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GG Jumps Journal – A Racing Chat with Matty Sutcliffe

Horse racing is not a young person’s sport. But could it be?

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Joe BloGGs

Among the GG ranks, there was one man in particular who I wanted to pick the brains of. Matty Sutcliffe has taken GG and the Weekend Watch by storm, but as a young racing enthusiast, I wanted to get his thoughts on a variety of racing’s critical questions, and how he believes the sport can better market itself to the next generation.

Hedgehunter, Frankie Foster and this column’s favourite, Langer Dan, all get a mention as we set the racing world to rights:

People know you from the Weekend Watch, GG’s brilliant podcast, but we have never had the opportunity to talk to you in more detail about racing. From the start, what do you remember about getting into racing and your first racing memories?

Matty: “I think my first memory of racing like most people was watching the Grand National with my family. It would have been the 2005 Grand National and they give you £1 of their money to choose a bet. Without wanting to get the trumpet out, I picked Hedgehunter! We would always go round my grandma’s house and it would be a big event.”

A pause for an editors’ note as referenced in the full interview – this means Matty, within the space of ten minutes, had more Grand National winners than I have in 21 years of watching the race.

“My first memory of actually going to the races was a bit later on in about 2010 with my grandma, grandad and brother: we went to Ripon. My grandparents did the same thing as the National “pick a horse, pick a number” and I was £20 up while my brother had six losers. He picked a 100/1 shot to have £1 each-way on in the last and it wins. I always go back to it thinking “how on earth has he just done that?” Ever since then, the feeling of what you can get out of racing is what got me hooked.”

Watching the National speaks to most people in racing as a memory. Was your dad also a Saturday watcher on Channel 4?

Matty: “Yeah definitely. My dad and my grandad on that side have always been into racing. My grandad was a former sports minister so he’s always been involved in the sport. Whenever I’d be with them, whether it was a Wednesday or Saturday, racing would be on the TV or on in the periphery.”

With racing always being on, do you remember your first racing heroes, equine or human? I’m guessing Hedgehunter must have been one of them!

Matty: “We grew up around Sue Smith’s yard – they had a lot of horses in Hedgehunter and the late Trevor Hemmings’ colours, very familiar colours, including Vintage Clouds. Growing up around a relatively small yard which conquered the yard and won the Grand National as well (in 2013). My equine hero would probably be Vintage Clouds: I think it was his fourth run in the Ultima at Cheltenham when he finally won it. In terms of humans, they may not have been heroes, but the inspiration of the likes of Sue Smith and racing yards in the north always had an impact.”

Ed – Vintage Clouds was a Grand National pick for me in 2019. He fell at the first. It’s as if he’s taunting me.

We live in a racing bubble as a significant minority of people our age. Outside of going racing or racing social media, are you aware of anyone our age who sees racing as their main sport of interest, for betting or otherwise?

Matty: “No, I am a complete anomaly in my friendship group back home! I am probably the only person I know who would understand racing, but my friends would only be properly aware of the Cheltenhams, Aintrees and Ascots. My circle would not even be weekend punters, but festival punters when the big meetings are around.”

As someone who has gotten into working within the sport through GG and the Weekend Watch, do you ever feel like there are any barriers as a younger racing writer? Does it sometimes feel like a closed shop?

Matty: “I’m in a very fortunate position that GG took me on so early in my endeavours in racing. Venturing outside of tipping in the racing world, as a journalist or general writer, it does feel like a bit of a closed bubble at times. Without a background or family in racing, there are not enough pathways to get into the sport, outside of things like the BHA Development Program. Racing needs to do more than that though to get people into the sport or it looks too set in certain ways or that it hasn’t moved with the times.

How beneficial have your appearances on the Weekend Watch been, and what has it been like to work alongside Andrew Mount, Kate Tracey and Dave Young?

Matty: “It’s massive and something I definitely don’t take for granted. I was a complete ball of nerves for the first one, but it’s been thoroughly enjoyable and I learn so much from them. It’s a joy every time definitely.”

Was there a “breakthrough” tip you made on the podcast that pleased you the most?

Matty: “I put up Le Patron as my NAP in the Henry VIII Novices’ Chase in 2023, and also Not So Sleepy as well. I don’t know what the double was, but I remember Kate Tracey mentioned Le Patron in a later podcast and said that horse always reminds me of Matthew Sutcliffe!”

From your experiences with GG, what is your own personal process for reading a race?

Matty: “GG fans will know I look for outsiders or a bit of value first, but I’ll never try and take on a favourite if it’s too rock solid, never for the sake of it. I’d take a process of elimination through the market and eventually land on one that shouldn’t be the price it is. Maybe I have too much of a tin foil hat on, but I’m always asking “why has this trainer put their horse in this race? Is it by design or for the next day ahead?” If you look through that lens, you can limit a field a lot by that criteria before digging deeper into the form.”

On that note, are there certain types of races you prefer to tip in?

Matty: “I despise bumpers. I’m quite a form-reliant person and bumpers have none to really go on. Over jumps I much prefer chasing, especially novice chasing. It’s an angle I quite like to exploit based on trainers improving their hurdlers for a fence.”

Without a background or family in racing, there are not enough pathways to get into the sport

Do you get Davy Russell or Michael O’Leary on The One Show? I’m not so sure.

Let’s get to the main event of what I wanted to ask you. If the BHA came calling asking you to head up a task force to make jumps racing more attractive to young people, what would be your “5-point plan”?

Matty: “The trick is that there are only two ways to get into the sport – by familial connections, or after you turn 18 and you can legally bet. Therefore, my “Point 1” would be on how to make the sport appealing to those who can’t legally bet.

“You can’t get into racing as you can with football by just kicking a ball around with your mates. So you have to attend the races and my first point would be to discount under-18 tickets – or just make them free of charge for everyone under 18. Half the reason people go racing they cannot engage with, but for free, they can engage with the atmosphere and develop an affinity with it, whether with their family or friends.

“Once that initial intrigue has been established, “Point 2” would be to find ways of building and sustaining it. Stable open days can be a crucial way of keeping people involved and realising how amazing these animals are as the main attraction. Stable tours, open days and, “Point 3” making the pre-parade ring more interactive – I’ve been to the Ebor meeting and there’s often only 20 people around the pre-parade ring – can all ensure a higher percentage of people at a race meeting are coming for the animals and the racing rather than for a drink.

“Point 4” is to stop pandering to groups who wish to see racing banned. We were all celebrating the 2024 Grand National with no deaths and it being a much safer race, and the likes of Animal Rising were very quiet. However, we know that the majority of other racing deaths go unnoticed by these groups, but are mostly recognised within racing. Let’s keep our own house in order before any more restrictions which pander to groups which don’t actually care 99% of the time.

“Lastly, “Point 5” is to take away races which offer nothing in terms of entertainment among the program. Those who watch the Gold Cup and see 10-15 of the best chasers in the country are then treated the day after to numerous bumpers across the Saturday meetings. I wouldn’t necessarily ban bumpers entirely, but I would limit them or make them exclusive to amateur jockeys so that they are more of a novelty. I think they have very little influence on the game.”

Let’s keep our own house in order before making more restrictions pandering to groups who don’t care.

You talk about the race program – how do you explain to outsiders to the sport horses like Langer Dan winning at the biggest meeting of the year, and what can racing and the Cheltenham Festival learn from others of your favourite sports?

Matty: “With the Langer Dan situation, however you perceive it, it is very difficult to explain even to people involved in racing why that’s happened. You have to be quite well-versed in the formbook or the intricacies of the sport to understand why he wouldn’t win before the Festival, but does win in March. To get someone into racing to that extent is tricky, as you wouldn’t see something like that in any other sport. Messi’s form wouldn’t regress for five months in America before returning to Barcelona and inspiring them to the Champions League.

“In terms of what racing can learn, there was a debate held as to who would be racing’s Luke Littler, but that couldn’t happen in racing. The horses are the stars of the show, but a jockey could not achieve what Luke Littler has. I actually quite enjoyed the Racing League because it was a team sport. They’ve got it wrong in terms of how they score the points, it’s quite difficult to follow, but I think that version of the sport can be appealing if done correctly. I watched it with my girlfriend and she could recognise that three horses represented one colour, three represented another; people can follow that, but I couldn’t possibly explain to her why Langer Dan won two Coral Cups having been last all season!”

The Jumps Journal survey chronicled the knowledge of my non-racing family and friends. Based on the results, do you think you would receive similar results from yours and how can we use that info?

Matty: “Definitely. If I asked my mum’s side of the family to name one race and meeting it would be the Grand National and Royal Ascot. My dad’s side and my friends might be more Cheltenham-focused because it’s where they like to have a bet, or they’d know about the York Ebor meeting because it’s at our closest track. It’s tough to get different demographics who weren’t nurtured in the sport to start following the day-ins and day-outs, but the big meetings at least give us a starting point.

On Red Rum still being comfortably the most famous racehorse ever, and Tiger Roll not being mentioned once, where could the sport have done better in marketing Tiger Roll at the time?

Matty: “The sport was very proud of it but only within its own bubble. It was not pushed out to the public as much as it should. We had a facsimile of Red Rum who our grandparents loved growing up, but what can be done – do you get Davy Russell and Michael O’Leary on This Morning or The One Show? I’m not sure.”

Going back to making the sport appeal to our age group, who would you nominate as one ambassador for jumps racing to improve the standing of the sport?

Matty: “The obvious one for me would be Kevin Blake: someone who speaks well, knows the intricacies of the sport and wears his heart on his sleeve and speaks out strongly in favour of the sport. Another that might be slightly controversial would be Frankie Foster: he gets a lot of stick for appearing on Love Island, but he posts regularly and has been involved in and knows a lot about the sport. It could easily be worth promoting him to a bigger platform than he currently has.

One final question now that we’ve fixed the sport for the next decade – if you owned a jumps horse, who would train them, ride them and what race would you aim them at?

Matty: “If I’m being sentimental I’ll say Joel Parkinson and Sue Smith, but there’s no time for sentiment here! 

“Venetia Williams would be the trainer. I think she’s brilliant at being patient and the sourcing of her horses is fantastic. And Charlie Deutsch is, to my mind, the closest thing to Ruby Walsh and AP McCoy since they retired. He has the best pair of hands in the business and is a superb judge of pace.

“As for the race, it would have to be the Grand National wouldn’t it? It’s the one that everyone wants to win.”

The obvious ambassador for me is Kevin Blake – someone who speaks well and knows the intricacies of the sport.

Fascinations & Irritations

It was one trainer’s triumphs which dominated Ascot over the weekend…

Fascination – Nicky Henderson’s Superstars

Potentially more than any trainer in history, Nicky Henderson has been the most adept at handling a superstar. That is undoubtedly the case over 2m, where even the likes of Paul Nicholls and Willie Mullins can call upon a Master Minded or an Energumene, but not a massive amount of depth beyond that.

Seven Barrows, meanwhile, can hark consistently back, beginning with the days of Remittance Man and Travado. However, that 90s pair were only scene setters for the extraordinary animals to have emerged from Henderson’s Lambourn base in the 2010s and beyond.

Sprinter Sacre, Altior, Constitution Hill and Jonbon are all of the history-making mould in some respect. That is to leave out Shishkin, who would have pushed the three chasers all the way at his best over 2m; Constitution Hill is simply a freak of his own over hurdles at his peak.

And yet still more look set to join them. We are yet to discover the depths of talent possessed by Sir Gino and Lulamba, though the former already looks like taking on the world. The latter made his debut for Henderson on Saturday, belying inexperience and penalties to make light work of a decent juvenile hurdle field and may be scooting down the very same conveyor belt.

Irritation – David Maxwell Detractors

Ascot’s card offered me the opportunity to see David Maxwell in the flesh and how did the great man deliver.

Even after a genuinely applaudable ride in which he delivered In d’Or to victory, there were jokes aplenty about his riding style and participation. He is an easy man to criticise, especially as he is clearly more prone to a howler than most jockeys, but the jokes should have been set aside for this particular effort.

Here’s hoping his many contributions to the sport continue, including firing his beloved horses at the last on the way to success.

Tip for the Weekend

It was a close run thing with Jipcot at Windsor on Sunday when he flew home for third; we are unlikely to have seen the last of him winning this season on that evidence but it wasn’t quite the day. Each-way backers will have at least got some pennies in return.

I will keep it simple for this Saturday – L’Homme Presse gets 6lb from his most serious challengers in the Cotswold Chase, so a repeat of either his Gold Cup fourth or King George third should be good enough. If anything, he should improve substantially for his Kempton effort back at this track and prices of odds against look more than fair.