I recently read an article about changes to the Junior National Hunt Hurdles programme being brought in by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA). This blog is not about the merits or otherwise of this approach, but rather about an idea that occurred to me after reading a quote from Tom Byrne, the BHA Head of Racing and Betting. He stated that the aims of the programme were
“ensuring that developmental pathways exist so that we are nurturing future talent and, over the longer-term, making sure we are competitive at the top level.”
The words that stood out were ‘pathways’ and ‘nurturing future talent’. This got me thinking, what would happen if you developed horses in the same way as elite programmes in sports such as cycling?
Their pathway nurtures talent at a regional level before developing it through national programmes at age (ability) appropriate levels. After this, the athletes are ready to enter the full competitive environment such as an Olympic Games.
The Racing Pathway
So how would this work in racing? Here’s one idea.
It would start with a series of regional qualifiers to identify the best young horses. Those horses that win or are placed in races will qualify for the nationals in the second half of the season. This would be a series of races that bring together the best young stars in a series of races.
A key stipulation for taking part in this pathway would be that horses that race in national events are required to stay in that pathway for a season (or two). The aim here is to avoid the situation of early-developers taking the spoils on route to a fast-tracked career. In return patient owners would be rewarded with decent prize money in national pathway races.
Other stipulations could be added about country of birth, training establishment, or pedigree if you wanted to promote homebred talent.
The outcome
In a best case scenario I would suggest:
- For the horse: a steady development competing against similarly matches peers as it improves
- For the owner: decent prize money that rewards a patient developmental approach
- For the punter: competitive betting races
- For the spectator: the chance to watch a horse develop and enjoy head-to-head rivalries as horses race against in even more important races
This would be an experiment to see if a deliberate pathway that slowly develops horses through a season or two can produce a future champion, a soundly built consistent high-performer, or maybe even a stallion of the future.
How this is different from the existing process is that it gradually develops a young horse along recognised stages of development, rather than missing out a few stages to chase prestigious prizes.
It would be a more patient approach compared to initiatives such as the High Value Developmental Races that support British commercial breeding by providing more money for early career races without any thought about the rest of a career.
Horses are idiosyncratic animals and there is no one rule that works for all. This is not some grand solution to a problem, but rather a novel way of supporting a horse’s development. Perhaps the BHA needs some fresh thinking if it is to address the decline of the British bred thoroughbred
Sport.dat 