Robbie Power calls for jumps racing to be scrapped on Monday and Tuesday in England

Robbie Power calls for jumps racing to be scrapped on Monday and Tuesday in England,EXCLUSIVE: Former Grand National and Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Robbie Power has put forward a suggestion for how to improve jumps racing in the UK over winter

Robbie Power calls for jumps racing to be scrapped on Monday and Tuesday in England

Retired jockey Robbie Power has called on English racing to radically alter its fixture list and scrap jumps meetings on Monday and Tuesday through the winter months.

Power is a man who knows a thing or two about racing, having won multiple top level races, including the Grand National and the Cheltenham Gold Cup. He enjoyed a stellar career lasting over 20 years in the UK and Ireland before calling it quits 12 months ago.

The 41-year-old is now a race planner for trainer Henry de Bromhead, one of Ireland's most successful handlers who has enjoyed significant success both at Cheltenham and Aintree in recent seasons. And Power has now had his say on England's bloated fixture programme as National Hunt racing continues to grapple with small field sizes, uncompetitive racing and too much focus on the Festival.

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Speaking exclusively to Daily Star Sport, former Grand National winner and BoyleSports ambassador Robbie Power said: "I think too much of anything is a bad thing. There’s too much racing in England, especially in midweek.

"I think for staff and everyone concerned, no racing on a Monday or a Tuesday would make the racing for the rest of the week much more competitive, and I think that’s what they should do.

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Robbie Power is now a race planner for Henry de Bromhead (Image: SPORTSFILE)

"Because they race now on Sundays, I think they need to take Monday and Tuesday off. You don’t need to lose those meetings, you push them on to later on in the week which would make for more competitive racing. If you have more competitive racing, you have better racing. I think that’s something that should be looked at."

From a jockey's perspective, Power knows what it is like to be here, there and everywhere for the purpose of racing. For the last few years of his career he was back and forth between the UK and Ireland, riding in his homeland in the middle and back end of the week, and in big races on Saturday for the Tizzard stable.

Robbie Power is also an ambassador for Boylesports (Image: Boylesports)

He tried to give himself the first couple of days of the week off and believes jockeys would benefit from such a change if it was to be implemented during the winter, with All-Weather racing able to fill the gap.

"Jockeys would benefit from it, there’s no doubt about that," he continues. "It’s something that should be considered. I know in terms of betting there’s a need for racing on a Monday and Tuesday, there’s a great want for racing. They can have the All-Weather meetings on a Monday and Tuesday with maybe less of them later on in the week."

British racing has a big problem with field sizes - although not at the Grand National — British racing has a big problem with field sizes – although not at the Grand National (Image: Tom Jenkins)

Power is hoping for success from the Henry de Bromhead yard this weekend at Aintree, where Ain't That A Shame and Gabby's Cross will hope to outrun odds of 22/1 and 50/1 respectively.

Ultima winner Corach Rambler is the 13/2 favourite for the race with Boylesports, while last year's winner Noble Yeats is next best at 8/1 after an impressive run in the Gold Cup last month.