BE VERY CONCERNED

We know that away from a handful of showcase fixtures the French racetracks pull in a mere trickle of racegoers, but  you were still left a little downbeat to hear Joffrey Huet failing to provide any encouragement that things would change anytime soon when interviewed at Auteuil for Attheraces on Sunday.

The present health of French racing was not the intended subject of the interview. It was on discussing his role in purchasing Cyrname for his current connections, Huet spoke of the lack of atmosphere at the Gallic tracks compared with the British ones.

It doesn't seem anything like the twenty years ago that John Hammond, lapping up the plaudits of the racing media for his exploits with the brilliant Montjieu, observed that the horse would hardly be known in France as it's all about cyclists and football players.

This is something we should be worried about. European racing is still arguably the best in the world and when one of the three nations that dominate it operate in half empty and silent arenas, you cannot view it as a dilemma independent from the others.

Some say that the Parisian tracks have suffered right from the beginning of the long established custom for the masses to travel out to the provinces for relaxing weekends. Even if any truth exists in this it cannot be cited as the reason for present day lack of engagement with the sport.

What seems more likely is that similar to Britain, the emerging generations in France are smitten with the in vogue sports that you are likely to find reference to within a few minutes of switching on the television. Therefore you would expect, like here, betting on horses would be in a steady, continuous decline.

But surprisingly, for the time being at least, this is not the case. Pari Mutuel betting on horses has made a small recovery. Whether in the long term this will prove to be a blip, no one really knows. It is certainly hard to believe that there is an emerging generation of the French populace that are endearing themselves to wagering on the racing game in greater numbers than the one before.

Returning to last weekend, the Altior v Cyrname clash was stirred up by sections of the media as something that was reaching out and touching those outside of racing's fanbase. Such nonsense is spouted without any supporting evidence whatsoever.

This is not to downplay the build up to the duel,which did not disappoint. But the fascination was for those in the racing domain. In the present day of hundreds of channels TV, X Boxes and Internet, the racing game can sail along on the horizon, out of sight and mind.

Compare this to to  an eagerly awaited steeplechasing clash from yesteryear.  Boxing Day 1975, Captain Christy v Bula  in  the King George V1Chase.

From the yard of Arkle's rider Pat Taafe, Captain Christy had triumphed in the 1974 Cheltenham Gold Cup while still a novice, then had consolidated his status by winning the Kempton race at the end of that year. He had formerly been a classy hurdler, good enough to finish third in the Champion Hurdle.

Bula had been out of the top drawer over hurdles, taking the Cheltenham crown twice. He was now promising to become the first horse ever to win both the Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup. He had been third to his inferior Ten Up in the latter earlier that year when disadvantaged by the quagmire underfoot, so bad that the remaining races had to be abandoned.

There was another angle to the 1975 King George Chase. Bula hailed from the powerhouse yard of Fred Winter. In the 1974 running Captain Christy had prevented one of the most popular chasers of any era, Bula's stable companion Pendil, from completing a King George hatrick.

The countdown to the race had spacious write ups in the Sunday newspapers five days earlier. This was when the sport was afforded more prominence and everyone under a roof read a Sunday newspaper.

Tom Forrest wrote, " Never before have they clashed without something going haywire for one, or both of them. This time, their latest races show both in blinding form. Now we should know which is the master."

A field of seven lined up but but the expected duel materialised into a rout with Captain Christy, under the relatively inexperienced Gerry Newman, jumping off on front, building up an early advantage, then drawing further away from halfway to beat his main rival by thirty lengths, with the future winner Royal Marshall 11, in third.

Irrespective what we are told by the broadcasting media, who don't seem to understand that repeating spin will not turn it into reality, these showcase  events do not have anything near the same percentage of the population counting the days down as in generations past.

Moreover, despite the achievements of the wonderful mare Enable over the past few seasons, none of her races, and not even those of the supreme Frankel, had the same build up as the days drew nearer than that Nashwan v Indian Skimmer v Warning, Eclipse in 1989.

In the following few years after that race took place, sports betting exploded outwards, changing the whole betting scene, with racing 's dominance being eaten away at to the point were the emerging generations can bet without it.

France may for now, have managed to halt this downward spiral but betting on horses on the other side of the channel had never been on comparable levels to here, thus believing the decline can stemmed here is stretching hopes.

It is also worth noting that Japan's signature race, the Japan Cup, pulled in a crowd  of approximately 80,000 last week. Sounds fantastic, but when you compare it with the 180,000 that turned up in the flesh in relatively recent times, then it is an issue for concern.

What can be said with near certainty, is that since the end of WW2 the worldwide racing scene has never had so many dark clouds forming in the backdrop as it does right now.

Image from Pixabay 

A MIXTURE OF ALL SORTS

With Christmas approaching, many will be taking more than a cursory peek at the books available to add to our racing collections, which in truth are likely to have ceased expanding many years back.

There are various reasons for this. One of them glares at us in the form of the Tiger Roll book now on the market. Whether this fascinating animal lines up or not at Aintree next spring, the fact is that the final chapter of his career has yet to take place.

Of course, this is not the first time there has been a rush to claim the honours in getting a book into print on an equine subject. Ivor Herbert's first edition of his Red Rum book first appeared  in 1974 , with three Grand Nationals left to compete in. Updated editions followed but the haste to be the first to get the foot in the door first lacked etiquette.

There were no updated editions on the otherwise excellent Jonathan Powell book paying tribute to that little terrier Monksfield. In what was apalling timing, the book  was completed in late 1979 and released early 1980, before what could have been termed as the ' Sea Pigeon strikes back ' part played out.

Maybe the idea is that releasing these books when the subjects careers are still active will pull in a quick hit of sales, though I would guess the number of racing books sold has diminished in sync with genuine interest in the sport falling, and the gap between the number of books sold on the likes of football, cricket, and rugby, to that of horse racing, has widened further.

It has to be said too that over the last couple of decades it just ain't an even playing field for the authors of these books. Those turned out by the well oiled publication machine of the Racing Post have a significant head start on the others.

The blurb, often from Brough Scott. The in house review - let's face it, an in house reviewer is going to add a positive slant on an in house publication, even hyping up just a fairish offering into something of significance.

Thiry years back Michael Church produced a tad pricey but pleasant on the eye book under the Racing Post banner documenting the champion sires going back to the very beginning of the breed. Titled, Three Centuries Of Leading Sires 1721 - 1987, there was a limited edition of 500 published accompanied by a wall chart tracing back the sire lines.

While it was a useful for casual browsing, at the end of the day it comprised in the main of a list of champion sires with pedigrees and you would certainly not go as far to describe it as a publication to be ' celebrated ', as claimed by Tony Morris in his book review, who himself is not afraid to get critical to the bones, particularly when it comes to the indy publications.

On a brighter note, those of us who hold a copy will observe that anyone now wishing to get their hands on one will have to fork out at least £80.

With regards to what some may at one time have considered to be one of the great racing books, an obituary penned by Morris in 1994 brought something to light that would have previously only been known to a certain clan within the sport.

It is likely that a large number of racing fans who became smitten by the sport during the 1970 's would have read John Hislop's book, ' The Brigadier - The Story Of Brigadier Gerard ', and John Oaksey's,  ' The Story Of Mill Reef '. You could not read one without the other, many would have read each presentation more than once.

Leaving aside which horse was the superior one, I would guess that the favoured book at the time would have been the Brigadier Gerard one, helped by the fact that it was written by the owner, meaning the reader was offered an insight into the planning and decisions taken during the mighty animal's career.

But the tier on which the publication stood in the mind might have dropped a couple of levels on reading Morris's frank assessment of Hislop in a summary of the man's life in the Racing Post after he passed away. This involved the reasoning behind Hislop sending his mare Lady Pavlova to Queens Hussar.

In an early chapter in the book Hislop had explained why, on his pedigree reading, he considered the stallion ideal for his mare and thus executed a masterpiece of a decision which produced one of the greatest horses of our time.

Morris concluded that Hislop got pure lucky. That Queens Hussar was chosen as a mate purely because he stood nearby and was cheap.

Reading this, you then start to view similar books with a cynical perspective. There exists a most enjoyable book to read about the dual Melbourne Cup winner Rising Fast, published many years ago, and written by the horse's owner Leicester Spring.

Problem is, this publication takes a similar path in the early stages to that of the Brigadier Gerard book. The author goes into extensive detail in what he gleaned from his pedigree analysis in the sales catalogue that led him to bid for the future star at a New Zealand yearling sale in 1950.

A further drawback with horse racing books in general are the omissions. What if we have been told something about someone from a trustworthy source then have to read a glossed over account?

Or what if we just suspect, as the nature of the sport and it's unbreakable tie with gambling will mean quite frankly that it sits at the top of all sports for both the percentage and aggregate of uncsrupulous persons.

One must undoubtedly conclude that pound for pound the biographies of the top achievers in the other major sports contain more factual meat on the bone than the racing ones - save of course the odd exception, such as the Richard Dunwoody book Obsessed, in which the man who came across as one of the most articulate and level headed members of the weighing room painted himself as a rather dislikeable, wife bullying nutcase.

So with overall adherence to truth and sincerity, searching outside of racing's bubble is more likely to produce a good read. I have recently finished a Richie Benaud book and have begun an old publication concerning the 1956 Suez Crisis.

I would then quite fancy picking up another Australian cricketers book, maybe someone playing in the 70's or 80's, though I am told that both the Frank McAvennie and Kevin Keegan books must be read. Andre Agassi's too sounds fascinating, while the golfing one that I keep saying I must read is Rich Beems.

As for racing, maybe it's safer to look only to the historical ones that escape the libel laws and whispers. Treasure Of The Bloodstock Breeders Review was a fine compilation of historical work that needs the white mould removing and re -reading.

Whatever, for many the height of the book buying season has arrived. And for the declining number of racing fans still alive, it may be time to look outside and appreciate the characters from some of the other, much more thriving sporting fields.

A SPORT THAT IS IMPLODING

Toward the end of its days, each Waterloo Cup was staged amid the speculation of will it, or won't it, be the last ever one.  For fans of National Hunt racing, irrespective of their thoughts on hare coursing, the Altcar event could be viewed as a protective buffer between jump racing and the animal rights alliances.

Admittedly, racing had to fasten up for a rocky ride for a couple of weeks after the occasional Grand National weekend, but overall it was a sport in the clear if not quite in the untouchable zone.

When Dark Ivy fell to his death at Bechers in the 1987 running of the Grand National, the fall out that followed and the authorities response to it, shows by comparison how the racing powers have now become jittery and over reactive to almost all incidents that they feel cast a negative image on the sport.

As was the norm during the 1970's and 1980's, decades when the numbers opposed to racing far outweighed those of today, the Sunday newspapers each carried a picture of the deceased animal, along with quotes from those who demanded change.

Criticism of the most feared obstacle in the sport was not confined to those on the outside. John Oaksey had long been of the opinion that the fence was a trap, and once, during a Channel 4 broadcast, added that all drop fences were traps. The Timeform organisation too were of the belief that the slope on the landing side of Bechers needed levelling with the brook filled in.

The Jockey Club held an investigation involving Aintree officials and the RSPCA. The resultant finding was that racing's ruling body concurred with the course committee that the obstacle was a fair one and did not require any modification.

So the race that formed the window to the sport in the UK looked a long way away from becoming the 'Grand National In Name Only Chase ', the future of National Hunt racing was safe and secure, the buffer that was the Waterloo Cup was still eighteen years off being stripped away, and from a global perspective the sport of horse racing had far more years ahead of it than behind.

Oh Jesus how things have changed !  And this in an environment that the opposition to the horse being used for sport is grossly exaggerated by crafty utilisation of social media, akin to a small posse of Gremlins gaining access to the control room of the national electricity grid.

Those rocky rides for the sport now occur weekly instead of annually. These meticulously organised opponents of horse racing are firing bullets from all angles in all corners of the globe, doing untold damage by stirring fear into the authorities who give them credibility by backing down and attempting appeasement.

The impression given going into the Breeders Cup meeting last weekend made you think that a full force of the the anti racing brigade were somewhere near with an artillery of bulldozers, cranes, lorries and freight containers, ready when given the signal to go in and dismantle Santa Anita. They had to wait until the very last race for a fatality to arise, so the whole saga will continue on to its next chapter and there is much to be worried about.

In Australia, the powers that be ridiculously stating a belief that the way forward for the sport was for the whip to completely go, does not yet register in the light of the fall out of the secretly recorded footage of healthy racehorses being abused prior to being slaughtered in an abattoir.

Let's face it; we probably knew this sort of thing happened. The gruesome  case involving the top class globetrotter Exceller, was an eye opener for many, though just like when we dig in to our meat, poultry and offal, we really don't care to think about these matters. But it should not surprise many; I would guess the mental balance of those wishing to work in abattoirs is overall less stable than, for example, someone striving for a position as a librarian.

Then back home we have a journeyman rider chipping away, hoping for a break, who is now left wondering whether his career is over after an oversight caused an elastic band to remain on his whip which caused marking on his mount.

The rider has not only been disciplined but has had to endure threats to his self on social media including a wish the he ended up in a wheelchair. In retrospect these should not have been alluded to by both the rider and the media, as it is almost certain that the intention was to give the perpetrator a feeling of achievement by putting his deed in the limelight, something for his scrapbook.

Finally, if all this hasen't been enough, there was then the stupid city racing issue, something many hoped would go away, raising its ugly head again. And this time the omens are not good for those vehemently opposed to the concept, for it would seem they have progressed far more than we could have imagined.

They now are far enough down the line to name the first venue which is The Strand on Liverpool City centre waterfront. This is a total recipe for a grim happening that would do untold damage to the sport.

The iconic location is capable of pulling in large summer weekend family crowds from a highly populated catchment area. Any sensible racing affiacionados will keep clear but will rightly fret over the possible consequences of it all going pear shaped.

What happens if there is a fatality amongst the horses ? This cannot be hidden. The venue is surrounded by high buildings in which the mobile cameras will be clicking away. The pictures will be all over social media, and what better click bait could you find for a newspaper website -  a time frame montage. Pictures of children laughing and sharing an ice cream with their parents, then disaster strikes,  glimpses of a horse carrying a catastrophic  injury, then the children again, now with tears replacing the laughter.

The prospect of city racing could not be summed up better than by that of a poster on the Betfair Forum who warned the idea is " ....rolling the dice with the whole future of the sport." Hopefully those in power will take heed before it is too late.

image in public domain

KEEPING THE PAST ALIVE

One of the few advantages of becoming old is that you can go ahead and purchase a DVD box set without worrying whether, like the VHR format, they will become redundant, as you are most likely not going to be here to to fret over the dilemma, or if you are will probably not be in a sound enough state of mind to follow an episode of Columbo, Rising Damp, Van Der Valk, Fawlty Towers, Quincy,  Inspector Morse or Man About The House.

What will prove to be the last generation that had a worthwhile number of genuine racing fans contains many souls hoarding large collections of recorded racing on VHR. We taped hundreds of hours of footage, with all races of worth covered including interviews that have long been forgotten.

A Cheltenham Festival in the early 1980's when Julian Wilson was given a demonstration of a newly designed recall system intended to deal with false starts. It involved blinking lights and a siren. The facial expression on Wilson accompanied by a dry observation made it clear he was unimpressed. It was never introduced.

On to the following decade when replays of Ascot Gold Cups were being shown with Wilson doing a talk over narration, which he was not expecting, as when they moved to a renewal with the commentary from the day, you heard Wilson snap, " Listen, I don't want this bloody talkback ! ".

Many will find that if they have still clung on to their VHR collection they'll discover that they are full of mould and either past the point of no return, or too costly to be salvaged, with too few hours in the day to follow a You Tube tutorial and try and salvage yourself. The next step would be to find a discontinued VHR to DVD copier on the likes of e-bay, and edit properly, as you'll find some peculiarities such as an episode of Sons And Daughters in between the Welsh National and Challow Hurdle, or one of Prisoner Cell Block H separating the Imperial Cup from the Supreme Novices Hurdle. 

Most will be aware that there are saviours out there in the form of some You Tube contributors who have uploaded a wide, impressive collection of material, with Espmadrid a legend for many. Eddie Cr has also uploaded some terrific stuff.

Some of these have extended coverage and it was pleasing to see they have those memorable post race interviews from the 1983 Cheltenham Gold Cup. Jonathan Powell's with Graham Bradley is a cracker and makes you realise how futile these present day tacky immediate post race interviews with the jockey aboard really are.

Likewise, it's delightful to stumble upon a race that you have not seen since the day. Henbit's Chester Vase. Looked a bit of a clumsy boat to me but connections knew better and went to Epsom with him. And for the first time since the day of the race I've watched the full running of Ile de Bourbon's 1978 King George Queen Elizabeth Stakes, and the final few hurdles of Night Nurse's 1975 Irish Sweeps Hurdle. The last time I watched that was on the day of the race on Christmas Grandstand.

It cannot repeated enough that once you take the sport to heart, you will be punting on horses for a lifetime which is what is required on a wide scale for the sport to be able to continue to operate on its present scale.

A point worth raising about viewing old clips, and one in which racing holds an advantage over other sports, is that it takes only a matter of minutes to view even the long distance events. This means that you can watch the whole event unfold from start to finish.

Football, cricket and rugby fans cannot watch several full matches in one sitting. They'll search through the matches, watching abridged versions with many just showing the goals, wickets and boundaries, and tries.

The television companies must have vast archives of material. They should stuff copyright and allow open access. Let's face it, no one is going to be able to make a living flogging quality copy pirate tapes in their local pub of, for example, the 1986 Flat Season, no matter how vintage it was, so it should not be an issue.

Whether the BBC have retained all their reels is also an unknown. I believe the established television companies went about the task of digitilising their archive, but whether the beeb retained all of their originals may be doubtful as they washed their hands of the sport.

While it may be true that the healthy crowds who attended both days of the Cheltenham October meeting were genuine racing fans, the vast majority probably reside in the Cotswold catchment area that would have a larger percentage of racing enthusiasts per head of the region than most other areas.

Therefore to use this as a sign that all is well within the sport is misleading. In short, while they will likely contribute well to the sport through punting,  they make up a declining portion of the betting fraternity compared with the masses amongst the emerging generations who see betting as mostly about football, supported by the likes of cricket, tennis, rugby, golf, snooker, darts and the like.

We know ITV have an endless archive of racing going back many years, including the C4 era. We see bits of pieces of it, a few seconds here and there. If they really want to save the continuation of the sport at its present level then it would do no harm for them to make it accessible to all.

Repeating what they wish audiences to believe in the form of factual statements serves no useful purpose. For below the glossy exterior the sport has never been in a more precarious state than it is at this very moment.

image reproduced inder CC BY -SA 2.5 AU

A SPORT RUNNING ON EMPTY

Racing fans above a certain age who had their seasonal clocks programmed before the introduction here of AW racing religiously adhere to the principle that the summer months are for flat racing, and the winter period for the less glamorous but more earthly discipline. 

They will now be in the middle of changeover mode. It's that time again to digest all the trainer talks, even if they are more likely to serve as appetite whetters as opposed to sources of profit. This is also the time when you can rest assured an announcement will come that one of your favourites will be out for the season - this time around Topofthegame. By God let us hope Santini stays in one piece !

Call it a mode of mind, or a custom, it is undoubtedly a process that all traditional racing fans ride with every October. We may even try a new angle to compiling shortlists of horses to follow, whether it be getting obsessive over an under the radar yard, or the progeny of certain stallions.

Whatever the merits of these angles, or how the season unfolds, those of us still able to conjure up a buzz, even one with the batteries fading, will be betting regularly through the winter and thus contributing to the game.

What a warming thought it is that the late Presenting's progeny will be with us for a few more years yet, that Fleminsfirth is still active, as one of the morbid areas of the game is watching the final crop of a popular stallion grow older then fade away, whether it be a Vulgan, Deep Run, Strong Gale or Gunner B.

We are probably the last generation containing a meaningful number of genuinely engaged racing fans. There will not be another wave of racing enthusiasts to follow.

Those in any doubt of this this should have been watching the SKY coverage of Chepstow last weekend. The Saturday was marketed to attract racegoers from the Universities in the nearby catchment areas.

We are told they turned out in their thousands. At first instance that sounds quote impressive until you learn that they spent the day in a giant beer tent getting smashed.

Luke Harvey went among them for a chat and it was blatantly clear that they'd have been lured in if the main fare had been rally car racing, motorbike racing, or even just a stage with various musical acts without any form of racing.

Put yourselves in the mind of a TV viewer, who has never visited a racecourse but has a fondness for the horse as an animal. So, they are watching the Chepstow coverage. It quickly dawns on them that the gist of the message the SKY racing team are supporting, is that you come along, get bladdered all day and join in with the inane chants.

I think it would put many off paying a visit to their local course. And those that defend the agenda of courses targeting the fun day out crowds should ask themselves whether it has any prospect of resulting in long term sustainable benefit.

There are a couple of questions that should of been put to some of these students which would have exposed how ridiculous it is to assume that a meaningful number of them would become long term disciples of the sport.

Firstly, are they aware that there is a high class meeting at Ascot the following Saturday ? As the answer will be no, they can then be asked that as they now know there is, would they be watching it on TV and having a bet, or would they instead be concentrating and betting on football.

It's not hard to predict with certainty the category of answers that would be received. And on a wider scale, the fact that they are not racing fans of any sort and won't be betting regularly on horse racing, is the crux of why pot holes and abandoned chassis are ahead on racing's highway.

And it's all very well ITV racing proclaimng what a fantastic future lies ahead for the sport while focussing in on school visits to the racecourse, and Sheikh Mohammed paying a visit to a classroom to discuss the sport.

They were kids from a Newmarket school for christ's sake, of course many would have an interest in the sport, but they are hardly an accurate portrayal of youth interest in things equine.

It is an inescapable reality that if the noughties born and beyond generations do not contain sufficient numbers that will bet on horse racing, then the sport as we know it will fold.

They will be have been brought up by a father, who if a betting man, will almost certainly concentrate in the main on football. There will be no racing newspapers in the house and with wall to wall live sport coverage during the weekend, the racing will pass by unnoticed.

The omens are not good. Many of a certain age will be happy at the thought that they'll have passed away to spare them witnessing the collapse of a fabric of life that only up to a couple of decades back, you would have been sure that it would continue for hundreds more years.

Craziest of all is the idea that the sport can save itself by adapting to a fast changing society. Any proposed radical changes will only hasten the end. It would be like patients being prescribed heart tablets for the rest of their lives to manage and control their illness, then washing them down the sink to adopt a New Age diet.

Best not to get upset. Instead, just let out a hearty chuckle the next time someone from the TV media proclaims the future of the sport is in safe hands.

image reproduced under CC licence (CC BY - SA 2-0)

THERE IS NO FRANKEL GENERATION

As the Longchamp meeting drew ever closer with the tempo of the anticipation increasing by the day for those still engaged with the sport, there was an item of news in the Racing Post that would have escaped unnoticed by those focussed only on the Arc, but one that should serve very much as a reminder to those who believe the future of the sport is a bright one.

News that the Yorkshire Racing Club was putting up the shutters may not have particularly seemed the most damning communication. Why should anyone care when it was a time to be positive and lap up the energy surge emanating from prospect of Enable earning a unique place in history, Even the industry paper itself left it at that without a follow up to the story.

The cold truth however is that it would not be far fetched to construe the announcement as yet more evidence that beneath the rosy facade of these big showcase events, the foundations beneath the sport are decaying. And in the times of global warming panic, it would be quite tickling to go the whole hog and to show graphics of racing's percentage of the betting pie shrinking, just as they show these time lapsed photos of the ice caps.

Racing Clubs began to grow during the 1970's before taking off to a different stratosphere during the 1980's. Wherever you lived it was likely that there would be one within a short travelling distance, if not on your doorstep.

The daily and Thursday racing publications made room for racing club news briefs, detailing events being held, which guests from within the industry would be appearing, not to mention membership offers for club visits to yards, racecourses, sometimes even stud farms.

It was a vibrant scene that seemed sure to last indefinitely.  Alas, the scene is now retracting and it should not surprise those of us who are adamant that long and lasting damage to the sport resulted from the trend beginning in the 1990's for sport betting to soak up the the largest percentage of the new betting generations.

People accuse you of being dramatic when you state that the ageing racing enthusiasts follow the normal course of becoming ill, infirm and dying with no one to replace them; but listen to some of the comments made from the Yorkshire Racing Club secretary David Beardsall, himself seventy eight years of age.

Beardsall spoke of the younger generations not being attracted to the game, as they come solely for an all day bar and concert. He recounted that the club had hundreds of members at one time but that it had sunk to a level where at one recent meeting only a dozen turned out.

Most solemn of all was the mention that many were pensioners who were passing away with time. As they passed on no one has replaced them. It brings home the fact that these pensioners would have been thirty and forty somethings during the 1970's and early 1980 's when racing had a higher public profile than now, and when gambling was predominantly about horse racing.

Back then Yorkshire had a vibrant National Hunt scene. Jockeys, trainers and horses that were household names were based in the county. A midweek Wetherby or Donny card would have Cheltenham and Aintree prospects turning up.

Enthusiastic racegoers gathering in the racecourse bar long before the opener.  A pint of best bitter, accompanied  by Players No 6, speculating whether Crump had a National horse in the yard. They would talk of Lorimer, Sniffer Clarke, Chris Old, Harvey Smith, Tony Currie, and of course Geoffrey.

And as it was the days of three channel TV, many would have watched the same programmes the previous evening, so they would laugh together recounting the gems Rigsby came out with, or perhaps it was something Molly Sugden had said, Sally Thomsett and Paula Wilcox having the last laugh on Richard O'Sullivan, or that weird Steve Priest guy from The Sweet , who they saw on Top Of The Pops sporting make up.

They, like most of us, could not have envisaged a time when the generations aged under 35, (this continuing to rise with the passing of time), link having a bet with football more than horses. And when the numbers filling the racecourses would consist of many who mix drink with cocaine or amphetamines.

When they visit York , some of these will be amongst those who eagerly join in the chanting of stuff like, "we are Leeds ," and maybe the same ones who could be heard singing Lanfranco Dettori's praises to that tune from the The White Stripes used as Michael Van Gerwin's walk on song, and played at halftime at many Bundesliga matches.

Sadly, the prospect of this trend reversing is a remote one. It has come too far. Hollow racing fans. Try speaking to them.

I was speaking to a vague acquaitance who has been betting socially on horses for a few years, in his forties, but had never heard of Nijinsky. Of course, what does it matter if they are using some of their betting funds for horses meaning they are making a contribution. Well, if they had a passion for the sport then surey a larger proportion of their betting bank would be played on the sport.

There was a time when the great animals would pull large numbers of new fans into the sport. lndeed, there was certainly a time when a fully tested, admirably consistent, tough as nails and from the top drawer quality wise, mare like Enable would have put petrol in the tank of the racing fanbases.

Unfortunately, this is not something that can now be guaranteed. It's seven years since the highest rated racehorse in living memory last raced. At the time Prince Khalid Abdullah's racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe was championing the effect Frankel ( in picture) would have on the sport, enthusing that a whole new generation of racing enthusiasts would would emerge.

Those twelve at the time would now be nineteen, those sixteen now twenty three, those nineteen now twenty six. Where are they all then ?

Truth is, that if  we accept the reasonable assumption that the winter game draws in more new fans, and that the vintage era we had ten years back when Kauto Star and Denman stood at the top of the tree has not added mileage and refuelled the fanbase, then we'll be waiting in vain for a Frankel generation of fans to appear.

Image taken by author

BACK IN THE DAY.......

Those of us who become dispirited by what we view as needless changes in the fixture list, by original non-commercial race titles being dropped by sponsors, and by new racedays designed to have a quick hit effect, will have been surprised and pleased by the boost the Middle Park Stakes received over the weekend.

While this is an event with a purposeful role in the calendar of being a source of future pretenders to champion sprinter status, gone seemed the days when it was a stop off on the journey to the top mile events of the following season. In that sense it had gone out of fashion.

Since the Brigadier took the race in 1970, only two winners have gone on to be triumphant in the 2,000 Guineas, Known Fact by fortune of Nureyev's disqualification in 1980, and Rodrigo de Triano in 1992.

Irrespective of the reason why an exciting field of potential top class milers came here instead of the Dewhurst, it was refreshing to build up the race as one that could turn out to be a genuine Guineas trial. In fact the last time I can remember such a buzzing run up to this event was the renewal that Diesis won in 1982, where he also faced rivals with potential to be top class milers.

Diesis followed up in the Dewhurst in the race more famous for the crumbling of the Gorytus hype. He did not train on like his famous full brother Kris but did prove his equal at stud.

Racing fans tend to be guilty of becoming too cute with recent trends. And when such a long established race like the Middle Park confounds those who had become dismissive of its importance, it can only be a positive for the sport and is armoury for supporters of keeping the present programme intact without any further meddling.

Ironically,  in the spirit of London buses, if Earthlight trains on and is allowed to make another journey over to Newmarket, his biggest obstacle to success is likely to come in the form of a Woodcote Stakes winner, an ancient event long considered outside the boundaries for potential classic horses.

It would nice too for the Gimcrack to receive a similar fillip. Only Nebbiolo and Rock Of Gibraltar have won both the York race and Newmarket Guineas in the past fifty years but don't get too blase about it never happening again, though the odds will be stacked against another Mill Reef (in picture) appearing in the race.

Mind you, once we reached the late eighties most had consigned to history the times when a future Derby winner ran in the Coventry. Mill Reef would be the last of them, some opined. Even the days of future classic winners appearing early in their juvenile career were considered gone for ever.

Then, making fools of most, two future winners of the Epsom showpiece, Generous and Dr Devious, both ran in the Coventry in the early 1990's. The race continues to throw up animals who are able to train on into classic contenders, three Newmarket Guineas having run in it since the turn of the millenium.

Of the events for the classic generation, one race that seemed dead and buried as a serious event of consequence is Epsom's Blue Riband Trial , which from nowhere was given a massive boost when Cracksman took the race two years back.

Certainly, those who hate to see races that had a role in the calendar rendered  insignificant were quite chuffed that John Gosden chose the race for his three year old reappearance. In fact, the decision to run him there cast doubt in some eyes on the level of consideration connections had for the colt.

Gosden had won the race the previous year with the future high class filly So Mi Dar, though her eligibility for the race, as with Midday a few years earlier, had been due to the authorities calling time on the matching Oaks trial, the Princess Elizabeth Stakes, which was firstly switched to Kempton, then discontinued, before the title was adopted for a new event run at the Epsom June meeting.

If they would have held firm it was an event that held out hopes of coming back into fashion, though the last Epsom Oaks winner to be successful in the event was Homeward Bound in 1964.

Returning to the Blue Riband Trial; founded in the 1930's, the race has only thrown up one Epsom Derby winner in Blue Peter but right up into the 1970's was still deemed as a respectable trial.

In 1976, when the meeting was covered on ITV racing in the three channel era, Oats was trained by Peter Walwyn to win the event and was to be Seven Barrow's leading Derby hope, a race he would finish third in.

Then, the following year, Be My Guest looked visually sublime when quickening smartly and leaving an impression, along with a staminia doubt too. He would finish an also ran in the Derby behind stable companion The Minstrel, but would successfully drop back in trip and went on to outshine his more illustrious stable companion at stud.

One year later the Duncan Sasse trained Roland Gardens took the Blue Riband Trail before causing a mini shock in winning the 2,000 Guineas a couple of weeks later.

In 1979 Henry Cecil ran Jim Joel's Main Reef, who had been highly considered in the early stages of his two year old career. He was beaten but to be fair his career was already at a point were his limits appeared exposed.

Two years later it was a last chance saloon for another hyped up colt to fulfil it's potential. Michael Stoute's Centurious was a half brother to Grundy and was still quoted at twentysomething for the 1981 Derby, not everyone sure whether he or a certain Shergar would be the better three year old.

After the Futurity winner Count Pahlen won in 1982, before his career went downhill, the race then became something far removed from its original intended purpose - it was even taken off the calendar for a few years in the 1990's.

It returned and within a few years was won by two horses of note in Daliapour and Storming Home, but much time elapsed between those two taking in the race to Cracksman using the race to kick start his three year old career.

The Derby runner up Dee Ex Bee was placed in the event last year, while this year's Ballydoyle trained winner, Cape Of Good Hope, now promises to carve out a lucrative career Stateside, judged on his latest run at Saratoga.

These examples beg the question ; which of the races lying in purgoratory could suddenly rediscover their mojo ? Aside the conditions, listed and group contests, there are a handful of long established handicaps that retain their original titles, that were of a significant status in days long gone, some from as far back as the century before last, but have fallen behind by not attracting the sponsorship they might deserve.

We know which races these are, as if you asked racing fans to make a list of a dozen events fitting the description, the same names would crop up. It is not being syrupy to suggest that these races are in a sense institutions, forming a link with the past, while standing as a testament to the longevity of the sport.

It would be warming for these contest to experience a resurgence. Sponsors would surely benefit from adding their name to the original title as opposed to swallowing it up, as what happened with a bunch of races at one major recent meeting.

In the meantime, those who wish renewed vigour and buoyancy to the race titles that have become relics, hope that Godolphin allow what would be a fascinating clash over the Rowley Mile next May between a winner of the Middle Park, and a winner of the Woodcote. Doesn't that sound surreal ?

image owner Karen Nutini reproduced under CC license