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.

HOW WILL THEY FILL THE FINANCIAL VOID?

One would struggle to pinpoint a period during the last half century in which UK horse racing was under siege like it is now by a myriad of real threats to its health, even its existence.

You are spoilt for choice for delving into each lingering peril but top of the list at the moment has to be the    prospect of bookmakers being forced to impose affordibility checks with a view to restricting punters to  maximum monthly loss limits - a situation that could not be made up as this is a ruthless game where the bookmakers natural instinct is to turn the punter upside now and shake him until his pockets are emptied.

Against the checks, Parliament will be taking into consideration submissions by representatives of the racing industrywho quite rightly believe that restrictions will result in a massive black hole in racing's finances. 

Let's face it, only a small minority will be willing to allow bookmakers to view personal information including bank statements and wage slips. The result will be a mass emigration to using online black market firms, both home and abroad. It's a trend that has happened in other countries with monopolised systems which result in too much state take out, or where mass affordability checks have seen maximum stakes limited. Across the whole gambling spectrum some countries even estimate that something  approaching two thirds of wagers are now placed on the black market.

No doubt anyone playing in these murky waters would be advised to still use the big high street firms for those potential life changing multiple wagers popular at the big festivals and on Saturdays. It's not just the bigger limits, it would also be removing the angst that an unregulated firm would welch in the face of a big pay out, and the over the counter stakes for such bets for the majority are not going to be large enough to trigger any proposed affordability check.

Nevertheless. for normal single bets, the liklehood is that the black market would be fairly reliable given the increase in competition. And the potential financial damage to UK horse racing would be catastrophic if, as likely, punters are asked to provide non essential, private information to a firm of bookmakers.

It will certainly test the rickety assertion of some that racing can survive without punter's money. The courses which are not able to attract the summer cult attendees, or are neither grand enough in status to hold the major festival meetings, would struggle to survive and will be lost to the sport. UK racing would be left with a small number of showcase venues, reliant on these cult attendees paying large entry fees that in many cases will try and be justified by the inclusion of a concert, with the purchasing of over priced food and drink throughout the day built into the profit forecasts.

To what may sound appealing to the casual none serious racing fan attendee, will be the stuff of nightmares to those who are finding it hard to come to terms with the grim fact that racecourses now increasingly pertain much more to other interests than the racing itself. In fact, it would not be unreasonable to envisage a situation where as the weekend approaches, York, Chester and Haydock, are all advertising aggressively for competing audiences, the gimmick of one venue trying to outdo the gimmicks offered by the other two, or the aged, croakey voiced singer at one course, proclaimed as the real thing and therefore better than a younger more vibrant Abba tribute band at another.

At the other end of the country, a similar tussle for the paying attendees could be playing out between Newbury, Salisbury and Sandown, the onus on the ingredient in the adverts that would lure in the undecided. Stuff the fact that one track may have a card chokker full of high class thoroughbreds, while another may be littered with 0- 80 handicaps, an amateur riders event, and a maiden auction juvenile. It will sadly matter not anymore for the horse racing will be secondary.

The warning signs were there many years ago - maybe not as far back as the 1980's when the evening meetings at the Newmarket July course would play host after racing to the likes of Suzi Quatro and Tom Jones. It seemed harmless at the time and certainly no threat to the core sport on offer.

But once we moved into the noughties the whole ball game had changed with a realisation by many venues that for the emerging generations, the racing itself was not enough of a lure.This did not hit home with me until approximately twenty years back when I paid an inflated entry fee for a run of the mill evening Aintree card that included an after race concert by Peter Andre, who I honestly would not recognise in a photo never mind being able to name a single tune of his. As I left during the running of the last event, a considerable numbers of 'racegoers' were still arriving in anticipation of the billed main attraction of the night. 

Times have moved on and fixtures with non racing 'extras' topping the bill occur throughout the week during the summer months. Once the consequences of affordibility checks take hold they will become the norm as a smaller number of operating venues than ever before compete for the new audience brand.

And not to forget that a twin threat may yet emerge to consolidate the impact of these measures. For in a  financial climate in which the chancery seeks to claw back as much back into the coffers as possible, it would not come as the greatest shock if a return to the days of taxing the punter were under consideration.

Make no mistake there are owners and trainers who blindly overestimate the value of their product and who believe that the punter should be paying more into the game.They really should be careful what they wish for.

This was released the day before Henry Cecil first hit the big time with Wolver Hollow in the Eclipse. Not even a full glass empty person could have predicted that half a century on the sport would be struggling as all the other major sports thrive and survive. And you definitely could not have envisaged how music would be all washed up fifty years on. It would not be unreasonable to claim that along with Bohemian Rhapsody, this was the greatest UK chart number one ever.

REMEMBER RANDOLPH

Becoming over familiar with predictable trends can render a subject less appealing - in the area of various sports fascination can slowly turn sour. Formula One is a sport always in the firing line for this sin, and more so in the past three decades than in earlier times.

Jacques Villeneuve, Damon Hill, and more recently Lewis Hamilton - all conditions fitting into place giving them the platform to be be world champions. Michael Andretti given a similar opportunity failed abysmally but these setbacks are requisite to keeping engagement within at least the wider public sporting fanbase.

With horse racing, one of its most riveting aspects is that being blase over how future careers of certain animals pan out can result in embarrassment. And in an era where under both codes of the sport engagement can go stale due to the domination of a smaller number of power bases than ever before, things turning out not as they would in a perfect world are a plus for the sport.

This came to mind when Bob Olinger renewed rivalry with Gaillard Du Mesnil at Punchestown last month. He had beaten the Mullins animal convincingly in the Ballymore at Cheltenham and seeing that Timeform's physical description of him is "rangy, good sort, every inch a chaser " compared with the just "sturdy" applied to Gaillard Du Mesnil, everything is in place for Bob Olinger to be the horse that is going to succeed in the perfect world.

In fact, with the present staying chasing ranks packed out a bit mish and mash at the top, an animal arriving on the scene and stamping himself the best by some way would not be a bad thing. Bob Olinger won that Punchestown event indicating that the gap between him and Gaillard Du Mesnil is even more superior over the larger obstacles. So far so good, all going to plan, but there'll be some twists and turns in the story - who knows, Gaillard may revert to hurdles and stamp himself a the best stayer around, while Bob Olinger's career over fences goes off path.

This brings back memories that there was once an animal by the name of Randolph Place, who if everything went to script would develop into a top class chaser. Owned by the Edinburgh Woollen Mill and in training at Greystoke with Gordon Richards, he physically looked every inch a chaser, a  "big, good topped chasing type " according to Timeform, and had showed himself a useful novice hurdler, finishing a creditable eighth in the 1987 Sun Alliance Novice Hurdle, but having the potential to prove the best in that field when they switched to fences. There was an extra fascinating angle involved too in the sense that Randolph Place had a great grand dam in his pedigree who was a full sister to the dam of Arkle.

I remember being at Cheltenham and watching that  Sun Alliance Novice Hurdle down near the final hurdle, the race eventually won by the blinkered The West Awake, hailing from Oliver Sherwood's yard and who went and followed up in the stayer's novice hurdle at Aintree. 

But looking ahead with a view to making the grade as a top class chaser, Randolph was the one to take from the race. In fact, Timeform suggested that The West Awake, who they physically described as "workmanlike", should stay over hurdles for at least another season. While with one of the beaten joint favorites, Bonanza Boy, while stating that Philip Hobbs's inmate was " one of the more interesting chasing prospects around ", they did include the proviso that he was physically "close -coupled" and "sparely made", and not the standard chasing type.

The fortunes of these three journeyed on their own different paths with twists and turns along the way. The West Awake was sent chasing and was successful in the Sun Alliance Novices Chase, before finishing a below par fourth in the stayers novice chase at Aintree behind  Delius, an animal worth a chapter in any book. An injury kept The West Awake off the course for the whole of the following season -  he only appeared on a racecourse three more times, last seen when pulling up in Carvill's Hill's Welsh Grand National. Still, the Festival victory over fences marked his shortened chasing career down as a successful one.

Bonanza Boy too went over fences, beginning with three successive wins  before he suffered from a poor jumping technique with Timeform describing him as a "deliberate jumper of fences". He ended up reverting to hurdles, over which he reached a place in the Stayers Hurdle at the Festival, but there was a twist to his story.Transferred to the yard of Martin Pipe, he went back over fences and proved a revelation and one of the most popular National Hunt animals in training, best remembered for winning consecutive above standard renewals of the Welsh Grand National, though he never quite perfected his jumping technique.

And as for Randolph, no one needed to worry about over familiarity as his career did not map out as it should in a perfect world. Falling on his first chase outing, he then got on track winning five successive races, despite most of his performances being marked by jumping errors. In the final success of that sequence, he destroyed the future Cathcart winner Private Views up at Ayr, putting in a blemish free round. At this point in time his stock had never been higher.

Then, it all began to go wrong. He hit the deck four out in his Cheltenham prep at Nottingham, though confidence remained in him despite the Arkle Chase being chosen for him over the Sun Alliance. I was there that day and many expected that he would mark himself as the best novice chaser around. In a solid renewal of the race he started 4/1 third favourite and was trackng the leaders when taking a heavy fall at the open ditch, five fences from home. Randolph Place then reappeared at Ayr for his final outing of the campaign, where he again came to grief. Timeform commented with a touch of understatement that " he needs to pull his socks up if he is going to realize his potential."

But the bubble had burst. He appeared three times the following season, remaining on his feet despite making jumping errors, but finding one too good on each occasion, his weight and measures form below that of the previous season. He won a handicap chase at Ayr during the 1989/90 campaign but never managed to tidy up his jumping and reverted to hurdles towards the end of the season, over which he remained for the rest of his career under rules, winning four more times and finishing third in the 1991 Coral Final at Cheltenham.

Randolph Place finished his racing days in the pointing sphere, winning on five occasions, making an appearance in the 1993 Cheltenham Foxhunters, when he unseated his new owner/trainer Ian Stark, and was last seen when finishing runner up as a thirteen year old in a Scottish point one year later.

The gist of this is that in an era where the jam is is barely spread and so few strongholds dominate, it is essential that things not to always work out as prescribed. In the domain of novice chasers, we need the Bonanza Boys and The West Awake, and for the got it all types such as Randolph to fail. Admittedly it's  absorbing to witness an animal bearing an impressive, rangy physique, making it to the top of the chasing tree but we also need the ones that don't fill the eye to be in the mix too.

And going all the way back to Battleship, then just forty years back to Silver Buck, and more recently Tiger Roll, an encyclopedia could be devoted to the scrawny types who made stardom, and another  devoted to the Randolphs of the world who play a much needed part in spicing up a sport presentlygoing through rough times.

After the 1970's the following decade was an appalling one music wise - so on the subject of steeplechasers without physical stature, this was prominent in the charts when Silver Buck first properly  announced his arrival in the big league when winning the rescheduled running of the 1979 Embassy Premier Chase Final, beating Night Nurse in a thrilling, long fought duel,

HAVING A REALISTIC PERSPECTIVE

The BBC now have a curious but distant relationship with horse racing. They completely washed their hands of it, look for the negatives first when reporting stories related to the sport on its websites, but curiously are happy to give it a reasonable spot of publicity on SPOTY.

Maybe this was helped last year by the fact that the award winner from the sport was a lady, which would have ticked the corporations diversity boxes. Whatever, come this December last weekend will be relived on the established awards show, not for a horse race that took place, but for the achievements of an Englishman in Kitzbuhel.

The first thoughts that come to mind when this famous skiing location is mentioned, concern a singer by the name of Hansi Hinterseer ( in picture) who is Kitzbuhel through and through and even represented the Austrian national team at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck. 

Every time you turn on the telly in that country, Hansi is never far away and must be the most recognisable character in the nation, never seeming to age, his flowing long hair defying nature, while having some famous buds, such as Franz Beckenbauer, plus a nephew, Lukas Hinterseer, who has played first team football for Hamburg and is now with Hannover.

But now, this picturesque location will be linked first and foremost with Dave Ryding, who in winning the Kitzbuhel Slalom became the first ever British winner of a skiing event at World Cup level. From someone who learnt his trade on dry slopes, this is a story that will run and run and will rightly put a certain horse race from last weekend in its place.

That's not to say that the Clarence House wasn't a cracker, but to talk it up as though it was the race of all time would be daft -  for specialist two miles the Moscow Flyer v Well Chief v Azertyuiop  renewal of the Tingle Creek will go down in history as the superior. And for proper duels in the two mile chasing ranks, well, you'll never see a more stimulating one than the Bobsline v Noddy's Ryde clash in the 1984 Arkle, the rematch we sadly never got to see for the Greystoke animal was fatally injured at Exeter that Autumn.

Still, the race at least lived up to its billing with both of the lead players bringing their top game to the table - something that often fails to happen, and the rematch in the Champion Chase is already and rightly being plugged as the feature of this year's Festival. And this time they will battle for the most coveted prize in two mile steeplechasing, arguably the most exciting division of National Hunt racing.

It's something that can be looked forward too without needing to place it outside of its context by pretending that there is some national importance attached to it, which in the case of the achievements of Dave Ryding, there very much is.

It really is a futile exercise to pretend that horse racing is thriving and holding the same significance in the national psyche as it did forty, fifty, sixty years ago. How common it once was to have a photo of a horse or two adorn the walls of a public house. The Schweppes calendars were a common sight on the walls behind a bar. Wonderful items that began to go downhill when they changed from the posed portraits taken in the yard, jockey up with colours, to a calendar full of all action, over arty photographs.

The only race action photograph that consistently got in would be the Schweppes Hurdle itself, while both Night Nurse, Monksfield and Red Rum also had inclusions from races. You'd also get the odd home gallop image - both Wollow and The Minstrel were photographed in home gallops. But the overriding trend was to have the animals with race jockey in silks, taken in the yard.Most of the animals who made the calendar deserved their place though the company can be forgiven for including the Michael Stoute trained early season juvenile speedball Schweppeshire Lad in the late 1970's.

And though it may seem hard to believe now, there were collectible cigarette cards portraying top class horses and famous jockeys - most were absolutely delightful and though the status of the smoker and cigarettes have declined, you would be gobsmacked now if a bubbly gum maker, or cereal producer, introduced a series of collectables connected to horse racing - the footy cards are still very much as alive and as popular as ever but sadly the horse racing equivalents are something from the long past.

Wills, Players and Ogdens, brands from an age back but testimony to the respect and popularity of a sport when it was in the truly major category, when the jam was spread wider in both the National Hunt and Flat spheres with a higher number of trainers housing hopefuls for the top races, coming from numerically manageable strings.

The whole sport now has a colder, more mechanical feel to it and has seen its best days. In fact it has a most uncertain future in a society where some really weird notions can quickly become the mainstream norm. Magnifying its importance is unhelpful and serves no purpose. And as the whole show will soon be forced to downsize, probably best just best to make the most of what is left.

image by Robert K CC BY - SA 2.5

This was the opening track on a solid throughout album. Was also released on single and would of been prominent in the charts in Cheltenham week 1973, when Comedy of Errors won his first Champion Hurdle, and The Dikler took the Gold Cup.

NO ROOM IN THE CALENDAR FOR THIS HYPED UP, FANCY TITLED FARE

So, we have another eycatching set of of race titles, the invention not surprisingly the work of the ARC group. A completely needless and folly one in an attempt to pretend the UK now has a mid winter equivalent to the Dublin Racing Festival which class wise will show itself to be in a different stratosphere and having much greater significance in relation to the Spring festivals.

It is baffling why the fixture list is not more strictly regulated. We already had a perfectly good and long established January weekend fixture list that had been subject to gradual, sensible changes down the years but was not in need of sudden meddling. This set of ‘Winter Million’ contests, staged on Friday and Sunday is seeing an overall result of fields not worthy of the prize money on offer.

In the 1970’s the main race on the Ascot card was the Blue Circle Cement Chase, a two mile handicap in which the mighty Bula carried 12st 3 lb to victory in 1975. The following year another class act, Royal Relief, who had twice won the Champion Chase in his earlier years, carried the famous Edward Courage colours to victory, belying his advancing years.

Newcastle had a card on the same day with the 3m 6f Northern Trophy Handicap Chase going to the progressive Forest King, who beat future Grand National winner Rubstic who was at the time trained by Gordon Richards.

After the Blue Circle was discontinued, Ascot hosted what had been one of Haydock Park’s jewels in the crown, the former Embassy Premier Chase final which now carried the name of Lambert & Butler. The first staging at Ascot was in 1981, the race game falling to the hardy Arthur Moore chestnut Royal Bond. Elsewhere on the card a certain Corbiere won the staying novices chase , a race in which another future star Bregawn hit the deck.

There was tragedy too when one of the prominent support players of the greatest hurdling era ever, Kybo, lost his life in the Jock Scott Handicap Chase. The race was won by Henry Kissinger, who beat Bueche Giorod, who both won showcase handicap chases during their careers. Back in third was the now ten years of age Night Nurse, giving away a full two stone to the first two.

Looking through the results in Chaseform Note Book, one cannot help wondering whether the esteemed race reader John Sherratt, who was writing the close ups for Raceform that day, had had a good bet on the Fred Winter trained Brown Chamberlin who was beaten into second by Sir Gordon in the closing novice hurdle.

Those of us old enough to have been fully immersed in the sport at the time may recall that this future Sun Alliance Novice Chase and Hennessy Gold Cup winner, and runner up to Burrough Hill Lad in an above average renewal of the Gold Cup, was talked up right from his early days.

Of the defeat on this day, Sharratt wrote; “ If this is taken at face value, is no more than an average novice for he was slaughtered by the strong gallop of the winner from the second last. A factor in any false assessment, if such it be, is the style of Francome. Like Lester Piggott on the Flat, his mounts so often seem to be on the bridle, with a ton in hand, whereas in reality there is very little left.”

Haydock Park’s Peter Marsh Chase was introduced in 1981 in an era when the North of England had a level in quality of National Hunt horses in training that made it the most powerful region in the sport. That running was staged the week after the aforementioned Ascot card, the race won by Little Owl who would go on and take the Gold Cup just less than seven weeks later.

Richdee beat the enigmatic Derring Rose in the opening Premier Long Distance Hurdle, while the two mile handicap chase was won by a certain Rathgorman who would go on to be victorious in that year’s Champion Chase. The Champion Hurdle Trial saw the previous season’s unfortunate Triumph Hurdle loser Starfen make the most of the seven years in age he received from an ageing great from the seventies, Bird’s Nest.

In 1982 the corresponding Ascot fixture was snowed off but one week later Haydock escaped the elements  to see a climbing quickly upwards through the ranks Bregawn take advantage of the 19 lb he received from Night Nurse to claim the prize. However the day is probably better known for more solemn reasons.

In the Haydock Park Champion Hurdle trial the exciting Celtic Ryde, known for being able to produce a highly effective turn of foot coming from behind and who went into the race with his stock higher than ever  before, went from cruising approaching the second last, to being a lifeless corpse in a split second, appearing to break his neck in a sickening fall.

I recall being in the stands and witnessing someone dressed like a racing professional, late forties, with tears streaming down his face as he lowered his binoculars. The front page of that Monday’s Sporting Life had the image of jockey leaning over the rails sobbing moments after the fall.

There have been some compelling renewals of the Peter Marsh since, with the most two recent Northern trained Cheltenham Gold Cup winners, The Thinker and Jodami, both winning the event but overall it’s significance in the calendar is not quite as important as it once was.

Ascot reintroduced a two mile showcase handicap to its main January card in the late eighties, sponsored initially by Victor Chandler and whose first ever running was not surpassed for excitement levels, Desert Orchid giving a mountain of weight to Panto Prince and running him down after Brendan Powell’s mount typically got away from the last in his customary slick fashion.

The race then morphed into the Graded conditions race that it has now become. It was an absolute cracker today though there was no need to wheel out Brough Scott to claim that it was up there with the Arkle v Mill House clash, two great champions, one undisputedly the greatest National Hunt horse ever. None of today’s protagonists are champions in open company yet. One at least probably will be but that dual today was stimulating and did not need any outlandish claims attached to it.The  crowd did not look particularly large, the noise clearly exaggerated by the broadcasters microphones, and the so called vocal adulation of Nico De Boinville sounded like drunken football style chanting. 

But all in all January does not need tampering with. The quality of National Hunt animals in the UK is overall way below those on the other side of the Irish Sea and cramming new, valuable events into the fixture will dilute the quality of the feature races even more, giving them a half bare cupboard look.

Let’s just hope those behind this ‘Winter Million' nonsense have a change of heart and this proves to be a one off.

This catchy glam pop tune was prominent in the charts on that weekend when Royal Relief triumphed in the Blue Circle.

A SPORT FALLING APART

Both world wars aside, there can never before have been a beginning to the year with so little to look ahead to in the UK horse racing arena.The cracks cannot be papered over anymore and those inside the racing bubble will, if it hasn't dawned on them already, realise they are aboard a stranded, leaking ship.

Make no mistake, away from the glamour yards at the top of the pyramid there are a multitude of trainers close to breaking point, operating at a loss or at best minuscule gain not worthy of the hours put in and the stress endured.

These trainers have owners who are in businesses likewise in perilous positions. Realistically, all knew there would be a massive financial backlash to the sport from the covid fall out but have sat with fingers crossed hoping in vain that it would pass by. 

Now the situation is worse than imagined with energy costs, inflation, and many cutting their cloths accordingly, all in the process of taking their toll on the sport. And it's no good pointing to prize money increases at the venues that are part of the Jockey Club portfolio. Many of these are the creme de la creme of the British racecourses that serve in the main the relatively small number of operators at the summit of racing's pyramid.

It's a sport fit for downsizing and God knows what will be left. Maybe a Dubai type scenario where there is a limited number of meetings, all with attractive prize money, but with only a few dominant owners and trainers involved, many inter connected.

It's important to remember that long before the plague appeared, the sport was pressed with troubles and the future uncertain. We had racing professionals going on strike to protest at what they considered to be pitiful prize money at the courses under the ARC banner. Not unconnected was the fact that the racing proportion of the gambling pie continued to decline in relation to other sports.

Examining what the sport is doing to try and reverse this decline leaves one concluding there is ultimately nothing that can be put in place to turn things around. Far, far too late for that and it's probably best not to get irked and instead sit back and chuckle at some of the dimwitted projects put into action to address the the mess that sport is finding itself in.

The decision to continue with the totally absurd ' Racing League' in 2022 is testament as to how out of touch those pulling the strings are with what ingredients are truly required to draw in souls to the game and have them become truly smitten with it, and lifelong punters too.

The fact that this nonsense will this year be broadcast on ITV racing tells all you need to know about the direction the sport is going. I wonder how they will excuse a run of six Saturdays that will have good grade handicaps with smaller, lower quality fields as a result of this Thursday hullabaloo.

What is even more comical is the belief that the concept will make newcomers look at the team concept as they do with the ultimate glamour sport of Formula One. There is no contest as one of these sports sits on a different plain to the other.

To demonstrate this; imagine a racing fan who has had the sport as his main interest and hobby in life. This person follows other sports with Grand Prix racing fifth in list of preferences. Now, our imaginary character is given the choice of a pass for the weighing room for a days racing at one of the showcase meetings, or a pit lane pass for qualifying day for a Grand Prix - there is no need to include race day as we know that even Grand Prix qualifying is far more popular with sporting TV viewers than horse racing.

Anyone who says they'd rather wander around and observe proceedings in the weighing room than the pit lane is either fibbing, or in a small minority. For even those who have lifelong affection for the racing game could not fail to recognize that the buzz, allurement and fabulous aura emanating from Formula One, make it a sport that racing should not attempt to mimic in any shape or form.

It's easy to have the mind overflowing with such negative feelings on the back of a Monday to Friday that that must be in the reckoning for the worst five consecutive days of racing in the past fifty years. But to let the odd stimulating weekend card kid you that all is OK would be folly.

This is going to be one hell  of a bad year for UK horse racing.

image from Wikipedia  - CC BY- SA 2.0 de

This from a performance just days after Bula won his second Champion Hurdle,and Glencaraig Lady took the Gold Cup. Bolan did not have the voice of the ultimate great singers but he had presence in adundance.