WHY AM I SO APPALLED BY THE PROSPECT OF C.H.R.?

​Since yesterday morning when the Racing Post dropped the bombshell that racing’s power-brokers were in favour of sanctioning the journey for flat racing to go to hell in a handcart I have tried to analyse why I am so appalled by the prospect of Championship Horse Racing? And appalled hardly does justice to how I feel about C.H.R. I am actually considering starting an on-line petition to discover how many other racing enthusiasts are as appalled as I am. Indeed I may even walk away from flat racing altogether. I literally hate the concept of C.H.R.
My initial concern was that, though it could bring in extra revenue for the sport, essentially it was a money-grabbing exercise by Mr.Wray and his associates in replica of how Formula 1 has become more of a business venture that can be sold to the highest bidder rather than a sport.
After 24-hours to digest the concept I am now deeply fearful that the end result of C.H.R. will be sheer embarrassment when all the promises made on its behalf slip into history to sit beside other historic get-rich-quick schemes like the South-Sea Bubble and the buying and selling of tulips in old Amsterdam.
Though it would surprise no one if Godolphin bought into the concept by entering a team under the flag of Dubai, with other big name movers and shakers combining to form teams, would we want any of the big bookmaking companies entering a team? Even Mr.Wray could not name a single big brand company to have shown any interest in the concept. And they have little time to put the fine touches to the concept, to iron out the creases that new ideas always spawn when thought is guided by the necessity of speed.
Formula I has evolved to what it is now, even if it has become one of the least competitive of motor sports and certainly the least entertaining. In the beginning it was factory-based and privately owned cars that circulated tracks such as Brooklands and Goodwood. Spiralling costs forced team bosses into accepting sponsorship and the advent of teams owned for the sole purpose of promoting brands.
C.H.R. proposes to liken itself to Formula 1 as it is now. I cannot see how they can forge relationships with so many ‘team owners’ in so short a time frame.
But what lies at the heart of my distaste for C.H.R. is that the purity of the sport is to be sacrificed on the altar of commercialism and one individual’s opinion of how the sport should be presented to the public. Horse racing is about the racing of horses. Over the past few years television has moved away from the idea that bookmaking is the backbone of the sport. The horse is now king. Mr.Wray seems to resent the pull on the public that individual racehorses have. Frankie Dettori is popular but not as popular as Cue Card and no jockey, trainer or owner will surpass the affection the public has for the likes of Sprinter Sacre and Desert Orchid. Horse racing is about the love of the horse, pride in the horse. It is not and never will be about ‘a team owner’ lifting a trophy that somehow declares him a ‘champion’.
But that, I suppose, is half the problem with flat racing. It has no equine stars to pull in the crowds because the top horses are rushed off to stud, long before they achieve maturity and before their limitations can be exposed. What Mr.Wray is attempting to do is reinvent the sport. Yet does it need reinventing? Is flat racing so far down the pan it needs to mimic sports like cycling, Indian League cricket and Formula 1? Only today I have read that British Rowing is to try to enthuse the public by having a series of short-distances races on city centre waterways, rather than keeping faith with the Olympic distances. In recent decades Britain has achieved many gold medals at world and Olympic events, yet British Rowing believes they must alter their sport to achieve greater participation.
Although the 360 horses required for C.H.R. will be allowed to compete in races outside of the July-September event, they will be lost in the main to the established programme of race meetings. Can the sport in early autumn afford to do without 360 horses? In fact some horses may be lost to C.H.R. if they begin winning and their rating goes above the maximum for the proposed handicaps that constitute the ‘championship’. Other horses may go in the opposite direction, of course. And what will happen if a stable gets a virus or if bad weather causes abandonments or if big name jockeys get injured or suffer riding bans or …. There are so many hazards awaiting this concept. So many ways to cause embarrassment to the sport.
I await in anticipation of how the Racing Post columnists and the I.T.V. racing team view C.H.R. I doubt if any of them will be as vehemently as opposed as I am, not publicly anyway. I do hope, though, there is a strong and vigorous debate on the proposal by all sectors of the racing world. And I hope and pray that someone recognises as I do that C.H.R. is a charity to wealth and will not help one bit all those hard-working people at the foundations of our sport. The sport must be helped from the bottom up, not, as C.H.R. is established to do, the other way around.