Racing’s biggest issue is the decline in field sizes

‘I don’t want to seem unromantic,’ said Mrs Oakley as St Valentine’s Day approached, ‘but this year please don’t buy another of those Monet cards you seem to find appropriate for all occasions from birthdays to anniversaries.’ And there was me thinking I had cleverly avoided slush and over-commercialism all these years. Behaviour patterns creep up without you noticing and the same is true in racing. For too long we have been enduring small fields, especially in steeplechases, still to me the most exciting of all the spectacles racing has to offer.

Ascot recently celebrated its 50 years of jump racing with a racecard that included three chases. One had attracted six runners, one had five and the other four. None offered the minimum eight runners required for the each-way betting on the first, second and third beloved of British punters. It was a similar story at Wincanton. Two chases there fielded six contestants, the other had seven.