Lack of Cheltenham entries is grim for the north

From the 27th February edition of the Scottish Sun:

RACING is a great leveller.
As a sport, it brings all classes of people together like no other.
In two weeks’ time, high life will meet with low life at Cheltenham and one will often be indistinguishable from the other.
The working man will happily mingle with the cream of Cotswolds society in the Arkle bar and elsewhere.
But, unfortunately, the sense of equality is increasingly being limited to the stands.
The depressingly elitist entries list proves it.
While wonderful small stable stories like Debra Hamer’s Tobefair capture the imagination and should be celebrated, the decreasing entries from smaller stables are a hugely worrying annual trend.
And for us in the north, the lack of participation from trainers based above Birmingham should be a stark warning.
The gap between north and south is widening at a rapid rate.
The last few weeks have seen the festival rocked.
First it was Annie Power, Faugheen and Min missing, then the shock news about Thistlecrack broke last Tuesday.
And sandwiched in between that, there was the Jockey Club’s decision to limit festival goers to a measly FOUR PINTS each at the bars.
But while the past five weeks have been an age for the punter and boozer, the last five years must have seemed like a LIFETIME for trainers based in the north.
A quick scan of the ante-post markets suggest this year could easily be another barren one.
We have Malcolm Jefferson’s Waiting Patiently (20/1) and Cyrus Darius (80/1), Brian Ellison’s Forest Bihan (20/1) and John Quinn’s Project Bluebook (14/1), but that’s about it.
There are more entries scattered among the handicaps, but from a Scottish perspective it’s dispiriting to see only Keith Dalgleish’s Mixboy and Lucinda Russell’s Sky Khan listed.
The former may yet be kept for Aintree, while off a mark of 132 Sky Khan will struggle to get into the race despite his fast-finishing third last year.
It could be that NO Scottish representative lines up this year.
It wasn’t always this way.
In 2012, northern trainers went home with SIX WINS over the week.
Donald McCain and Malcolm Jefferson struck twice, while Russell and Quinn claimed one each.
The likes of Ferdy Murphy, Jimmy Moffatt and Sue Smith had also trained winners in the recent past.
While it may not have been the glory days of the northern powerhouses, trainers from outwith the major centres still managed to make their presence felt.
Fast forward to 2016 and all the north had to show for their efforts was one place.
Sky Khan was the only dart which found the board.
From six winners to a single place in the space of four years – it has been a dramatic collapse.
Only Tim Easterby’s Hawk High, in the 2014 Fred Winter, has managed to win a race in the intervening years.
From being competitive, the northern trainers simply don’t have the ammunition to take on the big boys these days.ante-post markets suggest this year could easily be another barren one.