The North

[grey dolphin]

I think Divers was the only Northern-trained winner at the festival, extending an increasingly dismal record in recent years. One or two others ran well – honourable mentions for Kalahari King, Bothy and Orsippus (nb I don’t count south Cheshire as the North but Peddler’s was also brilliant!) but overall this is a poor return.

Back in the 80’s it was a different story with powerhouse stables like Michael Dickinson, Arthur Stephenson, Peter Easterby and Jimmy Fitzgerald repeatedly plundering the best races at the festival.

So why has the return diminished so drastically?

1) The expansion of AW racing? It seems to have paralelled the decline. Owners can now have flat racers in training all year round and as a result some former dual purpose trainers (e.g. Tim Easterby) seem to focus mainly on the flat.

2) Lack of money in the North? – could be a factor but there are still plenty of horses in training – it’s the quality that’s the problem.

3) Few quality courses? Newcastle and Ayr’s programmes seem to have declined from the 80’s and Wetherby seems to be following. Haydock has clearly stated where its priorities lie. But Carlisle, Perth and Aintree have done their best to improve quality.

4) A tendency among some trainers to skip Cheltenham to target Aintree with fresh horses?

Whatever, it’s a dismal showing and one I’d like to see reversed.

Welcome other’s views…

[cormack15]

Grey Dolphin – I was thinking the very same thing last night.

Plenty good trainers up North. Ferdy, Donald McCain, and Lucinda Russell are all high profile (I do count Donald McCain as Northern!) with good owners. Sue Smith is a fantastic trainer and James Ewart is a very good up and coming handler.

I think the difference now is the concentration of the big owners at the Nicholls, Hobbs, Pipe, King and Henderson yards. You can be as good a trainer as you like but if you don’t get the best horses you are always going to struggle.

[bowlinggreen]

It would be nice to see a few northern winners. Ferdy Murphy always lays a few out for the meeting, but most have no way of competing now with the big Southern yards plus the Irish raiders, notably Willie Mullins, who is on a par with Nicholls, Henderson etc. No one like the Dickinsons or Peter Easterby targeting the meeting, Tim Easterby seems to be Flat orientated as are most of the top Northern yards.

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