Life is all about perspective. I used to believe that rugby was invented by William Webb Ellis, the schoolboy who picked up and ran with a football. But only until I heard an ex-England international explain that it wasn’t Webb Ellis at all who deserved the credit but Dalrymple, the guy who ran after him, wrestled him to the ground and said, ‘Give us our effing ball back.’
I used to think, too, that if a racetrack put on first-class races with decent prizes, top trainers would send good jockeys along with talented mounts and we would all enjoy good sport. That is no longer enough. Faced with increasing competition for the leisure dollar and falling revenues from the levy on bookmakers’ profits, reflected in poorer prizes for the owners we depend on to keep the sport going, racing is currently having to reinvent its appeal in the effort to put more bums on seats and maximise revenue streams.
It is not an impossible task.
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