THOUGH there may not be any action on the ground during the summer months, there are always things taking place which affect our sport, either directly or indirectly. One announcement on the future of racing at the Cheltenham Festival in the coming years was of major relevance.

Firstly, the decision to reduce the distance of the National Hunt Chase from four miles by two furlongs on the grounds of animal welfare was somewhat strange but not really unexpected. Ever since the race was opened to horses that have previously won over hurdles and made into a regular novice chase, there have always been welfare questions which have become more pronounced over recent runnings.

I do not see that reducing the distance will lead to many of these established park performers taking it any easier in the earlier stages – indeed they may even go faster earlier. That they are ridden by “amateurs” is of very little relevance, as the majority of these riders are very experienced with more chases under their belts than a lot of professional 7lb claimers. It is interesting to see that the race is to be given a Grade 2 rating, the first such race confined to amateur riders.

Programme

At the same time, it was stated that a mares’ chase was to be added to the festival programme. While I am all in favour of giving mares increased opportunities, I also support the format of six races a day over the four days. To include a new race, a previous one must be discarded – this is where the problems begin. Punchestown has seen this ‘inflation’ and what was a two-day meeting only 50 years ago has now become five with eight races most days.

It seems to me that those in charge of formulating Cheltenham’s programme want to make every race a Grade 1. Is it really so desirable to have every championship run at the Cheltenham Festival?

Foxhunter

Among the races which could be discarded to make way for the mares’ chase could be the Foxhunter Chase. I must state that I strongly disagree with this paper’s correspondent, Rory Delargy, in proposing that this race be moved to the late April hunter chase meeting. In its present position in the racing calendar, it is the opening round of four-race championship series, with the other races – at Aintree, Punchestown and Stratford – coming at reasonable intervals. To move the Cheltenham race to late April would inevitably lead to a clash with Punchestown, to the detriment of both meetings and virtually ending the current series.

The argument for moving the Kim Muir to the following early/mid-April meeting is much more compelling, since there is no longer an amateur race on those two days. That meeting already has a chase run over a similar distance to the Kim Muir and it could do with some beefing up.

DURING the off-season, hunt racing did lose several people who have left a mark on the sport. The most notable loss on the domestic front, to me, was Carol Ross, a great support to her late husband, Cecil, and notable in her own right as secretary over many years of the Westmeath Harriers meeting and as registered taker of entries for a number of midlands hunts.

Two others who passed away, of Irish interest, were Brian Fanshawe and Vincent Kilkenny. The latter was a Galway man who moved to Britain and, in the early 1970s, made his way in the construction business, specialising in ground work. Always a keen horseman, I first saw him at that time riding his well-bred and pretty useful pointer Paridels Surprise. He also rode in points over here but his biggest success as an owner came in 1977 when his Billycan, ridden by Mouse Morris and trained by Adrian Maxwell, won the Irish Grand National. Brian was a stalwart of the Bicester hunt where his companions once included the Prince of Wales and he regularly returned to the Dunraven Arms in Adare for a week’s hunting.

The Daily Telegraph’s obituarist described Brian Fanshawe as “the man with the long legs and the distinctive nose”. Brian would have loved that and that really summed him up physically. He will be remembered most in Ireland for his tenure as master/ huntsman of the Galway Blazers at the end of the 1960s and into the early 70s. That he was a hunt master was no surprise, as both his mother and father had held that office, each carrying the horn.

Brian’s mastership career ended at the Cottesmore where, despite initial misgivings about taking on an amateur huntsman, his tenure was regarded as a golden age in the history of his celebrated pack.

The Dikler

I don’t know if Brian ever actually rode in an Irish point-to-point but he was highly regarded among his contemporaries in Britain. A highlight of his racing years was to win the National Hunt Chase in 1967 on Touch Of Tammy. However the best horse he rode between the flags was undoubtedly The Dikler. He got the ride on this monstrous horse due to his aforementioned long legs and won on both of their first two outings together but even Brian was unable to stop him running out on his final run between the flags.

History records that, after a somewhat frustrating time under rules, The Dikler finally won the Gold Cup in 1973 at the fourth attempt.

Brian was always a very affable and approachable man at point-to-points and it was to him I went when wanting details of Irish meetings when we came to Ireland for our second visit in 1971. I did not know it then but his appointment to the Blazers was not his first connection with Ireland. During the war years, while his father was on active military service, he spent a lot of his time with his brother in the safer Irish environment, staying with his grandfather General Fanshawe at Rathmore House in Co Kildare, in the parish in which I have lived and worked for 40 years now. It’s a small world!

Leading trainers prove importance of point-to-points

AFTER a near four-month break during which the batteries have been recharged, even though there has been plenty to keep body and mind busy, the first weekend in October meant that point-to point racing was back for a new season.

I must admit that a card of five maiden races and a winners of one did not get my adrenaline flowing and I was not disappointed to give the opening meeting at Toomebridge a miss. Surely the first fixture would attract more spectators if they were offered the chance of seeing horses with names that they recognised from former races and successes. So for me, a visit to Castletown Geoghegan on the Sunday was the launch pad for what will hopefully be eight months of renewed activity. There will undoubtedly be new stars on view and some horses and riders climbing the latter from promise to realisation.

At this time last year, we could never have anticipated the duel between Longhouse Music (just out of novice) and Kruzhlinin (former track performer) to become champion point-to-point horse. We can also expect new riders to begin to make their mark as they begin a new riding career.

With the ground definitely on the soft side, things were very different to the situation 12 months ago. There were two fewer runners at this year’s meeting but last year it did stand alone on the first weekend. That said, it proved a very satisfactory start to the season and it is a measure of how important racing between the flags is, to the industry as a whole, that two senior trainers – Noel Meade and Gordon Elliott – were at the meeting with horses in their care.