Time for change after Aintree deals blow to UK trainers and ITV
National added to the Irish domination of our biggest races – and attracted worrying TV viewing figures
As if Cheltenham was not bad enough, only one home-trained horse making it into the first 11 finishers in the Grand National was further evidence that Irish trainers are outperforming their UK adversaries in the big races right now.
Given that the Grand National is a handicap, the obvious inference is that the Irish horses are not being given enough weight to carry. But there is more to it than that.
If one looks at the ages of the horses who ran in the National this year, it becomes apparent that the Irish are prepared to run much younger horses in the race than their UK counterparts.
While 14 of the Uk-trained horses were 11 and 12-year-olds, only three of the Irish horses were that old. At the same time, the Irish ran 11 horses aged between seven and nine, while the UK trainers only ran six.
The advantage of running younger horses is that they have not been fully exposed to the handicapper. Their light, one might say, is still hidden under the bushel. This year’s winner, the eight-year-old Minella Times, had run over fences only 10 times; in effect ensuring that there was still improvement in him over and above his handicap mark. But he had run in races with an average field size of 17, so he was prepared for the task.
That is not the case this side of the Irish Sea. Too often, our novice chases are pointless three or four-runner affairs. You will have watched them every Saturday this season. As a result, the horses just do not learn enough about coping with the hustle and bustle of bigger fields.
A possible solution, as I touched upon a fortnight ago on these pages, is to scrap novice chases and replace them with races for horses, young and old, who have won a limited amount of prize money in the past year.
ITV’S viewing figures for the Grand National were worrying. The peak audience was only 8.8 million; 800,000 down on 2019. More worryingly, however, was the 8.5 per cent fall of audience share, down to 31.8. And that was in spite of the Rachael Blackmore postcheltenham buzz and the ITV presenters doing a very good job. Viewing figures may have been affected by betting shops being closed and the distraction of the Duke of Edinburgh passing away the previous day. But the issue is that racing has not innovated or adapted in any way to attract a younger audience, something for which ITV should take some responsibility.
But there is refreshing news on this front. The rise of Blackmore and the top Flat jockey Hollie Doyle has catalysed Champneys Health Spa into offering to sponsor the Champneys Challenge.
What better way to showcase the supreme fitness displayed by Blackmore in the aftermath of her recent successes, than sponsoring top female jockeys to wear heart monitors during races, to measure their recovery rates? And then to challenge male jockeys to step into the ring and see how they compare.
I dare say the more established male jockeys will try to kill this dead – how embarrassing will it be for them when it turns out they are not as fit as their female adversaries – but I am sure some hungry young apprentices will give it a go.
The data produced will be fascinating. How do their “resting” heart rates in the paddock compare before small and big races? Whose heart rate goes the highest during a race? Does the jockey who recovers quickest after a sprint also recover quickest after a staying race?
This is now run-of-the-mill stuff for other sports and the patterns emerging from the data may actually protect the long-term well-being of the jockeys.
It also feels like something ITV could use to add substance to its style and attract a younger, more analytical audience to the sport.
Iwas once introduced to the Duke of Edinburgh. When told that I had once been a trainer and now wrote for The Daily Telegraph, his response was: “You must have been a b----- awful trainer.” It probably summed up what he thought of trainers and journalists.