Ed Chamberlin: 'Cheltenham is great - but we need to examine the route there'

ITV Racing frontman Ed Chamberlin has described the proliferation of small-field Graded races en route to Cheltenham as "not much good to us" as he called for the number of options available to top horses to be examined.

In light of the regular diet of uncompetitive Graded races on flagship days, research by the Racing Post shows the number of Pattern races run in Britain over jumps has more than doubled in the last 25 years, while at the same time the best horses are running little over half as often and the number running in handicaps off marks of 160 or higher has plummeted.

Chamberlin was speaking to the Racing Post as part of an in-depth investigation in Sunday's newspaper which considers how we can fix some of these issues, which also includes contributions from trainers Dan Skelton, Jenny Pitman and Michael Dickinson, BHA racing director Ruth Quinn, HRI racing director Jason Morris, journalists Kevin Blake and Lydia Hislop, Coral PR director Simon Clare, former jockey Andrew Thornton and broadcasting supremo Andrew Franklin.

"Cheltenham isn't the problem, it's more the number of options en route that I'd like to be examined," said Chamberlin. "The problem is there aren't enough good horses to go around, which means the top horses can avoid each other.

"With my ITV hat on, Graded races with two, three or four runners aren't much good to us. We all thought Altior versus Cyrname was a big match-up, but it just didn't resonate with the public. A month later we had a King George with five runners. I know we're in lockdown now, but it's still interesting the 2019 King George got almost half the viewers of this season's race."

Reiterating his love of the Cheltenham Festival, Chamberlin added: "Cheltenham is a monster, but I think that's a great thing for the sport. It's rare, in that it's a racing event that resonates beyond racing. In my previous job, the festival was one of the few events that would bring a sporting office to a standstill. It's only people within racing who knock the festival."

The jumps season is broken – so how do we fix it? Read more from Ed Chamberlin plus the likes of Dan Skelton, Jenny Pitman, Michael Dickinson, Kevin Blake, Lydia Hislop and many more in the Big Read, available to members from 6pm on Saturday or in Sunday's Racing Post newspaper. Join Members' Club here.