Fergal doesn't go far enough - it's time to end summer jumps altogether

When Ivy Edith won the last race at Chepstow on June 4, 1994, the curtain came down on the 1993-94 season, with the next jump race in Britain not taking place until July 29. How I wish we were in the middle of a similar jumps-free period right now.

In 1995, though, summer jump racing made its debut and, like so much else in British racing, it has ballooned into an ugly beast. While I much prefer jump racing to the Flat, the summer fodder leaves me cold – and, far more importantly, it seems the jumps community isn’t that interested in it either.

Field sizes in June hit record lows, averaging a miserable 6.99 runners per race, but this is a trend that has been developing for more than two decades now.