The traditional handicapping system is holding back jump racing - it's time for a radical overhaul

The search for answers to the same old questions goes on. For much of the last week it has been the issue of making jump races outside the Cheltenham Festival more competitive, inspired by JP McManus's guest column in this space.

It is plain this is not something that will magically fix itself with time, which jump racing's greatest supporter clearly recognises given he felt the need to speak out. But I think the solution might lie in something far more radical than merely tinkering with the festival handicaps, as McManus suggested when he wrote that reducing the field sizes in March would increase the competitiveness of races for the same horses in the build-up to the meeting.

I cannot say I've ever watched a Coral Cup, County Hurdle or Martin Pipe – the three races McManus used as examples of races in which he would favour having fewer contestants – and thought there were too many runners in any of them, but McManus is surely right in his argument that such a move would benefit the earlier stages of the season as runners joust for their spot in the line-up come March.