High-profile changes were made to the British jumps season - did they have an impact or has the sport just rearranged the deckchairs?

When Cheltenham supremo Ian Renton said last month that there were “bound to be changes” to the race programme at the Cheltenham Festival in an attempt to tackle declining competition at the meeting, those with British racing’s best interests at heart could well have been forgiven for thinking they’d been here before – and very recently.

It’s not just the festival that has problems with a lack of competition, with the number and quality of British runners in the top races across the whole season falling for several years, and the sport had attempted to address this with a number of changes to the Pattern and Listed programme that came in at the start of the season just finished.

The changes were revealed last April by the BHA and the Jumps Pattern Committee and saw several races moved in the calendar, others removed entirely and some additions made to ensure the top races were spaced more appropriately through the season.