THE initial response to the series of academy hurdles seems to be very positive from many quarters, but as we know, nothing in National Hunt racing can be judged on one short spell.

On the face of it, they were well supported and worked better than the equivalent in Britain, and two winners made big sales prices.

But Britain v Ireland is not really comparing like with like. It was obvious from ‘normal’ maiden hurdles that there is a significantly larger population of young horses in this country.

Over the Christmas spell, Down Royal had 18 runners in its opening maiden hurdle, Limerick had 11 runners in a three-year-old maiden, 17 in a maiden hurdle. On New Year’s Day, Fairyhouse had 18 runners in its opening maiden, Tramore had 13 in its first race. Contrast to Cheltenham’s opening maiden, which just had seven runners. The NH horse population in Britain appears to be shrinking fast.

The level of satisfaction seems to be promoted on the back of John Nallen’s two winners being sold for top prices. That was an unexpected boost. Two winners are also Grade 1 entered at the DRF.

No surprise

But it was probably no surprise that someone did step in with horses from flat backgrounds, and of his two Minella flat-breds (There’s a name for next season, Minella Flatbred!), Nallen admitted that he had “ended up with these by accident”. The opportunity arose and it was quickly and profitably taken by a shrewd operator. “This game is like undertaking, you just have to be patient and you will get your body,” was a quote of the year.

The long-term purpose of the new series, “the objective being to encourage young NH horses to enter training earlier”, will need a few years to bed in, from sales to track, but at a glance, there was a fair mixture of pedigrees in the winners and certainly not typically NH horses.

This season felt more about taking the opportunity with the resources available rather than looking long term - but it’s early days yet and good NH horses can come from random sires.

Quinta Do Lago (FR) Galiway

Highland Crystal (IRE) Crystal Ocean

Minella Yoga (IRE) Study Of Man

Minella Academy (IRE) Sea The Moon Coole Café (IRE) Kodi Bear

It’s Bobsled Time (GB) Telescope

Lynches Knock (IRE) Kessaar

The question in the background is will this damage the point-to-point scene as a starting point for young jumpers? Plus, the prospect of starting three-year-old horses jumping even earlier in the season might be one to treat with caution, if we are sending more flat-bred horses jumping?

John Nallen has nurtured a Gold Cup and a Grand National winner. We do also want that longevity, as well as taking the opportunity to make the faster buck to keep the show rolling on.

‘IF it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, is a pretty apt description of a lot of changes that we endure.

RTE Racing have used a lot of drone footage in their racing coverage in recent years. It’s not something I like nor see the benefit of. It’s been added to most of the ITV coverage too and was used a lot at Kempton.

Now, it has been a good addition down the straight at the Curragh, when a drone can go down close and show horses moving off straight lines, or the positions that horses began their challenges from.

But over jumps, when you want to see how a horse is travelling, when a rider begins to move on a horse, how they approach a fence, what kind of mistake they made, it’s not useful.

Having to adjust your eye during the race, from a side on angle to an aerial one, as the race is taking shape, is quite annoying. RTE positioned theirs over the third last at Leopardstown, a key fence as the race is developing. Unfortunately, the aerial shots of James’s Gate taking an instantly fatal fall were not pleasant viewing and no way to avoid it. Perhaps it was bad luck or an omen that the same thing happened to Backtonormal in the Paddy Power. RacingTV tend to cut away if a horse gets injured in a race. You saw as much from the existing views and, during a race, these aerial shots add little to the coverage.