Course specialists enhance racing – but how much do we really value them?

Do we want specialists or do we want versatility? It is an age-old conundrum many businesses have when considering how to use the talent at their disposal, and racing is not much different. The usual answer is ‘I’d like a bit of both, please’.

However, when the news emerged late last week that Arena Racing Company (Arc) had submitted a planning application to replace the only Fibresand racing surface in Britain with Tapeta, a surface which already exists at Wolverhampton and Newcastle, I could not help but notice the future of the hardened Southwell course specialists was a mere footnote among the widespread reaction on social media and from racing participants alike.

Sure, there was the odd tweet reminiscing about the Fibresand greats such as General Tufto and La Estrella, who won 16 of his 21 starts at the track, while trainers Mick Appleby and Scott Dixon at least stopped to acknowledge the largely welcomed news was far from ideal for some of their equine talent.