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Brian O'Connor

Brian O'Connor's Latest Blog

Premature Adulation

Atior winning at Sandown on SaturdayAtior winning at Sandown on Saturday
© Photo Healy Racing

The rush to proclaim Altior as one of the all-time greats has begun in earnest. He is certainly starting to look like one of the great two-milers. There were enough elements against him in Saturday's Tingle Creek to make the maintenance of an unbeaten record over jumps far from certain. Un De Sceaux and soft ground is a formidable combination. Still Altior found a way to not only win but win well. It's what makes him a champion. But this rush to all-time great status feels premature.

All of it of course is an academic exercise. Enjoyable as it can be, quantifying the talent of horses across the generations is futile in terms of definitive judgements. Distinctions about subjective phrases like 'great' are the result of individual prejudices. But woolly as it all is, the urge to thrust greatness where it might not belong means something in relation to those who've truly earned it.

For example during that epic 2013 Spring when Sprinter Sacre hammered Sizing Europe in the Champion Chase, and made Cue Card look ordinary over two and a half at Aintree, no one could argue we weren't watching a truly great talent in its brief but exceptional pomp. Master Minded's own 19 length Champion Chase rout in 2008 must rank with any other single great performance.

Whether or not a single display should rank higher than Altior's 15 race unbeaten run is a matter of opinion. As is whether or not versatility is an important consideration in identifying greatness. If it is then Altior's profile in terms of the distances he's run over pales overwhelmingly in comparison to such stars of the past as Kauto Star and Desert Orchid.

In stark handicap terms Altior is still heavily in the shade of Kauto Star who ran off a career high official mark of 193. Sprinter Sacre achieved 188. Master Minded ran off 186.

The subjective nature of such ratings is reflected by Timeform's estimation of Sprinter Sacre as Kauto Star's superior, something possibly justifiable in mathematical terms but which will never persuade a lot of us not to view Kauto Star as the finest steeplechaser since Arkle. And we haven't even mentioned the legendary hurdlers.

These are the names that crop up in the context of 'great' accomplishments, performances and careers. And Altior isn't there yet. The nature of all sports is to relish truly great performers. Racing is no different. In fact it's probably more desperate than most for banner names to hang its profile on. But just because a statement is repeated a lot doesn't make it true, no matter the hysterical times we live in.

Altior is already a star worthy of acclaim and the tantalising prospect is that he might yet justify all the extravagant claims already being made for him and more. A Champion Chase rout in March might place him alongside Sprinter Sacre in the two-mile ranks. The most intriguing element to him though is the King George entry later this month which suggests a rare versatility of talent.

Except he's unlikely to go there. His stable companion Might Bite is the defending King George champion after all and Nicky Henderson is no different to Willie Mullins, Gordon Elliott and other top National Hunt trainers in being reluctant to explore when dividing their stars into races they're most likely to win is such a prudent alternative.

It is both professionally astute and reflective of the modern National Hunt game. It used to be the flat got accused of both elitism and a reluctance to race top stars. Now it's the flat that presents a better commercial opportunity for many small and middle ranks trainers while a ten furlong champion like Roaring Lion can get dropped back to a mile before tackling dirt a fortnight later.

Mind you it is easy to be brave with someone else's horse. A consensus seems to be growing on the back of her spectacular Hatton's Grace victory that Apple's Jade should be pointed towards the Champion Hurdle rather than attempting to regain the Mares Hurdle crown. It's a consensus that presumes Samcro's Champion Hurdle claims have vanished after two defeats this season.

They may well have too. But at the very least they still look as sound as Apple's Jade's to the two-mile crown. Gordon Elliott once said Michael O'Leary's mare would get lapped in a Champion Hurdle. That's obviously an exaggeration but that Hatton's Grace display doesn't change how Apple's Jade's best form is at two and a half miles or that she seems to be best going right-handed.

O'Leary and Elliott are singing off the same hymn sheet when it comes to putting horses in the races that are easiest to win. In Cheltenham terms for Apple's Jade that's the Mares Hurdle. It certainly doesn't look to be the Champion. Now if you start talking Stayers Hurdle, then that would be different!

Racing got a government boost with news it is set to return to a slot under the Department of Agriculture umbrella with stable staff restored to agricultural worker status. It's a long-awaited move that reflects the reality of working life with horses although should hardly be taken as a green light to return to some of more questionable employment practises .

Racing's staffing problems are still a major issue for the industry. Resorting to 'in my day' arguments about pay and working conditions is counterproductive. If trainers and other bloodstock professionals want good staff they're going to have to make a career with horses seem a much more attractive proposition to many more people than it currently is.

By definition that includes better pay for less hours. And by definition that means someone, usually the owner, coughing up. It's a rare scenario where everyone gets to win and in this case it is owners who are usually the ones able to afford to lose a little.

Plenty sports will lose out in Britain after the decision by most major layers there to no longer run betting advertising during live sport. That ruthless bottom-line corporations are voluntarily doing so reflects the changing social and political realities on the gambling ground. Since such realities also apply in Ireland it looks only a matter of time before similar measures occur here.

It seems to be racing's dumb luck then that it could be in line for a financial boost with the sport being exempt from this ban. It potentially means racing is the only vehicle for betting firms to advertise with, particularly on mainstream TV. That could be a golden opportunity all round, but particularly for the sport itself.

Finally, a couple of points: this Championship Horse Racing Series idea is being pushed hard for next summer. Eight tracks, including Leopardstown, are apparently lined up to run Thursday night fixtures run on a model of brand-related teams competing along Formula One motor-racing lines.

There's a lot of money proposed which will be enough for many to jump up and down with excitement. And while it initially strikes most of us as gimmicky, it's too easy sometimes to just dismiss attempts to broaden racing's appeal. But with the best will in the world, this thing falls down once 'team' is mentioned. Team tactics are against the rules, right?

Finally the foostering and messing at the start of Saturday's Becher Chase at Aintree was embarrassing. Ten of the 18 rides were reported to the stewards but only Don Poli's rider Jack Kennedy was apparently in breach of the rules and got a one day ban. The prospect of the National once again projecting such images to the world in April is not one to relish.

Scoff all you like but the answer is simple - starting stalls for the National.