The abandonment of Warwick’s big day, for the second year running, is grievous for the track and its patrons as well as punters nationwide but it has also thrown up a couple of interesting talking points.
The feature, the William Hill Half A Mill Classic Handicap Chase over 3m5f, is not only Warwick’s flagship race but also one of the handful that dangle the carrot of a £500,000 bonus if the winning horse goes on to win the Grand National itself. So why not postpone it or indeed the whole card?
A midweek option would rule out terrestrial coverage and then there’s the question of funding and the vagaries of the climate, and the next two Saturdays see the £100,000 Peter Marsh Chase at Haydock and the following week the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham on Trials Day, which is already an eight-race card, as the Cross Country Chase postponed from the track's November meeting has been added to that bumper day.
There’s also what used to be the Great Yorkshire Chase at Doncaster.
The BHA have done exceptionally well in recent years in rescheduling Graded races but a handicap is a different matter.
Although they won’t say it in public, Warwick have to be disappointed that had the Classic gone ahead there would have been just nine runners - almost half the number as declared for the other big handicap, and one that did survive, the Lanzarote Hurdle at Kempton.
Three horses due to run at Warwick were ruled ineligible following the introduction of a new rule barring horses from running from more than 15lb out of the handicap.
With the top weight L’Homme Presse set to run, the trio forced out included My Silver Lining, the winner of the Classic the last time it was run two years ago and second last time in the Tommy Whittle Chase at Haydock.
There is no handicappers discretion in the rule but Emma Lavelle’s star grey was surely not the sort of horse the rule was designed to catch - and also there is no Plan B - it would have been an awful race if for some reason L’Homme Presse had been a late non runner.
Food for thought surely, but the one beneficiary may now be the Peter Marsh Chase at Haydock next Saturday.
Won in its early years by such jump racing elite as Little Owl, Bregawn, Jodami (twice) and Earth Summit, more recent winners have included Haydock specialists Bristol de Mai and Royal Pagaille twice.
Last year Mr Vango stormed home and it’ll be no surprise to see him rerouted from Warwick at least as far as the entry stage - while given how well the yard are going it will be fascinating to see what Sue Smith and Joel Parkinson have in mind. Sue has already won it five times, most recently with Vintage Clouds in 2020.
Alas, it looks like the Classic Chase will be lost again, but if it were up to me I'd be doing everything possible to get it rerouted to a midweek slot in the immediate future.
If only things were that simple.
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