'No Snail' & trainers should stop shooting themselves in the foot.

​The title of David Owen’s book is ‘No Snail’ not The Snail as I continue to refer to it. I will correct the blog of several days ago and find some method of punishing myself for neglecting to seek help for my lazy eye. We all do it, you may say, use a word that looks like the right word and then fail to spot the glaring error when proof-reading, even those young enough to have working brains and a steady memory. On the plus side for my self-worth, how many men of my age (70 and 9-months, if you must know) could chain-saw into movable pieces 10-yards of tree trunk, arrange the majority out of the way of the in-coming river, bring home a good bit using only a sack-truck, carry through house, return at first light the following morning to bring home a similar amount of timber, walk to the shops and then saw and split said timber in the afternoon? That is not a challenge, by the way; I am sure there are men, and doubtless women, older than nearly 71 capable of the same, if not greater feats of stamina and strength and work at a faster rate than my snail’s pace. Nicely done, you must agree.

At Haydock today, there is a Beginners’ Chase which has attracted a grand total of 2-runners. As a collective, trainers should be ashamed of this state-of-affairs. They whinge about the lack of novice and beginners’ chases, stating boldly the paucity of top chasers in this country is due in no small part to the B.H.A. cutting the majority of such races from the race calendar in favour of novice handicaps, yet in truth, as the Haydock race is evidence, trainers make no effort to patronise these races when racecourses stage them and prove the B.H.A.’s thinking has merit. 
In Ireland, outside of graded races, novice and beginners’ chases are nearly always fully subscribed. Yes, especially when Willie Mullins has three or more horses running, half the field are there for a school round, which I have no problem with, yet it remains refreshing to see so many novices in one race, shades of yesteryear in Britain when novice races would need to be divided.
In fact, to see so many two and three-runner fields, with National Hunt still, in the main, lacking a competitive edge, it is too easy to form the conclusion we are witnessing a sport in decline. Within the perimeters of suitable ground and distance, trainers need to form an alliance to ensure that when racecourses put on novice and beginners’ chase they are supported, otherwise they will become as rare as florins and sixpences jangling in peoples’ pockets. 
The problem of non-competitive, small-field, National Hunt races would be eased if there were less all-weather races, if not all-weather meetings, during the core National Hunt season, as well as less during the core flat season, so it becomes again a viable option for owners to swap their horses to the jumps in order to see them run. So many good hurdlers came to the game due to a lack of opportunity on the flat; so many horses with poor form on the flat became high class when switched to hurdles. Attivo and Sea Pigeon come to mind.
For the religious at this time of year, please pray that the forecast winds do not prevent the Irish-trained horses making it over to our shores so their presence can enhance the excellent racing we hope to enjoy during the festive season. The French, too, are making their presence known, at Ascot today and Kempton on Boxing Day; just like the days of Doumen and son. Cross-fingers this generation of Gallic invaders are not as successful as in the days of The Fellow and Nupsala!