Biting The Hand That Feeds

Maybe he was giddy at the happy prospect of not being Chairman of Horse Racing Ireland anymore but Joe Keeling's farewell speech at the HRI Awards exhibited a notable lack of political savvy. Slagging off the government for not increasing betting tax smacked of biting the hand that feeds. If other HRI brass weren't squirming in their seats they should have been. Keeling's riding off into the sunset. But as parting shots go this was a particularly gauche volley.

The Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed, was sitting right in front of him when Keeling observed that certain cabinet members are wanting in the courage department. At least he had the cop-on to absolve Creed of blame for not letting HRI have its own way at the last budget. But it's hard not to think Creed too was shifting uneasily.

More than one observer dismissed it as 'Joe being Joe.' And it's true that during his five year tenure Keeling has exhibited a tin ear for the political nuances involved in being the head of a semi-state body. The reality remains though that as HRI chairman his criticism of a government which supports racing to the tune of €64 million won't be taken as personal but a reflection of industry sentiment.

Now the sense of entitlement peculiar to racing means it's very possibly an accurate reflection. But it's still a pretty dumb move to articulate it in front of Minister who in response made some politic comments about Keeling's reign but veered off script to remind him there had been three successive years of €6 million increases to racing's coffers prior to the latest budget.

Forelock touching isn't necessary in return. But biting the state hand is just counter-productive. Racing seems to have developed a regrettable chomping habit though. It's impossible to know for certain if the stall in state money for 2018 is in some way due to the catalogue of own-goals the industry has scored in recent years but it is safe to say they've hardly helped.

One of them of course revolved around the controversial reappointment of Brian Kavanagh as HRI chief-executive. It was a sorry mess left on Keeling's desk but one which he hardly distinguished himself with during the subsequent attempted clean-up effort, on the back of which, as Chairman, he really should have carried the can and stepped down.

Blithely telling a Dáil Committee he wouldn't change a thing if he had it all to do again was a startlingly ill-judged comment at the time. It did at least however reflect the prevailing mood in the sport that HRI's primary function is to squeeze as much public money out of the system as possible with a minimum of public input or intrusion in return.

Anyway the most important race is always the next one so attention now switches to who takes over as HRI Chairman and, much more importantly, how they view the role. Keeling may be going but the prevailing attitude that the HRI board should be little more than a rubber-stamp for industry power-brokers remains. The new appointment will be interpreted through such a prism.

As for the awards themselves no one could quibble with any of the winners and the election of Sizing John as 2017's 'Horse of the Year' was the greatest mortal-lock of the year. It still jarred however that Rachael Blackmore's feat in becoming the first woman to land the conditional jockeys championship wasn't rewarded. This was a singular and pioneering achievement.

Sizing John's winning reappearance in the John Durkan at Punchestown on Sunday was faultless apart from an uncharacteristic error at the second fence that still didn't seem to knock a stir out of the Gold Cup holder as he overpowered Djakadam.

There's always a temptation when a brilliant young star wins the Gold Cup in style, and returns to action with a flourish the following season, that a successful title defence is on the cards. Names such as Kicking King and Imperial Call come to mind. But the challenge of getting a horse back to Cheltenham - never mind successfully defending the Gold Cup - is huge.

It even proved beyond Kauto Star so Best Mate remains the only horse since L'Escargot to win the Gold Cup back-to-back. That's the scale of the task in front of Sizing John although to bounce back from such an arduous Spring campaign, and give the impression there may be even better to come, indicates this is a formidable champion.

Mention of Sizing John almost inevitably comes with talk of Douvan. The Gold Cup hero's old nemesis has been on many lips due to a Tingle Creek no show which betting markets appeared to signal the day before final declarations.

Inevitably Willie Mullins has got it in the neck for commenting that the plan was for Douvan to run in the Tingle Creek and then deciding he wasn't happy enough with the horse to travel him. Equally inevitably any attempt to defend or put in context the champion trainer's public declarations and decisions will be dismissed as craven brown-nosing by a servile media.

But all Mullins did was change his mind. He said the horse didn't please him after a workout so he didn't declare him. Yes there were ante-post betting fluctuations but such moves are as old as racing. No matter how digital the environment the old adage about being wary of a price being too good to be true still applies.

The circumstances were certainly nothing like the furore that accompanied how Altior was ruled out of the Tingle Creek when information was released through a bookmaker. This was a trainer legitimately altering plans. It's very easy to paint such situations in conspiracy colours but that doesn't mean they're correct.

Finally, it was lovely to watch Highland Reel put a perfect seal on an admirable career by scoring for a second time in Sunday's Hong Kong Vase. The five year old retires to Coolmore Stud with a record of ten wins from 27 starts and a European record of over €8 million in prizemoney. He has been the epitome of what the Americans call a hard-knocking racehorse.