Could a revamped fixture list aid racing's cause in fight for media inches?

It's always great to catch up with old friends and rivals at the annual Horserace Writers and Photographers Association bash, and even better when two of the Racing Post's finest, Peter Thomas and Jonathan Harding, pick up well-deserved awards, as happened this week.

However, some of those former colleagues on national newspapers are looking increasingly scarred and bloodied – and that's even before the post-lunch, well-fuelled shenanigans start.

There isn't a member of the racing press corps on what is left of Fleet Street who hasn't been slugging it out in a daily battle with their sports editors over the shrinking space devoted to racing in all bar the red tops.