Why John Smith's Cup day will always remind me of a once-great northern track's sad decline

I always find it a bit of a shame when regular changes of sponsor make it harder to recall previous winners of certain races. At least we don’t have that issue with Saturday’s John Smith’s Cup.

This great handicap has been sponsored by John Smith’s since its inception in 1960 as the Magnet Cup – one of the brewery’s bitters – giving it the distinction of being the longest continuous commercial sponsorship in racing.

Commercial sponsorship was just taking off in the sport at that time, jump racing having first attracted the money with the Hennessy and the Whitbread first run in 1957.