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Well, I have some ideas on How To Fix British Jumps Racing.
Listed in order of most to least feasible/likely to happen:
-BHA comes up with a standard definition of what each type of ground means. The gradings are subjective but “soft” at Ascot needs to have similar moisture and compaction as “soft” at York or Market Rasen or what have you.-Offer some races restricted to horse bred in Britain and/or by sires standing in Britain. Particularly for maidens, bumpers, 3yos etc where late-developing British horses often run into baby buzzsaws from France and Ireland.
-Hear me out here: more selling/claiming races. In particular, maiden selling races and conditioned races with an option to put a horse in for sale. Claiming cheap horses that have room for improvement is how small-time owners and trainers can break into the industry.
-This is by far the most important thing even though it’s not so likely to happen: bigger purses. Money makes the races go off. Require a minimum purse for stakes races – say, £50k for Grade 3, £100k for Grade 2, £150k for Grade 1 – obviously encouraging tracks/sponsors to go beyond that (see below)
-For the “lesser” races at Cheltenham give entry preference to the highest earners since April 1 of the previous year. Encourages horses to actually run more and to go for the higher purses, which encourages tracks to increase purses to attract horses.
-Create a “circuit” of sorts for the very top horses of each division. The Breeders’ Cup does this in a half-assed way with the “Breeders Cup Challenge” races, harness racing does a much better job of it with their “Grand Circuit” since the harness horses run a lot more, but it should work well with UK jumps because Cheltenham falls around the end of the season. Have the Grade 1 races in each division act as qualifiers of sorts, or part of a series leading up to the marquee races at Cheltenham. Every Grade 1 race in the series is worth points (harness racing does 25 points to winner, 10 to 2nd, 5 to 3rd, 1 to 4th) and the highest point earners get first invite to the big Cheltenham race. This gives a clear incentive to actually race horses during the season and it introduces some strategy – does a trainer risk waiting for perfect ground or dodging competition and forfeiting another chance at earning points?
-Include a few international win-and-you’re-in races for Cheltenham i.e. the winner of the French Champion Hurdle gets auto bid into the Champion Hurdle, winner of the International Gold Cup (USA) gets auto into the Cheltenham Gold Cup (I think this actually used to be a thing for the Int’l Gold Cup). The horsemen may or may not take the offer but it’s at least some encouragement of cross-pollination between countries and the whole sport benefits from that.
—-below this line are things that are Never Gonna Happen—-
-Jockey Clubs around the world, or at least the UK-Ireland-France nexus of NH breeding, enforce a 140-mare limit for each stallion in a season. NH stallions breed even more than the flat stallions and Coolmore is a big time offender. This would “spread the wealth” to smaller breeders in the UK and also help keep the gene pool from shrinking even more.-Re-legalize foxhunting in the UK. I’m saying this as someone firmly on the left of the political spectrum. I find it personally distasteful but it is unquestionably the foundation of National Hunt racing and one of the reasons Irish horses dominate it so much.
No chance of fox hunting being made legal again. A (so called) Conservative government with a majority of 80 clearly said it had no interest in doing so.
There are no other circumstances in which it might happen. If anything, given its direction of travel, I would say there is more chance of fox hunting being made illegal in Ireland than there is of it being made legal again in Britain.
This sort of brings me to the main threat facing the National Hunt season. British society is changing at a very fast rate. Amongst those changes, there is now a growing and very vocal movement which believes using animals in any way is wrong, especially if they are used for entertainment or sport.
Animal rights activists have always been there but they can no longer be dismissed as extremists or cranks. They are confident, well funded and have support in the media and in politics. They are also the sort of people (typical of the social media generation) who do not have much time for alternative arguments. They believe they have morality on their side.
As I have said before (as has Mr Davies), look to Scotland. Greyhound racing is in serious danger of being banned there. If it is, no one should be in any doubt where these campaigners will turn their attention next.
Horse racing does have larger audiences than greyhound racing and generates more revenue for the government. But we cannot rely on that support continuing.
I would not be in the least bit surprised if National Hunt racing is banned some time in the next 20 to 30 years. And if it is, Flat racing will eventually follow.
In what civilised society do we deem it appropriate for a pack of blood hounds to rip a fox apart in the name of sport?
The most stupid thing I’ve ever read on here. And it wasn’t by ham. Im astounded.
Henderson is happy to run horses on the ground at Newbury today which he clearly considers safe. Yet a horse broke down badly in the first race, which was very sad to see.
I did not see any horse break down like that at Ascot last week, on ground Henderson said was unsafe.
Doesn’t this just show that there is an element of risk whenever a racehorse steps out onto the track, irrespective of what a trainer thinks the ground is like?
So the talking has to stop tomorrow.
If beaten, some will wrongly say he was only ever a hype horse – hype horses don’t win the Supreme by 22 lengths in a faster time than the Champion Hurdle.
But that means nothing now.
The bottom line is Constitution Hill will probably have to run to 161+ tomorrow to beat Epatante.
It’s also his first run outside novice company, though that doesn’t worry me as they were travelling and jumping faster in the Supreme than in most Champion Hurdles and novices have been winning frenetic big handicap hurdles for years.
I find myself thinking back to 1978, not only to the Supreme, but to those tragic subsequent events at Ayr.
Golden Cygnet was the greatest Champion Hurdler that never was.
Let’s hope a better fate awaits Constitution Hill tomorrow.
Go on, “The Hill!”
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"“Golden Cygnet was the greatest Champion Hurdler that never was.”
Nah. That would be Bird’s Nest.
I can see where you’re coming from, Gladders.
In that golden era of hurdlers, Bird’s Nest frequently looked like a Champion Hurdler – until it came to the Champion Hurdle itself.
Then 15yo Chezza had his humble quid in him the only time I saw him live when thwarted by Night Nurse in the Yorkshire Hurdle on Great Yorkshire Chase Day at Doncaster in January 1978: https://youtu.be/P0JMvohVljE
However, I feel it is worth recalling the weights for that fateful race at Ayr three months later.
Sea Pigeon 12st
Golden Cygnet 11st13lb
Night Nurse 11st8lb
Beacon Light 11st6lbHeld up early on, Golden Cygnet moved into third place as they came to the second last. Approaching the final flight, he moved alongside the leader Night Nurse, travelling strongly, but fell. Sea Pigeon went on to win the race, but the general consensus, that Sea Pigeon’s connections did not dispute, was Golden Cygnet would have won had he stood up. And he was still only a novice: https://youtu.be/GtieDQ9blK4
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Sea Pigeon, who as a gelding couldn’t run in Group races on the Flat, so had to go the handicap route, but won some big races giving lumps of weight away. I dare say, nowadays he’d be off to Flemington in November…..something Constitution Hill won’t attempt….
I often think that, Andy.
But tbh in 2022, a Sea Pigeon would never go hurdling, he’d be sold young to go abroad – like this year’s Melrose winner and so many others.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Sea Pigeon did run in Group races, he just couldn’t run in Group 1 races. In 1978 for example, he ran in the Doncaster Cup and later the St Simon Stakes at Newbury, the latter 24 hours after winning a hurdle on the same course. He never won a Group race, but he did win the Listed Doonside Cup at Ayr.
Ian,
Going back to that film of the 1978 Scottish Champion Hurdle, I’ve long wondered on seeing it whether Golden Cygnet had already suffered whatever caused his death a stride or two before that final hurdle. He doesn’t so much fall as completely ignore the hurdle – there’s absolutely no attempt to leave the ground at all. Of course it makes no difference to the sad outcome.
A clear indication of how differently horses were raced back then, is that Ayr was his seventh hurdle race of the season, on top of three flat runs in the autumn before going over hurdles. So even as a novice, he’d had a lot more experience than Constitution Hill, who will probably have sixth career start in the Champion Hurdle.
Honeysuckle will win the mares race …. That was unbelievable , the scary thing is it’s effortless , he,s a fecking monster
Yes, Alan, I think Golden Cygnet even had a race between Cheltenham and Ayr.
Meanwhile, back in 2022 – well, what can you say?
Did Honeysuckle do anything like that to Epatante?
I’d say “The Hill” handled the so-called gigantic leap into “open” company rather well.
This is going to be a GREAT Champion Hurdler, quite possibly the “G.O.A.T.”
as they say nowadays.I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"
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