Uncertainty around Ballyburn and handicap entries show why Cheltenham Festival changes were needed

This week's column contains an abundance of positivity, but before we get to that part, first the bit about Premier racedays.

The half-term report delivered exactly what we could have expected. Affordability checks will undoubtedly have fuelled the decline in betting turnover but key to Premier racing's failure to achieve anything of note, aside from welcome increases to prize-money, can be explained in a quote given by Chester chief executive Louise Stewart.

"There are few of us who are surprised not everything that was tried worked," said Stewart. Surely the real problem is so little was tried. Premier racedays continue to be no different now to how they were before the Premier experiment. They also look and feel no different to the core racedays that make up the rest of the programme.