AN OFF-SEASON : WHY CAN'T IT WORK?

I have always liked the idea of an annual break from racing.

But industry insiders always shoot me down without ever advancing a solid counter and always claiming : Well, that will be the end of racing! To support their case they always dig up the equine flu as examples. Gee - but that's a poor argument!

Let's deal with it first - Outbreaks of equine flu or AHS have always been characterised by one common denominator : They occurred randomly and unexpectedly. Obviously the industry was going to be inconvenienced!

But what if the industry could look forward to a pre-determined period when they all had the opportunity to spell horses, go on holiday, re-furbish stables and tracks etc ? Instead of the endless tedium of the rote low class racing presently shoved down our throats.

No other sport that I am aware of plays a 12 month season although some are getting uncomfortably close. So why racing? The UK is constantly cited when people are scratching their heads as to how they get the attendance they do. PART of the answer is that they have comparatively FEW meetings on each of their tracks when compared to ourselves. So apart from the sheer variety of courses a race meeting is something of a big deal in the smaller areas and attracts crowds accordingly.

Furthermore they have two distinct disciplines - jumps and flat. Both have their followings and both have specific seasons where they are the dominant. I have no doubt that many racegoers do not attend jumps meetings and vice versa for the flat. But I doubt whether attendance would remain buoyant if both were available 12/12.

Much of the enjoyment of top class competition is based on ANTICIPATION. So having the opportunity to anticipate an event without competitive distraction often contributes to the experience.

Over the years the regulators have already gone some way towards preparing for this by voluntarily compacting feature races into major single racedays whereas they used to spread them in the past.

If the break ( or breaks ) were carefully planned I believe the alternative viewing could compensate quite easily. For example :

Let's say the industry elected to close for either 4 stand alone weeks or 2x 2 weeks or 1 uninterrupted 4 week period.

4x 1 week : This would be so short as to be barely noticed. But if it co-incided with a major festival ( eg Cheltenham, Ascot, Glorious Goodwood ) which was properly promoted with in-depth analysis, Channel 4 material and relentless re-cycling of runs leading up to the events I believe the break could be achieved with minimal disruption.

2x 2 weeks : Might be a little more difficult to fill the slots but major international events might suffice if they were carefully selected and well disemminated to the public. I remain convinced that international turnovers could be massive if the public were better informed and briefed on the merits of the runners etc.,

4 week break : This would probably be the most popular with industry players as it allows for a proper shut down. Owners could send their horses 'out' to farms at reduced keep costs and everybody could get the break.