The previous season’s Scottish, Irish and Midlands Nationals, perhaps? Also an undertaking to reschedule any of those qualifying races lost to the weather.
That would then mean just shy of one quarter of available starting places would be ringfenced for qualifiers, though, with the possibly unintended consequence of even more sharp practice as regards protecting handicap marks, etc. as is already assumed if not proven.
As such, I’m not sure whether introducing qualifiers is a fix to be implemented in isolation, without some further tweaking of other criteria. The need for only one prior chase outing in the present season seems to me like somewhere to start.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.