everything else sporting.

Anyone believing that these attendees will eventually form the backbone of a an emerging young fanbase for the sport is gravely mistaken. I've never heard of anyone who became smitten with the sport after first being 'introduced' to it on a concert night - and these events have been going for some time now, right back as far as the mid 1980's when the Newmarket July course regularly hosted the likes of Suzi Quatro, Tom Jones, and that group that represented the UK in Eurovision who had American parents based at RAF Mildenhall. 

Try speaking to these people who claim to be racing fans. From out of the blue they may suddenly say that so and so had been raised so many pounds in the ratings. You then engage in conversation only to quickly realise that they haven't a clue what they mean and have just read it from an article on a betting site on their smartphones. You then realise that the name Nijinsky does not register with them which is like someone claiming to be a footy fan who had never heard of Pele. And some of these so-called racing fans are as old as forty!

I've spoken to someone around this age who claimed to be a genuine racing fan because he often watched ITV racing on a Saturday and sometimes had a Lucky 15. He did not however know what a classic was or that they were confined to three year olds. Had never heard of Kieren Fallon or Henry Cecil, and none of them have ever heard of Nijinsky.

This may seem harsh but a few weeks back I watched a preview of the British &Irish Lions Rugby tour, watched the three matches and had bets in two of them. Does that make me a fan? Truth be told I do not even know the rules while the only position I can name is a prop forward but I haven't the foggiest what the purpose of that role is and whereabouts on the field they play.

To be a genuine fan of a sport you cannot resist that initial urge to become engrossed and go on to mop up as much information as you can, historical and contemporary, as quickly as possible. The history has so much depth that a lifetime is not enough time to enrich yourself with all the knowledge you wish. And with racing it will mean you'll be a punter for life and the sport could not possibly survive in its present form without betting, which is why the explosion in general sports betting which continues to increase its portion of the betting pie, casts a shadow over the future of the game.

What is becoming clear from the increased importance being placed on these music nights is that there are racecourses, some with bleak balance sheets, which are missing a trick here. Most racing fans would be in denial if they did not agree that a large section of the crowds that now pack the cult venues (we know which courses these are) would not bat an eyelid if they changed the sport on show without prior announcement - which leads to the suspicion that some may already have held off the record discussions about the benefits of utilising their establishments by holding sports that would lessen the dependcy on racing.

Similar to show jumping, the sport of speedway seems to have disappeared from view but it still exists and can be watched on BT Sport and Eurosport, though is not promoted on these channels as much as most of the other sports. There are bookmaking firms who take bets on it too! Those of a certain age will recall that Peter Collins (in picture) was a household name during the 1970's, the sport itself with a prominent profile.

If truth be told this is the ideal sport for the emerging generation of racegoers. Bookmakers on track, a concert to look forward too after, the roar of the engines and smell of petrol, would be a perfect for for the gangs of young bucks and their companions - it's certainly something they would embrace with more passion than horse racing.

And which venue would be the first to go down this route? With all due respect to the venue, Catterick Bridge would be an ideal candidate. It's a long, long time since I've visited this track and there is nothing at all wrong with it lacking any glamour - but it also lacks any quaintness too, something which the likes of Beverley and Ripon certainlypossess.

In fact the stark, harsh coldness about the place makes it ideal for speedway. And being right on the A1 is easily accessible to a large area covering Yorkshire and the North East, with a shuttle bus service operating from Darlington Railway Station on race days. 

In a world in which change rarely takes place subtley it would not be a surprise if some venues began to tailor themselves to the needs of the modern, emerging attendees. For if these audiences have been enticed to the courses for something other than racing, then changing the sport on show would be a risk free gamble for many of the struggling establishments. It really could happen, and happen soon too.

image in public domain 

This released the month that Sea Pigeon finally got one over on Monksfield in the Champion Hurdle and when Tied Cottage took the prize many say he deserved only to be later stripped off his title. However, the only link this song is likely to have with racing in future is that it could be the welcomimg tune for attendees arriving at venues that once staged horse racing but had since moved on.

RACING SHOULD NOT TAKE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER COVERAGE FOR GRANTED

The increasing tendency to starve notoriety seeking mass murders of the 'fame' they seek is in a sense not too dismilar to the long established approach adopted to deal with the trivial subject of streakers at televised sporting events. 

We remember Erica thingyo at a Rugby match a few decades back, but from then on the names became unknown and it's a ' hobby' that may now be defunct  - though of that we can't be sure as if nothing is uttered by the commentator and the camera operators are alert enough to pan away before the offender enters the view of the lens, we'll know no different.

These two areas are as extreme as you can get - one lighthearted, slapstick and childishy funny, the other extremely tragic and disturbing. However, in between lies a large terrain of subjects which fit neither category but are at the mercy of the power of the present media who, intentional or not, participate in blanketing affairs which warrant discussion,

This came to mind when I was surprised at being reminded that the last Waterloo Cup was staged as recently as 2005. What was once the biggest sporting event in the nation and one which outpointed  the popularity of the Grand National to such an extent, it resulted in the Aintree spectacle being moved forward from February to its present slot.

I found an article on the racing page of an Irish newspaper dated in June of 2003 which celebrated the fact that the winners of both the Aintree and Altcar events that year, Monty's Pass and Henrietta, were trained in County Cork and would be paraded at Clonmel racecourse the following day. The article was eleven paragraphs long and the threat to the continuation of the Waterloo Cup was not alluded to.

Fast forward to the present and since the 2004 Hunting Act spelt the end for hare coursing on the Great Britain mainland, with Northern Ireland following in 2011, Eire is alone on the two islands in permitting it to continue.

The reason for this being brought up is not to discuss the rights or wrongs, benefits or hindrances of hare coursing, but to demonstrate how the media can collectively starve a subject of publicity or to use the in vogue term, 'cancel' it, and this is a tactic that racing could be on the wrong end of - don't be fooled by the red tops having weekend racing pull outs, for these are paid for by bookmakers advertising and if truth be told editors are giving less and less space to the sport and snipping the numbers on their racing desks.

I've always considered my memory to be in good working order but from the top of my head I would have guessed that the Altcar event was discontinued in the late eighties as opposed to a decade and a half later, which shows how scarily effective cancel culture can be.

And anyone believing that the sport does not need promotion from the media should consider how Show Jumping feels like it has sunk into oblivion though in reality it's still there if you look hard enough. Put it this way, those of us who are old enough to have been following all of the sports through the seventies will recall that the likes of Harvey Smith, Caroline Bradley, Eddie Macken and Paul Shockemohle were household names,in a different league on the popularity scale to the Snooker and Darts players of that time, and were names on the tip of the tongue as much as Tennis and Golf Players - can anyway name any current show jumping professionals, even a medal winner at the recently staged Olympics?

What is even more chilling is that while show jumping continues and will be found on some of those obscure channels which you need to scan the lists for, horse racing could not survive without its link with betting and would incur indelible damage if newspaper editors considered it was not worthy of coverage and terrestrial television followed down the same route.

Change happens so fast. You don't  see it coming. And no doubt that after the cancel mobs have pulled down all the statues they scornfully object to, they'll want to erase what they see as objectionable 1970's sitcoms from the archives, then, they'll be after those who they view as glorifying dangerously unhealthy lifestyles.

The name of Olly Reed would immediately be worked upon by the Ministry of Truth, and at the same Richard Burton, pound for pound an equal in neglecting his inside workings. Both 5ft 10in. Reed lasted three years longer amid tales of excessive alcohol intake, the volumes of which coming out of hazy recounts, but Burton's intake of five bottles of vodka a day along with up to a a hundred cigarettes makes him at least Reeds equal.

This is from an Album released in 2008 but to get into the spirit of rewriting history, it's too classy to befit that period so the release date is the week in August 1978 during which Hawaiian Sound beat Gunner B in the Benson & Hedges Gold Cup

A SPORT THAT HAS COMPLETELY LOST THE PLOT

That we really do finally seem to be returning to normality after seventeen months in the doldrums may be the much sought after lifeline that many involved racing have been holding out for in a sport which has taken a bigger hit than most and in which the majority of participants away from the very top spheres will not have been financially equipped to withstand a continuation of the restrictions.

But for many it will already be too late as pre-covid this was a sport much in need of a solution to provide a better funding model and it must be remembered that some racing professionals even took strike action in protest against what they considered to be meager prize money levels at the ARC courses - though some may say that amid a fixture list too big to thrive, the prize money was befitting of the general low quality of animal that filled the cards.

Those pesky protesters probably wish they could turn the clock back as the financial state of the sport is now a tier deeper in the mire with many bracing themselves for the fall out from the covid crisis that will have a detrimental affect for many years to come. 

There has been no plus side. When the circuit started back up last June to deliver a topsy turvy, asterisk season, marked by one of the most forgetful runnings of the Epsom Derby ever, some saw it as a big opportunity for the sport to pull in new viewers with less competition from the other traditional midsummer sports and a postponed Euro Championship in the football, a postponed Olympics, a cancelled Wimbledon, and cancelled Open Golf.

In reality though horse racing lost its mojo long ago and has fallen behind the other major sports of which it once could compete with. And let no one kid themselves - the  type of people who would become smitten watching the sport on TV during the lockdown are the same category who have been following the Olympic coverage over the past few weeks and familiarising themselves with names the general public are not familiar with and sports of which the general public have no grasp of the rules.

Certain races are fair barometers to guage the engagement level with the sport. One is the traditional midsummer highlight of the King George V1 Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes. This years renewal  promised  to be a cracker and as things turned out the event received a boost by falling to the present Epsom Derby winner - it was once an expected target of any Derby winner who aspired to go on to stake his claim to top the all aged middle distant rankings and the race had been much the poorer that it's now skipped by many, though it was only the underfoot conditions that hastened Golden Horn's withdrawal, the last above the norm Epsom Victor.

This year was the first running that I have not seen in real time since 1975. I would guess that many other maturing long term racing fans are beginning to gradually put many things racing lower down the order of priorities, as they find it is morphing into something they neither get a buzz over or respect very much anymore.

I recall, around fifteen years ago, recognising that my enthusiasm for the game must be waining when I was in the stands as the runners entered the stalls for the Chester Vase, reading a preview of the forthcoming Player's Championship at Sawgrass, and finding the prospect of settling down in the house to watch all four days of the Golfing event preferable than being at a course that has changed for the worse, hosting a sport that too has seen better days.

Since then Chester had continued to slide downwards thanks to the business model that dictates how the course operates. A modus operandi to take advantage of the cult status that the course holds for large throngs of people who could at anytime be enticed away from visiting racecourses to any rival attraction with a good supply of alcohol, that becomes fashionable.

Back to King George day - I was going from pub to pub in and around a Welsh town, packed with citizens proudly wearing  British and Irish Lions shirts. No sign of anything racing anywhere, no hearing of conversations anything racing, and in all the pubs with screens, only Cricket was showing apart from the dominant Rugby - and this from as early as 1pm, four hours prior to the starting time down in South Africa. 

The decline of horse racing's popularity in the UK is picking up pace, masked in parts by the large crowds that frequent the cult venues. They say one of the barriers to the sport halting its freefall is that the main stakeholding bodies are unable to blend in harmony, as the only aspect that seems to be consensual across the board is the toleration of a blatant sell out to the modern woke trends.

The appalling Ladbrokes advert, the just know you know one, seems to infer that betting on horses is more popular than it really is, with the masses involved daily as though every day was Grand National day, and with it spread equally across racial groups, sexes, and orientations. It's also damn annoying, even more so than that group of odd characters which were in those cringeworthy ' the Ladbroke life'  commercials.

Then we have these adverts for ' Diva Racing'  which is a very curious name indeed for a horse racing syndicate. The characters portraying the owners are seen hovering around a yard, probably to the frustration of those carrying out their tasks, that is, if you pretend they are real or maybe they are. Then there is that character in the green T shirt who appears to have taken up a hands on role or why else would he be opening the door on a horse transporter? Have never seen so called owners cast like this but of course they could not resist a shot of them drinking glasses of bubbly though I've no idea why they would do this walking around the stables.

This is the image that all the influential parties in the sport wish to beam out. It fits snuggly with the increasing tendency to give every gimmick a try - the doomed to fail team competition being the latest. No doubt there will be further attempts along the line to bring in ' city racing'.  They'll not give up on this idea, a frightful one which really does have the potential to produce a catastrophic accident, warts and all, that will make the sport appear crueller than any of the historic Grand Nationals ever could.

It would be a sin to take a glass half full attitude to the present state of UK racing as wherever you look, there are a shadows in every corner of the sport. It can't be repeated enough that not only has it seen better days that won't return, but that it could be on its way out.

This from an album that was released three days before the mighty Mill Reef won the 1971 King George. Since then music has gone down the swanny to the same degree as racing. This track is typical of what would be playing when you wander inadvertently into some Hell's Angels bar abroad.