Elbows out and no excuses - Preakness rumble was a joyous reminder of what racing ought to be

Racing Inc is perpetually tying itself up in knots over how to sell itself and Great British Racing this week launched a £3.62 million promotional campaign to that end. 

The Going Is Good initiative is designed to lure in new and lapsed fans, which is obviously a laudable objective. Spending nearly £4m on a marketing campaign that sells the social element of the occasion is a very 21st-century policy and none of us in the cynical corner will be easily convinced any uptick on the ground might be as a direct result of the 'GG' promo. 

The romantic, probably slightly more naive, take would be that if you get the product right it will sell itself. It's the kind of thing I've laboured in this space over the years, pointing out how the media rights money hose, swollen fixture lists and a distorted pyramid of excellence have conspired to compromise our sport's most prestigious events. When you factor in the extent to which the number of relevant players, particularly over jumps, has diminished, racing has too often found itself too predictable, or, if not predictable, then at least too samey.