Farcical Ascot Chase and Cheltenham ticket sales show jump racing's slow-motion car crash is leaving fans indifferent

Jump racing purists will have greeted this week's revelations that Cheltenham is finding three-quarters of its marquee festival an increasingly hard sell and that uncompetitive, small-field Grade 1s are damaging for the sport's profile with another tired sigh of resignation. 

We're straying into dog bites man territory here because this is a slow-motion car crash that has been happening for years. 

Yes, we're all meant to be cheerleading now that the countdown to the festival is nearing its conclusion, but sticking fingers in ears and humming along merrily won't work. And, as ever, it's not a concern merely for British racing in isolation. Racing on either side of the Irish Sea is all part of the same ecosystem.