Our Ben Linfoot feels the National Hunt fixture list is in desperate need of a more drastic makeover than we are seeing following another disappointing weekend for the sport.
If there’s a weekend that encapsulates the current state of National Hunt racing it’s the one just gone.
Not So Sleepy won his first outright Grade 1 at the 10th attempt, just weeks before his 12th birthday, while Jonbon (30/100) and El Fabiolo (1/5) won small-field graded races with little fuss as they tiptoe their way towards meeting each other again in March.
We are getting used to this yawnfest by now, but it doesn’t mean we have to like it and surely the time has come to accept that a more serious shake-up is required to the National Hunt Pattern than the gentle jiggling that has taken place recently.
It’s almost three years since the Quality Jump Racing Review Group was formed with aims such as ‘to see Britain’s best horses more regularly running against each other outside of the Cheltenham Festival’ and ‘to produce a race programme that is consistently more engaging to punters, fans, the media and racegoers’.
I suppose it’s still relatively early days, but so far it’s failing badly on both of those metrics and it’s no wonder when you look at a fixture list bloated with 76 Grade 1s, across Britain and Ireland, for a population of jumps horses that simply can’t deliver competitive racing across that number of top-level races in one campaign.
The very wet winter has had an impact this season– but the drier winters that preceded this one had the same effect, too – so the reasonable and obvious conclusion is too many Grade 1 races for too few horses and the worry is that it could get more embarrassing before it gets better.
More drastic action is required before we end up with a complete Grade 1 mismatch or worse, a walkover, and demoting or removing more Grade 1s looks a necessity, while in an ideal world the top-heavy spring programme would be spread out at least a little more evenly throughout the season, as well.
When the Fighting Fifth was lost to the weather at Newcastle last week I initially thought it was a good idea to save the race. After all, we need every chance we can get to see a horse like Constitution Hill.
He didn’t run in the end because the ground was deemed too testing in a race too close to the Christmas Hurdle and now, with hindsight, following a dreadful renewal, I’m thinking was the race worth saving at all given its proximity to the Kempton Grade 1 in what was just over two weeks’ time?
It seems to me that saving every Grade 1 lost to the weather isn’t a good idea. Ringfence the crown jewels, by all means, but in a sport that’s crying out for less is more desperately trying to save the Fighting Fifth – and particularly switching it from a left-handed flat track in the north to a right-handed course with a stiff finish in the south – looks more crazy the more you think about it.
One change that was made before the last jumps season on the back of a recommendation from the QJRRG was that Grade 3 handicaps became ‘Premier’ handicaps, with Listed handicaps discontinued, the best of the Listed handicaps being upgraded under the new ‘Premier’ banner.
While this was little more than a rebranding exercise in reality, it’s these Premier handicaps that have saved the jumps season so far, with the Paddy Power Gold Cup and the Coral Gold Cup at Cheltenham and Newbury, respectively, standing out from the gloom when it comes to providing engaging action for the fans.
The Paddy Power and Coral Gold Cups were brilliant races, enhanced by the presence of horses that we are used to seeing in the Grade 1 races, like Stage Star, The Real Whacker, Ahoy Senor and Eldorado Allen.
This Saturday the two Premier handicaps to be run at Cheltenham, the Virgin Bet December Gold Cup and the Favourite From The Sun Now Daily Handicap Chase, are likely to be contested by Grade 1 winners Fakir D’oudairies and Protektorat, their presence adding significant interest to already compelling contests.
Funnelling this quality of horse into these Premier handicaps has to be towards the top of the priorities for those in charge as the benefits are clearly plentiful.
The engaging action box is ticked for a variety of reasons like a) more competitive betting heats, b) the best horses being tested more thoroughly prior to Cheltenham and then c) the opportunities for the best horses to seriously enhance their legacy/ratings in a historical context by giving weight away successfully to other good horses.
One Grade 1 race in Britain has lost its status since the QJRRG was formed – the now Grade 2 Finale Hurdle at Chepstow – and one Graded race – the Grade 2 Desert Orchid Chase – has been turned into a limited handicap to allow breathing space in the programme between the Tingle Creek and the Clarence House.
This is at least a start and I really hope the Desert Orchid tweak proves to be a resounding success at Kempton’s Christmas meeting in a few weeks’ time, prompting more Graded races to be turned into handicaps.
Because if this jumps season is anything to go by, that has to be the way forward, and I can’t think of a better idea that will help the QJRRG achieve their most tricky objective – to make British jumps racing ‘consistently more engaging’ – something that’s somewhat in focus following a most disappointing weekend.
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