Is this any way to run the racing business?

National Hunt racing is on a high in Ireland and recent evidence suggests the public cannot get enough of the game.

The attendances over the Christmas, at Leopardstown, Limerick and Down Royal, were terrific. Add in thousands more watching on television, on both RTÉ and At The Races, and surely that interest should be built on.

But what do we do? We tell the hardcore brigade, who are willing to go, or watch, racing every day of the week, and those casuals who might have been captured over the Christmas period, to throttle back and relax, nothing to see here.