General Principle and Isleofhopeanddreams in last year's Irish Grand National© Photo Healy Racing
The Irish Grand National is probably this country's most coveted jumping prize. With a €500,000 prize-fund it is definitely the most valuable. About nine minutes around Fairyhouse on Easter Monday can define a career. So it's interesting to ponder what kind of suspension or fine might persuade a jockey not to break the whip rules if they felt doing so might let them win.
Given the prestige and the prizemoney even penalties counted in weeks or thousands probably wouldn't stop a rider from getting stuck in during the closing stages in such a scenario. And if they didn't there are plenty of owners and trainers who'd ask why not. Any financial toll would probably be covered in a heartbeat by grateful winning connections.
That's the reality underpinning all major races. It means the new whip regulations introduced by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board less than two weeks ago will get their first thorough test at Fairyhouse. An easy wide-margin winner in the manner of Our Duke a couple of years ago could make whip issues redundant. But Our Duke stood out because he was exceptional.
Controversial as they are the new rules which trigger an automatic stewards enquiry after a jockey hits a horse nine times or more have so far resulted in mostly nothing but cautions. That's testament to the good sense of a lot of riders both on the flat and over jumps. But it also reflects how there hasn't been a pot run in that time period worth tempting them into breaking the rules.
Briefings will be carried out before racing at Fairyhouse with reminders given to jockeys about the National's high-profile. Fairyhouse officials might have over-egged it when describing it as a race that stops the nation but last year an audience of 320,000 tuned into RTE to watch it. The Irish National and Easter Monday are synonymous with each other so officials are conscious of extra attention. These are the occasions at least partly behind why the new deterrents was introduced.
But how effective can they be in the face of the continuing reality that it's still very much worth a jockey's while to break the rules and take one for the team if the stakes are high enough.
JJ Slevin won last year on General Principle, beating Danny Mullins on Isleofhopendreams. Slevin got seven days for his use of the whip. Mullins got three. Ask Slevin if he thinks seven days in return for an Irish National was a fair swap. Or ask Richard Johnson if he'd even pause to ponder if seven days and over six and a half grand wasn't a worthwhile toll for winning the Gold Cup on Native River.
The charge thrown at the whip issue is that penalising it is mostly cosmetic. After all if it doesn't really hurt a horse, as so many insist, then it shouldn't really matter, which is a debatable argument on many levels.
However in relation to the penalties imposed in big races the cosmetic charge is essentially correct. If it comes to a desperate enough finish in a big enough race jockeys will throw whatever it takes at their horse to win and worry about consequences afterwards. Changing that mindset however requires grasping a nettle that those in charge seem desperately to want to avoid.
Irish racing has always prided itself on flexibility when it comes to rescheduling cancelled fixtures. In comparison to the lumbering mechanics of how lost meetings are sometimes re-fixed in Britain, the process of squeezing cards into the programme has always been helpfully malleable. But such pliability might be becoming more rare.
Last Monday's Tramore fixture was called off due to waterlogging. It was an unfortunate hiccup considering the weather outlook quickly improved and it's hard not to think that in pre-Racing TV days the card would have been quickly squeezed in somewhere. It has been squeezed in too, but a month later, on May 14, with pointed reference to how it will be an afternoon fixture.
This is in the context of widespread suspicions among many flat trainers that it is TV demands which are behind a perceived reluctance among Horse Racing Ireland officials to put new turf fixtures into the programme. The trainers are keen for this to create opportunities for some horses they're reluctant to run at Dundalk.
The phrase 'Tail Wagging The Dog' has been employed more than once recently in relation to this. It's another cliché that comes to mind more however and that's the one about paying the piper entitling you to call the tune. RMG and SIS have coughed up the cash. The racecourses and racing, through HRI, were happy to take it. At the risk of mixing metaphors there's no point closing the stable door now.
As for Dundalk no doubt various parts of a lot of official anatomies throughout racing will be kept very firmly crossed that its two remaining fixtures of the Spring programme get to be run off without incident. Reports of jockeys finding parts of the track lightening fast in spots, and six inches deep in others, at its fixture last week were alarming.
It seems however that there's currently no issue with going ahead and once again the most accurate indication of how the track is really is likely to come from the numbers of declarations. More than a few professionals have privately expressed the view that persevering with these two fixtures may be a risky exercise. Others though believe enough remedial work can be done to make sure it will be fine in the immediate short-term. Then vital long-term considerations will come into play.
For those of us who once again got sucked into dreaming of how an exceptional two year old champion might develop into a true superstar at three it has been a trying time with news of how Too Darn Hot will miss the Newmarket Guineas. A rogue splint issue means the brilliant Dewhurst winner now has to wait for either the Irish Guineas or the Dante.
It has been described by John Gosden as a minor problem which means he has just run out of time in terms of a Newmarket preparation. So maybe the wheels might come back on the Too Darn Hot train in classic style at the Curragh. Such a prospect is certainly enticing in terms of Irish racing's spectacular new HQ.
But one thing trainers almost all agree on is that in order to win at the top level any sort of interruption can spell disaster. Any chinks in the armour get ruthlessly exposed in the classics, especially when playing catch-up. So Too Darn Hot might really have to be Pretty Darn Exceptional to live up to the dreams invested in him.
