It's high time the plug was pulled on pointless Champions Series

The eighth British Champions Day takes place at Ascot on Saturday, and everyone who played a part in the conceiving and nurturing of the original idea will be justified in feeling extremely proud that the meeting has so quickly established itself as one of the true highlights of the racing year.

It was helped in the first instance by Henry Cecil, Frankel and a day of glorious autumn sunshine, but it would have flourished anyway because it has plugged a gaping void by providing the Flat season with a meaningful climax that, unlike jump racing, had been sorely lacking.

Not only does the Champions Day card comprise five high-quality races plus the interesting punting challenge of the mile handicap, it also offers a superb experience to racegoers.

Ascot puts on a magnificent show that has something for everyone, whether you want to spend big on the finest hospitality or have a great day on the beer with your mates.

It could still do with a Group 1 two-year-old race just to take it from brilliant to perfect, but this fabulous fixture has reached maturity earlier than anyone could have dreamed and unless you have a peculiar allergy to the Flat it is virtually impossible for any racing fan not to be looking ahead to Saturday with a feeling of high excitement.

So we all pretty much agree British Champions Day is good. But what about British Champions Series?

Last week I wrote about how the Scoop6 has dropped off the radar for many racing fans. British Champions Series, it could be argued, never got on there in the first place.

At the weekend my daughter asked me what the Uefa Nations League was, and while I couldn’t claim it was the most fluent response I was eventually able to explain the new competition’s format and what its point was.

If someone asked me what the purpose of Champions Series is I would be unable to provide a convincing reply. Nor, I would argue, could anyone because there isn’t one.

It is not a series of races that amounts to anything. Winning the Lockinge, for example, does not carry any extra value or qualify the victor for something else.

There is nothing to knit one race to the next, and nowhere on britishchampionsseries.com does it make site visitors think: “Oh right, now I get it.”

Look carefully and you will see a button marked ‘leaderboard’ which tells you Poet’s Word is currently ranked first, with Crystal Ocean second and Roaring Lion third, but it is unclear why they should all be ahead of the brilliant Alpha Centauri, who is fifth. I have never heard anyone discuss this list during the course of a general chat about racing and indeed I’d wager many followers of the sport don’t even know it exists.

The site has some really smart features, and the section marked ‘students’ is well designed and has an intriguing offer to try to win a year’s rent. But nowhere does it clarify why anyone should follow the Series throughout the summer.

My only engagement with it, I must confess, is that I get a childish kick out of seeing just how irritated and impatient Ryan Moore looks when he has to stand under the sign with the name and details of his mount that is held up in the paddock before each Series race, but apart from that it is a concept that has always passed me by.

Perhaps it’s fine like this. Maybe we should all accept the Series is basically nothing more than a bit of branding, a hallmark of quality, and should not be trying to make it into anything else.

But the trouble is if someone is genuinely curious and wants to learn more and be captivated by the concept they are likely to be disappointed because it under-delivers, and that is not beneficial to anyone.

So in future, with Champions Day having proved itself a stunningly majestic addition to the racing landscape, should we not trust it to be able to stand on its own two feet and ditch the series?

That would have the additional advantages of enabling the jockeys’ championship to return to its former Lincoln-to-November Handicap lifespan and prevent all those good races in spring and autumn being excluded from what was a perfectly logical start and finish to the Flat season.

If British Champions Series was designed as the post to support Champions Day as it took root it is no longer necessary. The sapling has grown into a mighty oak and can support itself perfectly well.

Hard pressed to fault England strategy

One of football’s most captivating qualities is the scope it retains, even after having existed for nearly two centuries, to enable innovation to thrive.

In the same way you’d think by now that every decent combination of notes to create good music had been used, it would be easy to believe it was no longer possible to come up with significant new tactical plans.

But clever coaches keep doing it, not least in recent years with the introduction of the press, a strategy that has proved hugely successful and was by some distance the chief reason why England established a spectacular 3-0 lead against Spain on Monday night.

For a man who has taken England to a World Cup semi-final it might seem strange to say this, but the performance in Seville was easily the most impressive Gareth Southgate has masterminded as England boss.

Rather than sit back and let the Spanish passing machine purr, Southgate got his players to hunt the ball far further upfield than would normally be the case and it worked perfectly as the home players found themselves incapable of playing through the white wave.

This enabled England to create chances which habitual hit-and-miss performers Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford buried impressively.

They then rode their luck, notably when Jordan Pickford somehow escaped conceding a penalty, but it was a night in which any doubts about Southgate’s tactical acumen were erased for good.

The press is not an easy thing to execute, even though it does not require any technical ability on the ball. You can’t just stand on the sideline yelling “get stuck into them” like one of those abysmal junior football parents.

The key is to allow the defenders to have the ball but then engage with them just as they are having to get it under control, testing their touch and their nerve.

You risk them playing two or three touches and then exposing an under-protected defence, but when it goes right it is a gamechanger, as we saw on Monday.

Time will tell whether the press nullifies and eventually snuffs out the desire to build from the back and it will be fascinating to see how the battle unfolds.

Fan interaction is great, just speed up a bit

Two things struck me while ambling along the fairways of Walton Heath during the third round of the British Masters on Saturday - one good, one bad.

First, you have to be there in person to realise just how pathetically slow some players are. It is truly painful, especially when the golfer whose turn it is does not begin faffing about with his yardage and wind assessments and numerous practice routines until after the others have had a swipe.

Second, lots of the players were extremely generous with their time to young fans, with special mention to Marcel Siem. He rolled a ball to a young lad after holing a putt and was asked to sign it as he walked to the next tee.

The ponytailed German told him to wait there, took his tee shot and then went across, signed it, had a quick chat and went on his way.

It was not the most monumental feat of generosity but he didn’t have to do it and the smile on the young guy’s face showed how appreciated it was.

Read every day for no-nonsense previews and expert sports betting tips

Today's top sports betting stories

Follow us on Twitter @racingpostsport

Like us on Facebook RacingPostSport