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CH,
Given his views on the exchanges, I don’t think we’d have too much common ground!
AP
Personally I have never understood the "elitists" in horse racing (like Bill O’Gorman). Those who want to dispense with the lower grades. Offhand I cannot think of any sport in this country where the cream is not supported by a broad pyramid below. There is something healthy about trying to accommodate everybody’s participation and interest. Whether it’s racing, the FA Cup or local leagues.
A 60 rated handicapper runs 6 furlongs in about 3 to 4 seconds slower than a Group One winner. Which means they run at about 95% of the speed of a top class horse. On the track at a distance they are indistinquishable. In the paddock beforehand only somebody who knows racehorses fairly well could tell the difference, without direct comparison. I have seen no credible evidence to support the idea (widely held) that 60 rated horses are any less consistent either.
Perhaps the "recreational racegoers" are more in tune with the realities than the elitists.
If there is too much racing for you, ignore that which is less interesting. Culling the lower grades means in practice many stable staff, jockeys, trainers and others out of a job, and large exports of horsemeat. Who benefits?
A large proportion of races are handicaps to maximise the competitveness of racing for betting purposes. You cannot separate the nature of the racing programme from betting. Get rid of off-course bookmakers and presumably it would be a different ball game?
My guess is that the people who contribute by far the most to racing, the owners, would not be impressed by a sport where the horses ran in claimers and changed hands on a regular basis. You cannot just graft another country’s racing programme onto ours without working through the consequences.
I think the most bizarre suggestion on here is to have races for less prize money than we currently have
and from an owner too Offhand I cannot think of any sport in this country where the cream is not supported by a broad pyramid below.
The problem being that the ever-bloating fixture list only results in the base of the pyramid becoming broader without commensurate increase in the perpendicular. Tall and slim healthy, squat and fat not
The problem being that the ever-bloating fixture list only results in the base of the pyramid becoming broader without commensurate increase in the perpendicular. Tall and slim healthy, squat and fat not
Perceptions can often be wide of the mark. Can anyone say for sure, say by an analysis of Racehorses of 19xx and 2006, that the standard distribution of racehorse ability is any different in shape now than it was many years ago? People could be relying on the number of grades of narrow band handicaps and making assumptions that aren’t really valid.
What does culling a few thousand horses and jobs achieve that is healthy?
Why would British Racing do that, and for whom?
and from an owner too 
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