yesterday, today and the future.

​It was a bizarre sight, wasn’t it? Nico sitting still, more interested, seemingly, in watching himself on the big screen than what was unfolding behind him, his rivals rowing away more in hope than expectation, their horses going as fast as their legs would allow and yet not gaining an inch on Constitution Hill. And when they did gain an inch, as if to break their hearts, Nico let out half-an-inch of rein and the distance between Pegasus reborn and the ordinary equine mortals in pursuit immediately grew. The phrase ‘poetry in motion’ must have been coined by a soothsayer with Nico and Constitution Hill in mind.
I hope when describing the programme for Constitution Hill next season Nicky Henderson was teasing the press and the public and that the Fighting Fifth, Christmas, International and Champion Hurdles are not at the forefront of his mind. To me, Constitution is a chaser. For one, he jumps like a future chaser, and for two he can stand-off outside the wings but if the stride isn’t there for a display of flamboyance he can shuffle his feet like a tap-dancer and still not touch a twig.
There is another reason why he should go chasing next season – the hurdling division, which is already poor, will become even less competitive as trainers with possible contenders for Constitution Hill’s crown take the decision to avoid ‘the unbeatable’ by going novice chasing and the sport will be poorer. As it is, Constitution Hill will be winning four and five-runner races next season and that will doubtless include the big one at Cheltenham. For the good of the sport Constitution Hill should go novice chasing.
Trueshan is on the decline, apparently. That is, seemingly Alan King’s opinion, and he should know better than any of us. He should have gone past Rajinsky at Nottingham and seemingly couldn’t. My thoughts are thus: if Rajinsky goes and wins, for example, the Chester Cup or a Group race like the Sagaro, then the form of the Nottingham race will look a lot sweeter than it does at first glance. Also, and Alan King would know this better than you or I, as horses get older, they invariably need more work to get them cherry-ripe, even needing a race or two. A dry summer and all plans for Trueshan will be scuppered. And what is the future for Trueshan if Alan King’s fears prove correct? Retirement aged only 7? The answer is hurdling. At some point in a National Hunt season the ground will be soft. It certainly will not be firm. Sea Pigeon won Champion Hurdles aged 10 & 11 in an age when there were plenty of high-class and ex-Champion hurdlers around. He also won Ebor and Chester Cups at an age in an excess of Trueshan’s age now. The future could still be bright for Trueshan if Alan King adopts the spirit of the golden age of hurdling. And, even if he stays on the level this season, with Kyprios out of the picture and a wet summer as likely as not, the Ascot Gold Cup might yet find its way to Barbary Castle.
The future is not as bright, I fear, for British racing if the incompetent B.H.A. go ahead with their plan for a premiership-style programme for weekend racing next season. Let’s make one aspect of this debate plain, the cluttered summer weekend programme is a direct result of the B.H.A. allowing so many racecourses, usually the top-end racecourses, to have meetings going head-to-head as if feasting on custard donuts and steak and kidney was unlikely to cause congestion.
There is merit in overhauling the flat programme; I have advised this course of action many times over the years but not at the expense of those smaller racecourses that work their butts off trying to attract regular and newer people to the sport by throwing dollops of money at the problem. Returning the Epsom Derby, for instance, to the first Wednesday in June, would free up the following Saturday and Sunday to allow the likes of Musselburgh and Salisbury to have a day in the sun.
And that’s the thing, for me. De-cluttering the weekend programme to allow greater focus to fall on the classic races and major Group 1’s is, on its own, a good idea and should be trialled. But to throw out the baby with the bathwater would be scandalous and detrimental to the future of the sport. What the B.H.A. are claiming is that the sport can only attract new people to the sport through the monitor of televisions, laptops and I-phones. For two-thirds of the year there is no terrestrial coverage of horse racing and fewer people follow the sport on designated racing channels than the number I.T.V. attracts. 
I would suggest that the ‘premiershipping’ of racing only takes place on 3 out of every 4 weekends, with the sport once a month highlighting the smaller courses that leave no stone unturned, as with Musselburgh, to stage good-quality racing and with a high-level of prize-money, especially when they are catering for the owner and trainer that represent the bedrock of the sport. It is about being fair to all and not leaving the impression that the minor racecourses can go to wall as a sacrifice for the greater good of those who dine at the top table.
This ‘go ahead with any half-baked scheme somebody proposes’ is exactly why the B.H.A. is failing the sport. It is not their idea; they are never the originator of workable ideas; the premiership proposal came from Peter Savill. It has merit, I admit, but if its implementation means a death-knell to country racecourses then it must be rigorously opposed.