A 'Third Way' Standard

Of all people you don't expect the French to follow the herd. They usually relish being contrary, especially with the English speaking world. Yet the prospect of a greater share of the standardised global betting market means French racing is stepping into line with everyone else in its implementation of interference rules. Usually the problem with following the herd is that you don't know what you're likely to step in. But we know exactly what's lying in store here, and in any language too.

Standardisation is fine if the standard is appropriate. But interference rules in Ireland and Britain famously give a massive advantage to the transgressor and have produced a culture in which accidentally-on-purpose taking one for the team is widely risked if it's worthwhile enough.

The result is a mess in which riding practises run from careless to downright dangerous. Jockeys invariably ride to the rules in place. Since the odds of a horse's number being taken down are slim, because of inevitably subjective interpretation by officials having to be convinced a victim would definitely have won if they hadn't been interfered with, jockeys inevitably take liberties.

That the French have voluntarily signed up for this shows just how impregnable an argument the bottom line can be. Their system wasn't perfect. It occasionally, and only very occasionally, threw up decisions that seemed downright barmy to Anglo-Irish eyes. They weren't immune from the curse of inconsistency either as Dylan Thomas's famous Arc a decade ago proved.

But the old French rules did at least have the virtue of being straightforward, both from a jockey's point of view and from the viewpoint of the betting public. And riding behaviour generally reflected how accidentally on purpose letting horses hang or drift wasn't rewarded. It recognised the system shouldn't favour the transgressor, at least certainly not to the extent it does in these islands.

What's remarkable about this latest news is that it appears to have been an 'either-or' situation leaving the French to abandon a system which made more sense no matter how many other jurisdictions operated differently. You don't have to be Blairite to ask if it is beyond racing worldwide to come up with a 'Third Way' standard that makes sense all-round. Because we all know what this standard is. And for the French it really does rhyme with herd.

The issue of attendances is quite a contentious one when it comes to their relevance in gauging racing's overall health. It's impossible to precisely calculate sentiment but crowd figures do remain a valid measure of the core sport's attraction.

So it was interesting to note that Leopardstown's authorities are striving to attract an overall crowd of 22,500 over the two days of jump racing's new 'Dublin Racing Festival' in February.

It's an initiative which follows the international standard of clustering the best races and so Leopardstown's three post-Christmas stand-alone fixtures now make a single weekend with seven Grade 1 races and €1.5 million in prizemoney. The aim is to make it a prestige date in its own right between Christmas and Cheltenham. Irish jump racing simply doesn't get better.

So does 22,500 over two days really represent a good result or a worrying admission about the game's essential pulling power?

Ruby Walsh pointed out recently how Leopardstown's capacity is only 17,000. He was also unequivocal in stating that the place has to be full for the new festival, with different levels of society targeted and made to feel welcome. He was also quoted as pointing out - "It is an incredible programme but with 1.6 million people living in or around Dublin, you have to fill the place."

Walsh is only stating reality. Leave aside viewing figures and endless permutations of betting turnover as well various cross-platform exposures: it surely shouldn't be too ambitious for a major sport which is famously part of 'what we are' to expect that the place be heaving for the absolute best of what it's got to offer. Or at least theoretically it shouldn't.

Evidence that the actual quality of the sport has only marginal relevance to the size of the crowds watching it in Ireland is abundant. What should be the case and what actually is the case are very different things. And as old-fashioned a measure as crowds might be they still manage to indicate the scale of the challenge racing faces to keep - never mind increase - its popular profile.

It was a busy and informative weekend's racing in Ireland overall yet Walsh was involved in surely the most eye-catching performance as Total Recall turned the usually ultra-competitive Munster National into a rout.

Willie Mullins's capacity to transform horses once they're under his care is famous and this was another prime example. Having his first run since moving to the champion trainer, and having his first start since February, Total Recall was the medium of a major gamble down to 2-1 favourite and never came out of a canter.

To quote one happy punter who blindly put his faith in the Mullins factor and got amply rewarded, Total Recall won with everything open!

It will be fascinating to see the handicapper's reaction to this. It will also be fascinating to see what kind of season his owners might have with another of their horses, Acapella Bourgeois, also moved to Mullins and whose 32 length demolition of Road To Respect last season will be on many people's minds once ground conditions get very testing.

Most bookmakers have given up offering any kind of price about Aidan O'Brien smashing the world record for Group 1 wins in a year. He needs three more to beat Bobby Frankel's tally of 25 and could have up to 20 opportunities to manage that between now and the end of December.

In fact the real question might be whether or not there is value in one firm's offer of 4-6 about O'Brien making it to 30 by the end of 2017.

And finally, no increase in betting tax is anticipated in tomorrow's budget. That's hardly surprising. Tax hikes of any sort are usually a hard sell. More noteworthy is a view within the industry that an increase on last year's €64 million state allocation to racing is no given. Given current political realities that could be significant. They do say that standing still is the start of going backwards.