More claiming races could be cure to reduction in horse ownership

Since 2008 racing has suffered a loss of momentum with registered owners down by 50%. One solution could be to introduce a fairly radical alternative to the way some races are framed, writes Colm Greaves

Something bothered Richard McCormick as he wandered through the barns at Churchill Downs racecourse last autumn

It shouldn’t have really, because more than most he is keenly aware that Irish horsemen and women have been colonising training centres around the world for centuries, many of them a lot more remote and primitive than Churchill Downs.