British race planning is a total shambles - it's time for some common sense

There are nine 2m handicap chases run in Britain with a total race value of £39,000 or higher. After the Ladbrokes Handicap Chase at Newbury on Saturday, seven of them will have already been run this season – with a wait of nearly four months until the next one.

It is a startling fact that sums up the shambolic nature of British race planning. All these top 2m handicap chases have been run in a period of less than two months and now, just as the ground will hopefully turn, there is nothing until the Grand Annual at Cheltenham in March and the Red Rum at Aintree in April.

The schedule does very few people any favours – unless you're connected to Before Midnight, who scooped two of the big prizes in less than a month at Cheltenham and at Ascot last Saturday. Amoola Gold, Eldorado Allen and Editeur Du Gite also won in between Before Midnight's successes, which had been preceded by Nuts Well's victory at Kelso in early October.