We're doing something - but less racing is an odd thing to be cheering for

It's a start. No-one pretends that pruning 170 races from a calendar of more than 10,000 is going to solve all our problems, especially since some of them are actually being moved rather than culled, but at long last the sport has decided to do something.

There's bound to be an element of 'devil in the detail' as it becomes clear which fixtures are affected. Six races rather than seven make a fixture less rewarding for a track and it will be the bread-and-butter venues that lose most. Presumably some racecourse groups will be hit harder than others.

Some racegoers may feel they are getting less bang for their buck on the affected days. But it would be fair to counter that the races which remain ought to be more competitive as a result of this action. It's a reasonable argument, at any rate, although it must be open to question whether there will be any evident consequences in year one of such marginal measures.