IN the great scheme of things, with a worldwide pandemic in full flow, it was news that probably didn’t cause more than a ripple in many quarters. Irishman Ed Vaughan is to stop training and in the year when he has probably his best performer, the dual Group 2 winner Dame Malliot. She is a homebred of Anthony Oppenheimer, a discerning owner whose principal trainer is John Gosden.

The owner of recent Group 1 stars Golden Horn, Cracksman and Star Catcher chooses his handful of trainers carefully, and being on his list is an imprimatur of considerable weight. Yet, Vaughan is being forced by the economics of racing to pull up stumps and pursue another avenue within the industry. When trainers of his calibre cannot make it viable, you have to be very worried about literally hundreds of more in the profession.

The British racing model is a complicated one, but at its heart is the racehorse owner. Without her or him we would have no sport, and the many threads of the business who depend on that first pound or euro spent by the owner is a long list. Yet it seems that the calls, for many years now, to tackle the prize money situation across the water are still falling on deaf ears. If the racing powers claim to be listening, then it is clear that they are not hearing the calls.

Yesterday George Baker sent three runners to race from his Surrey yard, two on a 250-mile round-trip to Chepstow, and one on a 270-mile round-trip to Leicester. The two-year-old Run Forrest Run was successful at Chepstow, netting connections a princely £3,493 in winnings. Water’s Edge finished third and earned £520. His other runner was competing for the same level prize money. This is simply ludicrous.

Had Baker’s three runners all won, his owners would have been in credit to the tune of just over £10,000.

The three races at Limerick yesterday with the lowest values would have returned over 50% more to the winning owners. While this would still only be a contribution towards a year’s training fees, it clearly illustrates further how poor the levels are in Britain. While we have no influence here over these amounts, they affect racing’s ability to attract owners, and therefore impact negatively on the market for our horses. Ireland’s biggest export market is Britain.

Brazen Belle this week won her second race in three starts for trainer David O’Meara and brought her racecourse earnings to £7,500. She also earned her owner-breeder Kevin Nicholson £40,000 under the Great British Bonus Scheme. If the industry can fund bonuses of such magnitude, it serves to shine a poor light even more on the levels of prize money. Is there anyone hearing the calls?