BHA looking at bigger picture as it responds to Irish domination at Cheltenham

The BHA will not be launching any separate post-Cheltenham inquiry following the domination of last week's festival by runners trained in Ireland, with any review likely to be housed within existing considerations of the jump racing Pattern and the post-Covid-19 work on building a sustainable financial recovery for the sport.

Irish trainers broke records on almost every front over the four days of the meeting, with 23 victories shared between 10 different trainers. In comparison, the home side managed a paltry five winners, only two of which came at Grade 1 level.

A spokesman for the BHA congratulated both leading jockey Rachael Blackmore as well as the racecourse and broadcast teams at Cheltenham for "lifting the nation's spirits".

Rachael Blackmore landed the Champion Hurdle on Honeysuckle, the first of six winners for the rider across the Cheltenham FestivalCredit: Edward Whitaker

In addressing the alarmingly one-sided results, they said: "We are aware that, like all of us at the BHA, many parts of the racing industry will be reflecting on what happened last week and what can be done to improve the competitiveness of racing at the top level. However, this is about more than just four days in March.

"The health of British jump racing is always on our radar, and work is well under way across several areas. The Jump Pattern Committee, for example, decided last year that there were elements of the Pattern and Listed race programme that needed looking at, including the need to produce some more competitive races across the season.

"There are also important pieces of work across areas such as handicapping, and safety and welfare, which all feed into the longer-term objective of building a strong, competitive jump racing industry in Britain."

Pressure has been building on the BHA to address the performance of the home-trained horses in the days since the festival was capped with a 1-2-3 for Ireland in the feature WellChild Cheltenham Gold Cup, a race where the first British-based runner, fourth-placed Native River, finished nearly 30 lengths adrift of winner Minella Indo.

Many leading trainers in Britain have had their say over the cause of the inequality in resources and results from last week, with Emma Lavelle and Harry Fry among those to identify poor prize-money as driving owners into the hands of their Irish counterparts, while Dan Skelton blamed "systematic flaws" in the system which favoured too many handicaps at the expense of races for potential Graded performers.

The BHA spokesman added: "The sport is currently working its way through one of the most difficult periods of its history off the back of the coronavirus outbreak, and the industry is working to an agreed plan for recovery from the pandemic, which includes a focus on the industry’s financial health, including the returns to owners.

The BHA has committed to listening to 'strong views' on the issues facing British racing, which should ensure a call to trainer Dan SkeltonCredit: Edward Whitaker

"This plan also includes, in the longer term, sustainable recovery and growth for the sport. Over the coming weeks we intend to harness some of the strong views that currently prevail across the sport and engage further with our industry.

"We will listen to the views of owners, trainers, jockeys, breeders, racecourses and others. These views will feed in to ongoing work and continue to help shape what steps the sport will take to support the future of British jump racing."

On Monday National Trainers Federation president Rupert Arnold urged British handlers to be braver in their campaigning of horses and for the best to run against each other ahead of Cheltenham.

'The money is all in Ireland at present'

But former champion trainer Martin Pipe – a 34-time winner at the festival and a man often associated with being unafraid to run his horses – believes that prize-money rather than preparation is likely to be the key to reviving British fortunes.

Martin Pipe: 'Horses have always been hard to find but the prize-money is better in Ireland and they don’t have as much racing, compared to England'Credit: Edward Whitaker

Pipe said: "Well Chief only had one run over fences before the Arkle, and I remember Rolling Ball only had one run before winning the staying novice chase [Brown Advisory], while Cyborgo was first time out when he won the Stayers' Hurdle.

"The money [to buy good horses] is all in Ireland at present. It all comes back to prize-money. Horses have always been hard to find but the prize-money is better in Ireland and they don't have as much racing, compared to England."

Pipe added: "I was lucky to have some loyal owners and we bought some [nice] horses. But some of my Cheltenham winners came out of claimers, like Blowing Wind and Make A Stand. They weren't expensive.

"In Ireland we used to go to [Tom] Costello and David Johnson went across there and bought loads, untried basically. I used to go to the sales in Ireland and buy some store horses. They were all reasonable money, 20 or 30 thousand pounds.

"The trouble is, you don't realise the cost of keeping a horse and bringing it on. It costs a fortune and they've got to be trained. In that sense, when they've run and won a race, they're cheaper. It cuts out the risk, at least you know it can run. It's difficult to get a horse to a racecourse."

Read more on the Irish domination at the Cheltenham Festival:

‘Italia 90 moment’ in Ireland at risk of being lost (Members' Club)

Minella Indo recognised as best jumper in training with Gold Cup RPR of 179 (Members' Club)

Trainers' chief urges Brits to be braver when campaigning horses (Members' Club)

Dan Skelton: we've got to learn from Cheltenham drubbing and make changes

Where do the problems lie for British jump racing? Professionals have their say

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