Pugh responds to criticism of Academy Hurdle series

HRI’s Head of Racing Richard Pugh has defended criticism from leading trainers of the newly introduced Academy Hurdle races and has expanding upon some of the elements of the series.

The first winner of the series, which is exclusively for three years old who have not run on the Flat, was the Jessica Harrington-trained Quinta Do Lago at Cork on Sunday, where a full field of 15 runners took part. Quinta Do Lago cannot now contest another Academy Hurdle and, contentiously, retains maiden status for future bumpers and hurdles but is credited with a win for pedigree purposes.

Supporters of the initiative include Henry De Bromhead but notable critics are champion trainers Noel Meade and Willie Mullins, who has described the series as a ‘sales ploy’ but Pugh has cited statistics to back up his reasoning.

Pugh said “the series was formed out of the fact that nine out of the top ten prizemoney winners in one year were French-bred, and that is not a sustainable position for Irish racing to be in. We looked at where the elite performers were coming from and the strong bias for an elite National Hunt performer is that they start early.”

Responding to criticism, he added “the new series is helpful to the breeder as it is one year’s less cost to them on these horses and the chances of them becoming elite performers and lasting longer in their career is increased, so I don’t understand where the ‘sales ploy’ comes from. However if someone goes and sells one out of it, I don’t see that as a negative. It is not a sales ploy but it might be an advantage of the system.”

Explaining his reasoning and using a sample of previously-raced juvenile hurdlers, Pugh added “ironically, we had a lot of three-year-old hurdle races but National Hunt horses weren’t showing up for them. In one full calendar year, only seven National Hunt-bred debutants turned up to contest them and two won, and two others were placed. So the proportion of National Hunt-bred winners was better, but they weren’t taking their chance.

“We know the data is telling us that we need horses to start earlier to be maximised and reach their peak for as long as they possibly can. So we have decided to put on a race which wouldn’t preclude people from going into the actual programme.”

Regarding funding, Pugh responds “there is always change in the system and you’d often see a race ‘dropping into’ a system, so I don’t see us changing from 1,500 annual races in any meaningful way. Where things have gone well, is there were 27 entries for Sunday’s race so it has cost less to fund. That is a huge positive and if it continues for the series, then they become just another race out of the prizemoney pot.

“The minimum race in Ireland is valued at €10,000 and the EBF contributed €1,000 to Sunday’s race. It was effectively a minimum-prize race and I don’t think in this day-and-age that it would be HRI’s strategy to drop prizemoney for any race, including for this series.”

When asked about horses, including backward chasing types, potentially attaining handicap ratings from running in Academy Hurdles, Pugh adds “you can get handicapped in the series and backward chasing types can be handicapped in it, as anywhere.

“It is hard to know how much of a betting medium it will be but back years ago in bumpers, when there was no form to go by, they used to be the big betting races so it will be interesting to see how that goes, as opinions are sometimes worth more than form is.

“We are undecided yet what month the series will properly start in 2027 but it will be earlier than June (the current starting-point for three-year-olds). That will be up to the programme groups to decide exactly where the right track is to start.

“Irish racing for National Hunt horses really starts on January 1 whether it is the four-year-old bumper in Naas, the four-year-old hurdle or the point-to-point in Belharbour. We are effectively now channelling these horses to get started earlier but if you take the maiden status off these horses, they can’t plug-in to those races.

“We will run these seven races this year, see what works and what didn’t work and see what could be improved upon. The key point is there needs to be an outlet for people when their horse wins.”

Another quirk to the new series is a Triumph Hurdle-aspirant could utilise one Academy Hurdle run to attain his 110 BHA qualifying-rating for the Cheltenham race, with Pugh responding “I suppose it is a stepping stone towards it and I can answer on behalf of Irish racing, but I presume so. If you can get a handicap mark from the series, I don’t see why not.”

Concluding, Pugh says “Sunday’s race is a horse race, so is listed as a winner on a horse’s pedigree and is listed in trainer/jockey/breeder/owner championships. If a bumper winner, even a Grade 1 winner, went into a Flat maiden, that’s an analogy I’d make for people.

“The best thing we can do is watch the seven races, get to January and February and sit down with the people who have been very very helpful with us up until now and see what worked, what didn’t and see what we’d like to tweak.”