Early-closing system to blame for O’Brien domination of Vertem Futurity, not trainers, says NTF chief Ralph Beckett
RALPH Beckett has slammed the early-closing system and stuck up for his colleagues after Aidan O'Brien runners dominated Saturday's Vertem Futurity Trophy.
It emerged yesterday that 11 of the 12 horses still in contention for the Group 1 race were from Ballydoyle, sparking an angry reaction on social media at the lack of British representation.
Andrew Balding's Kameko is the only horse standing in the way of the O'Brien juggernaut in the £200,000 contest, which is the final Group 1 of the British season.
But Classic-winner Beckett, who is also the joint-president of the National Trainers Federation (NTF), said his fellow trainers were not to blame for the unsatisfactory line-up.
He told Sun Racing: "The problem has got several layers. The NTF have voiced the opinion in the past that the major two-year-old pattern races close much too early.
"There is a very obvious parallel this weekend. The Criterium International and the Criterium de Saint Cloud close on October 9, a month after the Futurity which closes on September 10.
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"Although Vertem's sponsorship of the race is extremely welcome, the reality is that racecourses are funding some of the prize money in the major early-closing two-year-old races through the entry system.
"You have to pay £500 to enter on September 10, then another £800 on October 10 to stay in the race.
"That's £1300 already, then you have to pay another £600 on Monday to stay in at the five-day stage.
"So is it any surprise that there are only 34 horses left in after the first forfeit stage on October 10?
"It's not a surprise at all and it's not a leap of faith to expect 34 to ultimately turn into 12 entries.
"It is the entry system that is at fault, not the trainers and horsemen."
Beckett believes that potential participants, who were perhaps late developers, may be missing out on feature juvenile races because of the current system.
He added that moving the supplementary stage to the day after the five-day entry stage, similar to France, was not the answer.
He continued: "We have given warnings in the past that some of our major two-year-old races weren't getting good fields because they close far too early.
"There will be other horses who made their debut after the race closed in September and aren't entered.
"Take Andrew Balding's Via De Vega for example, he is set to run in the Criterium de Saint Cloud because he hadn't even made his debut before the Futurity closing date.
"How do you persuade owners to stump up £500 for a race when a horse hasn't even been out on the track?
"Having the supplementary stage where it is isn't the issue, it's having a race close 9-10 weeks early."