THE JUMPS SEASON.

​The turf flat season begins with the Lincoln Handicap, not the race it once was and, in my opinion, in need of restoration. I have proposed the race become a 40-runner (or perhaps 34), race started from a barrier, as in the old days, to give the public and present-day flat jockeys a glimpse of what horse racing was like in the days of Sir Gordon Richards. It might also pique the interest of mainstream sports media and the public, too. The flat would then have a race of jeopardy similar to the Grand National of old.
That said, the Lincoln is at least an historic name in which to launch the new season. Between the November Handicap and the Lincoln, the all-weather season ensures work for flat jockeys and trainers through the winter months, with several landmarks in the way of unnecessary Group and listed races as well as ‘Finals Day’, which, given this a sport governed by the B.H.A., is not the final all-weather meeting of an all-weather season that seemingly has no beginning and no end.
The National Hunt season is not so well accommodated. If I had my way, the summer jumps programme would be festival orientated as it is in Ireland, with a similar number of hurdle and chases with enhanced prize-money as is the case with the all-weather season.
During the fallow period between May and September, I would like to see less race meetings, with 3 and 4-day fixtures becoming the norm, as is the situation in Ireland, with each festival staging a signature race. Ireland has the rights to summer regional Nationals, so perhaps Britain might look to 2-mile handicap chases and 3-mile handicap hurdles.  I would also have a 3-week break between Sandown when the prizes are awarded and the start of the summer jumping programme and a similar break between the end summer jumping and the start of the National Hunt season proper.
From next season, I believe, the traditional opening meeting of the season proper at Chepstow is to be extended to 3-days. But it will still be masked by Newmarket’s Cesarewitch meeting. I would propose staging the meeting either during the week, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday or Sunday, Monday & Tuesday, to give Chepstow more prominence. I would also suggest naming the meeting the ‘Here We Go’ meeting or a sponsors’ name followed by something far grander than my suggestion.
Personally, even though it may cause a concertina effect, I would prefer Chepstow to stage this meeting after Ascot’s ‘Champions’ Day, again to allow the start of the season to have limelight. It is wrong in my opinion to allow the turf flat season to linger into November, even if the November Handicap is the final flat race of significance. 
Flat to jumps should be a passing-on of the baton, as it once was in the past, and the same when the jumps gives-way to the flat. I have a preference for ending the jumps season at Aintree with the Grand National, as much as the Jockey Club have allowed it to be raped and pillaged over recent years, as the final race of the season. Sandown’s old Whitbread meeting could then become the start of the summer jumping programme, with all the prizes handed-out to the previous season’s champions.
When all-weather racing was proposed, its purpose was to ensure betting revenue was kept ticking over when frost, snow and deluge caused jumps racing to be abandoned. The bloom of all-weather racing is akin to rhododendrons running riot across moorland. It is all very pretty when in bud but ruinous to the natural landscape. When uncompetitive racing is debated, when the question is asked why fewer horses cross from the flat to hurdles, it is if the Labour Party is in charge and they threaten the removal of the whip if any of its members dare talk about the elephant in the room.
The Racing Calendar is not only overly congested but it is also overgrown to the point where the wood, on occasion, cannot be seen for the trees.
The National Hunt season needs a clear-cut starting point, with, perhaps, Chepstow staging a day of summer jumping finals, similar to the all-weather season, and races designed as trials for the major races in November. Unlike everyone else, apart from wishing Cheltenham’s ‘Trials Day’ could be transformed into a 2-day ‘Festival’, with races transferred from the present March 4-day Festival (I am now in favour of cutting The Festival to 3-days), I believe the winter jumps programme to be fit for purpose.