Ben Pauling calls for summer championship as average field size over jumps in June drops to lowest this century

Trainer Ben Pauling has called for the creation of a summer jumps championship after average field sizes over obstacles in British races in June fell to their lowest this century.

The average was 6.91 runners, down from 6.99 last year, while 33.82 per cent of the 207 races run last month were contested by five or fewer runners.

Pauling believes the depleted fields were not caused by ground conditions after a dry May and June in parts of the country, but by larger operations placing less emphasis on having winners in the summer.