NO C.H.R. THIS YEAR, THEN.

​I read about the decision to postpone Championship Horse Racing until 2020 and greeted the news with genuine disappointment. Not because I was looking forward to witnessing the concept in action but because I had hoped by now everyone involved in the idea had realised what a really stupid idea it is. If it were not for City Street Racing, C.H.R. would be the dumbest gig in town. City Street Racing, by the way, is an accident waiting to happen. 4-furlong races on an artificial surface mounted on nothing more permanent than sophisticated wooden pallets, with the public close by and in an urban environment must have death and injury lurking with the intensity of the Grim Reaper. The thinking behind it is simple; if it works for athletics it surely must be equally profitable if racehorses were used. Sprinters, I ask you. 4-furlongs is not even an acceptable distance under the rules of racing. And 4-furlongs will hardly tax most sprinters and a run-down area of another 3 or 4 furlongs will be required for the jockeys to get their mounts back under control. It is novelty nonsense that bears no relation to present day racing and as such offers poor advertising value.
But to return to C.H.R.
I suspect the reason for delaying C.H.R. is down to the not insignificant fact that they cannot find enough people in support of the concept. 12 teams of 8 horses will take a large slice out of the horse population at a period of the year where there is a multitude of racing. Field sizes at meetings outside of C.H.R. will be reduced and jockeys signed up to C.H.R. will on many Thursday evenings be compromised, contractually required to one meeting when their bread and butter supporters would wish them somewhere else.
My main problem with C.H.R. is this. Oh, and I am aware the goal of the concept is to get people who would not ordinarily attend a race-meeting interested in the sport. But that in itself is problematical. C.H.R. is not proper racing. It is not representative of the sport. Just say C.H.R. is a rip-roaring success. For arguments sake lets assume they achieve 12 teams of 8 horses, with the top jockeys signed up and racecourses bursting at the seams with people at first curious and latterly fascinated with the product on offer.
If at the end of ‘The Series’, as it is dubiously titled’, we have several thousand converts to our sport, what will they make of an ordinary day’s racing at Newbury or Salisbury. The team they have supported will no longer exist and if they go ahead with the idea of having all races in ‘The Series’ hands and heels, (the only redeeming feature of the whole stupid concept) aren’t these converts going to be mortified to see their ‘heroes’ picking up the whip and cracking their mounts seven or eight times in the final furlong?
As I have said over and over again, if Royal Ascot, the Derby and Glorious Goodwood do not float the boat of these mythical people out there that we hope to convert, then is it not overly optimistic to expect C.H.R. to be the magic bullet we are seeking?
Much is made of C.H.R. being inspired by Formula 1. Yet Formula 1 is universally considered boring, with one team winning race after race. If this should equate to ‘The Series’ 1/3 favourites will win the majority of the races.
The proposers of C.H.R. claim their concept will put 4-million quid in the coffers of racing, which is money sorely needed with the contribution from the Levy on the slide. But as sure as eggs are eggs the largest slice of this largesse will fall into the pockets of the super wealthy owners who can either afford to keep their lesser horses in training for the eight meetings comprising ‘The Series’ or buy horses specially to farm the prize money. It is said that as horses with mid to low ratings will race in ‘The Series’ smaller owners will accrue the greatest benefit. Poppycock, say I. Godolphin and Juddmonte have plenty of horses in this lower bracket, all of which will be bred in the purple.
I understand the need, the urgent need, I suspect, to encourage more people to take an active interest in our sport, it’s just off the wall concepts are not the paths to take. Make all the bread and butter meetings, which do not attract large attendance anyway, free entry. Or organise free coach trips from cities and towns to local race-meetings. Have a Super-Bet every Saturday to rival the National Lottery, a concept people are becoming disillusioned with. Partner with a National newspaper (not the Racing Post) and give a horse and free training for a year as a prize in a horse racing inspired competition.
I am sure there are people more gifted in marketing and promotion who could come up with better ideas than I can provide. But every one of my suggestions is better than either City Street Racing or C.H.R.
For Pities Sake; in partnering with these hare-brained ideas racing stakeholders are saying to the public ‘our sport is broken’. Yet the attendances at Cheltenham (and not only the Festival), Aintree, Epsom, Royal Ascot, Carlisle Bell & Cumberland Plate Day, Cartmel, Shergar Cup Day, etc, suggest the opposite is the truer reflection. Sell our core sport to the public, not some novelty nonsense that will be, at best, a one-hit wonder.