All Change!

Jump racing is to drop the Order of Merit system and will have a British Jumps Championship – similar to the new British Champions Series for the flat - in the future.
The British Jumps Championship will build during the season with what has been described as an emphasis on a ‘Road to Cheltenham’. The actual framework of the championship is planned to be drawn up before next summer and reportedly the points and prize-money system that formed the basis of the Order of Merit will probably form the basis of the new ‘Championship’.
Rod Street, chief executive of Racing Enterprises Limited an arm of the nuisance that is Racing For Change reportedly said ‘We think the Order of Merit has run its course. It did the job of attracting the best horses in the key races, but we now need to engage with a bigger audience and in bringing in new race goers.’
I would point out to Mr Street that ‘attracting the best horses in the key races’ is the best way to attract an audience plain and simple. And, if the basis of the new Championship is to be the points and prize-money system that formed the basis of the Order of Merit, what is the point of the change?
We constantly have the same line for the RFC mob that they are trying to broaden racings appeal to a wider audience but will another new ‘Championship’ have non race goers flocking to racetracks the length and breadth of the country or just be another case of change for changes sake?
Is someone who goes racing once or twice a year really likely to have even the slightest grasp of a British Jumps Championship let alone know who is leading in the standings?
Will the girls organising a Hen Party care if one of the races at Aintree is part of the season long Championship?
Will the lads of the the local rugby club on their annual day out be aware that two of the horses racing in the 3.20 at Sandown are leading in the British Jumps Championship?
I would suggest it is highly unlikely and the time, and more importantly money, being spent on these initiatives would be better spent on the facilities at the racetracks, to use a marketing term 'improving the customer experience', rather than creating league tables that no-one outside of the game is going to care about anyway.