amateurs, nakayama, cambridgeshire & GRANGE HILL FARM.

​Please, no tears for the amateurs’ loss of the National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, as with the exception of the Martin Pipe, they can ride in every other race, including the National Hunt Chase, and have two races restricted solely for their pleasure. The sport has evolved: once upon a time an amateur had to be someone who did not derive income from being employed in a racing stable; once upon a time the National Hunt Chase was restricted to maidens. And one final point, on welfare grounds, the qualification imposed on the National Hunt Chase back in 2019 (?) to ensure only the top amateurs were allowed to ride in the race, do not apply to the other races at the Festival. Although I did not get my dream of a Champion 4-mile Chase, I applaud Cheltenham’s decision to remove the rider restriction for the National Hunt Chase to allow professionals to ride in the race.

At Nakayama racecourse in Japan today there is a six-furlong race worth nigh on one-million-quid. The fifth horse past the post will win £94,000 smackaroos for its owner. Racing jurisdictions around the world seem to be scrambling to stage the world’s richest horse race, so much so, hand-on-heart, that I admit I am no longer sure which race presently holds the distinction.
Given how inept the structure for providing prize-money is in Britain, it would be a hopeless task to try to emulate the levels of prize money other countries can provide. Indeed, with the problems we are experiencing here with rising costs, a corrupt government, a diminishing pool of racehorses at the top level and so many of our good horses sold overseas, I would like to see a debate as to whether, in the short term, we should raise prize-money at the lower end of the scale and lower it at the top end, though with exceptions.
If it costs between £20,000 and £30,000 to keep a horse in training for 12-months, would there be benefit in spreading the total pool of prize-money so that races at the lowest and middle levels receive a boost so that one win, plus place-money, would pay to keep a horse in training. There was a time, you see, when the most an owner expected from a horse in training was for the horse to win in prize-money the same amount as he or she paid to keep it in training. Break even, it was said. Now, and ever-increasing, it seems to me, horses are seen as investments, with the sport as a secondary consideration. If we could climb to the point where every race was worth more than £10,000 at the lowest end, £15,000 at racing’s middle and £20,000 at the top tracks, with, obviously, Group races worth more, with £100,000 maximum, would this make the sport more cost-effective for owners at all levels of the sport?
As I said, there would be a few exceptions, the classics, Eclipse, Royal Ascot and so on, but no exorbitant prize-money, with far less Group races, corralling the better horses into the prestige races. A naïve idea, I suspect, with the wealthiest of owners frowning with dismay. Less racing but with each race worth more prize-money, less pointless Group and listed races, but more prize-money for ‘shoulder and mainstay’ races.

Cannot understand why trainers are allowed to take horses out of the big handicaps on the day of the race due to the change in ground conditions. Newmarket may have had good ground on declaration day for the Cambridgeshire but the weather forecast was clearly for a large volume of rain. Trainers cannot be certain what the ground might be by mid-afternoon, yet overnight several horses have been declared non-runners, with more, I fear, during the day. Surely it is a trainer’s responsibility to take weather forecasts into consideration when leaving a horse in a race at the 5-day declaration stage? To me, fines need to be larger in an effort to make trainers think twice or three-times before withdrawing due to ground conditions.

Bindaree died yesterday. He won the Grand National 22-years ago. Great respect must go to Nigel Twiston-Davies and his family for giving the horse a far longer retirement than he had as a racehorse. From age 5 to age 30 he lived at Grange Hill Farm. Nigel Twiston-Davies is a wonderful advertisement for this sport at a time when it is finally being recognised that racehorses must be cared-for from birth to the grave. Indeed, Nigel Twiston-Davies and his family should be awarded a blue plaque or a gold kitemark or something grander for their commitment to the welfare of horses that come into their care.