Graham Fletcher: ‘Filling the grandstands is just as important as the VIP boxes’

Graham Fletcher discusses the importance of getting bums on seats and wonders if our sport could learn something from football in this regard

Last year, I predicted that Scott Brash was going where he belongs – to world number one – and he’s certainly done it in style.

In recent weeks, I’ve been in Doha, where my son Olli has been competing, and to watch Scott scoop up grands prix on different horses has been mind-blowing. He’s got a great string and the way he places each horse or gives them an easier class before he targets a grand prix shows he’s so tactically astute.

The prize money at Doha is unbelievable; €10m over eight weeks. It’s exciting how our sport has grown so much in recent years. Jan Tops tells me that the Global Champions Tour is now televised in 56 different countries.

As a sport, however, we shouldn’t get too exclusive. Filling the grandstands is just as important as filling the executive boxes.

There’s no doubt that showjumping’s popularity of yesteryear owed a great deal to characters like Harvey Smith who appealed to all sections of society. Today, we should be striving to make it more available to all by getting people that aren’t horsey to follow the sport.

When I watch televised football matches, I see the players walk out with young children by their sides. Could the London International and Royal Windsor do likewise and invite local school children to look around the stable area and then be taken on a course-walk with some of our top riders?

Don’t get me wrong, we have a top-class sport and a lot to look forward to. But we get no public press whatsoever these days and for that to change we need to attract public interest.

As for me, I’m returning to Doha to enjoy the sunshine and see if we can win some of that lovely prize money.

Be careful what you wish for

When the tabloid media get their knives out, they are unrelenting. The BBC, and the scrapping of the licence fee, appears to be their latest target.

Like everyone else reading this, I wish the BBC showed more equestrianism like it did in years gone by. But, even so, it’s really the only mainstream broadcaster that showcases our sport – and did so brilliantly from last year’s London International.

Between my Doha visits, I escaped the pouring rain by watching the Winter Olympics, marvelling at the bravery and technique of the skiers and the artistry of the figure skating. Then for sheer entertainment, I really enjoyed The Night Manager. So be careful what you wish for – because we’ll miss the BBC when it’s gone.

“Shunted into irrelevance”

I wholeheartedly agree with Richard Sheane about the ridiculous situation regarding X-rays and scans at horse vettings.

The clinical vetting, including a flexion test and lungeing on a small circle, used to be the most important part of the examination – and, in my opinion, still is. But it now seems to have been shunted into irrelevance compared with the crystal ball carry-on where vets try to interpret how long a future a horse has.

I totally sympathise with vets who have a difficult task nowadays as some buyers adopt a President Trump-style threat to sue them if something goes wrong.

It’s also a tough one for the client to ignore a vet’s opinion. But for me, if it’s 50/50, then get another vet to re-examine it and see if they reach the same conclusion.

I would love to see the statistics of how many horses have “passed” a clinical examination yet “failed” through X-rays and scans. That would certainly give a sense of who got it right.

Having sold horses for more than 50 years, I’ve concluded that if one has competed for two years plus, and it passes the clinical with flying colours, then it might get injured (usually when you turn it out into a field!) or it might get a horrific colic. But you’re very, very unlucky if it goes lame.

● What are your views on vettings, either as a buyer or seller? Let us know at hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and county, for the chance for your thoughts to appear in a forthcoming issue of the magazine

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