Bi-Monthly Awards

That's been some two months since racing resumed behind closed doors. Maybe only time will provide enough perspective for racing to comprehend the full impact of the coronavrus pandemic on its own tiny corner. There's already plenty to reflect on and the new tri-county lockdown that includes Kildare indicates how this 'new norm' might be anything but temporary. Still, let's hope these new Bi-Monthly awards wind up being a one-off.

BEST QUOTE - "We knew through the history books what the Ballydoyle riders were going to try and do. All is fair in love and war. It's a big boys' sport and you just put on your big pants and get out there and do the job" - Ger Lyons in wonderfully colourful form after a first classic with Siskin in the Irish 2,000 Guineas. Mind you, magnanimity is always easier after winning!

'MVP' - Plenty have played a 'stormer' in the last two months. But the show is running in the first place through the protocols and systems that persuaded government to give a green light. So kudos to the IHRB's senior medical officer, Dr Jennifer Pugh, and her team. Grumbling about any inconvenience thrown up as a result shows a woeful lack of perspective.

WHO KNEW? - Spectators really do matter. Turns out a race meeting with no one there stinks. Those racecourses bloated with media-rights cash before Covid-19 struck, and who largely dismissed the significance of numbers through the gate, will do well to keep that in mind. But will those who used to take the trouble to go racing revert to any 'old norm' that took them for granted?

BEST RACE - The sight of More Beautiful winning the very first race back at Naas on June 8 was a result for the whole industry. After that it was back to results being in the eye of the beholder. By any criteria though the finish of the Galway Mile between Saltonstall and Njord was a humdinger. The pixelated law said Saltonstall won: justice would have been dead-heat.

BIGGEST GAFFE - The brain-fade by trainer Emmet Mullins that saw him enter Leopardstown despite having been refused entry for breaching health screening procedures. It's the nature of the beast to test rules for flexibility. And how those rules are enforced often needs a test-case. Aidan and Donnacha O'Brien had breached the rules a couple of days prior to Mullins showing up at Leopardstown. But he could have no quibble with his €5,000 fine and three month racecourse ban.

STAR OF THE SHOW - OK Love won the English Guineas the day before resumption here. But this filly is allowed sneak in under any 24 hour wire. If she was outstanding at Newmarket then her Epsom Oaks was visually stunning. It had the sectional bods drooling. Beating up Ennistymon doesn't look great form and there are niggles about the quality of the three year old crop overall. But right now there's no more exciting talent out there.

CRINGEY - It was a very different Irish Derby and yet the racket from the roof of the Curragh stand was eerily familiar.

The roof is the signature point of the €81.2 million revamp of Irish racing's HQ. Yet its capacity to produce distracting train-like noises when faced with a certain wind direction disastrously coincided with the track's biggest day of all. Maybe it was no harm there were no crowds there. Classics are meant to invite a mixture of emotions. But a mix of laughter and disdain is never a good look.

The buck has been passed to the designers and builders to come up with a solution. It's hard not to suspect it might not be the end of this particular passing move.

BEST RIDE - Given the circumstances of a rail draw, on a heavy favourite unproven at a mile, and surrounded like Custer at the Bighorn, it has to be Colin Keane's Irish Guineas spin on Siskin. This was an occasion to make or break a young star's reputation. That Keane sparked when it counted will have been duly noted by all the big guns.

SECOND BEST RIDE - Emmet McNamara didn't have the pressure of riding a favourite and a behind closed doors Epsom was a hollow shell of the usual Derby experience. He was also helped by rivals dozing on the job. But McNamara's Derby victory on Serpentine was a glorious example of a rare opportunity presenting itself and being exploited to the max.

GLASS HALF FULL DEVELOPMENT - It has been a chance to tinker with an 'SP' system in need of overhaul. A series of notably long-priced winners as a result appear to more accurately reflect the flow of money in any particular race.

However the real legacy of the last two months is likely to be the introduction of 48-hour declarations across the board. They are necessary for the sport to face outwards into any brave new betting world. Failure to embrace that reality will be a craven response to more inward-looking instincts.

CLEVER CLOGS - Credit where it is due. Faced with an organisational nightmare, HRI's race-planning team came up with a series of scenarios, one of which got implemented on June 8. It has worked too. We know that because there's largely been little griping about the revamped programme. In a sport where every sectional interest is waiting to be offended that's no mean achievement.

COLD SHOWER - The blockade of every other live sporting port meant RTE came a wooing. A storm of mainstream prime-time coverage resulted. It was mutual infatuation for a few weeks. And then the national broadcaster opted to just stay friends and see other people. Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder. RTE did their tot and concluded there simply weren't enough beholders.