DRAINS & STARS.

The hole that appeared towards the final race of Trials Day at Cheltenham back in January has come back to haunt clerk of the course John Pullin. The hole vexed Lydia Hislop to the point she was quite nasty to Pullin in an interview as dusk fell that evening. Now, I suspect, it will not only be Lydia proving discourteous to Pullin, after the press release announcing that the final 3-days of the Cheltenham season are to be axed in favour of sorting out the drains in the home straight.

Yesterday's press release came as a shock to all those trainers who intended to have runners at the 2-day meeting in April, and no doubt that shock was amplified by amateur riders and point-to-point enthusiasts hoping to enjoy, perhaps, a first competitive visit to the home of National Hunt racing. In the latter case, the May meeting has been transferred to Warwick, so at least the amateurs have not lost a single race, whereas, for whatever reasons there were behind the decision, only four of the scheduled races at the two-day April meeting have been transferred to other courses.

Ensuring the racecourse is safe must, of course, take priority here, though why Cheltenham thought it expedient to only save the four mares races and not the whole of the two-day meeting is where the controversy will be directed. The B.H.A., to give them credit, are more flexible than in years gone by, and would doubtless have had no objection to the two-days being transferred to other Jockey Club racecourses. It is commended that Cheltenham have moved to compensate racecourse members, discountingnext season's membership and allowing them in free to the courses that have taken stewardship of the four mares races.  Owners, trainers and jockeys, though, are left out of this largess. They have lost, what is it, 10-races? Jamie Snowden has already asked why the whole meeting could not have been transferred along with the same level of prize-money. He is right to ask and I hope his counterparts also lodge objections. Cheltenham is Cheltenham, after all, if anything we want more, not less of our holy of holies. This is a poor show on behalf of Cheltenham, making no prior announcement that were considering abandoning their final two meetings. I supported John Pullin back in January, on this occasion though the team at Cheltenham have gone about this all wrong. They may be right to prioritise the drainage work but in error in all other matters relating to this issue.

David Carr in the 'Another View' column of the Racing Post today, highlights the obvious fact that the stars of our sport are not human but equine, citing the increase in attendance at Southwell and Kempton recently due to the appearance of Constitution Hill. The two races he contested were small fish compared to what the turf will provide over the next few months, though the form of the Kempton race can not be determined until the runner-up next appears.

Back in the day, back when Michael Dickinson ruled the roost, the smaller racecourses often played host to his star jumpers. Hereford, Stratford, Folkestone and Market Rasen were often chosen by Dickinson for either the first runs of the season of his stars or a last chance saloon to get a horse fit for a Gold Cup or Champion 2-Mile Chase. Desert Orchid often ran at Wincanton due to his preference for right-handed tracks. For the all-round health of our sport we should return to the past and allow the smaller racecourses to reintroduce this sort of conditions chase, or limited handicaps, early season in the so that they can benefit from hopefully increased attendance, 

The problem is though is that in Dickinson's day it was common practice, due to trainers only having turf gallops, for horses to take a run to get them race-fit for the bigger races later on. With every trainer worth his or her salt nowadays having artificial surfaces to train their horses, in the main horses are near-to 100% fit for their first runs of the season. That aside, I believe the Betfair Chase should be either axed, its distance reduced or restricted to second-season chasers, and for several smaller racecourses allowed to stage condition chases (or hurdles) to entice trainers to give their Cheltenham-type horses a first run of the season at a racecourse they would not normally consider as part of their long-term plan.

As David Carr said, it is the brilliant horse that swells attendance and we should allow racecourses, especially our wonderful smaller racecourses, as is common-place in Ireland, to be entrepreneurial.