The races are there for top horses - trainers just have to be more imaginative
Racing's new governance structure revealed last week will hopefully mean work on streamlining the Pattern-race programme over jumps now moves forward – as long as the reaction of some to the disappointing events of last weekend don't cause second thoughts.
The first of five aims highlighted by the Quality Jump Racing Review Group in January was to see Britain’s best horses running more regularly against each other outside the Cheltenham Festival, something we would all love to see.
Given consistently small fields in the best winter races over jumps in recent seasons, it seems common sense that fewer races at that end of the scale would increase competition.
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