NEARING MELTDOWN

Even those of us who are adamant that any single month of the 1970's offered more in music quality than any whole single year thereafter, may not have felt inclined to listen yet to Bowie's Blackstar album, released just days before the superstar's death

His passing was reported on the televised news with clips of a video from Lazarus, a gloomy track from the album showing the singer lying in bed with bandages covering his face. The underlying message was a foreboding one and given the state that the UK racing industry finds itself in at the moment, it would be fitting for the sport to be broadcast in black and white to augment the somber overtone, with the presenters    voice levels and vocabulary befitting the dread felt both by those employed from within, and those contributing or supportive from the outside.

As the weeks pass, the genuine tales of woe increase. Many wonder how they can survive in the industry for much longer, some have already packed their bags and left, trainers and owners included. Courses are in trouble too; something that really hits home when you learn what is happening at Goodwood, a venue which you would class as one of the untouchables.

It's a curious saga involving an appeal for help from the Duke of Richmond, the owner of the Goodwood estate. He has asked annual members of his picturesque racecourse to consider gifting the annual fee they have paid for 2020 to assist in the finanancial well being of the the business. In return, kind members will be honoured by having their name imprinted on a new walkway being built. 

I've no idea how much of the Duke's reputed 225 million fortune is tied up in fixtures on the estate but you'd have to think there is enough movable, untied money to make the total collective amount of all annual members consenting to wavering the money paid for their 2020 badges, merely the equivalent of spare change from his back pocket. 

No previous like for like example comes to mind in this sport of a similar 'appeal'. On the audacity front, there was the Grand National Appeal Fund set up by Lord Vestey in the early 1980's in an attempt to save what was still then a truly magnificent event. The 7 million needed then was indeed spare change from the amount the Vestey family had avoided parting with through a tax loophole. 

This also brings to light an ironic situation whereby in asking the most committed paying patrons to help ease a financial shortfall, they are playing a part in attracting runners carrying the colours of some owners who will be wealthy tax exiles. 

As for names inscribed on a walkway - that is a really odd notion and even those who may be persuaded to forego the return of the money they parted with may be inclined to request their name is left off  'Mugs Walkway'. Firstly, commemorative objects surely should be sparingly put in place and only when it has been agreed upon that the subject or subjects are worthy of having their name honoured as opposed to being part of a trashy scheme used as an incentive to make the racecourse a quick buck. 

Secondly, are the names going to remain permanently?  For the few, or who knows maybe the many, who fancy going along with this daft project may eventually come to view their involvement akin to an unwanted tattoo bearing the name of a one hit wonder singer such as Harpo.

And returning to the broadcasting of racing, the fact that SKY have terminated the employment of three of it's football pundits whose positions seemed as safe as houses, could be an indicator that similar cutbacks could be applied amongst the bloated TV racing teams as by comparison football will get back on its feet much quicker and be much nearer to its norm than UK horse racing, which could well be in bits and indeed may never be the same again. 

Mind you, one would expect that many of the ITV racing team in particular, have less reliance on their income from their roles which would be considerably less than the SKY footy pundits were being paid. It certainly would be safe to assume that over half of the team see the income as a top up to what they earn in roles away from the camera.

There are numerous intertwined issues across the board in UK and Irish racing too, all coming to surface and being far more threatening than if the sport had gone down an alternative pathway in securing it's long term funding half a century back.

If the clock could be turned back to the 1960's, the old portheads would have been replaced by smarter people and we'd have put an Australian style system in place, with off course betting monopolised by the Tote. But they were outwitted by representatives of the bookmaking industry who continue to have influence over the way the sport is reported, with sponsorships, along with adverts in the specialist racing publications, being the lifeblood of continued existence for many.

It's been long lamented in many quarters that the wrong direction was taken but never before will the full, damaging consequences be apparent as they will be soon, when everyone realises just how deep in the mire the sport is.

It can be likened to a bomb with a timer set to go off over five decades on, with the sport initially carrying on blissfully unaware, assured that lower prize money was offset by the established tradition of our programme.

That the whole show would one day implode could not have been contemplated the week when Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars album was released in the first week of June in 1972. Roberto won the Derby and Alice Cooper released his signature School's Out album all within the same seven day period, all just three weeks after the Stones had released their celebrated Exile On Main Street album. 

Image from Wikipedia

THE CRISIS HAS WELL AND TRULY ARRIVED

Talk of racing coming out the other side of the woods, shaking itself down and rebuilding is so far off the mark for in reality the sport has only just taken its first forced steps in from the entry point.

For while the building optimism that we are past the worst of the plague with talk of a damning second wave just speculation without foundation may hopefully prove founded, similar hope filled sentiments that British racing is in the same boat have no basis.

Those doubting this need only have listened to a deadly serious John Gosden giving a somber assessment of the prevailing situation in an interview for ITV racing, whose broadcasts over the past few weeks have at last faced up to issues that threaten the ability of the sport to continue on its present scale.

The Clarehaven boss has been sounding out warnings from the onset of this crisis. We can't be sure if he is  dutifully intensifying the threat that the cut in prize money levels pose, as he of course is representing the interests of his patrons. Trainers and owners grumbling over what they see as modest overall levels of funding has been a recurring theme within British racing for many decades but never before have the sentiments been voiced amid such an atmosphere of uncertainty,

It we thought we could take for granted the support of the wealthy owners involved at the higher levels of the game because of the 'prestige' and strong history angle to racing here then we are on the wrong path. Remember, previous criticism had specifically been targeted at the prevailing monetary rewards, not drastic, unprecedented cuts.

Moreover, boasting that that our top prizes offer so much status to the winners that many would pay the entry fees for a winning prize of zero due to the esteem of an event being such a big influence on stud valuations, sit somewhere between optimism and postulation.

Gosden revealed that some horses who he had plans for next season had already departed his yard for the United States and Australia. The owners would not be hanging around to race for the present reduced levels of prize money. However wealthy they may be, they are not going to be taken for granted, added the trainer.

Of course, certain categories of animal, particularly those in the lower Group and Listed levels, have always had richer pickings available on other continents. And for fillies and mares a few lengths superior in ability, who once went on one way journeys to the States to race for good money in  relatively 'soft' Group 1 events, the main European race planners had to act and did so by upgrading the programme for fillies and mares both in status and prize money levels.It quickly brought about the desired result, stemming the exodus of many talented animals.

But the immense problems existing now all center around a lack of money available to fund prizes. This cannot be compensated by upgrading the designated class of a race without an accompanying boost in the monetary value. 

As an example, it would not be a great surprise if there was a desire amongst breeders, owners and trainers to bestow Group 1 status on a seven furlong event in the UK, as no such event exists here beyond the juvenile division. So, you upgrade the Hungerford Stakes to the top level but with no notable boost in the monetary value as the authorities have decided to throw out the rules regarding minimum values for related classes of race. You would be left with a Group 1 in name only with the true seven furlong championship remaining the Prix de la Foret, which would be the only one of the two events with a line up worthy of the race status.

And as for taking patronage of owners for granted, it seems as those of us who looked at the approach of many in the jumping game through rose tinted spectacles, counting on the continued support of the prominent owners irrespective of finances, may have to wind in the mawkish praising.

For on the back of Michael O'Leary and Graham Wylie phasing out their involvement in the game, a bombshell would have bit many on this side of the Irish Sea on the announcement that Trevor Hemmings is dispersersing with two thirds of his string as a result of being hit with financial losses through the Covid-19 crisis.

It was only as recently as recently as 2013 that Hemmings reputedly lost 700 million from the collapse in the Royal Bank of Scotland share prices. He did trim the size of his string at the time but it was hardly noticed. This is entirely different and could leave one or two handlers in trouble, even to the extent of considering handing in their licenses.

Hemmings remains an extremely wealthy man but the message here is that unconditional support for the game does not exist, even in the love of the sport over business realms of National Hunt racing. This is a concerning development and many will be left holding their breath hoping no further announcements from other influential owners follow.

ANOTHER INCOME STREAM IN JEOPARDY

It will be a long anxious wait until the true extent of the damage inflicted by the plague on horse racing in the UK can be anywhere near accurately assessed. A large scale drop-off in involvement by sponsors will be amongst the most feared after effects and right now the omens are not looking good.

There was a time when racing, on a higher pedestal than it is now, had the luxury to be precious over its most treasured flat races. It was as recently as the 1980's when the Derby had a sponsor for the first time in its long lived history which came quite fittingly through Ever Ready, whose chairman was Sir Gordon White, the owner of several high class horses including Hardgreen, who was Michael Stoute's second ever runner in the Epsom race when sixth in 1979.

With all of the classics having collectively several sponsors for many years now no one bats an eyelid, it's not an issue and never would be provided the sponsor's name supports the original race title as opposed to distorting it. It now should be only a matter of time before sponsors are permitted to tag their brand names on to traditional race titles at Royal Ascot. 

This time will probably arrive when Queen Elizabeth 11 is with us no longer, leaving a moderner, less relevant generation of her family, a couple of whom have shown more enthusiasm for an apparently famous rapper called  'Fifty Cent' than for horse racing.

Racing may well soon be going down the beggars can't be chooses path as it is becoming increasingly likely that top level sponsorship will become harder to procure than at any time in recent history - the St Leger, the oldest classic of them all, currently has no sponsor, and the biggest wake up call was the announcement that Investec would be ceasing its link with both the Derby and Oaks with immediate effect.

The fact that William Hill made the disclosure back in February that their sponsorship of the Doncaster classic would cease renders the move free from any Covid 19 impact assessment. Owing to the events of the past few months is is easy to lose sense of the time line in some areas and to overlook that a financial crisis was building up in the sport long before the plague hit.

It will be revealing to see the figures for the planned total sponsorship for 2021 as there is going to be a considerable downturn. I was browsing through a copy of the May 1976 edition Pacemaker & the Horseman from my collection which are gems of magazines - not available in any online archive. As well as finding a poster of Abba hidden away inside, I also came across an article penned by Michael Thompson - Noel, headed " In the Gift Horse's Mouth - Some Facts and Figures on Sponsorship ".

Digesting the figures makes one realise how much racing in the UK has fallen in status since an era which in reality is not really that long ago. From the numbers available, it was estimated that £11 million was spent on sports sponsorship during 1976, with £1.2 million going towards racing making it number two in the sponsorship league, with only the sponsors true glitz sport of motor racing ahead of it.

Over twice as much sponsors money was spent on UK horse racing than football, while the ratio over cricket was seven to one. Step forward to the modern era and it is dispiriting how many league divisions racing here has fallen below soccer - if truth be told these two sports are unlikely to be playing in the same division ever again.

In 2016 one of the leading economic consultancy firms, Frontier Economics carried out one of the most forensic analysises ever undertaken of the financial workings of horse racing in the UK, which they produced for the Department for Culture, Media  and Sport. They estimated that during 2014 the total prize money available was £123 million - the biggest contributors being just under £47 million from the Horse Race Betting Levy Board, £41 million from racecourses, £20 million from owners, and nearly £14 million from sponsors.

To put into context this sponsorship amount - during the same year Manchester United alone received annual sponsorship in the region of £170 million. Admittedly, away from prize money jockeys and stables often have sponsors but the sums amount to little in the grand scheme of things - I would imagine hard grafting journeyman riders come cheap, a car along with the odd thermal coat bunged in here and there.

The most pressing concern in horse race sponsorship is the distinct possibility that the aforementioned state of affairs with three of the classics presently having no sponsor is more than just a coincidental blip. This could even lead to some of the most powerful operations who have cross continent influence in the sport re - prioritising their global interests.

You only have to observe the sustained pattern in which top quality stallions have been shuttling to Australia for the Southern Hemisphere breeding season. While you can always pick out past examples to argue this has been the case for many years it must be noted that Danehill made his name as a stalllion initially through shuttling as opposed to establishing himself in Europe first. And both Galileo and Dubawi shuttled before anyone could predict the heady levels they would rise to.

What we have now in American Pharaoh and Justify, are the only two US triple crown victors since Affirmed in 1978, who Coolmore have gone in heavily on in the hope that they will lead the line for them when Galileo has gone. The fact they are shuttling from this early stage between Kentucky and Australia is a testament to the spread of their global strength and along with the Maktoums, leave themselves with the option of shifting the core of their operations.

Many will say that just as much focus should be placed on the vast number of single race sponsors, some one off, who will for a relatively small outlay put a name to a low grade race. Accumutavely this group contribute greatly to the sport in the lower, congested areas of the pyramid, but for all the events whose title celebrates a wedding, anniversary, retirement or passing, the sport desperately needs to maintain the prestige of its shop window events if UK racing is to maintain the recognised position of being at least the equal in quality to anywhere else on the globe.

image from Wikimedia 

AN ASTERISK RIDDLED SEASON

Anyone really believing that this flat season will be looked back at with any sort of fondness due to the unique close down, restart and catch up sequence in which it's being staged, is well wide of the mark. 

This spoilt and blotchy programme, where the winners of many of the major races should be carrying an asterisk beside their names in roll of honor lists is one in which there is an urge to wish time away to the season's end, draw stumps, with the  scorecards filed away in a locked room.

With one or two exceptions, the circumstances under which the season is unfolding have only gone and highlighted more than ever how a smaller number of  'associations' than ever before are in a position to mop up the showcase prizes at the very top end of the sport.

To make derogatory comments over the downhill direction in which the once restlessly awaited King George V1 Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes has been going for some time now is not to criticise a magnificent mare like Enable, whose campaign allied to her yet again remaining in training, would be an excellent advertisement for the sport if only the emerging generations took an interest.

On the other  hand, despite a facile success the lack of opposition means the we will have to wait until later in the season to find out whether she is still capable of producing her very best as we are certainly none the wiser using Japan as a yardstick who is developing the profile of a messed up performer having looked to have finally arrived when taking last year's Juddmonte.

The fact that the midsummer Ascot showpiece event has for a while been hit and miss is one of the most lamentable developments in UK flat racing in recent times. It's not uncommon for the three year olds to be completely absent, with the French runners now being more welcome than ever as many follow the pattern of giving their top performers a mid season let down before building up to an Arc prep, a route that is not a proven path to sucess, as highlighted with the contrasting paths taken last year between Waldgeist and Sottsass

There have also been some very strange looking renewals. You still have to pinch yourself to take in that in 2015 Clever Cookie started at 4/1!  Well, I suppose the ground was pretty testing, the field ordinary by normal standards, and didn't Brunico turn over the top notch Shardari in the mud in a running of the Ormonde.

Being fair, the last real celebrated Derby winner Golden Horn was set to line up after already taking in the Eclipse but connections withdrew late when conditions worsened. And the eventual winner Postponed was a likeable high class colt - nevertheless it was still an uninspiring renewal.

To give Enable credit - there is more to her than than the hardy, concentrated constitution that allows  her to come through each close season and retain the ability to win at the very top level. Of all the various ratings, rankings, course records, Group 1 victories attained, that fans will cite to support their assertion that one famous horse is better than another, the one boasted of most by long term racing fans would still be the best rating awarded by the Timeform organization, which in the case of Enable, has her on a peak of 134 which is only 2 lb behind the trio topping the best of all the fillies and mares since the end of WW2.

Admittedly, there are flaws in obsessing over such figures as they take no account of versatility in addition to also adding a subjective input in cases of wide margin winners, along with those winning without being stretched. Reference Point attained a 139 best, Nijinsky a 137 best, but we know which one was the superior animal - at all distances.

Still, as measures of ability the figures supplied by the Halifax based handicappers down the years will be referred to more frequently than other measurements of merit and on this basis we have it carved in stone that at her very best, certainly at the time of her 2017 Arc de Triomphe victory, she proved herself to be in the mix with the best of her sex over the past seventy five years.

The other real speck of light emanating through this strange season comes through the widely acclaimed feats of Stradivarius, returning yet again to the top of the stayer's league. Truth be told, if he's a Le Moss there is no Ardross to test him which is why it's a much needed boost to the season that he will now be concentrating on proving his worth in the middle distance sphere, with a crack at the Arc on the agenda.

Ardross himself produced a wonderful effort when narrowly failing to get up to win in Paris and with the Gosden horse carrying enough surplus when he made his seasonal debut in the Coronation Cup, hope remains that he still may be involved in the finish at Longchamp - it would certainly add some welcome spice to the season if he was able to put the wind up his stable bud.

And from a nostalgic point of view there is a link to a more pleasurable racing era as Stradavarius's third dam is no other than the Wildenstein's Pawneese who shone in the drought hit summer of 1976, when trained by Angel Penna to notch up a unique treble by winning the Epsom Oaks, French Oaks and King George.

For those who think the sport is not demeaned when the power is in so few hands should note that in the Epsom race the fourteen runners were represented by fourteen different owners and thirteen different trainers with Harry Wragg responsible for the third and fourth fillies home, African Dancer in the Oppenheimer colors, and Laughing Girl carrying the Moller silks. Thirteen different sires were represented with Sassafras being responsible for two runners.

In the King George the eleven runners were covered by ten different trainers and owners, with Penna and Wildenstein fielding Ashmore in addition to Pawneese, but not in a pacemaking role with the winner leading from the start. Eleven different sires were represented.

Ending on a brighter note; irrespective of whether the action will be unfolding before live audiences or not, once the jump season 'proper' swings into action during October it will be an asterisk free programme with the quality of the action out on the track unaffected by what has been happening in the wider world.  Michael O'Leary's winding down of his involvement will be welcomed by many on both sides of the Irish Sea so there looks to be plenty to look forward to.

A SPELL HAS BEEN CAST ON THIS SPORT

It would be totally absurd to pick out the areas in racing where you can just maybe find some things to be optimistic over when all they would be is specks of light against a background of gloom, leaving one with a feeling that this truly has become a cursed sport.

The news that Graham Wylie, in the week that the British Masters Golf is held in his back garden, has  announced that he is curtailing his horse racing interests does not come as a shock as his once enthusiastic restocking with quality store horses and classy ex flat racers had already ceased.

It is also an  item of news that ends hopes that he would return his focus to the north of England where he began his racing interests with Howard Johnston, who despite taking a hammering on the forums by those claiming that he did not deserve the quality of animal Wylie placed with him, rewarded his loyal owners faith by bringing him by far his most successful days which were not matched after the trainer lost his licence and the horses were shared between Willie Mullins, and to a lesser extent Paul Nichols.

Because many were yearning without hope for a return to the the heady 1970's and 1980's when the top half of the country was a match for any other region in addition to the whole of Ireland when comparing the quality of national hunt horses in training, many were complaining when Wylie came on the scene, using his instant success as a sign of how poor the northern jumping scene had become.

This was indeed so if you obstinately felt the need to forever compare with two golden decades in the past, but by Christ looking at the state of the jumping scene north of the Trent now, we were spoilt during the Wylie era as in addition there were more Trevor Hemmings owned animals turning up at the courses, plus Ashleybank Investments, formerly the Edinburgh Woollen Mill, were responsible for providing a steady supply of promising performers to Lenny Lungo who now had a bigger share of animals carrying those colours than those housed at Greystoke.

And not to forget that Robert Ogden had a spell during this period when he had some seriously good jumpers with northern trainers - many forget that Ad Hoc began his career with Lungo, Kingsmark spent the first half of his with Martin Todhunter, while Squire Silk had his best days with Andy Turnell.

Whilst quality national hunt performers are a rarity in those upper regions, the northern racecourses have somehow survived. To now at least, but regrettably we must now be nearing the time when venues will begin to fold and some of those in the top region of the country will be well and truly in dire straits. For the time being Edinburgh has been rescued but one can be certain that the few years that separated Lanark and Teeside Park/ Stockton perishing, will be shortened dramatically by the gap in between the next two northern courses to close.

It's nearly forty years since Stockton went. This at a time that the area was crucified economically which would have been apparent when the industrial chimneys and furnaces that formed part of the skyline when you gazed over to the horizon from inside the course, stopped billowing out their clouds of smoke.

Racecourses are now apt to be more discreet when the subject of their financial viability is raised.  In times gone by these issues were discussed more openly, making it common public knowledge which venues were on their uppers

Look back through newspaper archives and you will find stories appearing in the national press predicting which venues were set for the chop. And more often than not, the gloomy predictions came true - not least from one story which appeared in April 1963, predicting that no less than a dozen courses faced imminent closure, with brief but to the point reasons provided, which all amounted to why the levy board planned to withdraw support for the tracks on the list.

Stockton was on the list, being cited as an economically unsound proposition due to the cost of much needed modernisation along with the fact that Redcar, which was described as having more crowd drawing power, was situated only thirteen miles away. It took longer than predicted for the track to fold. Edinburgh also made the list, with claims that it was not economically viable due to a lack of space curbing potential development.

All told, five of the twelve cursed courses survived into the future with Folkestone marching on for a further half century. The others that survived were Pontefract, which has certainly gone and defied the doom mongers as it appeared not to have much to rejoice about being put on the black list not only due to costly building needs, but also having subsidence and drainage issues; and the West Norfolk Hunt, which soon after changed it's fixture name under rules to Fakenham.

The seven locations that the omens unfortunately came true for soon after were Manchester, Rothbury, Lincoln, Lewes, Bogside and Woore. The other venues that have gone under since that article appeared are Birmingham, Alexandra Park, Lanark, Wye - with Towcester joining Folkestone, in becoming a recent victim.

The venue that beat all the spells that appeared cast upon on it was none other than Aintree, which came perilously close to succumbing in the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's. Once the property became part of the portfolio of racecourses under the Jockey Club Racecourses banner, massive investment was put into a costly redeveloping programme which has paid off, meaning it's future is secure even if the same cannot be said of the ' Grand National In Name Only Handicap Chase.'.

There was however a near miss for another premium jumping track in the same ownership. With their  business heads on, Jockey Club Racecourses felt that it would make sound financial sense to accept an offer for Kempton Park from property developers, then use the money to plough funds into Sandown Park where the King George V1 Chase would be transfered over to.

Thankfully, what amounted to a scare for many racing fans has blown over for the time being at least but logic dictates that if the funds of even the most successfully operated racecourse ownership groups had to come under review long before Covid 19 had been heard of, then the fates will have cast spells on a number of racetracks whose futures will be in jeopardy.

And those of us who turn our nose up at the courses that have long gone after the cult crowds, who go along for a noise booze up, have the cheek to enjoy themselves, and quite like a concert afterwards, may after all be forced to have a rethink and eat our words, particular if racing's share of the betting pie continues to dwindle.

image taken by author - Munich street theatre

A SPORT LOSING ITS WAY

Television viewing figures must always be viewed with cynicism, particularly so when they are used as evidence to back up a claim that a struggling sport such as horse racing is experiencing a rebirth in popularity amongst the general populace, a theory that flies against the prevailing wind.

If any racing fan had been unwise enough to think that last Saturday presented the opportunity to encourage some indifferent soul to the sport to sit back, pay attention, then see if they had warmed to it, then they would now be regretting the decision.

It's akin to the times when we've been hooked on a sitcom, implored others to watch it, only for that particular episode to be a rare below par production. And on Saturday those causing the spike by switching over briefly to watch the main event, many already in front of the television having watched a Premiership football match which concluded five minutes before the race started, with many preparing for the next match kicking off half an hour after the end of the race, would have been as engaged as someone tuning into the Tour de France but failing to feel a buzz watching continued domination for Team Sky come Team Ineo.

Horse racing has become adept at using other more popular sports to ride on the back of and pick up viewers, and while Premiership football in particular is in for a rocky ride, it will still remain in a different stratosphere to racing in the popularity stakes. To put things into perspective, horse race broadcasting  has now for many years had to adjust programme times for a wide range of bigger viewer attractions from Countdown to Grand Prix practice, so will always be thrashed by football despite that sport bring a dreadful spectacle at the moment.

They say that the golfers who were at their peak during Tiger Wood's long lasting period of a dominance previously unknown were born unlucky, with the fates conspiring that resulted in a situation that gaining a victory in not only the majors, but in regular PGA Tour events, would be a task with an extra obstacle added.

A similar story has unfolded in European flat horse racing. No one in the press will dare say it. If they did it would not be personal criticism of individuals, rather regret in how things have evolved with the result that the sport is a less gripping spectacle than at any time during the past seventy five years.

Instead, those that broadcast the sport take the cop out route by reminding us that we should be thankful that Coolmore choose to pit their strongest combinations against one another in our top races. On the forums many threads attract more readers than articles in the racing press and on which many of the sane contributors have a better knowledge of the sport than most of the contemporary racing media.

In one thread on the Betfair Forum someone asked a pertinent question that someone with a clear, uncluttered mind process may wonder about. The post headline asked, " If Aiden Is God Then How Come His Sons Can Win Group 1's Straight  Away ", alluding to the fact that following on from J. P. O'Brien producing a Moyglare Stud Stakes triumph soon after setting up, whether Donnacha O'Brien in training the Prix de Diane winner just months into his training career was evidence that it's completely all about the quality of horse a trainer receives.

This is a subject that racing fans are far more interested in than some of the inane nonsense chatted about in broadcasts. Remember, some say that sharing out the Coolmore reared yearlings was trialed but this is not the case. David Wachman was given a steady but restricted stream of animals and probably performed no worse or better than would have been the norm expected, and while many years back their were rumours that John Hammond would be receiving a share in numbers not too far lower than at Ballydoyle they remained just rumours and did not materialize.

This would make fascinating TV discussion but it's not a subject the present racing media will go near. I'm quite sure it is something that Julian Wilson would have brought up, perhaps John Oaksey too whose willingness to play a stereotypical role on TV to fit in with the title would conceal for the casual viewer his intelligence and knowledge of the game. His Mill Reef book is one of the most enjoyable racing reads ever. I'm sure he would be dismayed at the present state of the flat game.

It was the norm to label a trainer lucky for being able to saddle a fancied runner in the Derby the year after fielding a colt similarly in the mix, regardless of how they performed. I sometimes find it hard to believe that when Peter Walwyn saddled Oats to finish third in the 1976 Derby, it would be the last time he would have a runner reaching the frame in the race. This only a year after training Grundy to win the same race. And he would continue to hold a license for a further twenty years too! 

It's a fine example of how the gold seal jam was spread wide. Nothing could be taken for granted. And anyone thinking M V O'Brien had shelves full of Northern Dancers should look through Horses In Training editions from the 1970's. They will be surprised. It made it such a more enthralling sport to follow.

If the modern TV racing broadcasters examined the balance of power in the flat game they would cop out, or at least would come up with a conclusion that would sound like a cop out even if it wasn't - with the usual, the cream rises to the top, Lewis Hamilton has the best drive for a reason ect

If they never used the multitude of M C Pipe examples, they could cite Venn Ottery as a magnificent example of how a showcase trainer improved a horse from a small set up into something with a rating five stone superior. Examples of flat trainers taking in an exposed animal racing on the level that finds such dramatic improvement racing in the same sphere are rare outside of the sprinting ranks.

A P O'Brien squeezed perhaps a small amount of improvement from the already high class Excelebration - though compared with Michael Dickinson who was put at the helm at Manton, unproven in the flat racing arena, it highlights just how spectacularly unsuccessful that venture was to think that Barry Hills came in to rescue the project and improved many of the charges, including turning Handsome Sailor into a Nunthorpe winner, an animal who had been purchased from the yard of Ron Thompson to be used as a lead horse on the gallops for Dickinson's babies.

But the area most of the media would be unwilling to delve to deeply into would be the one on the lines of Fernando Alonso being the best driver pound for pound - in racing the topical equivalent would be how John Oxx or Dermot Weld would fare with the full Coolmore support behind them.

It is the type of debate that would swing back and forth, going from trainer being a genius tag to just good, precise, devolving of powers to the most talented staff available, along with the reality that the Galileos are available on tap and will be for the next five years at the very least.

On that note, even if infirmity set in suddenly, Coolmore would still be in a much stronger position than when Sadler's Wells was well past middle age with In The Wings and El Prado his two most successful stallion sons, despite all the racing stars that he had been churning out regularly  - that was until Montjieu and Galileo came along to start a new chapter.

On what the racing broadcasters are willing to deliberate candidly over could just possibly be changing. For who would have expected ITV racing to have a realistic discussion today over the consequences of the Covid 19 crisis which concluded with the message that racing was not out of the woods yet, with a scaling down of the sport still a possibility.

Maybe this was on the agenda because it was a sensible Thursday . I somehow doubt it would be on the schedule on smiley, dumb down Saturday when all is well in the house of racing. Most would hope differently.
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A SETBACK THAT WILL LEAVE LONG LASTING DAMAGE

Frank Taylor may have been one of the most noted and long established names in British sports journalism in a career lasting well over fifty years, but despite all his achievements and awards his biggest single claim to fame will be that he was one of the fortunate survivors of the 1958 Munich air disaster.

He enjoyed a long stint at the Daily Mirror during which he had a spell in the additional role of editing the sports post bag and nominating the winning letter. In November 1976, one of the chosen winners was a A.W. Elbourn from Faringdon, Oxon who was concerned with the amount of money being taken from the prize pool for the big flat races by foreign raiders.

Whether it was the fact that racing was not Taylor's main sport or whether racing did not realise how well it was faring during hard economic times, he introduced the prize letter, by claiming that racing was facing hard times, pointing to an estimated £903,000 of the £1,350,000 available in the top races, being taken away from these shores.

Mr Elbourn himself did not mince his words, going as far as declaring that the " British turf had suffered a near disaster and the biggest setback in its history", all because, by his reckoning, the French and Irish had taken over half a million in prize money between them.

One has to remember that during the flat season that the curtains had just been drawn across, the 2,000 Guineas was the only English classic not scooped up by the French; the race falling to Wollow who came home first in a field of seventeen, compiled of seventeen different owners and seventeen different trainers.

This profile was the norm for all of the top events - Frank Taylor passed away in 2002 and I've no idea whether Mr Elbourn is still with us but God knows how they would have felt if they could have foresaw the profile of the typical big events nowadays, with the jam in a shockingly small number of jars.

It was what made it all the more amazing that the French based Argentinian Angel Penna trained the Wildenstein owned trio Flying Water, Pawneese, and Crow to win the 1,000 Guineas, Oaks and St Leger respectively. Their winners were their sole representatives in these events. Indeed, the sport truly was something to rejoice in those days.

Now, we needn't even dwell on so few taking such a high percentage of the prize money as horse racing in the UK is running so low on prize money to offer it is being served in rations. This really hit home when you saw the amount picked up by winning connections in Saturday's  Northumberland Plate.

When the 3 lb claimer John Higgins steered the Tom Waugh trained Tartar Prince to victory in the 1971 renewal of the Northumberland Plate, the monetary prize for winning connections was a total of £5,266. By 1979 when Bruce Raymond carried Lady Beaverbrook’s silks on board Totowah to take the honours, the winner’s funds had risen significantly to £14,840.

It was 1988 when the winning prize was on parity with what was on offer at the weekend, thirty two years later. That day Michael Roberts was aboard the Jimmy Fitzgerald trained Treasure Hunter. In the interim period the costs of keeping a racehorse in training have risen considerably. Certainly by enough to have made the victor's prize of £92,000 for the 2019 merely par for the course for a showcase handicap.

Consider that when the jockey and trainer's share are taken out of the winning connections pot of under £25,000, there will be barely enough to cover twelve months training fees. Particularly as the winning yard does not appeal as a set up that cuts corners for a Poundshop training fee.

And while the owner of the winner, similarly to the majority in the yard, are unlikely to be forever checking their accounts to ensure they have sufficient to cover the monthly fees, there will come a time when owners of similar standing will take a stand on principal.

Look at it this way, Sheikh Mohammed once threatened to pull out of British racing due to the prize money situation. That was over twenty years ago but he has brought the subject to surface on occasions since when prize funds, compared with the dire levels they have fallen to now, were reasonably buoyant and increasing steadily.

For the many owners further down the scale with one or two animals in their name they cannot afford to play a poker game for they will simply be unable to sustain their outgoings, something that was at the heart of the matter when industry wide action was taken to boycott the Arena Leisure owned venues for a short period last February.

Again, this was not confined solely to those operating in the lower tiers. The chief organiser from the training ranks was Ralph Becket, whose list of patrons include some of the wealthiest involved in the sport. Remember, this hullabaloo was in full flow during a period, that if those involved were now given the opportunity to return in time to, they'd bounce up and down with joy, breath a sigh of relief and get on with it.

Industrial action cannot be an option now. With the plague impacting the wider society as a whole such protestations would cause the industry to be viewed with ridicule as well as a degree of cold indifference. Downsizing is now inevatable and if Mr Elbourn's claim that British racing was suffering its biggest setback in history was totally out of context back in 1976, it would not be wide of the mark to describe the present.

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