Celebrating the ordinary as well as the extraordinary among retired racehorses can give racing a welcome shot in the arm

Olly Murphy's observation that he expected to have to diversify his training operation to encompass the Flat at some stage in order to keep his business going was only the latest sobering reminder that British jump racing is not in the best of health. 

As reported in this space yesterday by Lewis Porteous, Murphy pointed to a potential exodus of owners and rising costs as reasons for his pessimism. But there is another threat to the sport which racing practitioners like to talk about much less boldly, and which those who govern the sport refer to somewhat opaquely as racing's 'social licence'.

Put bluntly, will a public – one whose ideas about what is and isn't acceptable continue to evolve and change across a broad range of topics – still be 'okay' with racing horses in a format where, as often as not, fewer competitors finish the contest than set out.