IT is never ideal when a sponsor is the sole identifier of a race, when the sponsor’s name replaces the race name, or is given to a race in the absence of a race name that will out-live an ephemeral sponsor.

And, let’s face it, all sponsors are transient. The demise of the Hennessy Gold Cup was the final proof of that.

We have been here before, races and race names are the stepping stones through the season, the landmarks by which we can navigate the journey through the year.

Take them away, and you lose part of your navigation system.

We were presented with another reason on Monday, when Cloudy Dream was confirmed in error for the three and a half-mile handicap chase today, the BetVictor.com Handicap Chase, instead of for his intended target, the two and a half-mile chase, the BetVictor Gold Cup Handicap Chase.

Of course, it was an error, but you can see how the error could have been made. And there was a BetVictor Handicap Chase at Cheltenham yesterday, a two-mile contest.

You try to remember which, the BetVictor.com Handicap Chase or the BetVictor Handicap Chase, is the three and a half-mile race and which is the two-mile race without looking up race conditions.

These races need permanent names to which sponsors can attach their brand.

Surely the attachment to an event name of a brand is the true purpose of a sponsorship anyway, not the replacement of it by a brand.

Faugheen returns

IT is difficult to believe that it is almost 22 months since we last saw Faugheen race. Just one more day to wait now. Fingers crossed.