The Racing League has its strengths - but the ludicrous approach to regional teams simply has to go

I'm not greatly enthused by the format or the ambience of the Racing League, which had its sixth and final 2024 outing at Southwell last Thursday.

Mid-season evening fixtures on the Flat entirely devoted to handicaps and with no juvenile in sight are not my idea of well-balanced racing entertainment. More to the point, I'm allergic to the pantomime style that has developed in the event's short history. I don't believe that the sport needs, or benefits from, a faux trash-talk angle that comes across as cringingly puerile.

That's a matter of personal taste. On a broad level, I appreciate that the Racing League has come to occupy a valuable place in the calendar. It provides a major injection of prize-money in a structured way, designed to cater to horses of a certain standard. It comes at an appropriate point in the season and is underpinned by a vigorous media strategy to attract new racegoers and appeal to casual viewers of televised racing.