two thoughts about racecourses.

​I have no doubt that trainers are both pleased and grateful when at times of wintry weather, the B.H.A., at short notice, schedule what is called ‘Jumpers Bumpers’ at Lingfield and Newcastle. Whether or not such races should or could be included as extra races on normal schedules meetings throughout the winter, either on an all-weather fixture or a jumps card, is food for thought. Certainly these ‘Jumpers Bumpers’ allow trainers to get a good, proper piece of work into a horse in need of tuning-up for a race in the coming weeks.
My thought on this is thus: if clerks of the courses had to supply the B.H.A. on a daily basis on whether their racecourse was fit to race, albeit on heavy ground, instead of sanctioning ‘Jumpers Bumpers’, there being at the moment no alternative, an abandoned meeting could be moved to a racecourse that is in a raceable condition. As things stand, with government restrictions, with all the relevant protocols in place and with neither crowds nor bookmakers allowed on site, it should be a comparatively easy exercise to transfer a meeting to the nearest raceable racecourse. Less easy, I admit, when, or if, we get back to life as we once knew it, but with a can-do attitude it should be manageable.
Also, while on the subject of abandoned meetings; if Ireland, even when life was normal and crowds and bookmakers were allowed on site, can postpone for a few days rather than abandon, why can it not be so with the B.H.A.? Why abandon ‘Trails Day’ at Cheltenham, for instance, rather than postpone until this weekend. Yes, this year, it clashes with the Dublin Racing Festival and Sandown, if Cheltenham raced on the Saturday, but it is unlikely to happen many times in a decade or three. Although the B.H.A. have proved themselves more flexible than their predecessors, the Jockey Club, they remain unreceptive to my criticism that they rely on being reactive rather than proactive. All the major meetings, flat and N.H., should have rescheduled dates published alongside the set date in the calendar so that owners, trainers, jockeys etc, know from before the time of abandonment whether to look for alternative races or wait until the meeting’s reserve date. It is all about being on the front foot, in my opinion.

My other thought on racecourses is this: racecourses should be neighbour-friendly, especially as there are so few proper ‘country racecourses’ remaining, with so many of our top racecourses now surrounded on all sides by urbanisation. 
With the proviso that racecourses erect observation towers manned by good marksmen so they can fire warning shots over the heads of people who trespass on to the hallowed ground of the racecourse proper, I believe racecourse executives and staff should welcome their neighbours to walk their dogs (dog-mess bins must be provided), to jog and run, with swings and roundabout and such activities for smaller children to enjoy.
But why stop there? Why not skate-parks for the hoodie-type child and teenager or adventure playground. Or B.M.X. track. Or gardens. Or tennis courts. Or hang the expense, a racecourse-themed adventure park, in the style, but not of the size, of Alton Towers. If the Epsom Derby can be run round the outside of ‘all-the-fun-of-the-fair’, why not a few rollercoasters and flume-rides? Not everyone plays or has an interest in golf.
If Mohammed Redcar or Joe Fontwell cannot go to the mountain, the mountain must be given incentives to come to them.
What the past tragic 10-months should have taught us is that racecourses need to earn revenue outside of race-days. I realise that racecourses have engaged with the concept of 365-days a year activity and that conferences, wedding receptions and such do’s, sit well with their existing infrastructure. Yet is the image of the racecourse as a place for nobs and the well-heeled altered by such activities? In my, yes, naïve, eyes, racecourses should not be off-limits to the general public and, yes, I accept there is an inherent risk of damage to the racecourse without some form of supervision, but if racecourses were regarded as parks for entertainment, wouldn’t the sport be on the road to altering its image into something more public-friendly?
I am not advocating every racecourse take this route. Cartmel, for instance, is enchanting as it is, enclosed as it is in a village setting, with a backdrop of a priory and Cumbrian gorgeous countryside. I remember at York this season and again at Musselburgh in the New Year, with the public standing on rights of way or the pavement, watching the racing as if looking upon something ordinarily out-of-bounds to them. To towns and cities, racecourses provide a green lung, an oxygen-rich breadth of countryside, on non-race-days an oasis of tranquillity. 
I desperately want every racecourse in this country to be prospering long after I have curled-up my toes and these past long ten-months have shown me a glimpse of what might be a terrible future-to-be.