ALL OUR WOES, 4-MILLION & IN 1893.

For anyone who might be wondering if life is really worth the effort, I suggest you do not read today's Racing Post. No matter that the 3-day Chepstow fixture over the coming days heralds the start of the National Hunt season proper, that on Saturday we have both the Dewhurst and the Cesarewitch to look forward to, as well as Champions Day the following Saturday, The Racing Post today is chock-a-block with all of racing's woes. 

On the front page there is a story about the closure of betting shops and the loss that brings to local communities. Richard Forristal uses his column to regale his readers with the financial problems of French racing. Dragon Bet, the sponsors of Chepstow's Welsh Racing Festival, believe, no doubt rightly, that due to the structure of media rights payments horse racing 'is in a death spiral'. And what has come out of the Conservative Party Conference is that 'the public debate around gambling has lost its sense of reasoning'. Oh, and more jumps meetings have been lost to the weather, with Kempton Park's opening jumps fixture abandoned, along with a second Exeter fixture. Good ground, though at Bath today.

I must admit that I did not read any of the articles; although I am a passionate supporter of Reform (I am even a Party member) I find politics boring and a reflection on the hows and whys society has gone down the pan in recent decades. The issues highlighted by various Post writers today are important and without resolution in the next couple of years horseracingmatters will not matter as there will be no horse racing to comment upon. I just wish the brains trust at The Racing Post would come together and form some sort of strategy to put to Simon Cox that might steer us away from the precipice.

Although my hopeful views on the matter of salvation have as little chance of being debated as the Green Party have of winning the support of those of the Jewish faith, I will quickly summarise them here. British racing partnering with one of the bookmaking brands to create a shared monopoly, leaving the other bookmakers to bet on all other sports. And a wish to return to the 1960's of my youth when there were independent one-shop bookies around. Dingy as they undoubtedly were, back then betting on horse racing was as simple as writing out your bet, handing it across the counter and waiting for the results on the radio. Just a local bookie and a local punter. No media rights to muddy the waters. No best odds guaranteed; no buy one get one free. Life was so much more simpler back then.

Coolmore yesterday, perhaps to prove to everyone that what Godolphin can do they can do cheaper, paid 4,000,000-guineas for a Frankel yearling. Trainers are finding it almost impossible to break even, apart from the lucky few, only the top twenty or so jockeys make a good living from the sport, with the majority living by the seats of their pants, stable staff are doing okay, though only by the standards of yesteryear; prize-money at every level but the top-end is embarrassingly low and for everyone the cost of living goes up and up. Yet in the world of the breeding industry young, untried, horses can fetch money that could feed the starving of the world for half-a-year or more. 4-million-quid for a horse that may turn out to be another Poker, races today worth a little over 3,000-quid to the winner. It is reason enough to turn to communism.

Fun Fact: in 1893, jockey Harry Barker finished second in the 2,000 Guinea and, Epsom Derby, both on Ravensbury and second in the Grand National riding Aesop. Mornington Cannon rode Ravensbury in the St. Leger that year but if Barker had kept the ride he would have added another second-place to his unlucky but distinguished record. Barker, incidentally was a steeplechase jockey and only infrequently rode on the flat. Ravensbury was second in all the British classics to Isinglass, rated at the time one of the all-time great horses, although never mentioned today when the triple crown is written about.