Will the BHA listen?

The 434th edition of the Wayward Lad blog.

Again, no jump racing today in the UK. The prospect of jump racing in the next couple of days is slight with the news that my local track at Plumpton is to inspect on Sunday at 8am before deciding on whether to attempt to have the planned meeting there on Monday.

The lack of jump racing in the UK is causing the industry and trainers to start thinking outside the box (for a change) with Kempton holding a NH only flat meeting on the all-weather surface there on Friday evening. Top trainer Nicky Henderson is sending his World Hurdle hope - Oscar Whisky – there and no wonder, as otherwise he'd likely go to the Festival without a run since the 1st January. Meetings are still planned for Saturday at Newbury and Musselburgh, but I'm not hopeful of either going ahead. It is therefore, a bit disappointing that some of the English "big guns" have not taken advantage of racing at Leopardstown and sent some of their horses over the Irish Sea.

The upside is that I was able to put in another 4 or 5 hours on the Cheltenham Festival Bulletin and I'm on target to hit my 15th February issue date. Donations have been coming in, and those who do donate the minimum of £5 will receive copies of the antepost advice emails that I have already sent out.

I had a great response via the "comments" box on yesterday's blog "patience is a virtue" from Jason at  High Class Equine (you will find the link to the site on the adjacent  column). Jason has supported this blog almost from the start, and he runs a terrific blog himself which is well worth a visit as he updates it regularly. Since I started blogging in March 2010 (almost 2-years now, blimey!) what has impressed me is the amount of knowledge there is out there and how generous bloggers are in being willing to share it. My first port of call every morning is the blogs that are on my list, and I can't really remember the last time I read any of the columns by the regular journalists in the Racing Post (tho' I do think that new weekly "Racecourse Walks" column is a good idea, and I hope they walk the old course at Lewes on the South Downs here in Sussex). My racing paper of choice is the Weekender, and my only gripe about that paper is the lack of readers' letters in their "Feedback" column. However, that isn't their fault, more the general apathy of its readers. There is much in racing that isn't right and the BHA (if that is the proper forum for rectification) can't put these issues right unless enough people tell them to sort it out.

For instance, we are rapidly approaching crisis point with on-course bookmakers and calculation of the SP, and this is evidence of a much bigger problem – financing of horseracing as a whole. Fair enough, the Racing Post brought this to general attention with a leader article and, on the Racing UK website, Tanya Stevenson (Channel 4 racing) wrote an excellent blog in response. I've a lot of time for Tanya as she is one of the few faces of the horseracing media who has actually worked on the business side of the fence as a bookmaker for many years. My opinion is that it is about time that the BHA came out of their ivory tower and actually started talking to those who depend on horseracing for their livelihood rather than only to those whose connection with racing is that it's a nice hobby that gets them outside in the fresh air occasionally. Horseracing is a huge business concern, but it is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and – as the racing industry in Italy has recently discovered – if the sums done add up it can quickly collapse beyond repair, and heritage and history won't come into it.

No selections today.

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