New mares' chase is another non-event shunted into increasingly diluted festival

If you have been wondering if you had somehow missed the enthusiastic response to the introduction of a mares' chase at the Cheltenham Festival, you haven't.

There hasn't been one, because few rationally minded lovers of jump racing would argue this is the one thing we needed to make Cheltenham in March even better. No one has come out and said it's a wonderful idea – because it isn't.

Even those who might reasonably be expected to benefit in some shape or other have been distinctly measured in their responses. Ben Pauling described it as a "good addition", but in cautioning against the loss of an existing race he added the caveat that "every single race has its own place and is very much worth its position".