Boughey's grand plan shows how hard British racing is having to fight just to stand still

There were a couple of moments last week when I was struck by how much smaller the racing world is becoming.

It was fantastic to see Amy Murphy's stable stalwart Kalashnikov achieve his first win in four years when sent by his enterprising trainer to Auteuil, but rather more concerning to hear George Boughey say before the Dubai World Cup meeting that he plans to use Britain as a base for a global training enterprise.

The Classic-winning trainer is increasingly focusing on sending his horses abroad due to the "worrying state" of the industry here – and nobody can blame him. It clearly makes little financial sense to run a horse for £20,000 at home when they can earn ten times more in countries such as Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.