Just as India was once the ‘Jewel in the Crown` of the Empire, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr 1) was the jewel in the crown of the British racing summer.

Next year it will be worth £2million, the richest race ever run in Great Britain, but whether it will attract the very best – the Derby winner say – is problematical. None of the Classic generation turned up this year`s Ascot showpiece; and whether we can get back to the race being won by other than a gelding (last two years) is another question that hangs over its future.

Maybe the money will attract a bigger field than the quintet that turned out this time but in the past seventy-five years the prestige that has seen the race embellish the CVs of such as Mill Reef, Dancing Brave, Shergar, Nijinsky, Harbinger, Enable (three times) is no longer the irresistible attraction it once was. One reason why older horses have come to the fore is that this is no longer a priority for the Classic crop. Three-year-olds have trailed their elders in numbers since 2004.

In the past it would have been unthinkable that a dual Derby (Epsom and the Irish) winner wouldn`t take in the Ascot highlight, Lambourn`s absence wasn`t controversial = he simply isn`t talked about in the same breath as most of his Derby winning predecessors.

Last year subsequent Prix de l`Arc de Triomphe winner Bluestocking went down to Goliath at Ascot and this year`s King George runner-up Kalpana was quickly installed as Arc favourite (we are three months away from that seminal date in the racing calendar). Both the winner, Calandagan (by Gleneagles) and Kalpana (by Study of Man) are some way ahead of their sire`s other produce.

This year`s hero Calandagan is a seasoned performer who was second last year and comfortably reversed Coronation Cup placing with Coolmore`s Jan Brueghel. But as a gelding he cannot follow up in the Prix de l`Arc de Triomphe so he will resonate no higher in racing`s annals than last year`s Ascot showpiece winner Goliath another gelding – also trained by France`s Francis-Henri Graffard, fast establishing himself as Europe`s leading trainer.

Calandagan was the fifth winner of the race in the green and red Aga Khan silks, the first in them for twenty years. But the late Aga`s Shergar he is not. Worthy runner-up Kalpana has not been out of the first three in her eleven race career, to date, but she is no Enable.

That`s enough faint praise. The race provided a spectacle if not an indelible memory. The recently completed Open Golf competition and Wimbledon tennis tournament; the current British Lions rugby tour of Australia; the English women footballer`s exploits in European competition in Switzerland; the cricket Test Series against India – all have filled pages of newsprint and televised hours among which the King George was ‘lost`, In Britain`s leading Sunday newspaper the rugby in Australia received six pages` coverage. The Test against India spilled over onto four and racing, the King George and two Sunday cards didn`t even fill a page.

The King George VI & Queen Elizabeth ought to be one of the defining sporting events of the summer. That was the intention when it was inaugurated in 1951. But it has missed the tide of Populism in the country: racing still acts as though it is an elite sport but only the Royal Ascot week endorses that view. The Glorious Goodwood week at the end of July retains its cachet and will be examined closely in the hope that a few ‘green shoots of recovery` will be found there.

Certainly the appearance at Goodwood of the most exciting horse of this Classic generation, Field of Gold will stimulate interest. Though no Frankel, the Godolphin three-year-old colt will, like Frankel, have to resist another Richard Hannon-trained top miler, the year older Rosallion, in the race of the week, the mile Sussex Stakes. In 2011 the unsurpassed Frankel accounted for Canford Cliffs who would have been champion in any other era: Field of Gold versus Rosallion is history revisited. Another parallel: both were defeated in Newmarket`s Two Thousand Guineas; both found redemption in their successive Irish Guineas.

Over Ascot`s King George and Queen Elizabeth course in August Suraj Nareddu will be representing the Asia Team – and Indian Racing – in the world`s foremost international jockey`s competition, the Dubai Duty Free-sponsored Shergar Cup. Suraj is there on merit - not part of the recent Indo-British trade deal, much welcomed in Great Britain.

Suraj`s two team members are top Japanese riders; in opposition will be the top jockeys of Great Britain & Ireland; Europe; and the Rest of the World.

In a recent article in the magazine Outlook, Suraj answered some pertinent questions that, if asked of a jockey of his stature in this country, identical answers would be forthcoming. The Outlook article was so pertinent it was even commented on by the UK`s racing trade paper, the Racing Post whose interest in Indian racing is unfortunately minimal.

Suraj highlighted the plight of Indian racing – that there are just seven racecourses left. When the British were there as many as 120 existed. Personally speaking I can`t understand why the latest to close was the uniquely beautiful bijou Ooty track where an Englishman (a friend of mine) Sam Hill became the first trainer (1969) to go through the card, winning every race.

The principal British courses to have closed, such as Manchester, Birmingham, Hurst Park and Alexandra Palace in London were all in cities that required land for development. That is a reason giving for the threat to India`s great tracks - that they are too valuable as land to accommodate India`s metropolitan explosions - cities bursting at the seams. The same can be used as an argument for their racecourses continued existence – that every great city needs its green ‘lung` where its population can find relaxation – and sport. The need for housing in Britain`s tiny congested island is even greater than India`s.

“Horse racing has been here for centuries now,” said Suraj, “Introduced by the British.” He also used the metaphor of the lung, adding the sheer beauty of the racing scene. And then he gets to the nub: “GST has taken a heavy toll on racing and the 28 per cent tax is slowly killing the sport. I think our golden period was five years before GST was introduced. The prize money was going up, the quality and number of horses, the opportunities everybody was getting, everything was going up.”

These words resonate in Britain where the politicians are likewise blatantly debating whether or not to kill racing, a huge industry employing more than 70,000 people directly and many more indirectly, by imposing crippling taxes and gambling restrictions.

Admittedly the British economy needs more money to stimulate growth – a problem which India, the fastest growing economy in the world doesn`t share. But we did not suffer the same consequences of Covid that Suraj highlights.

“It caused a lot of stud farms shut down because of the impact on the market,” he said. “The number of horses produced for many years would be between 1500 and 1700. Today, there are only 700 to 800 foals annually on the ground. The entire racing eco-system - owners, punters, jockeys, trainers, grooms is affected detrimentally. When a legacy sport like ours is taxed at the same rate as luxury goods, it sends the wrong message. Horse racing is just not entertainment, it`s a heritage, employing an expert workforce and involved in an international sport. Five foreign jockeys rode in this year`s Indian Derby. Thousands of workers` livelihoods depend on racing. So if racing takes a hit, the effects cascade.

“An example. For our horses to feed, we depend largely on lucerne, which is grown in farms that give employment to a lot of people. Indirectly, at least one lakh people are dependent on racing. Racing`s contribution to the economy, rural employment and global representation would be enhanced simply by lowering the GST.

“In 1996 the Supreme Court ruled that horseracing is a game of skill. So we are pleading to the government to reduce the GST burden on a skill-based sport which is not merely a medium for gambling.”.

That much is recognised in the UK but betting is bound up with social issues – and an economy in decline. Indian politicians certainly do not have the latter as an excuse for ruining a sport on which so many depend for enjoyment and livelihoods.

Suraj acknowledges the overwhelming influence cricket has accrued and that betting on cricket has multiplied exponentially, “Whereas horse racing, although there is an SC ruling that it cannot be termed as only luck-based, still has a certain public perception.

“And that is what we are largely trying to change. Gambling is not the be-all and end-all of the sport.”

Hallelujah to that but with racing in the UK dependent for much of its funding on the Levy obtained from bookmakers from the public losses, there is no difference to their approach to that of the Indian government. They will say that increased taxes are to protect people from the ill effects of gambling but are seemingly disinterest in the consequences for thousands of people.

That trade deal with Mr Modi is very good news. Trading Indian jockeys – so many of British stables rely on Indian work riders – is all very well but when the supply dries up…Suraj will make a fine ambassador.