Culling Group 1 races is the real answer if racing is so keen to show itself at its very best

Premierisation – it’s a topical concept at present, what with proposed changes to the fixture list designed to showcase racing at its best on Saturday afternoons.

Although there was qualified buy-in from most parties when the issue was aired in May, it remains to be seen whether premierisation actually flies. But even if the prototype gets off the ground, it will hardly amount to a radical overhaul. It will still be working within the context of constraints that have routinely hampered the sport’s advancement, optimising what we already have, which is not going to make converts of the uninitiated.

In terms of winning new converts, the biggest lure any sport can present to the unversed is its showpiece events. That means vibrant Group 1 races of the kind we saw when Ascot hosted the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes.