ben pauling is right.

​If I were a professional, before penning this article, I would search out my last published opinion on the subject of the summer jumping programme. My defence for not, at least, pretending to be in any way professional, is my dislike/horror for reading anything I wrote in the past. Occasionally, when forced by circumstance to read past efforts, I am taken by surprise at the sagacity of my idea and how I framed my point of view. Usually, though, I am left somewhere between appalled and embarrassed at my inability to express myself with greater coherence. In my mind, I believe Lee Mottershead or the part-timer Patrick Mullins can bash-out a thousand-words, press send and give the article no second-thought, safe in the belief that their boss Tom Ellis would have no need to suggest they ‘re-write a paragraph’ or change ‘an emphasis’.
So, no, opinions held in this article may not conform with anything I have written on this subject in the past.
Ben Pauling has suggested there should be a separate trainers championship for the summer jumping programme as is the situation for flat trainers during the winter. He did not say there should be a separate jockeys championship as well but for continuity there should be.
By the by, for context. I have never embraced the perfectly logical process of ‘digital folders’, the putting into one file all articles of a similar nature to make sourcing them at a later date quick and easy. Which is why there is more than one-thousand individual titles in the index, not all of them related to this website, including all the fiction I have written over a very long period.
Whether Ben Pauling or any of his colleagues would agree with a suggestion I posted not too long ago that the National Hunt season proper should start later and end later – I think I proposed late October to early June (the actual dates I proposed are unimportant, it is the concept that should be debated) – though the beginning and end of a summer jumping championship is of secondary importance to the B.H.A. taking on-board his proposal and acting upon it.
He believes a summer trainers’ championship would improve competition and lead to more horses being available to increase field sizes. I doubt if field sizes will increase as only a certain percentage of National Hunt horses need a firm surface to show their best form. I doubt if a trainers and jockeys championship will alter that fact.
That is not to oppose the suggestion. I think, if only on the point of equality between the two codes, that a summer championship be initiated as flat trainers already have a winter championship. The best step for increased field sizes is to limit the number of meetings through the summer period and having more two and three-day meetings to cut down, possibly, on traveling for horse, jockey, trainer and possibly owner and helping hotels, restaurant and general commerce in the areas around the racecourses. The horse racing industry can be too insular at times; we should give consideration to being of greater use to people of trade in the towns and villages around our country racecourses.
What grieves me is that innovation is rarely initiated by the B.H.A., except in circumstances that cause controversy as with ‘premierisation’ (not that this topic was their idea, they have just run with it) and the never-ending saga of whip reform. Ben Pauling’s idea is perfectly reasonable and sensible and would give many more jockeys an opportunity to be champion jockey during the main part of the season. It will not alter the trainers’ championship, of course, that will remain a dog-fight between Nicholls and Henderson, with Willie Mullins nipping at their heels if he should dominate the Cheltenham and Aintree Festivals. It will, though, give parity between the flat and National Hunt codes and cost very little to implement.
It might be worth pursuing the concept of a B.H.A. forum group being established where members of the ‘horse racing family’ can lodge similar ideas for discussion. Or perhaps the Racing Post might want to take the lead and have a panel of their journalists thrash out the pros and cons of ideas put forward by professionals and enthusiasts alike.
The B.H.A., of course, would start with a forum on whether a forum would be a good idea or not. There would be an experimental period of three-months with five forum members, extended to a trail of twelve-months with ten-members, then a steering group for the implementation of part of the proposal and a research study amongst the public. The idea would be ratified and pencilled in for inauguration in 2027 by when summer jumping would be in such a parlous state no fix would be affordable.
I hope Ben Pauling has more faith in the B.H.A. than I have.