IN DANGER OF SLIPPING INTO IRRELEVANCE

I AM not a Radio 4 listener but the suggestion of dropping the tip of the day segment from flagship show The Today Programme is very much in line with the BBC’s policy of gradually pushing racing out of the mainstream.

The BBC do not have a designated contracted correspondent for one of the nation’s undoubted most historic and popular spectator sports and they have not broadcast a horse race of any nature since 2012. A small puff piece on the Six O’Clock News on Friday on teenage riding sensation Billy Loughnane was as welcome as it was surprising.

It is hard not to notice the general lack of racing coverage in mainstream media now. Make no mistake, racing is fighting to stay relevant on the main sporting stage. And it might be a losing battle. Yesterday’s Scottish Daily Mail had a wonderful piece on the decline of Shawfield Stadium, a greyhound track in Rutherglen that has now closed.

The Scottish Government are being heavily lobbied to make greyhound racing obsolete in five years’ time. Greyhound racing was pushed into the background where it was eventually met by general apathy by the wider public. Racing, particularly jumps, is in a similarly awkward position.

The decline of greyhound racing is the perfect template for ‘woke’ activists that want an increasing number of things banned.

A YouGov poll suggests that 38 per cent of Britons would support a ban on horse racing. Public opinion is gloomy just like attendances and wider society’s opinion on gambling. It’s a diffcicult trend to reverse as the dogs will testify.