Parading the runners at racecourses must be front and centre

Chris Cook’s column (June 7) was finally some recognition of the dwindling value many British ­racecourses place on their pre-parade and parade rings.

Cheltenham and York are superb examples of the importance placed on these vital areas for devotees of paddock-watching, like myself, when we go racing.

Chepstow is an interesting case in point. Twenty years ago it was a pleasure to wander down to the pre-parade and back up to the parade ring. Changes were then made in which you weren’t able to use the pre-parade area. That happily is not the case now, but these days, only tiny numbers venture down to watch these beautiful creatures parade and get geared up for the race compared with 20 years ago.

The raceday experience should be centred around the equine competitors, not the overpriced food and boozed-up fraternity. So what we need is the following:

1. To see all horses in the pre-parade for at least two complete circuits (90 seconds should be the absolute minimum).

2. All horses must be in the actual parade ring for a minimum of four minutes.

3. Each number cloth can carry a microchip recording exact time periods in each area.

4. A three-strike policy for trainers in breach of the rules. Breach one would mean an email sent with immediate effect as soon as the race is over; breach two, a £250 fine again with immediate effect; breach three, a £1,000 fine and trainer unable to pre-saddle horses before reaching the pre-parade with immediate effect.

Subsequent failures result in said horse not being allowed a race entry for seven days.

These measures may seem draconian, but we need to remember racing and our equine talent is what sells our sport.

Get them out of the stables and into the pre-parade, saddled and then into the paddock for all the racegoers to see so we can truly rejoice in the magnificence of the most ­selectively-bred horses on the planet.
DJ Ward
Balsall Common, West Midlands

Paddock-watching a joy

I must commend Chris Cook’s column on the sad demise of the pre-parade ring at British racecourses. 

For me, along with many fellow attendees, it has always been one of the joys of attending a meeting to be able to weigh up the horses individually at leisure instead of trying to make a hurried assessment at the last minute.

Paddock-watchers Ken Pitterson and Richard Hoiles’ sterling efforts on racegoers’ behalf deserve to be applauded and acknowledged publicly as well.
Chris Martin
Witney, Oxfordshire

Weld’s a true gent

It was heartwarming hearing Dermot Weld, after winning the Oaks at Epsom last Friday, defending the great horses he has trained in the past when he told an interviewer ­repeatedly, when asked repeatedly, that he never compares current winners with past ones.

It seems the norm nowadays for the media to try to compare current top-class winners with their predecessors, something it appears almost all other sports avoid.

I was therefore saddened to hear Aidan O’Brien proclaiming, ­immediately after the Derby success of City Of Troy last Saturday, that he thought he was better than the great horses he has trained to win the race in the past. 

I know O’Brien has a history of promoting his horses (Anyone remember Australia?) but I see ­absolutely no merit in trampling over the greats of the past who have served him so well in an attempt to try to prove an unprovable point. 

Well done, Dermot, you are a true sporting gent.  
Laurie Williamson
Brigadier Gerard’s groom
Uffington, Oxfordshire

No formal explanation?

Amid all the acclaim of a famous Derby victory, there appears to me an unanswered question and that is why Aidan O’Brien wasn’t formally required to explain the vast improvement in form of City Of Troy. 

We all know the answers due to the massive publicity horse and trainer (I’m a fan of both) attract, but that is not a formal and official answer to the result often required of other trainers.

I think if that had happened it would have been appreciated by those smaller yards seeking parity. They have no worldwide press exposure and yet are called in for similar results at smaller and less prestigious meetings.
John Pressley
Nottingham

Small is beautiful

With regard to the ongoing questions about the height and size of City Of Troy, in reality it is not as important as some may think and suggest. Also, one of the pluses is that racehorses who are smaller in size can stand training a lot better than some of those bigger horses, as the wear and tear due to a larger frame can take its toll more.

History is littered with some of the greatest racehorses and stallions who have all been under 16 hands, including the daddy of them all, Northern Dancer. They are not limited to Flat racing either, as jump racing has its champions too.

Here are to name a few:
Mill Reed – 15.2 hands
Blushing Groom – 15.3 hands
Icecapade – 15.3 hands
In Reality – 15.2 handsLyphard – 15.2 hands
Riverman – 15.3 hands
Northern Dancer – 15.2 hands
Seabiscuit – 15.2 hands
Monksfield – 15.2 hands
Katchit – 15.3 hands
Battleship – 15.1 hands
David Fitch-Peyton
Stud and bloodstock consultant

CIty Of Troy: not a big horse but not all champions areCredit: GROSSICK RACING

Get behind the Derby

I read with interest and with some disappointment, I might add, (June 3) that both the Derby day crowd and the TV viewing figures were down on previous years.

If the week leading up to the Derby itself was anything to go by, this news was not totally unexpected as it had been all doom and gloom.

There was talk it was the poorest field assembled for the great race with a favourite, City Of Troy, who no one wanted to back.

City Of Troy will be favourite in every race he will run in this season, the runner-up Ambiente Friendly will improve again and third home Los Angeles really could be anything. 

The horses who finished in the first six will prove that the 2024 version of the Derby was anything but poor.

Time will tell, I’m sure, but let’s get behind the Classic again – there are enough cheap imitations of it around the world today. Indeed, the French even cut two furlongs from the distance of their race and still try to call it a Derby!
John Johnstone
Glasgow

Why no full House?

My query is regarding the running of Clarendon House in the Dash at Epsom last Saturday. He stayed in the stalls for a little while after they opened, eventually coming out and racing what must have been 15 lengths behind the field. 

Sky Bet voided all bets on Robert Cowell’s sprinter immediately after the race and returned stakes to customers. Other firms, bet365 and Betfair, also returned stakes in bet credits. 

My dispute is, why didn’t other firms do the same, as clearly Clarendon House wasn’t in the race?
Tony Wilkinson

End this handicap trap

There appears an anomaly with regard to the handicaps which are restricted to horses who have not won in 2024. 

While the concept is applauded, the reality is that it gives an advantage to unexposed four-year-olds whereas I assume the central idea behind this type of race is to provide opportunities for handicappers who are consistent but, due to their limitations, rarely are able to win for two or even three years. 

There are hundreds of horses who are effectively trapped in the system and really deserve to race against each other.

Surely a better solution is to restrict these races to horses aged five and older who have not won in their last ten starts. This helps the owners and trainers of horses with relatively modest ability to enjoy the thrilling experience of a win and the prize-money.

It may even provide an opportunity for a sponsor if these events were to form part of a series which can be advertised similarly to the veterans’ version over the jumps.
Clive Reams
Cambridge

Read more:

The demise of the parade ring is sad - but now there's a flicker of hope for those who actually want to see racehorses when they go racing 

Tom Segal is surprised by the Derby narrative - but thinks we haven't seen anything like the best of City Of Troy yet 

It's clear mainstream coverage of the Derby is lost at the weekend - so perhaps it's time to move it back to Wednesday 

Derby again lives up to the expectation of history - and Epsom as a training centre has an opportunity to do the same   

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