Windsor joins the long-distance chase party - this National obsession is threatening to get out of hand

The fact ITV’s coverage of the Winter Million concludes with a 3m4½f handicap chase at Windsor on Sunday is somewhat typical of British racing. The only surprise is that it doesn't have ‘National’ attached to it – presumably because Ascot had already bagged the title of Berkshire National for its new race in November.

These long-distance chases seem to be springing up everywhere in Britain these days, the latest being the Somerset National run at Wincanton on Thursday which became the most recent addition to the 19 Nationals that took place in 2024. Full marks if you can name them all (answers below).

It's hard to understand the obsession with these stamina-sapping handicaps, which do little more than give opportunities to very slow horses. Perhaps courses feel that having National in a race title adds to the numbers on the gate, but then again there were also 27 more handicap chases over further than three miles three furlongs last year that didn’t have National in the title. One thing's for certain –if you have a horse who stays all day they won’t be short of opportunities in Britain.