RACEHORSE trainer William Haggas lamented the “frightening decline” of National Hunt racing in the North as he spoke at a prestigious dinner.

Haggas, addressing the 244th annual Gimcrack Dinner at York Racecourse last night, said there was a “real fear that jumping could suffer beyond repair”.

The Yorkshire-born handler, renowned for his Flat exploits from his Newmarket base, was speaking to 123 invited guests from the racing world who gathered to celebrate the memory of a star racehorse from the earliest days of the sport.

Gimcrack, foaled in 1760, so impressed with his battling qualities during his racing career that leading figures of the day, such as the Prime Minster Lord Rockingham, founded a club in his honour.

Meeting in the Gimcrack Room at the Knavesmire track, the latest gathering heard Haggas report: “The frightening decline in National Hunt racing in the North spells trouble and with the threat of Newcastle, one of the very best and fairest turf tracks in England, turning into all weather and Wetherby threatening to graduate to flat racing, albeit slowly, there is a real fear that jumping could suffer beyond repair.

“With all due respect to Lucinda Russell, Brian Ellison, Sue Smith and Nicky Richards and a few others, the power is in the south via Messrs Nicholls, Henderson, Hobbs, King – even Donald McCain is hardly North.

“When I was young, the Winter/Walwyn teams struggled to contend with the WA, the Dickinsons and Gordon Richards.

“What has gone wrong? In the hope that these things are cyclical, let’s hope that former glories return to jump racing in the North. But we must be conscious to protect, and then restore, it as best we can.”

Of York, Haggas added: “And what of this place? 17 fixtures here this year yielded 1,417 runners at an average of 12.3 per race. Total prize money exceeded £6 million – the executive contribution was £169,000 per fixture – with the projected total due to rise again in 2015.

“This huge commitment to prize money from the Chairman and his Board has resulted in full fields, huge crowds (total attendances this year were over 335,000) and great horses.

“The Committee have sanctioned a massive upgrading of the facilities here, with more to come. A new weighing room, an infinitely more preferable pre-parade ring, a new restaurant overlooking the paddock all complementing the best Owner and Trainer facility in the country.

“Maybe now this place is not the Ascot of the North but Ascot is the York of the South. In this business if you stand still, you go backwards so congratulations to York and keep up the good work.”

The Gimcrack Stakes, a Group 2 contest for two-year-olds, was first run in 1846 and, at the Welcome To Yorkshire Ebor Festival in August, was won by Muharrar, owned by Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum and trained by Charles Hills at Newmarket.

It is tradition for the owner of the winning colt to address the dinner and, representing the Sheikh, Richard Lancaster said: “Sheikh Hamdan and the Maktoum family’s commitment remains as strong as ever, as can be seen by their activity at this year’s sales – a testament to their love of the horse, and of competing against the best racehorses in the world.

“It is, however, thanks to Sheikh Hamdan’s role as a breeder that he has gained some of his greatest successes, especially in 2014.

“The most important one is naturally Taghrooda, whose Oaks triumph preceded her scintillating victory in the King George and Queen Elizabeth stakes at Ascot. And of course there was Muhaarar’s victory in the Gimcrack!.

“The greatest satisfaction Sheikh Hamdan takes is in breeding top-class racehorses, who then go on to produce outstanding offspring – like all the great breeders, he has demonstrated a long-term commitment to racing, which is so vital to the health of our sport.”