The British Horseracing Authority will issue a positive update on Tuesday morning on its continuing effort to improve field sizes, both on the Flat and over jumps, but it will also warn that a longstanding problem that frustrates both punters and bookmakers may get worse before it gets better.
Small fields have been a persistent feature of the major Saturday cards during the current jumps season and there is certain to be another poor turnout for a major contest this weekend after just five horses were declared for Saturday’s Grade One Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot.
Paul Bittar, the BHA’s chief executive, said in October that “small-field races have become arguably the biggest challenge facing British racing in recent years”, while also announcing a series of initiatives to address the problem. Chase events have been a particular problem in recent weeks, however, and it seems unlikely that any new measures will be announced on Tuesday to deal specifically with small fields over fences.
The horse population has declined steadily in recent years, both on the Flat and over jumps, while the number of races has increased. There were 11,753 runners in a total of 1,345 chase events in 2005, for instance, while in 2013 the number of runners in 1,494 chases had declined to 11,360. A series of small-field races at major Saturday meetings in recent weeks, however, has focused attention on the problem.
“Maybe it is something that is being noticed more, because it is not exactly a new phenomenon,” Rupert Arnold, the chief executive of the National Trainers’ Federation, said on Monday. “There is a question as to whether there are just too many races in the programme but it’s a little bit of a conundrum and there aren’t really any easy answers. We may have become more sensitive to the issue because it has been flagged up so much.”
The five possible runners in Saturday’s Long Walk Hurdle include Reve De Sivola, the winner of the race for the past two seasons but without a win in five starts since beating Salubrious by 10 lengths at Ascot 12 months ago. Nick Williams, his trainer, could also run Aubusson, who took the Fixed Brush Hurdle at Haydock last month with the 7lb claimer Lizzie Kelly in the saddle, while Alan King’s Medinas, who beat last season’s World Hurdle winner More Of That at Newbury last month, is another possible contender.
There is almost certain to be a double-figure field for the most valuable race of the day, however, after 22 horses were left in the running for a share of the £150,000 prize fund in Ascot’s Ladbroke Handicap Hurdle.
Garde La Victoire, the winner of the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham’s Open meeting, is set to carry top weight of 11st 12lb in the two-mile contest, while Sign Of A Victory, a winner over course and distance on his seasonal debut, is the ante-post favourite at a top price of 6-1. The springer in the market is Harry Fry’s Activial, now 8-1, while Garde La Victoire is 9-1.
La Estrella needs one more victory to join Stand Guard as the winner of 26 races on all-weather tracks after returning to action with the 25th win of his career on an artificial surface, and 27th in all, in a selling race at Wolverhampton.
Don Cantillon’s 11-year-old, who was sent off at odds-on despite not having been seen in public since 15 January, was also making his debut on Wolverhampton’s new Tapeta surface but showed his familiar willing attitude inside the final furlong to beat Noguchi by a length and a quarter.
La Estrella did not attract a bid at the subsequent auction and is likely to have several opportunities to equal and then surpass the record of Stand Guard, who has been retired since winning his 26th all-weather race in March. La Estrella has also won once on turf and once over hurdles, while Stand Guard recorded all his victories on artificial surfaces.
“It was a brilliant win and I’m glad we’ve got that first run behind us and now we’re ready to go,” Cantillon, who both owns and trains La Estrella, said.
“He was the first off the bridle but he did what he normally does and he got stronger and stronger. It was a great result for the horse in a moderate race.
“There is a mile-and-a-half claimer on January 1 at Southwell. That will be the plan if all is well with his scan [on Wednesday].”
