25-years, bloodstock, starvation diets & chianti classico.

​A little prematurely, perhaps, the main feature in today’s Racing Post concentrates of the views of 4 prominent racing folk on how the sport has changed in the last 25-years.
Firstly, it is mad to be reminded that 25-years have passed in what in reflection feels like no more than the wink of an eye. I suspect time passes more quickly for the old due to failing memory. Certainly, I can remember the Red Rum era in the mid-seventies with more ease than what happened in 2,000 or even the past few years. In fact, though I may not be able to remember facts like who won the 2023 2,000 Guineas, instinct insists that the main element of the past 25-years has been decline brought about by poor decision making by those paid large salaries to take care of the sport.
Too many all-weather tracks are, I believe, a leading contender for blame in the decline of competitive field sizes and the decision by the B.H.A. to pump money into the already big money races at the expense of the daily fare that is the bedrock of the sport, has led to inflated prices paid for yearlings and store horses. In all walks of life, I believe, you build from the ground up, not the reverse.
All that was needed from all-weather tracks was to fill in during those periods when the weather prevented turf racing. Two tracks, one in the north, one in the south, was all that was needed. Instead, all-weather tracks now operate 12-months of the year, even in high summer, with graded races included, a diversion that does nothing to boost attendance or promote the sport.
The sport has lost its way, perhaps in some way due to the ease in which the ignorant few can air their views within the media, with less people willing or able to afford to own a racehorse outright, with the sport now more than propped-up by syndicates and exploited by those with the wealth to own large strings of horses.
It will sound xenophobic, or to use the buzz word ‘racist’, to admit that the sport relies to a dangerous degree on staff from overseas, mainly Asia and the sub-continent, with fewer and fewer natives coming into the sport at the ground level. Good initiatives are out there to reverse this state of affairs and I hope young people can be persuaded to live the healthy life offered by working in racing stables.
In the past 25-years, people working at the cliff-face of the sport have been let-down by those running nearly every aspect of the sport. This must change and the change, I believe, must come from within. At the moment, the B.H.A. is struggling to find a replacement for Julia Harrington; why is it not possible for a council of representatives be formed from within the working ranks to search for and then recommend someone to run the sport as head of the B.H.A.? That would be the seed-change for a fresh new start to the next 25-years. Revolution or evolution from within.

I am not one for reading bloodstock reports, though I do enjoy James Thomas and his updates from his world in Sunday’s Racing Post.

Charlie Deutsch had to lose weight to ride Gemirande to victory in the December Gold Cup yesterday. His entire diet, including fluids I would hope, for the previous 3-days amounted to an apple, banana and a piece of salmon when he arrived at the course. Bonkers, yet heroic. Deutsch is a greatly under-rated jockey, perhaps one of the best over a fence. Venetia is lucky to have him as her stable jockey and Deutsch, as doubtless he would admit, is very fortunate that Venetia has never lost faith in him as both a man and a jockey.

The sadness of the weekend is that the career of Chianto Classico hangs in the balance, though not his life, thankfully. Kim Bailey is pessimistic that the horse can come back from slipping a tendon off a hock, though I believe it is not unheard-of. The name of the horse slips my memory but I am sure a good horse back in the day did return to the racecourse after suffering a similar injury. Chianti Classico is only seven rising eight, he has time on his side and has a good team around him to help him on his way to either a second way of life or, crossed-fingers, a return to the racecourse. In the past week Kim Bailey had talked about his star horse as both an Aintree National horse and a contender for the Gold Cup. That is how easily the glass and the dream can slip from one’s grasp.