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Mon 20th Jun 2016

Times Passes & Things Change - Or Do They?

Never thought I’d quote Eminem but time does indeed pass and things do usually change. A couple of years after dire predictions of Irish Derby doom on the back of another Aidan O’Brien clean-sweep led by Australia at 1-8 comes a potentially enthralling and competitive renewal of Ireland’s premier classic. And there’s a notably boosted €1.5 million prize-fund too, which indicates how time does pass but some things don’t change, such as racing’s ferocious focus on prizemoney.

9.18AM
Mon 13th Jun 2016

The Psychedelic Cleric

Aidan O’Brien needs only two more winners to achieve a haul of 50 Royal Ascot victories, a notable tally in every sense, even more so for a trainer based in Ireland, and especially so considering the first of them, Harbour Master’s Coventry Stakes, came in 1997. At this rate even Sir Henry Cecil’s record of 75 winners will be under threat. O’Brien’s 2016 Royal Ascot story however is going to be inextricably linked with his son. Plenty believe it will be the start of a much longer-term narrative.

9.23AM
Mon 6th Jun 2016

Weld Joins Derby Elite

Prior to Saturday’s Epsom Derby, 18 horses trained in Ireland had won racing’s greatest classic. The 1907 hero Orby apart, the others had been produced by just half a dozen trainers, an elite comprised of figures ranging from legendary to enigmatic, even mysterious, all of whom however possessed of that priceless capacity to make top-class racehorses run fast. No one can argue Dermot Weld isn’t worthy of inclusion in such an elite.

9.06AM
Mon 30th May 2016

Any Chance Of A Start?

Paddy Payne got into hot water when suggesting his injured Melbourne Cup winning sister, Michelle, might jack in being a jockey in order to go and have babies. Much of the indignant response neglected to factor in frayed familial nerves contributing to an unfortunately blunt quote. But if the bare words were regrettable they did kick off more debate about female jockeys. And that got me thinking of another successful female jockey down under.

8.58AM
Mon 23rd May 2016

Open All Hours

Has it come to this, that flat racing, populated by Sheikhs, royalty and billionaires, is actually more of an open shop than the salt-of-the-earth National Hunt game? Can it be true? An awful lot of egalitarian notions will have to be binned if it is. But ponder this — could a trio of top-flight prizes have been spread around over jumps to the extent, and the manner, in which the Curragh’s Guineas weekend features were?

8.36AM
Mon 16th May 2016

Derby Twistin'

If the 2,000 Guineas is famously the last two year old race then the Derby’s problem is being the first major three year old race. Not that it’s much of a problem for those in thrall to the sport. But since the Derby is racing’s ultimate classic prize, it’s position so soon in the season makes it a hard narrative sell to a public used to its sporting highlights presented in terms of a cumulative climax.

9.02AM
Mon 9th May 2016

Girl Power

There are obvious commercial reasons for Minding not to run in the Epsom Derby. But there’s no actual racing reason why she couldn’t become the first filly in a century to win racing’s ‘blue riband.’ From a purely racing point of view all that’s required is a willingness to stray from the beaten path, one of the game’s many ‘Cosan Deargs,’ which in this case suggests a filly taking on colts in a classic to be a bridge too far. It isn’t.

8.50AM
Mon 2nd May 2016

Sunday Silence

There was a record-breaking 114,438 attendance for Punchestown last week and with 30,035 on Saturday’s ‘Family Day’ and a 29,419 ‘Ladies Day’ crowd on Friday there appears to be a trend towards people congregating at Ireland’s National Hunt festival towards the weekend. That begs the question as to whether or not a trick is being missed in not maximising that trend and finishing the festival on a Sunday.

9.18AM
Mon 25th Apr 2016

Kill Or Cure

Racing justice is essentially cosmetic, an exercise that racing’s stakeholders choose to buy into. History shows us the real justice system is turned to when it really counts. Even if it doesn’t get to the High Court, its spectre looms, always the elephant in the steward’s room. Trying to make racing justice more than merely cosmetic requires a lot more than more cosmetics. But it should be done because the current system isn’t fit for purpose.

9.14AM
Mon 18th Apr 2016

The New Tone In Town

Distinguishing a ‘no-try’ from a ‘not able to try’ is a requirement of any competent race-reader, not to mention the different degrees of ‘easy’ in between. Even so, much of it comes down to individual interpretation, which is just a fancy way of saying hunch. But when it comes to horse’s weight, often an important element to when a horse is ‘off’ or not, there is an opportunity for hard statistical fact to be employed. Yet there appears to be no urgency about employing it.

9.08AM
Mon 11th Apr 2016

The Burden Of Judgement

Lots of legal ‘brass’ are reportedly girding their loins for next week’s Referrals Committee appeal into the Noble Emperor affair. That is simultaneously both their clients’ entitlement and a weakness in racing’s integrity system. If High Court burdens of proof are required to nail down what are essentially judgement calls, it leaves ample room for sharp legal minds to manoeuvre in. It can also mean the spectre of the High Court itself in the background.

8.58AM
Mon 4th Apr 2016

The Ripple Effect

It’s an old racing cliché that they — and by ‘they,’ read stewards — only go after the little guy. But no one can accuse Limerick’s officials of having one rule book for minnows and another for big fish. Suspending Barry Geraghty, one of the finest jockeys ever produced by this country, for 30 days and banning a horse owned by JP McManus, unquestionably the country’s most powerful and influential owner, for 60 days qualifies as big guy stuff in any vernacular. So we’ve had the big splash: what everyone’s waiting on now are the ripples.

9.37AM
Mon 28th Mar 2016

Cool Heads Required

The Easter Sunday Grade 1 features at Fairyhouse provided a timely reminder that the sun does actually come up the day after Cheltenham. Jer's Girl and Kylemore Lough secured top-flight honours in style, providing connections with lucrative dividends for not succumbing to the festival's overarching charms. That neither is likely to head their respective championship divisions come the end of the season won't impact in the slightest on their newly acquired Grade 1 status.

8.56AM
Mon 21st Mar 2016

Cooper Delivered When It Counted

Potential is fine but fulfilling it requires delivery. After replacing Davy Russell as Gigginstown’s No. 1 jockey, Bryan Cooper had been the ‘next-big-thing’ for some time. Many weren’t convinced, doubting his age and inexperience for such a high-profile job, for delivering when it counted. But when it counted most of all, Cooper’s judgement, nerve and skill delivered in style with Don Cossack’s Gold Cup success. The phrase ‘next-big-thing’ needs to lose a word, and it isn’t ‘big’ or ‘thing.’

9.22AM
Mon 14th Mar 2016

Tired & Trusted

The hottest Cheltenham favourite this week is likely to be Douvan: maybe odds should be similarly short about the whip debate again dominating the aftermath of one of the championship events. Paddy Brennan got fined €5,600, and banned for 11 days, after landing the King George with what the Kempton stewards described as a ‘win at all costs’ ride. It doesn’t get more ‘at-all-costs’ than at Cheltenham so we may well be heading for some tired and trusted arguments.

8.36AM
Mon 7th Mar 2016

Keep On Truckin'

Willie Mullins sometimes uses pre-Cheltenham media invasions to outline broader concerns than just running plans. Last year he talked about inadequate prizemoney levels at the festival. In 2014 it was racecourse security. This time the champion gloomily forecast problems a couple of generations down the line, and how jump racing could disappear should greater internationalisation of the sport not take place. He is confident this can happen. His confidence looks misplaced.

9.29AM
Mon 29th Feb 2016

The Mushroom Approach

Bellyaching about Cheltenham getting diluted by too many days and too many races is a futile exercise on the back of continuing commercial success which nevertheless can’t disguise, in purely racing terms, some negative impacts. The festival is billed as National Hunt’s championships where the various strands of form through the season come together. But does that necessarily hold true anymore?

8.52AM
Mon 22nd Feb 2016

Babysitting The Cottage

There is nothing more vital to racing’s credibility, image, reputation and self-interest than the quick implementation of the Drugs Task Force recommendation for protocols to be put in place between breeders and the Turf Club regarding Out Of Competition Testing and how it is carried out. And yet nothing has happened. There hasn’t been a meeting yet between the regulatory body and the Breeders Association. Since there’s no greater priority if the Task Force report really is as significant as everyone insists it is the obvious question is why not?

9.18AM
Mon 15th Feb 2016

The Bottom Line Trudge

As a rule it’s best to be wary of ‘Is It Just Me’ blogs. But is it just me or is this persistent whinge about Ireland’s National Hunt game getting really old? Yes the game is dominated by an ownership and training elite but that’s nothing new. And yes some winter racing is uncompetitive as a result. But it’s remarkable how so many who previously prided themselves on being economically hard-nosed when things were flying now seem oblivious to the idea that they’re in business and have no divine right to financial survival.

8.57AM
Mon 8th Feb 2016

A Process Undermined By Procedure

The argument for stewards relying on camera pictures at a central HQ has been made more than once in recent years and its credibility was boosted by the glacial progress of the Leopardstown enquiry following Who’s That’s handicap victory at the weekend. Everyone at the track could see there was a relatively straight-forward decision to be made. Official confirmation the placing remained unaltered though came just seconds before the off of the following Grade 1 race. Maybe some enjoyed the drama. More felt it looked amateurish.

8.48AM
Mon 1st Feb 2016

Who's Going To Walk The Walk?

Reports by their nature are often ends in themselves, an exercise in replacing action with movement, so there is some scepticism about any impact the Anti-Doping Task Force document about to be rubber-stamped by the Horse Racing Ireland board might have. Sceptics will believe it has already served its function, in being seen to do something: only time will tell if they’re right, but substantial leadership will be required to prove them wrong.

9.13AM
Mon 25th Jan 2016

The Secret Jockey - Vol 1

Is there is a gaping editorial hole for some insider straight-talking? Not the cod-blunt crap that so many of racing’s supposed straight-shooters indulge in, rather more along the Guardian’s notorious ‘Secret Footballer’ Diary. Anonymity famously allowed one player a licence to tell it as it really is, and with authority. A ‘Secret Jockey’ Diary could go far beyond mere “he’s a nice horse” cliché? It would be a service. People would pay to read it. So here’s an un-authoritative prototype.

8.57AM
Mon 18th Jan 2016

Don't Spend It All In One Place

It is two months exactly until Don Poli wins the Gold Cup - just the sort of speculative rubbish his owner publicly scorns but which Michael O’Leary must also privately realise is the stuff that keeps the whole shooting match going. So with everyone else getting their ante-post tuppence in, and the Cheltenham countdown gathering pace all the time, here’s why Don Poli and the others will win the festival’s championship contests - theoretically.

8.46AM
Mon 11th Jan 2016

Stomping Over The Line

Just because a line in the sand is invisible doesn’t mean people can’t recognise it, a tough reality to explain but a racing reality none the less. It’s a line the unrealistic believe shouldn’t exist at all since they expect every runner to be trying for its life every time. Given intangible factors such as human nature, and rather more tangible factors like the programme book, that’s pie-in-the-sky. What those with lower expectations resent is when the line gets crossed with impunity.

9.21AM
Mon 4th Jan 2016

Punters Of The World Unite

The following observations on handicaps were made to the renowned sportswriter Hugh McIlvanney whose collection of work on horseracing I’ve been re-reading recently in an attempt to brush up on how the job is done properly. They are over 20 years old but I challenge anyone to dispute their relevance because they still point out the systemic basis for so much of what goes on.

9.34AM
Mon 28th Dec 2015

Annus Horribilis

Queen Elizabeth II’s famous ‘Annus Horribilis’ was 1992: history could decide 2015 to have been the Turf Club’s. History will be dismissed as bunk by those eagerly eyeing their brave new recession-free future but 225 years of the stuff is difficult to wave away entirely. The Turf Club of 2016 will be very different to that of even a decade ago. The current consensus is that that is inevitable given racing’s financial realities and future consensus may be that the inevitable was rubber-stamped this year.

8.51AM
Mon 21st Dec 2015

Get Out Of Jail Card

Last week’s successful appeals to the Turf Club’s Referrals Committee against the ‘non-trier’ penalties imposed on Shantou Ed, Bobbie’s Diamond and their connections at Fairyhouse were notable for a few reasons but perhaps most of all the bases on which they were made — veterinary evidence unavailable to the raceday stewards. Which begs the rather obvious question as to why it was unavailable?

9.13AM
Mon 14th Dec 2015

Task Force Slow Ahead

On the back of last year’s steroids controversy, a Drugs Task Force was set up to examine and report on the extent of any potential doping problem within the racing and bloodstock industries. Some of the great and the good were appointed to represent the various sectors under the chairmanship of the soon to be installed Turf Club senior steward Meta Osborne. That was a year ago and yet we’ve heard little or nothing about it since.

9.18AM
Mon 7th Dec 2015

Interference Is Interference

Special Tiara’s connections are considering an appeal against the Tingle Creek result. Sad to say the consensus is their chances of getting it reversed are slim to none. If Simple Verse managed to secure the Leger after her jockey admitting to a cold and calculated piece of interference, then the cross-channel rulebook is unlikely to reverse a result on the basis of Sire De Grugy taking out his Irish rival in midair over the final fence. All of which only emphasises — again — how the British rulebook should have been taken out and burned long ago.

9.06AM
Mon 30th Nov 2015

Dirty Harry's Spine Donor

The bit of wind that briefly caused furrowed brows at the Winter Festival’s Sunday meeting was nothing compared to the gust of change apparently sweeping through Fairyhouse’s stewards room a day before. The talk at the front of the shop was about Grade 1’s: all anyone at the back could talk about was the sudden frenzy of policing vigour which saw two horses ‘done’ under the non-trier rules and a few other cases ‘noted.’

8.57AM
Mon 23rd Nov 2015

Next Big Thing

Racing loves the Next Big Thing. There are few things more seductive than the emergence of a potentially outstanding new talent. That many fail to live up to such billing doesn't dilute the excitement. That the sense of expectation around potential is often unfair doesn't matter either: if there's a bandwagon to jump on there's never a shortage of jumpers. All the cautious qualifications in the world however can't prevent many believing Jack Kennedy could be just such an 'NBT.'

9.21AM
Mon 16th Nov 2015

It's Simple - Talent Is Talent

I spoke to Pat Eddery face-to-face only once, in the old press room at the Curragh where jockeys used to come and watch racing on the telly. It was just a casual, meaningless conversation about whatever we were looking at. He was very pleasant and relaxed, and I was very tongue-tied: after all it's hard to know what to say to your childhood idols.

9.47AM
Mon 9th Nov 2015

The Phoney War Is Over

Faugheen is back this Sunday and those who treasure every appearance by this unbeaten superstar with his agricultural looks and stellar ability won't care if he winds up 1-100 against the clerk of the course's pet dog. Outrageous talent should be treasured whatever the circumstances. But on the back of Don Cossack's recent 2-11 jaunt against just three opponents in the first Grade 1 of the season, another likely solo by Faugheen in the second will probably provoke more anxious cries about a lack of competition in Ireland's top events.

8.54AM
Mon 2nd Nov 2015

Curragh Calculations

American Pharoah was described as the horse to save US racing but now that he's packed off to stud he will be increasingly seen as a mere sticking plaster - albeit a wonderfully evocative plaster - to an industry which appears resolutely unwilling to save itself. The Water, Hay & Oats Alliance is crying WHOA when it comes to medication: most everyone else in America seems determined to kick on regardless.

8.45AM
Mon 26th Oct 2015

Forward To The Past

The 30th anniversary of Back To The Future has made a few recent headlines but it appears a case of Forward To The Past in regard to the Breeders Cup, a shop window to the world for American racing which highlights a resolutely parochial store stuffed to the brim with the same seedy baggage it had all the way back in 1984.

10.01AM
Mon 19th Oct 2015

Mullins To The Max In Melbourne

With the flat and jumps seasons blurring at this time of year it is perhaps timely to point how quite a few shrewd punters out there reckon the flat trainer most rigorously worth keeping onside is actually the jumping maestro Willie Mullins. So it will be fascinating to see if Max Dynamite can make it third time lucky for Mullins in the upcoming Melbourne Cup and what, if anything, it might mean should Mullins win one of the world's great Group 1 races on the level.

9.18AM
Mon 12th Oct 2015

When Two Tribes Go To War?

Tuesday is budget day when racing can reportedly look forward to a significant finance boost. Compared to that, a Turf Club meeting on the same day looks small beer. There certainly won't be any big figures emerging from it. Nothing at all might emerge publicly. But with government determined to press ahead with their Horse Racing Ireland Bill the mood and tone at the regulatory body meeting could be potentially much more significant in the long term than another short-term slice of state largesse.

9.27AM
Mon 5th Oct 2015

Rounding The Horn

Flagships are essentially exercises in vanity. But that doesn't mean they're wrong. Vanity mightn't be particularly attractive but it's interesting to ponder how much achievement there would be without it. So news that plans for the Curragh redevelopment - Irish racing's new flagship - are shortly to be announced is good news. Maybe it is a vanity thing but God alone knows the Curragh could do with being tarted up. Right now HQ isn't so much luxury liner as leaky punt.

8.28AM
Mon 28th Sep 2015

The Rubber Stamp

Coolmore showed commendable restraint in their reaction to losing the Doncaster St Leger at the BHA appeal. Aidan O'Brien and Colm O'Donoghue seemed determined to draw a line through the affair, repeatedly employing a 'that's racing' approach that made more than one observer ponder whether or not such sang-froid would have been employed if the Group 1 prize was a Guineas or a Derby and not the sadly dishevelled Leger.

8.54AM
Mon 21st Sep 2015

Pyramid Of Piffle

The phrase 'curate's egg' has been employed to describe Champions Weekend II but it's inaccurate since that inference is that it was mostly bad. And that's wrong. In fact there are plenty positives for racing to nourish itself on. The party line certainly appears to be that it was all very Faberge. However there's no getting away from what were basically static attendance figures for the event, something which underlines the scale of the task those in charge of Champions Weekend have in turning it into a sporting institution.

9.04AM
Mon 14th Sep 2015

Empire Of The Sun

The sun may have set on Empire but judged by some of the more bellicose cross-channel reactions to the Irish Champion Stakes' timing move, and the consequent impact on arrangements for Doncaster's St Leger, some appear to be grimly hanging on to the delusion that the industry sun still revolves rigidly around racing on the \"Mainland.\"

8.42AM
Mon 7th Sep 2015

The Fat Lady Sings At The End

Cursing the weather might just be the ultimate in futility but if the elements conspire to deny us an Irish Champion Stakes epic quite a few fists will still be shaken at the skies. The prospect of Golden Horn, Gleneagles, Free Eagle & Co in action really could mean the best race run anywhere in the world in 2015, a worthy 'Champions Weekend' highlight, and potentially epic in its dramatic scope. So why is this fat lady singing when the show ain't half over?

8.38AM
Mon 31st Aug 2015

Steady As She Goes

Government and big business have jostled for headlines in the last week but still pale next to the good old-fashioned rumour train which continues to reverberate with those supposedly in the know torn between dismissing speculation about Aidan O'Brien's Ballydoyle future as a storm in a tea-cup or inevitable spillage from a pressure cooker situation just waiting to boil over.

8.48AM
Mon 24th Aug 2015

It Ain't Going To Happen

Can demands for global harmonisation of the interference rules cease immediately please. They're well meaning but futile. If Horse Racing Ireland's famously astute chief executive Brian Kavanagh says he can't see it happening then it ain't happening. Kavanagh is a vice-chairman of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities and possesses a world reputation as a racing administrator. He points out how the problem between say Britain and Ireland compared to France and the US is philosophical. One side has to give to produce uniformity. That ain't happening anytime soon.

9.24AM
Mon 17th Aug 2015

Diary Of A Wimpy Call

Racing is home to a lot of flannel but the hoary old line about a good horse being able to go on any ground must rank high amongst its most inane pieces of supposed wisdom. Any horse can go on any ground: it's just a question of how fast. Good horses go faster on most any ground but that doesn't mean they go as fast on everything. Rare is the animal that doesn't have optimum ground conditions for showing its best. Even rarer is the likelihood of those conditions all of the time.

9.03AM
Mon 10th Aug 2015

Preach To The Converted

Without wishing to pee on the Aga Khan Cup parade, showjumping's place in the sporting consciousness provides racing with salutary warnings about smugly presuming a public profile. There was a time when showjumping was a big deal. Last week RTE news ran a clip on the Dublin Horse Show which didn't feature a single horse. Instead it was all about who won the Best Dressed Lady competition. Anyone 100 per cent confident such a scenario can't happen with racing hasn't been paying attention.

9.18AM
Mon 3rd Aug 2015

Ghostbusters

Two years after the mechanics of Carlingford Lough getting into the Galway Plate memorably shone a spotlight on the reserve system, it's interesting to note how it flickered again last week on the back of Modem not getting into the Galway Hurdle. Modem's trainer Jessica Harrington had two other declared runners and both of them ran. Since there was no non-runner, Modem, the first reserve, didn't run. One racing worthy said the episode restored his faith in humanity. As for his faith in the system he wasn't so sure.

10.34AM
Mon 27th Jul 2015

Limping Tiger Hidden Logic

It feels symmetrical the current preferred route for the proposed Galway Bypass running through where the notorious Galway Tent was situated. Bertie Ahern placed great store in building up Ireland's road structure during the Celtic Tiger years: now the site of that popular symbol of those flush years is destined to end up under asphalt. Meanwhile the Galway festival itself continues to thrive as Irish racing's most distinctive race meeting with its only real reference being itself.

9.17AM
Mon 20th Jul 2015

Just Ask The Greeks

Just as nobody can ever be completely confident about what might happen in a steward's enquiry, so it is when the crap hits the courts. Nobody's panicking, and those in the know say it was all but inevitable, but with Britain's 'point of consumption' betting law referred to Europe, there is inevitable unease over possible implications for Ireland's new betting bill. Because in Europe big-picture considerations can wind up trumping the local: Just ask the Greeks.

8.51AM
Mon 13th Jul 2015

The Piper Calls The Tune

Although racing's administration mightn't be dysfunctional its players have hardly been working seamlessly together either. Interest groups resolutely fight their own corners and relations between Horse Racing Ireland and the Turf Club continue to be mired in mutual suspicion. The blame game is being played big-time. But the chain of command means the buck ultimately stops at Simon Coveney's desk. That's the fate of those in charge.

9.18AM
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