How Was It For You Davy Russell got the Gigginstown bullet on New Year's Eve 2013 so there's a presumption in consigning 2014 completely to history just yet but everyone else seems to be in review-mode and in this case Russell provides a neat synchronicity since his Cheltenham Gold Cup winning ride on Lord Windermere is sure to figure among the most notable highlights when 2014 is recounted. The fact that Lord Windermere would have been thrown out in any jurisdiction with a meaningful rulebook is a separate issue: Russell provided an exhibition of nuanced subtlety on the track and an impressive fluency afterwards which helped the stewards tilt even further in the direction they really wanted to go. Rare is the winning ride described as rubbish so praising the winner always provokes accusations of 'the bleedin' obvious.' But even rarer is the big race unaccompanied by serious pressure. Once again Barry Geraghty proved there's no one better on the big day with a vintage effort on Jezki in the Champion Hurdle. Getting it right when it counts most is the ultimate jockey test, one Ryan Moore also passed on any number of occasions in 2014, but particularly on The Grey Gatsby in the Irish Champion Stakes. It's a subjective thing by definition but those three surely have to figure in any discussion of Ride of the Year. Success of the Year was probably 'Irish Champions Weekend' which got every break going in terms of weather and incident - not to mention an industry-wide push to get crowd figures up - but was undoubtedly a triumph. The real test could yet come when it's peeing rain, there's no Australia to pin the event on, and the novelty has worn off. But that invites accusations of negativity so hopefully 2015 will see Irish flat racing's big selling point kick on. Cock-Up-of-the-Year is a no-brainer: in the two years between the Department of Agriculture raid on Philip Fenton's yard and the Turf Club saying it first heard of the disgraced trainer's initial court appearance, somehow the steroids time-bomb was able to tick away with no one apparently being aware of it, something which with the passage of more time stretches credulity to near breaking point. When it did go off the collateral damage to racing's reputation was immense and a stark eye-opener to those who thought Irish racing was an oasis of probity in terms of doping. But considering the lack of initiative beforehand, and the particularly low bar by which improvement could be gauged, the response since then has been relatively impressive in terms of protocols and guidelines for a new drugs regime due to start on January 1. On paper a system which keeps track of all thoroughbreds, both in and out of training, looks sound although limits to what regulatory officials can do without Department assistance on the ground is an obvious landmine down the road. Also encouraging is the increased funding being given to integrity. What remains to be seen is if the desire to do what is outlined on paper will exist in practise. If it does then the most important long-term legacy of 2014 could be an effective drugs system which would be no bad outcome plucked from a major disaster. Day-of-the-Year was probably the last day of Cheltenham when a clean sweep of the seven races by Irish trained horses was only denied by the half-length Arctic Fire lost the County Hurdle by. Historic-moment-of-the-Year was Australia's Epsom Derby, an unprecedented third Derby in a row for Aidan O'Brien while the How-To-Announce-Your-Retirement award goes to Johnny Murtagh for exiting a legendary riding career with all of the polish and timing he showed throughout nearly thirty years in the saddle. Getting such a move wrong isn't impossible: if in doubt, ask Jamie Spencer. Others could point to 2014 as the year when things turned for the better economically. Increased government funding for 2015 is the most obvious manifestation of that but if the objective is that all boats rise then it's fair to say there's an awful lot of boats are resolutely beached and likely to remain so for some time. No doubt that will be 'tut-tutted' as a harsh outcome of economic reality and an inevitable outcome of rationalisation. But that's usually the smug response of those with their financial feet firmly on dry land. An awful lot of talent and expertise continues to be unable to make things pay and as a result is lost. It's in that stark perspective that some niggles from the Christmas action can be taken, like for instance how no routine examination of Vautour was made after the 1-4 favourite got turned over in Leopardstown's St Stephens Day feature. Yes he made a dreadful error in the middle of the race but considering Willie Mullins later said it was obvious to most judges that the horse was never moving right, in the circumstances surely going through the motions of a routine examination afterwards would have been appropriate. Dessie Scahill got it in the neck for his Paddy Power Chase call when mixing up the John Breslin owned pair, Living Next Door and Wrong Turn, and no doubt felt embarrassed about what was a straight-forward case of human error. But he was hardly helped by the colour shades of the caps the jockeys wore on both horses. Living Next Door had a white cap and yellow spots: Wrong Turn was a yellow cap and white sports. Watching both Shane Shortall and Denis O'Regan come back afterwards it was easy to see how it would be difficult to distinguish them. It surely isn't a major sweat to insist on distinguishing caps that are readily identifiable, as much for the public as commentators. Plenty will no doubt be taken out of the Christmas action in terms of the future, particularly the 2015 Cheltenham festival but really how relevant will much of what happened on deep winter ground be in March? Alivisio Ville made a visually impressive Irish debut for Willie Mullins while Silver Concorde got turned over at 1-3 on his own jumping debut. He's now as high as 25-1 for the Supreme and the giant ex-French grey is 10-1. Who would you like on your side around Prestbury Park in March? But as we know from 2014, a lot can happen before then. Happy New Year!
