Follow The Leader

For such a self-consciously tough sport racing is very fashion conscious. So if there's one result with potentially significant and beneficial long-term implications it would be if the new St Leger hero Capri were to win the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Plenty will scoff and dismiss the world's oldest classic as an anachronism in terms of Europe's greatest prize. But should a Leger winner also land the Arc it would introduce a valuable and timely retro vibe.

Since a re-jigged programme means the Arc is less than a fortnight away this year, and Capri had to dig deep to win at the weekend, asking him to step up again so quickly may be too big an ask. But it is encouraging that Aidan O'Brien seems quite enthusiastic about going to Chantilly. He also indicated there may be more to come again from the gutsy grey.

Of course Enable is an Arc standout and could make all debate redundant come the first Sunday in October. But while it's a cliché you should never be afraid of one horse it doesn't make it invalid. And Enable apart there's nothing that will really have the Coolmore team quaking. All of it could be academic if Capri can't recover in time from his Doncaster run. But that's a question of timing and nothing to do with the Leger's supposed capacity for reducing top horses to Arc also-rans.

That reputation has plagued the world's oldest classic since Nijinsky's Arc failure in 1970. But hindsight has put that defeat down to the impact of ringworm attack rather than the great horse appearing at Doncaster. Getting beaten in a much more gruelling Leger certainly didn't prevent Alleged winning in Paris seven years later . Both Sun Princess and User Friendly were only just denied in the Arc. Yet those narrow defeats only cemented prejudice against the Leger and other long distance races in recent decades.

Should Capri come out and win in Paris it would set a new precedent which would not alone be a boost to the to the Leger's credibility but also help rejuvenate the stamina element to racing in this part of the world which helps make it distinctive. Just because a horse stays doesn't mean it is slow. Dermot Weld cherishes the concept of a "stayer with speed." Commercially that ideal has been desperately unfashionable for decades. But fashions can and do change.

It would be ironic if world racing's most commercial operation bucked the trend. But then again perhaps it's a world leader because it sets trends rather than follows them.

It was theoretically possible that something could have seriously tried to follow The Anvil's early fractions in the Doncaster classic but any jockey trying to would have been practically offside. As it was The Anvil was mostly ignored although his effort has regenerated debate about team tactics and the role of pacemakers.

Certainly those who think The Anvil was ridden to achieve his best possible placing must be in a tiny minority. Then again did anyone backing him seriously bet on him not carrying out pacemaker duties? It's all a grey area and it is valid to query whether such a grey area should be permitted. It's certainly a tough argument to make though that pacemakers benefit everyone. Try telling that to the Crystal Ocean team.

There appears to be no argument though about a new Northern Ireland trainers body meeting for the first time in Lisburn tonight. The overwhelming majority of the north's thirty plus trainers and permit holders are expected to attend and confirm a split from the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association.

The move reflects deep dissatisfaction among many in the north about how the IRTA has reacted to their concerns over certain issues but particularly the application of racing's pension arrangements to stable staff in the north of Ireland.

There are few areas more boringly technical than pensions. But essentially the argument is that if racing here is All-Ireland then why have trainers being paying into a scheme on the same basis as their colleagues in the Republic yet different benefits apply to staff because they're in a different political jurisdiction.

An old Turf Club administered fund wound up in 2010 and a new non-contributory scheme is due to be rolled out later this month. It will be administered by a committee made up of representatives from Horse Racing Ireland, the Turf Club, the stable staff association and the trainers association. HRI's former financial officer Margaret Davin will chair the committee.

HRI has stressed that different employment law in the north makes the application of the new scheme different either side of the border. But to its credit it says it can navigate a way around this to make benefits to the small number of full-time stable staff in the north "equal but separate."

There is clearly still unhappiness in the north however in relation to the wind-up of the old scheme, and just as clearly in relation to the IRTA. In the current climate any split will inevitably be viewed through a 'Brexit' prism and it certainly puts a dent in racing's representation of itself as an All-Ireland sport. It is regrettable that such acrimony has been allowed to develop.

It has been pointed out to this corner more than once recently that even at the height of the Troubles there was a widespread sense within racing that talk of political identity did no one any good. For many the horse game was an oasis of normality at a very abnormal time. It would be naive to think it was all 'happy-clappy' but there was determination to keep racing identity free.

Talk of jurisdictional division now makes one wonder how it has come to this and perhaps ponder the value of racing's 32 county scope.

Some much less cerebral material is likely to emerge from this week's BHA enquiry into the Stephen McConville trained Anseanachai Cliste's withdrawal from the Foxhunters at Cheltenham last March and his subsequent positive test for cobalt.

Reports of a blood covered syringe being found in the horse's box are headline-friendly although such a discovery could testify more to stupidity and ineptitude rather than any sinister mastermind portrayal.

The ramifications of Anseanachai Cliste winning a race at Downpatrick nine days later is likely to concentrate official attention in this jurisdiction in the short term. In the longer term it's the implications of a positive cobalt test that should concentrate minds.