Where will Cheltenham Festival changes be made? | The Front Page | Horse Racing News

Imminent changes to the Cheltenham Festival race programme, the even more imminent crowning of Willie Mullins as British champion trainer and whetting the appetite for the year’s first Classics – this week’s edition of The Front Page is certainly not short of material.

James Stevens digs deep into his midweek Cheltenham scoop as we try to predict how the 2025 festival will look following an admission from the Jockey Club that moves will be made to strengthen the meeting. Will races be axed, could others be amended and is it time to keep novices out of the handicaps?

Willie Mullins had a great time at Cheltenham, which is a major reason why he holds a clear lead in Britain’s trainers’ championship. Lee Mottershead puts his achievement into context as the team asks what it will mean for the sport now and in the future if Mullins does indeed claim the title.

Finally we switch our attention to the Flat as Jonathan Harding assesses last week’s Guineas trials before the panel busts a big myth about British Flat racing.

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00:00 – Intro
03;51 – Where will Cheltenham Festival changes be made?
22;52 – Mullins is the master – but what does that mean for British jump racing?
33;32 – Who wins the Guineas after a week of uninspiring trials?
44;33 – Outro

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[Music] hi there welcome to the latest edition of the front page and we have two meaty whopping jump stories to discuss in this week’s show firstly there will be changes to the race program at the 2025 chelham Festival we shall be discussing that there almost certainly will be a new British champion jumps trainer and that almost certainly will be Willie Mullins we’ll be discussing that as well there almost certainly wasn’t a guiney winner running in a race at New Market last week although Maybe I’m Wrong we’ll be discussing both potential eventualities there I am almost certain that I am Lee M said and absolutely certain that the colleagues sat next to me are Jonathan Harding and James Stevens hello oh good uh well you’re very good um potentially sweaty PS because we begin this week’s edition with the news that our esteemed West country correspondent um is clear in the Racing Post Coral naps competition with uh six days of naps to go you just paint a picture of your current situation so as it stands I have jumped the last and we’re into the final week and I’m idling badly and praying for the line um so yeah it it’s started in October I’ve taken it pretty seriously this year um some good runs I’ve got six days to go it’s done on profit so anyone can really find aund I mean saw there was 150 to One winner yesterday the first thing I did was look at the table and gone on no please tell me no one tip that up but yeah it’s um it’s it’s been pretty crazy I’ve got a lot of people who um who are keeping an eye on it which is quite nice uh someone actually came up to me and wished me good luck that I’d never met before at newb on Saturday which was quite yeah very strange a couple of people did actually yeah but one person I’d never met before which was which was really nice fingers crossed um but it’s going to be a long week for me and not much sleep and just to highlight the the extra sort of stiness to this you are about we’re recording this on Monday morning uh you’re about 15s in front of the racing post on the nose team yeah with the Racing Post Lamborn correspondent James burn in third about 21 behind you so this could be like Willie Mullins in a CH Festival grade one a one two three Clean Sweep for Racing Post and of course you’d quite like to be on the top of the lead I certainly would and I think James’s doesn’t include the win he had a last muscle BR last night not that I’m tracking every single one that happens but no there’s some there’s some shrew judges on there and even the ones that are down the table a bit you wouldn’t be surprised if they picked out a 33 shot so wait and see we have our fingers crossed for you Jonathan um are you set to come to money anytime soon I have a rather more mixed mixed bag with my tipping as you can imagine but I’ll be sure to tap James up for a round if he does win it indeed that would be um no doubt completely in order we wish James well and before we get going with the stories I have good news to pass on to you in that our exciting excellent Smart View feature is now available on the racing post app bansy a bit but find it confusing do not fear Smart View is here to help you we’ve taken the traditional race carard and removed all the jargon on a bre iations which can be daunting for newcomers the result is a race card that means making informed choices and picking winners is easier than ever our racing experts and data scientists have created an algorithm that puts everything a season punter would consider into the attribute bars you see on the race card and assesses each Runner with an overall score out of 100 welcome back so time now for Story one and the coral Racing Post naps competition table leader James Stevens is going to present that story yeah yeah so it was Cam’s final meeting of this season um not their season that’s that’s uh next month but we found out a bit more about what the future of the chelon festival would look like had a chat with uh the Jo club’s manag managing director and the race course boss in Renton about some of the issues that have been flagged at the chelton festival and in particular is the quality of the of the races and he said there’s bound to be changes to the race program so Cham are going to sit down they’re going to address some of the issues that that we’re going to discuss now and make some changes to that program to better reflect um to well to create the meeting more competitively um what those changes will be were not confirmed um I did ask Ian Ron who said um he wouldn’t speculate which Races they were but was aware that what had been written about in The Press was the areas they’re going to address so we can be relatively confident that’s going to include some of the novice chases uh potentially novice hurdles things like the cross country the chelman festival is undoubtedly the the week where the jump racing is thrown into that Spotlight and the quality of jumps horses the quality of whether it’s Ireland or Britain which is strong that’s that’s where the spotlight goes and the festival has to well a it has to be competitive and geared towards creating a product which is very very competitive people want to bet on it fans want to enjoy it and um racing industry people want to win it but at the same time you can’t just chop and change the the the CH Festival program because okay well we haven’t got many two mile chases so let’s change that it has to be an ambition towards it so finding that balance is is going to be crucial um so we’re going to see some changes to it and what they might be well everyone seems to have an opinion he said there were some sensible ideas there were some not some sensible ideas I’ve got my own ideas but we’ll wait and see but it certainly sounds like they’re addressing some of those issues which we’ve raised which is a good thing yes absolutely well I think we can be pretty confident they’re not going to wax the Gold Cup or the champion hurdle um there are certain areas they are going to focus on as you said James um there seems to be a consensus that novice chases are an area that they really have to look at so once upon a time back when some of us were young and before some of us were born there were basically two or three novice chase at the CH Festival there was the arle there was the what is now the brand ofis me the Broadway novices Chase and there was the national hunt Chase but in those days the national hunt Chase was a Four Mile and it was completely different to the modern uh National Chase Andra a totally different sort of horse certainly not Championship class horses whereas now we have the arle great one two miles we’ve got the Turners grade 1 2 mil 4 we’ve got the brown advisory Broadway uh grade 1 3 miles and the national hunt Chase basically 3 mil 5 3 mil 6 grade two um and there aren’t enough horses to go round so um Jonathan what do you think they will do with those novice chases get out your crystal ball and make a prediction um I think the national hunt Chase is the vulnerable one okay from what I’ve read in the conversations I’ve had even though it’s the fal’s oldest race that seems to be the race that performs poorly in terms of betting turnover I think maybe correct me if I’m wrong but it might have been the worst performing race at the Festival this year small Field small field field it’s probably not doing the job it is supposed to be doing um it it’s had some very good winners but I suppose that’s a lot of the reason it’s not doing the job it’s supposed to be doing I think that’s probably the one that they’ll look at um going forward I think they’ll look at it too James but I think the race that will probably go is the Turners the uh what is that the golden Millan offy chasing golden Miller yeah um although it’s slightly more complicated because of course the the golden Miller the Turners forms part of The Wider jumps pattern and there would have to be uh industry agreement if you like to get rid of a a grade one over two and a half miles but I think the the feeling is that if they brought back the two and a half mile novice’s handicapped chase that we had before the golden Miller which is now at Sand which is now at s and doesn’t get anything like the sort of field at sand down that used to get at the chelon festival but they bring that one back in they have the arle and the brown advisory either side of it but then what do you do with the national hunt Chase because bringing a 2 and a half mile noted handicap doesn’t really do anything to solve the national Chase problem no you’re right um I agree bring back the novice handicap Chase I think that’s a sensible thing to do because it was always a very very competitive race and quite clearly two miles in the arle two and a half miles in the Turners there isn’t too much between between those two trips and I don’t think the horse population over the last really since it’s come out has it ever been in a way where you think both those races are going to be huge fields and very competitive so the fact it’s there it does lean those good horses they can go one of two ways and if you look at a horse like gaay Warrior he probably could have won both you know you don’t look at it and go that’s one division that’s another division they’re very they’re very intertwined and even in the buildup to the meeting one of the frustrating things that I found is which horse is going to go where and you’re trying to work out in the puzzle so I thought the novice cap Chase was a fantastic race I would love to see that back the national hunt Chase well yeah I don’t know what will happen with this because I I really I know tradition is such an important thing and to to chop it would be a it would be a really um big thing so I had to look and for what would I possibly do in a way to keep it and I come up two ideas yeah um two of which might fall into the unsensible list yeah um first one was if the jocky want to invest in it is to create a Grand National bonus scheme okay so to essentially say the winner of that race would get a certain bonus if they could win a Grand National to you almost use that as a platform for a trial that season or The Following Season or That season possibly I mean the Grand National is is a very much a changed race Nores can win the Grand National instead of um horses being sort of campaigned away from the Chon festival with anry in mind it could be a way of getting no sort of quality horses to run in the race could that not take horses away from the brand Advisory it could do it could do but it already is if you’re not going to get rid of you’ve got to do something but the second one I thought was to restrict it to a trainers with a certain amount of horses or less which again would make it really potentially a small field size because you’re making it difficult but I think you’ve got to do something with it in the current state or it’s got to go and the problem they’ve got with it is again so if you are a traditionalist and you don’t want to lose a race you might say we’ll take it back to what it used to be which yeah Mains at the start of the Season it was a totally different sort of totally different sort of race but that then I think the J Club wouldn’t do because they would say that has potential welfare issues welfare is not quite the right word but they they obviously don’t want they were concerns about that race and they don’t losing their jockeys all the way around the race course so that makes it tricky if you try to replicate what used to be the the cath guard Chase existed before the 4-day festival and have it as a first and second season race you then were going to take horses away from other races Yeah by doing that so it’s not straightforward um one other thing I wonder if they’ll do Jonathan based on on discussions I’ve had is followup I think on Ruby walshire suggested this which is bar novices from handicaps or certainly some of the handicaps because you look at um some of the I know the way I know the way you’re thinking one the Kim got into Kim not to 145 race and on his next start he wins theal main novices CH a grade one at anry and realistically he could and should have been in the Broadway the grade one over three miles not in a in a Kim mule we’ve had instances of of novices winning the county hurdle although the sport has try to change do something about that by adding one extra race into number of runs those hes have to have before they get into handicaps it’s still not completely solved the problem so could that be an issue trying to look at novices in the handicaps I think something holistic like that is arguably more sensible than getting into the nitty-gritty with this race or that race that is something tangibly that could be introduced that would boost the field in those novice contests where there seems to be a bit of an issue field sizewise because you have the intermediate trips and horses spread out and will they won’t they run actually if novices had to run in that company it would boost those races and you’d think allow a few more good solid handicappers to come in to the well to where they ought to be in those handicaps and it was interesting to hear Patrick Mullins essentially saying a similar thing actually it was Patrick Mullins wasn’t it I’m not Ruby W wrong it was Patrick Mullins yeah Patrick Mullins saying the same thing even though he he obviously is from a yard that is not taken advantage is wrong but quite rightly run novices in those races because they have so many novices uh so yeah I think that is something that they need to be looking at we’ve we kind of Illustrated just here how difficult and complicated it is and when I spoke to Nevan trell in the week he said it has to be dated driven and it has to be quite carefully mapped out cuz you you knock one Domino down at the festival and suddenly the program for the whole season can be pushed out of kilter so yeah it requires deep thought do we think the the mayor’s program is sacent uh I think the mayor’s program is definitely an area I would look at as well um two two other things on on the three other things on the list was number one on my my list I’m a big fan of the ebf final if you I you reminded me the other day at newb that that was to be run at for those of a certain vintage will remember the ebf final now at sandon on Imperial Cup Day used to be run at Cam’s April meeting yeah basically same race i’ would love to see that part of the the champ Festival roster okay so you’d have to lose a race to do that yeah yeah if something went even if something went um if the national hunt Chase was to go um or something like that that would be I think it’s a really competitive race and it’s a really good race um cross country all day long should be a handicap yeah as it used to be as it used to be and the mayor’s heard um I would say it shouldn’t be I mean it’s a grade one now it wasn’t always a grade one was it it was a grade two where you had horses that were penalized as to what they did it makes it a bit more of a competitive race on paper um but that that’s what I do a m program it’s difficult I know Paul Keeley when when we came here after Chon was saying well they should put it on the May St at the Chon festival and at those days I think there’s still a place for a May’s race and I think that um as you’ve gotten now a May’s novice hurdle which to be fair has been been a really competitive race over the years because you’ve got really good field sizes in it that’s like a logical next step for those horses so there is a roote towards them and keeping Mes in there’s obviously huge benefits so they’re definitely things to do but yeah it is you can see the logic in saying move one or more of the May’s races away from the CH Festival somewhere else but equally you can make the point that the May’s program the Boost to the May’s program has been hugely successful in getting more people to run Mayes and the fact that those Mays races are at the chelon festival has also been an because people we we know if you look at how that nov handicap Chas fed at sand down relative to to chelt we know that people just want to have Runners at the CH festivals it’s not as simple as saying move the May’s to April and you’ll have exactly the same race have exact the same race no and and you you bang on because if you were to think about the mayor’s Chase not not my favorite Race by any stretch but those mayors of that of that sort of that sort of quality where would they otherwise go well it’d be a champion Chase or it would be a ryion a really if they’re graded quality and you’d be looking at them going well some of those wouldn’t be 20 40 to one you wouldn’t see a point really of aiming them towards those races because they wouldn’t seem like they’ve win suddenly they’ve got this opportunity and as you say it’s out the Chon Festival so Target it um the other point on the novices which I think is really important here particularly the novice hurdlers is that what has happened in the last few years is where Ireland has become so strong if you run a novice herdler in Britain compared to Ireland you’re going to bump into three or four which are very very good most likely so getting marks in Ireland and Britain is so different if you run to an rpr say of 120 in most novice hurdles in Britain you’re probably going to win in Ireland you could finish third and fourth so there is already an disadvantage there at so those opportunities for those horses to run more means that the handicapping system is more fair so I would defin be behind this idea of of novice is staying in novice races because they are so different to assess these two horses on either side the same sort of logic was also used when the eore handicap on the flat had its prize money increased one of the the condition stipulations about that was that three-year-olds were taken out of the race because it was felt that if three-year-olds were in the race they they they could in effect manipulate it and you’re also more you’re encouraging people to keep threey olds in training as four-year-olds if they know that the following year they’re not going to come up against hores run three times um one one other interesting aspect is that I to made clear um the CH boss that last week that what they won’t be doing is amending the seven races over 4 days program I was messaged by uh someone connected to one of the big yards on Saturday while I was at Newbury to say that why is that and this this this argument that our customers say they they want seven races over four days can we actually believe that is it more the case that the race course commercially needs seven races every day and that would customers be just as happy with six races and if you did that you could actually ax four races and take us back more to where we were when we had a a thre Day Festival thoughts can’t win can you Lee no we wanted some people not we here but some people wanted a five-day Festival not all that long ago that would not have been a good well you know this is the I mean you’ve touched on it there it’s what works commercially for the Jockey Club as well as what works for the program what works for you know I think 4 days is that needs to remain obviously that seems to be the winning formula at the moment they can’t AFF AFF for it not to remain commercially exactly so 4 days works if you’re then cutting races I don’t know that you’d have to see the data wouldn’t you I think you’d have to actually get on the ground and find out whether people do need seven races whether the betting turnover reflects it whether the viewership sort of warrants having seven or whether you could strip it back and make it more quality over quantity with six I I’m not sure I would have a strong opinion um James before we move on you also spoke to Ian Renton about some of the other commercial aspects of the CH Festival why people didn’t go last year that had gone in years before they had 40,000 dropping attendance from 2022 to 2023 rough another 11,000 dropped from 2023 to 2024 one thing that was raised regularly was the cost of accommodation in chelham which is for example a much smaller place than than Liverpool which hotel Grand National has more hotel rooms and more people actually go from Liverpool to the grand national meeting and go from Cham to the festival um did did Ian have any potential solutions to that issue uh I would struggle to F think that that anyone has a potential solution for it because it is such a big issue I mean you mentioned the smaller town where chelam has got about 115,000 people that live there and well over 200 go so it’s it’s completely different to any other big sporting event that said the hotel prices are extortionate given in the town and it is such a big put off for for customers uh chelon were aware of that chelon have been told this by people people have said to chham we like chham we love coming here we enjoy what you put on but we can’t afford it and that’s that’s that’s the thing they’ve been pushed and they’ve been pushed and they’ve been pushed uh Ian said he’s to spoken to local hoteliers about what can be done um how much sway chant and race course have over it I don’t quite know but it’s a good start that those conversations have happened it needs a lot more people to come together and join forces to make some tough decisions but crucially and I think the biggest thing that happened this year with it is that the hotels were not 100% full and that is a warning sign that’s a huge alarm Bell for those hotels that previously had gone yeah possibly are costing a bit much but now they haven’t sold out they’re be going to begin to think okay maybe we have gone to the edge here um so it’s a long process it’s still expensive if you look at it in advance um and what chelam can do it is somewhat limited but look it’s a good start those conversation happened it’s also worth saying there were their car park issues it was a huge talking point through the week they’re going to look to invest in it which is good because quite frankly it was a bit of a chaos last year so so look I mean chelham do get a lot of stick um and they are the sort of home of jump racing as they call them they should be premium in every way they do it’s good that they’re addressing some of these issues that are raised rather than just sort of going ahead in 2025 without worrying but um still some areas to resolve but I’ll be fascinated to see what what they do yeah and of course the problem is you talk about investment there investment will be difficult because the Jockey Club forfeited millions of pounds at the Chon Festival that it would have hoped to bank yeah because the falling attendance the Char Festival is is club’s biggest Revenue driver and in that sort of situation where you actually cutting priz money bringing in investment for a big project like that yeah please don’t ask me to tell you how to fix that because I have no idea no well I car parking’s uh not my uh best issue either as anyone who’s seen me Tred to parallel park would know okay that then was Story one before we move into Story 2 here is some exciting news about offers relating to the Racing Post members club and subscriptions get 50% off your first 3 months in the Racing Post members Club as a member you get access to the digital newspaper exclusively available to members the night before you’ll get daily tips in the likes of pricewise Tom seagull Robbie Wilders and Paul Keeley enjoy award-winning journalism from the industry’s best writers and watch replays from all British and Irish racing now available within the Racing Post app subscribe today and get 50% off your first 3 months welcome back to part two of the front page this time it is my turn to present a story and I’m going to talk about a story that will run through all of this week and reach its Crescendo on Saturday that is the British jumps trainers championship and in all likelihood Willie Mullins on Saturday will be crowned the first Irish base winner of the trainers title since Vincent O’Brien the legendary Vincent O’Brien took it twice in back-to-back years in the early 1950s it always looked likely that Willie would be a major player in the title race that was case going into the Grand National it became ever more likely after a am Maximus won the Grand National and now he’s around 20 to one on following a superb day on Saturday at air when his four winners included M Dermot who got the Scottish Grand National the coral sponsor Scottish Grand National on The Bob in a tremendous finish that now leaves Willie around £180,000 clear of Dan Skelton with with Paul Nichols a big chunk behind Dan as well so it does look as though Willie is set to get the title as we speak today looking forward to having a runner at fos lass on Monday he’s got enter scattered AC entry scattered across uh lllo and per before we get to sand down on Saturday look at his entries as we speak now before entries have closed at noon but he’s like 9 in the uh celebration Chase you’ll have plenty across the rest of the card it looks as though he home and ho rewind back eight years and he was in similar sort of situation not quite as strong obviously uh when he went into the final day of the Season at Sandown chasing Paul Nichols on that occasion he didn’t send as many Runners as he’ll send this year to sandan he had the second in the first three races and in the end the title went to Paul Nicholls Jonathan Harding is the most certainly not going to go to to Paul dish Paul Ching his fif title Dan skelton’s hopes now look pretty slim because with a big big lead 180,000 lead and with horses like El fabiolo and gayc Warrior among those under consideration on Saturday Sandown Willie looks home and host I think he summed it up best when he said almost very helpfully for the gathered journalist that he had one hand on the trophy because that pretty much sums it up for me and this isn’t a case of sending out the kids in the final week of the season and it’s all done and dusted he’s still he’s leaving absolutely nothing to chance sending a an El Fabiola over to Sandown he’s you know it might not be so much a he won’t be clinching it at sand down so much as actually potentially winning one or two of those big races looking at the type of horse that he’s sending over I mean it’s invigorated for me I don’t know what you guys think but I know a lot of people are a bit maybe flipping a bit non-interested in trainers championships jockey championships I think it’s sort of an extra element that we maybe make a big deal out of but I think has invigorated the final couple of weeks of the jump season because it can Peter out a little bit after anry before it rises back up in Britain I mean before it sort of Rises back up for that season finale so yeah it’s it’s been good to follow and I almost would have liked him not to have won the Scottish national so it was a little bit more up in the air going into that final weekend but I’m sure Dan Skelton and Paul Nichols will still they all they already had good horses to run at those at that meeting so I’m sure they’ll still go ahead with it and try and end on a high yeah absolutely um I’m not sure James that that that final Bob of the head on Saturday in the Scottish national will end up making too much difference bear in mind the horses that Willie’s got entered on Saturday and he’s got so many so many horses too that it might be in a situation where he might not win a race but he’ll get as much in place money as the winner um might get and one aspect too is that Willie mull has has all the best well not his most of the best horses William hag said him newor Saturday he has all the toys and in that sort of situation when most of the toys are with one trainer in Ireland at least his title race means that we’re going to see some of those toys hopefully sand down on Saturday because the site of horses like alabo and gay war will greatly add to the afternoon it will yeah and having a having top quality horses like that it’s it’s it’s great it’s a grade One race you know let’s not forget this is this is top quality jump racing this is premier racing of course racing um you want to see the best horses and and I think if you were to look at that grade one without the Mullins horses in there You’ possibly be head scratching your head a little bit thinking who’s who’s going to turn up and who’s going to win it and and that race has in in the past sometimes not being the strongest grade one in the world so great that we get to see these good horses and if it will say El Fabiola versus gayet War that’s a cracking race regardless of whether it’s got any implication on the trainers title I mean yeah look I think we talk we’ve talked in this studio about domination about the Mullins domination and and of course it’s it’s a huge part of what’s happening in Jump racing at the moment but you I think you have to stand back and really admire what he’s achieved this year I mean it’s very easy to say Willie Ms has got all the best horses he’s got all the best toys whatever he isn’t missing he is not missing you look up the amount of good horses he’s got inevitably they don’t happen they don’t come off the Gold Cup the Grand National the Scottish Grand National the champion hurdle winning all those races is a huge achievement anytime but but actually getting it right on so many days with all of these horses is is quite extraordinary and I think the other the other key person here who’s not had any comment is Paul town in I mean he has just gone about his business it’s all been about Willie Mullins and what he’s done he hasn’t got it wrong he hasn’t made mistakes he’s not the sort he’s not sort of jumped one and fallen on a Gallop in the shot which inevitably if if you say you’re going to have 25 odds on shots a few of them are going to get beat just because of the nature of it he has got it right with every single horse and and without really stealing the spotlight the Scottish Grand National is the only sort of big race that he hasn’t sort of he’s sort of chosen wrong as well like he’s he’s not been on the right one so what he’s done what the pair of him has done has been extraordinary it’s great that they’re going to show up at Sandown but it is of course another sign about how weak British jum racing is compared to Ireland and particularly Willie Mullins and um given the fact that you look at Racers like the Supreme uh the balmore the future is not particularly glowing that that it’s is going to change and what is ever going to stop Willie Mullin is probably Willie Mullins himself so it’s it’s a scary thought in many ways but you do have to respect him this week I think regardless of of how much of a negative person like me you are yeah no absolutely and say that the fact that you have to go back to the early 1950s to find um someone who’s done this Vincent O’Brien we know we see on the flat with Aiden coming over and um challenging winning the British flat title but hasn’t happened over jumps the the the amazing thing too is that as Patrick Mullins made clear uh in his column for us racing Place post chelton festival at that point he didn’t think his dad was even really thinking about the British trainers title you you sort of wonder what position he could be in next season if he starts seon thinking well I’m going have a proper go at this as well because I’ve got so many horses I can I canot jeopardize my Irish title challenge over the winter by having a few more runners in Britain although that said that would then need a cultural change from Willie Mullins who tends to concentrate on irand in the winter and then uh Britain and Ireland in the spring one interesting angle as Chris Cook points out in his uh piece of day those four winers at air on Saturday yes one was 8 to 11 the others 18 to1 16 to1 and 7 to one so punters they they OB didn’t win the more with his first ring but they they they they ignored these William Ms winners that to me is the the big takeaway and going into next season and whether or not he makes more of a concerted push earlier on in the season for the British Championship is he’s able to win these races with horses who’s are relatively unconsidered these he’s not sending over his very best horses and he’s still winning the big Saturday races and if he decides to Target a few more of those quieter Saturdays with what he would consider fourth or fifth string um that that’s really just a demonstration of his power I think that horses that in Ireland wouldn’t even be top five in that division for him are able to come over and win as they do uh that just speaks to the the ammunition that he has and I I’m not among those that sort of knock him for that I think he’s got himself into that position with a clearly a tried and tested system he gets the owners he gets the best horses it’s on everybody else to try and catch him up that sport and I have no doubt that Paul Nichols and Dan scouton in particular and let’s not forget Nikki Henderson of course will be thinking already about next season how do we how do we get that Firepower up and how do we compete yeah absolutely um and James just to confirm um the West country Racing Post correspondent can’t nap horses trained by Willie Mullins this week cany no unfortunately not um unfortunately not but I I may have a maybe I should drop a message and say if he Fancy’s coming coming over and having like a satellite yard maybe I could steal some that way but it’d be very helpful to have Willie melons and one final thing about the Irish on the Irish dominance is a really interesting fact about chelham this season second most winning most trainer at CH this year is Gavin Cromwell which is absolutely extraordinary when you think about it because that is Gavin Cromwell came to chelam which is the home of jump racing which is the the the central point of British jump racing and he has come over to chelham because he’s found races over there easier to win than back home I mean this isn’t one of Ireland’s top top trainers this is sort of that second tier isn’t it behind Gordon Willie Henry de bromhead then you’re into that sort of second he’s he’s just outside the top three he’s coming to CH and winning races because Ireland is so strong so there’s there’s some real signs this season about how strong island are and it’s um it’s not good for the West country naps table but it’s great for Irish racing um should we talk a bit about flat racing a lot of we’ve we’ve got two Classics taking place next weekend Jonathan talk us about flat racing I will do yes so we’ll start with a 2,000 Guinness show with which is the first classic of the season in Britain we had two trials last week in between all the jump stuff for those who follow jump stuff all the jump stuff Scottish national and the like um yeah so they didn’t really The Hope might have been that they would have added a bit of spice to the 2,000 guine market and we’d have a real Superstar emerge I’m not sure that that happened with a 2000 guins Harton was a good winner of the Craven yeah once upon a time you won a craven like that you’d probably be in the top three in the betting for the 2,000 guins but such is the quality of the top two that it didn’t really cause any shock waves it did pay a compliment to City of Troy as if he needed one based on his two-year-old form because city of Troy put Haram in his place not once but twice very easily Haram stable mate rosalion had a bit of a boost because Richard Hannon obviously and sha Levy obviously view Ros alion as their big hope perhaps their biggest hope for a number of years great interview with Pete Thomas at the weekend Richard Hannon and it was and then the greenham Was Won by gelding uh who’s obviously can’t run in the 2000 guine so it wasn’t quite what we were hoping for in terms of adding a bit of life into that market it is now in Vogue to go to that race without a trial 14 of the last 20 winners went without a trial bch that thank you courtesy of Scott Burton shout out Scott Burton y straight to the 2000 guine thousand guine slightly different picture that one looked like it actually needed a little bit of clarity before the trials we had elang El Lang was favorite after stable mate opera singer came out again Aiden O’Brien very good two-year-old form we now have fallen angel as the favorite at New Market galloped at New Market unfortunately not in a race um but still we got to see Fallen Angel uh at least in a workout again that’s the popular route now is to go straight there fresh the gwin Was Won by pretty Crystal who’s going to be supplemented but again probably not the type to maybe threaten uh you’d think deserves to take a chance in thousand guine of course but the top two sort of on juvenile form would she’d have to find a little bit with them dance sequence I think might be the surprise package step stepping up to a mile should bring out a lot of improvement was quite unlucky and running in that n Gwyn and then the Fred darling in keeping with the them folgaria looks likely to go to the French and doesn’t have an entry in the 1,000 guine so as far as trials go they weren’t really uh that helpful in terms of uh shaking up the whole thing but still we’ve had a little taster now and we can look ahead to those first Classics and Beyond yes um James what you got in the west country um very little very little um was it newbon Saturday when I got the sort of late call up to to cover it I was quite excited because I I do like the green as a meeting I read the entries and stuff and it it was a little underwhelming I don’t think the the two the two sets of Trials at New Market and newb had the sort of star names that you’ve seen it is more fashionable now to to go straight there and also a few of the trainers have told me that because of the wet really miserable winter we’ve had horses have just been a bit a little bit slower and I’d think there’s a case of just not wanting to rush horses so it’s possibly was always going to happen in a number of years if you get weather like that the trials perhaps aren’t going to as informed as they were um you know newb it was impressed by vgar newb I thought she she won well I think the experience really was the key thing for her she was I think she had six races in Italy before she went um really emotional winner um given um that came for um Marco bti who was in attendance of Stefano K’s funeral in in Italy um so that was that was lovely for connections that they got to to celebrate there and they were they’re thinking of him his wife on course and if if she could run well in the French guine that would be lovely to continue that story um Esquire gelding winning the greenham was was I mean we were discussing what we were going to do for the day and it was it was a bit of a tricky one um but yeah I mean for me I’m I’m rallan I’ve I’ve managed to steal I thought I had 30 threes but a 25’s anti poost so I’m all behind him and I think I think to be fair City Troy and him I think they’re two really smart horses so even if it’s not quite on the patch I am quite excited for the guine this year it looks two really exciting HSE those two in particular just could be could be anything and seeing how their careers go and where they end up will be pretty fascinating you’ve got 25s but do you think ran will win the 2000 guine I think city of Troy will win I think city of Troy is very very special and it’s just a case of of of how good could he be it’s exciting you know we’ve got a real Superstar and um how good he is is is we’ll wait and see could be a good Guin meeting for um Carl Burke and Danny toop and Steve Parkin yes Fallen Angel Night Raider work nicely as well yeah comes there via two wins at southwell or Soule depending on on your preference that is not a normal classic preparation but underline the work they’ve done at at that track with a different racing service is bringing in different and better horses yeah a slightly novel route into the race sort of crunching a bit of num crunching the numbers for an upcoming piece and looking at the the routes that these horses take and generally speaking it’s win a group one as a juvenile have your first start in the guine uh so we wait a little bit longer for the bubble to burst with a few of them um but this is yeah fairly unconventional but has the benefit of having run uh this year and yeah why not gu your question quiz question what links the Craven the N gwiin the John Porter the greenham and the Fred darling correct they’re all and I just thought you know as we’ve got a few minutes you’re fine AR you don’t mind waiting around a bit as we’ve got a few minutes I just mention my column this is a very good easy way to get a plug as soon as you it’s all come together well play I have Penn today what I think is a slightly mythbusting column um there’s this view in British racing that in price money terms we lag behind our neighbors particularly in that top end bracket among those horses that um are in that that group of horses that we talk about um as being susceptible to a talent drain they get sold to the Middle East and Australia and clearly that happens but it happens across Europe and if you actually look at the the numbers um and over the weekend I was using um Google Sheets after my beloved actually showed me how to use Google Sheets not have to use a calculator of everything um me give me some numbers here um the year’s 23 most valuable group threes in Europe will all be held in Britain uh the average total price for for a British group 3 in 2024 is 9133 in Ireland it’s 51,9 um all French group 3s are pugged at €80,000 which is about £69,000 Britain has 59 group 3es Worth £70,000 or more if you look at listed races Ireland has3 00,000 or brackets £86,000 listed rties Britain has 12 that offer a Superior Financial um reward um so right across the board group three listed um Britain actually trumps Ireland and France none of that was sort of penned as a way of knocking Ireland and France but more the fact that within British racing um among participants and Industry folk there’s this view that we are massively underperforming compared to Ireland and France the numbers don’t actually bear that out at all and it’s just the opposite and hopefully that might provide some confidence to Industry participants leaders and promoters to have um a bit more confidence in the product hope so and it sort of being in keeping with your nearest neighbors is important I suppose the the other view would be that we’re still a little way behind Hong Kong but we always will be that’s the thing unless you’re going to come to an inheritance and devote it all to um the British racing yeah different funding well I mean that’s where the drain is going slightly further a field but it’s it’s good you know Britain has that reputation it can still attract investment it had to be up there with Ireland and France who are sort of the ones trying to tease it away and and sort of take that position as the go-to place so yeah it is promising how much is that potentially skewed by Premier racing and increased investment or is it not there’s certainly been increases um this year I’ve just picked out a few look you look at the the group threes and the listed races at the Chester May festival they’ve really come on in L and B Al race out the chest of ours and the Alan they’re group threes they’ve G up from 120 to 140,000 this year um some race as could have gone up um and other tracks as well but they’re already on a decent level last season I I just think James is one of those that that was that TR fake news people have this fake news thing that we are inferior to our and clear there’s that that’s not to say we don’t need to have more pride and try and be more competitive um with other jurisdictions but things aren’t as bad as perhaps we perceive them to be no and there are some trainers that I speak to um and that more so over jums than flat but who are very aware of where the prize money is and and where to look for it and what rates are worth what and I I think that if you look at those races I’m sure they’re correlation between the better quality winners of those and if there’s more money on off you’ll get better quality races because people are aware of where the prize money is it’s the job of a trainer to find what’s what’s a valuable group for him what’s a what’s one that is considerably less value whether that is it I.E in Britain or France or Ireland so having more money is is always going to be a good thing for that obviously I think crucially though is that those meetings that can club together so I mean we say Premier bit the the Chester May meeting which you focus on having really competitive racing already at a product which is established you know a really good fund meeting the prize money is good people always want to go to racing that is the what the sport is thriving of because the thing that britsh r ing has which every other jurisdiction wants is the prestige you know you I mean I’m going to Japan in May and excited by that and for all Japan Japanese racing is fantastic everything about Japanese racing is amazing they still look at European races and they still look at the Darby and go wow what a race that would be to win because of the prestige we have and that is so special and kind hanging on to that and making sure we promote that as well is is a key part but the prize money is important um I reckon as I’m looking at our cups now and they’re either gone cold or liquid inside them or they are empty it’s probably time to bring the show to a conclusion and so I will declare the winner of this week’s show um what did I talk about I talk about the trainers title really important but that’s going to conclude on Saturday so I’m I’m going to say we’ll leave that one maybe until next week who knows uh you spoke about the classic trials which were probably meaningless this year so I can’t really give it to you you tried very hard bolstered by my column but even so I’m going to concede on that one yeah so on that basis James Festival likely changes you win yeah it’s always Cham isn’t it Cham is is such an important thing and look let let’s hope that this is the start of of bringing the CH Festival even better for it is in 2025 let hope you win the Naps competition as well fingers crossed yes yes we all send our best wishes to Mr Stevens orbe he’s been chased by Racing Post colleagues and we’re not trying to decry them at all um that ends this week’s show thank you to James Stevens to Jonathan Harding thank you uh for watching Tom CER definitely will be uh in this chair next week we’ll have lots of meaty issues to discuss join him and the panel then until then bye-bye [Music]