First Word

No Festival rides for Hughes...

...due to the influence of a handful of large, dominant NH yards

IT AMAZED me one day in March when hearing tthe comments made by pundits through an afternoon of mid-week racing when they were discussing the phenomenon that is the British champion NH jockey elect Brian Hughes.

It was a concern that the conversation revealed how little they seemed to understand about the current make up of NH horseracing.

The guys were voicing their opinion on the planned non-appearance of Hughes at The Festival, which was a pre-announced decision made by the jockey. Both pundits declaring what a shame it was that the leading jumps jockey in Britain was not riding at the country’s pre-eminent jumps race meeting.

One went as far as to imply that it was wrong of Hughes to have made the decision to stay riding at smaller meetings in the north, that he owed it to the sport to be at Cheltenham.

Of course, a man of Hughes’s talents should be at the meeting with chance after chance after chance of riding big-race winners.

But he does not have those opportunities due to the current make up of the NH training ranks.

Hughes essentially rides in the north of England, most of the main (largest) NH yards are in the south of England or Ireland. Those few NH yards have the bulk of big race chances because big race owners seem to prefer having their horses trained in those larger yards… in England, Nicky Henderson, Paul Nicholls, Dan Skelton, and Colin and Joe Tizzard dominate.

In Ireland, Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott head affairs, with Henry De Bromhead loitering behind.

Most of the races at Cheltenham are dominated by this handful (Nicholls and Skelton aside this year) and all these yards have their own attached jockeys – and numbers of them – in order to ride the second, third and, on occasions, fourth to seventh strings.

On Tuesday’s opening Supreme Hurdle, the top ten in the ante-post betting were trained by one of the above, in the Arkle, Alan King had the favourite and eventual winner with Edwardstone but he was the only “outside” trainer with a horse in the top seven fancied horses. The Ultima Handicap Chase was a more open affair, in the Champion Hurdle, David Pipe was the only trainer to break up the De Bromhead / Mullins / Elliott / Henderson dominance at the top of the market

Trainer Donald McCain, who has supplied (at the time of writing), 87 of Hughes’s winners this season, had a handful of entries, the shortest-priced at ante-post stage was Richmond Lake, a 20/1 shot in the conditional jockeys’ race. In the end the trainer did not have a single runner over the four-day meeting.

How is Hughes going to get on any of those horses who were going into The Festival with a legitimate winning or even each-way chance?

There are just no opportunities for him, and why (why?) would he want to get on an outsider that is only running to give the owner a day out? It is just not worth Hughes’s time, effort or risk. He’d have been crazy to have put his stated goal of becoming champion jockey and riding 200 winners in the season at such threat.

“Of course, a man of Hughes’s talents should be at the meeting with chance after chance after chance of riding big-race winners

As he seems like a good bloke, too, it is doubtful he’d ever chase around the few opportunities to “jock off” a regular rider from a “smaller” yard, or try and pick up a spare ride for a trainer or owner he’d be unlikely to ride for again.

What really struck me was how little the pundits in question realise just how dominating the handful of NH trainers are at the top of the business and how little there is go around for the rest – particularly for jockeys who are not attached to one of those big yards.

In the end Hughes rode two winners through the week at Sedgefield on Champion Hurdle day. None of his closestyet-at-a-distance challengers (Harry Skelton, Sam TwistonDavies, Harry Cobden) rode a winner at Cheltenham – all they achieved was a handful of third placings.

The bulk of wins and placed results – as has been usual for the last few years – went to Paul Townend, Racheal Blackmore, Nico De Boinville and Patrick Mullins. Twelve other jockeys rode a winner apiece

It not only proves that how difficult it is to get a winner at The Festival, but also how focused the winners are on a handful of jockeys and trainers.

In the trainers’ table, five yards produced more than one winner – Venetia Williams this year, as is fitting for the incredible season she has enjoyed, joining the top table of Henderson, De Bromhead and Elliott, with Mullins once again out on his own. Since 2010, Mullins had been leading trainer at the Festival nine times and this year he underlined his dominance with a record-breaking ten winners, 36 per cent of the races run.

SO WHAT of a five-day Festival plans, which was a frequent topic of discussion on course through the week.

It is quite understandable that the Jockey Club, owner of the racecourse, is seriously considering the growth to an extra day, after all it is a business that needs to make money and is running a successful event that could have opportunities to make even more money.

Cheltenham is The Jockey Club’s cash cow, as we all know, racing needs to make the most of all the chances it has to make money as it can. “A fifth day needs lot of consideration and, if it is going to become a reality, it needs to have a different outlook... maybe along the lines of the former Heath day once attached to the end of Royal Ascot week, now viewed as a family day? Maybe offer tickets at a reduced price...

A fifth day would give opportunities for the course to make more cash, but also the associated businesses – bookmakers, TV companies, hotels and hospitality – could benefit, too.

Cheltenham racecourse has successfully grown the facility with its recent redevelopments allowing increased daily crowd numbers, and was rewarded this year with record figures. Whether that has been the right thing to do and has worked from a crowd experience perspective, that will have to be a discussion that Cheltenham needs to have with its racegoers.

Will it work going to another day? Will the quality of racing be maintained? Will it just be an instance of the racecourse going to the well too often and killing the goose that laid the golden egg? Will the meeting still be able to call itself “The Festival of jumps racing”? Will Cheltenham become an ever-more focus of the season and the sport to the detriment of other tracks and race days and NH racing?

This year we witnessed some smaller fields than would be desired – the Grade 1 Turners Novice Chase only saw four runners and it was a pretty uncompetitive affair.

With the leading raft of horses with just that small handful of trainers, it easy for them to sidestep each other, and ensure, as far as possible, that their own leading horses do not take each other on.

Surely, even would more races just exacerbate this further and lead to reducing field quality again – the racing could come under serious danger of losing its mantle of top quality? How many racegoers even care about the standard of the racing?

Or would more races spread the love amongst more names and give more trainers and their jockeys a day in the sun so help to break down that Mullins et al dominance?

A fifth day needs lot of consideration and, if it is going to become a reality, it needs to have a different outlook... maybe along the lines of the former Heath day once attached to the end of Royal Ascot week, now viewed as a family day? Maybe offer tickets at a reduced price to encourage families with the next generation of racegoers, or those who might not be to get away from work, or wish to or be able to pay price of a weekday ticket.