IF ever there was a perfect illustration of the great divide between Flat and jumps racing, it surely hits us smack between the eyes today.

Having witnessed man and beast risk life and limb on ridiculously firm ground at Hexham earlier this week for less than #2000, we have the crazy scenario of a horse being supplemented for the Vodaphone Derby at the obscene cost of #75,000.

That's how much Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin operation forked out to supplement their brilliant 1000 Guineas heroine Cape Verdi for the Premier Epsom Classic next Saturday.

With her winning time at Newmarket, nearly a second-and-a half-quicker than that clocked by King of Kings in the 2000 Guineas, connections are entitled to be foolish about Cape Verdi being the first of her sex to win the Blue Riband since Fifinella in 1916.

But what will most of the National Hunt fraternity be making of all this?

Admittedly, money can't buy success - just ask the people who bought the subsequently unraced and infertile Snaffi Dancer as a yearling during the height of the bloodstock boom in the eighties for $14.1m.

Nevertheless, #75,000 is considered big bucks in jumping and rarely even during the peak of the campaign over fences and hurdles, do prizes that large come up for grabs.

Take away the Cheltenham and Aintree festivals and you will see the smaller tracks regularly staging bread-and-butter fare that has too many noses in a far from adequate trough.

The first #1m Derby is just around the corner, yet the jumps boys (and girls) are still racing for virtual peanuts.

A classic case of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. But, for all that, almost to a man, the National Hunt people would still be involved in the game they love just for the fun of it.

Jumping provides a spectacle that generates excitement for millions of punters and non-betting enthusiasts alike.

Isn't it time the gladiators got their just reward?

Meanwhile, two jumps men left Greystoke for very different careers this week.

Brian Harding, currently No.2 jockey at Gordon Richards' yard, is being installed as stable jockey to Mickey Hammond next season.

And Michael Moloney, who joined Richards as an amateur nine years ago, has secured a job as a work rider with the all-conquering Aidan O'Brien in Ireland.

Moloney exemplifies that life as a middle-of-the-road NH jockey is not a happy one.

Just three short of a century of career winners, he has found it difficult in the past couple of seasons and has been forced to seek work in his local hotel to supplement a dwindling income.

He was well-known at places like Kelso where he won umpteen races on popular chasers such as Whaat Fettle and Tighter Budget.

Moloney, at 31, has had the guts to quit the unequal struggle and it may be the making of him.

He made a name as a top-notch schooling and work rider and is going to O'Brien with the highest recommendations.

At Ballydoyle, he will team up with some of the finest equine talents in Europe, both on the Flat and over jumps.

Nobody can grudge him the chance to do that.

Harding is also a familiar visitor to Scotland through his association with Richards and Hawick trainer Alistair Whillans.

He should not be a stranger when he joins Hammond, who loves his sorties north of the Border and is a man with many Scots owners in his Middleham yard.