More poor attendances, a leadership vacuum and crocodile tears - Racing Inc really is a slow-motion car crash right now
Silly season is on the horizon so maybe that will bring a bit of respite from the slow-motion car crash that is enveloping the world of horseracing right now. It might be our best hope, a bit of frivolity lightening the mood. Seriously.
I know there are readers out there who will implore me to focus on the positives, stick fingers in my ears and merrily celebrate, for example, a reported five per cent hike in attendance to 11,418 at the Curragh on Irish Derby day. It's what a good cheerleader would do.
Pom-poms have never been my bag, though, and only the wilfully deluded can hail that as a success because it ignores the context of how even just a decade ago more than twice as many people flocked to the Curragh to see Irish racing's premier Classic.
Read the full story
Read award-winning journalism from the best writers in racing, with exclusive news, interviews, columns, investigations, stable tours and subscriber-only emails.
Subscribe to unlock
- Racing Post digital newspaper (worth over £100 per month)
- Award-winning journalism from the best writers in racing
- Expert tips from the likes of Tom Segal and Paul Kealy
- Replays and results analysis from all UK and Irish racecourses
- Form study tools including the Pro Card and Horse Tracker
- Extensive archive of statistics covering horses, trainers, jockeys, owners, pedigree and sales data
Already a subscriber?Log in
Published on inRichard Forristal
Last updated
Copy- Willie Mullins is definitely not out of the British title race - as the strength of his Aintree battalion confirms
- Ireland's authorities have talked the talk about racehorse welfare - now they need to actually do something
- So many dramatic and poignant storylines at Cheltenham - but the meeting is still trapped in a spiral of decline
- There's little to stop the Mullins mob - but that shouldn't stop us celebrating one of the greatest chasers of all time
- Willie Mullins isn't happy - but the great man's interests and those of racing aren't necessarily one and the same
- Willie Mullins is definitely not out of the British title race - as the strength of his Aintree battalion confirms
- Ireland's authorities have talked the talk about racehorse welfare - now they need to actually do something
- So many dramatic and poignant storylines at Cheltenham - but the meeting is still trapped in a spiral of decline
- There's little to stop the Mullins mob - but that shouldn't stop us celebrating one of the greatest chasers of all time
- Willie Mullins isn't happy - but the great man's interests and those of racing aren't necessarily one and the same