group 1/grade 1's & charlotte Jones.

​What element or elements make a top-class horserace? Would a 4-horse Eclipse Stakes, for instance, be considered a better horse race than a 14-horse handicap at Newcastle on a Monday evening? ‘Black type’ is meant to infer a filly or mare is higher class than a filly or mare without black type against her name in the sales catalogue. But is that a title of truth or an obfuscation of the form-book? Does a strung-out field of 4 in a Group I constitute a more thrilling race to watch than five-horses in a 14-horse field flashing across the line in unison?
Too much of the flat racing season is organised to benefit breeders, at least in my opinion. If I had any sway with those who protect the European Pattern programme, I would lobby for listed races to be converted into limited handicaps and for only a limited number of Group 3 races in any one season in any one racing jurisdiction. Group 3 and listed races are very often uncompetitive, with the winner rarely coming off the bridle. If there were only 1 Group 3 over each of the distances per season in every country, Group 3’s would become highly competitive, with large fields and increased betting turnover.
I would also argue that half the Group 2’s should be eliminated from the season with the aim of boosting both the reputation of these races and the competitive nature of them. If trainers had nowhere else to go, races like the Eclipse would never fail to have plenty of runners. To accompany the announcement of Falbrav’s death in Japan, I.T.V. showed footage of him winning the Eclipse, beating a field that on quick observation numbered at least 14. We need to get back to those numbers, which in era of diminishing numbers of horses in training will only be achieved by culling a high percentage of rival Group races or at least distancing all similar races from each other throughout the season. Personally, going off tact for a moment, I would convert the Eclipse into the final classic of the season for 3-year-olds.
I would argue the same culling process should be applied to National Hunt’s Graded races. And why Group for flat and Grade for jumpers? Personally, I believe the Betfair Chase at Haydock is a spoiler when it comes to the early season programme. It has become an either or with the King George and it takes high-class chasers away from what is now the Coral Trophy at Newbury, though in my old head it remains the Hennessey. A Grade 1 that only ever attracts 4 or 5-runners each season is a hindrance to achieving competitive racing.
Just labelling a race a Group 1 or Grade 1 does not make it either top-class or indeed even a good, exciting race to watch. Making stallions should not be the overriding emphasis of the racing program. 

An excellent interview in the Racing Post with Charlotte Jones highlighted the ‘plight’ of lower league jockeys who possess the talent to be riding at a higher level but who are overlooked by trainers outside of the stables they are attached to. The point Charlotte made is that after riding five winners in a row, a treble and a double on consecutive days, she might have expected to have become busy with rides from other trainers, especially as she was still claiming 3lbs, an allowance she is 2-winners away from losing.
She is a talented rider; I have recognised her ability in the saddle for several seasons. Her problem is, to an extent, of her own making as she rides out 6-days a week for Jimmy Moffatt, the man responsible for every one of her winners so far, I believe. Her loyalty is crucial to her success. But would it not aid her career if one morning a week she rode out for a trainer with a larger number of horses at his or her command? The mountain rarely comes to Mohammed!
It is a similar plight with, I would contend, all female jockeys, and perhaps most male jockeys still claiming an allowance. Bryony Frost owes her career to Paul Nicholls, even though Lucy Wadham is equally responsible for her winners each season. She continues to ride out at Ditcheat, even though the claiming riders attached to the yard ride for Nicholls more often than she does, even if she gets on more of the better-class horses than they do.
Lily Pinchin, though she gets more outside rides than most of the top female National Hunt riders, is reliant of Charlie Longsdon for her career. Emma Smith Chaston gains the majority of her rides from Micky Hammond, the stable she is attached to. Tabitha Worsley, an excellent jockey who never gets on a half-decent prospect, gets more rides from more trainers than any other female jockey and I would suspect rides out regularly for most of the people to give her rides. Like most of their male weighing room colleagues, they are all journeyman jockeys in search of that one top-class horse. Bryony, of course, has found more than one top-class horse and yet continues to languish at the middle sphere of the jockeys table. But that is a tale of a completely different feather!
No one, including those destined to earn their wage in the heat and danger of sporting battle, comes into the world with a contract that promises them an equal shot at glory. Any one of the jockeys I have mentioned might win on any one of the top-class horses Rachel Blackmore is fortunate to be legged-up on but through hard work and talent she has had the luck to land in the right places at the right time and to have grasped every opportunity with both hands. The cream, against what we are led to believe, does not always rise to the top.