AN hour in Kevin Blake’s company never fails to leave you with food for thought.

When it comes to original thinkers in Irish racing, the Co Tipperary native is one of the most front-facing figures in the game, regularly to the fore with proactive contributions on meaningful industry matters.

As we roll into the height of yearling sales season, there is no rest for the man of many hats, though arguably it has already been the most important year of his professional career.

At a time when the industry came under its most intense pressure in years surrounding Animal Rising’s Grand National protests in April, the ITV Racing pundit fought racing’s corner with aplomb in mainstream media appearances. Those debates with anti-racing personalities saw him earn serious plaudits during a period of immense concern for the sport. A wider willingness for racing fans and industry participants to defend the industry in future will be crucial to solidifying its social licence, according to the co-founder of excellent industry group Stand Up For Racing. The initiative was formed with the intention of not allowing damaging misinformation and misconceptions to go unchallenged in mainstream media and social media.

“Things might seem to have gone quiet on the topic of Stand Up For Racing, but behind the scenes it is all progressing really well.” Blake explains.

“I think what happened with Animal Rising gave the BHA and others in the industry a real jolt. It gave a reminder that we need to be ready for these types of attacks because they’re going to keep coming. With this in mind, we’re involved in a project with the BHA that is very exciting.

“It will aim to deliver an extensive centralised online resource of data and multimedia shareable answers to the challenging questions that are often put to our industry.

“It will be a one-stop shop for anyone that wants to effectively counter misinformation or simply inform themselves with the facts and realities of our industry. It will be a huge asset to the industry when it launches.

“I’m always happy to put my hand up to speak in situations where the industry is being criticised or questioned. Some will say that it isn’t the right approach, as we legitimise these extremist groups when we engage with them in the media. I understand that view, but my counter is that giving them a solo run is far more damaging. The presenters on the mainstream outlets that run with these segments generally don’t have the domain knowledge to counter the inaccuracies and sensationalism that these groups deal in, so they get to air those views unchallenged to the audience. I think it’s the lesser of two evils to go on and counter them, exposing the holes in their arguments.”

‘Fighting our corner’

The growing breeder and race planner for Joseph O’Brien does not believe the challenges from those opposed to the sport are going away any time soon.

“Unfortunately, I think the next attacks will probably come from sharper people than Animal Rising,” he says.

“The world is changing all the time and any activity or sport that involves animals is going to be heavily scrutinised. It would also be a major mistake to think that these issues are more pressing for racing in the UK than in Ireland. It has been frightening to see how quick the mainstream media in Ireland have been to jump on negative racing stories and push them to the front of the news cycle in the last couple of years. HRI need to be on the ball as they will have battles to fight on these fronts in the years ahead.

“We need to be on top of our game because the alternative is existential stuff. The end doesn’t tend to come with one swing of an axe that takes your head off. It’s an accumulation of smaller chops that take you down. We all need to be ambassadors for the sport around the kitchen table and in the pub when questions are asked of what we do in this industry. Like most of the people reading this, I want to be in the game until the day I die. To get that wish, we are going to need to fight to defend it.

“I’m sad to say it because I’m a fan of the greyhound industry and sport, but what happened to that sector is a cautionary tale for us in racing. If you aren’t prepared in terms of PR and political lobby, you can end up being a soft touch for the antis. We can’t let that happen to us. I’d like to think our industry has a stronger political lobby, but when you look at the current Gambling Bill scenario, you fear that it might not be as strong as it once was.”

Political concern

Blake has been encouraging followers of the sport in Ireland to contact their elected representatives over the aforementioned Gambling Regulation Bill that threatens to force Irish racing television channels off the air if implemented in its current format. Fears that Irish racing fans might only be able to watch meetings from a betting office, attending the track or through bookmaker apps has reminded him of a previous blackout on these shores.

“I remember back in 2004 there was a television blackout of Irish racing when the original At The Races stopped broadcasting for about three months. If you weren’t at the track, you could only watch Irish racing in a betting shop or get a commentary over the phone. It was a very worrying time.

“You would hope that common sense will prevail, but the latest news coming from the minister on the situation isn’t very encouraging. All you can hope is that a solution will be found, but you would be really fearful of all sorts of bigger-picture consequences if they don’t get it right.”

Blake, who continues to write for At The Races’ online platform and speak on what is now Sky Sports Racing, was a major part of the channel’s Irish coverage prior to Ireland’s direct-to-home pictures shifting to Racing TV in January 2019.

Broadcasting opportunities

Other prominent faces from At The Races’ Irish team have made the switch to Racing TV since, but Blake stayed loyal to Sky despite missing out on broadcasting from Irish racecourses.

“It was tough when they initially lost the rights because Irish racing has always been my bread and butter, and it still is,” he says.

“I’ve only worked a handful of days in a media role on Irish racecourses since then, but the world works in funny ways. At The Races lost the Irish rights, but I got a start with ITV Racing a few months later and that has been an incredible experience. Having a role in broadcasting the likes of the Cheltenham Festival, Royal Ascot and the Derby to a terrestrial audience is the stuff of dreams. Mind, I got just as much of a kick out of covering the Irish Derby live from the track for them this year. Irish racing has so much to offer and getting the chance to help broadcast that to a wider audience was brilliant. I’d love to do more of that in the future.”

The award-winning journalist has been featuring regularly on Sky Sports Racing of late, however, primarily through his exploits with the Racing League.

Acting as racing manager to Team Ireland in the competition since its foundation in 2021, Blake had to ride out the storm through two fruitless years with his squad but turned the tide spectacularly this season as they managed to come from an unpromising position at the halfway point of the competition to win it outright on the final night.

Irish involvement

The Racing League has been the subject of criticism in several quarters during its opening seasons but Blake feels public perception of the competition has improved significantly over the course of this year’s action.

“I feel the tide has turned on the Racing League. It got nothing but stick for two years and that was tough on those who have put so much into growing the initiative.

“They were being innovative, brave and having a go at great financial cost and I always felt it deserved more support than it got. However, the changes they have made since it launched have made it better and this year really seemed to resonate with the audience.

“The final night of the competition felt like a proper sporting spectacle. There were a total of 4444 points scored over the course of the six race meetings in the competition and it came down to a winning margin of just seven points. It was to-and-fro throughout the final night and I’ve had bundles of people stop me at the sales and on the track in Ireland since who got a kick out of it.”

The regular Betfair media contributor expects an improved product when the Racing League returns in 2024.

“I am very confident that it will be better again next year,” he explains. “There are tweaks to be made in general, but it finished on such a positive note this year that all involved are energised to make all the necessary changes. I hope that even more Irish trainers and owners will get behind it next year too as those that did this year had a great experience. The prize money is brilliant, there is no balloting and the competition element of it makes it a different sort of experience that is great fun to be involved in. I think it will go from strength to strength.”

There was probably no manager better placed in the series to oversee entries and declarations for their team than Blake, given his ongoing role as race planner to Joseph O’Brien.

“The role with Joseph is a pleasure,” he says. “I’ve been working with him for over six years now and there hasn’t been a cross word between us. I won’t say too much about him as he is allergic to any sort of praise, but his results speak for themselves. He is world class at what he does and has an unbelievable amount of drive. From a race planning perspective, he’s always open to left-field options and isn’t afraid to roll the dice even when the stakes couldn’t be higher. It’s hard to believe that he has only just turned 30. There are going to be many more great days ahead for him.”

Blake has been ambitious when it comes to his own breeding, boarding and investment opportunity operation, Golden Farm in Golden, Co Tipperary. The farm was run as a small dairy operation for generations until 2007 but Blake has steadily converted it to a high-class facility for thoroughbreds.

Major works

“We’ve been steadily working on the place for some time but it has accelerated in the last five years,” he says. “It has come a long way. Anyone who has done a revamp like this will tell you it isn’t straightforward. You’re converting buildings that were designed for one thing into something else. The aim is always to raise the standard of everything because you need to - if you’re breeding horses in Ireland, you’re playing in the Champions League. If you’re not prepared to bring your standards up to the level of the best teams, you’ll get hammered.

“It’s roughly 50-50 between my own stock and mares owned by outside investors. During Covid we created Golden Farm Thoroughbreds and Golden Farm Bloodstock to invite investment into broodmares with a view to selling their offspring on a commercial basis. Giving people the opportunity to invest in bloodstock who don’t have the facilities or hands-on expertise to do so has been great.

“There is so much depth to the world of bloodstock and it’s very unexposed to the layman. The people who have come in to invest in the various funds at Golden Farm have found it really stimulating to see things they would never experience otherwise. They are investing into long-term journeys where things go wrong and right, and the sales ring experience is completely new to most of them. The goal is for the funds to be a profitable investment, but there is a great experience to be had along the way too.

“You do your best and are obviously vulnerable to variance when dealing with a relatively small number of mares. We’ve sold some very nice horses already and I feel I have some really nice types to sell in the near future. Golden Farm Thoroughbreds has a colt by Dark Angel out of Rush who is due to sell in Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale who is particularly exciting.”

What advice would Blake offer to someone dipping their toe into bloodstock?

“Like anything in life, you need to have an edge on the market to do well,” he says. “If I have one, it’s that my background lends itself well to heavy research. I go really deep into everything to try and find something that is undervalued or underappreciated by the wider market; whether that be related to certain sires or something the dam or their offspring have done. There are angles everywhere, it’s just a matter of finding them and capitalising when the price is right.”

Anyone who knows Blake’s personality, or who has read his book on betting, It Can Be Done, will be well aware that he is very much selective when it comes to what he puts his weight behind. That is what pricked the ears of many when it was revealed that he and Jack Cantillon had teamed up to purchase high-class French sprinter Bouttemont with a view to retiring him to stud next year after contesting the Flying Five Stakes earlier this month and tomorrow’s Prix de l’Abbaye.

Heavy rain scuppered the Acclamation five-year-old’s chances of a Curragh strike at the Irish Champions Festival, but connections would relish a Group 1 tilt at ParisLongchamp if ground conditions are sufficiently quick.

Paris calling

“What happened at the Curragh was tough,” says Blake. “Fast ground is the key to the horse and we looked sure to get it all week only for it to hammer down with rain an hour before the race. The forecast looks favourable for Longchamp, so hopefully it stays that way as it would be great for him to have a good crack at a Group 1 in his favoured conditions before moving onto the next stage of his career.

“The response that Bouttemont has received from breeders since we launched him has been really strong. We knew that most people in this part of the world wouldn’t be familiar with him, so we had to be a bit creative with how we introduced him to the market. What we had in his favour is that Ireland and Britain are full of breeders who have had really positive experiences with Acclamation and his sons, led by Dark Angel and Mehmas. The numbers behind Acclamation’s record as a sire-of-sires are genuinely phenomenal and there hasn’t been a new son of his retired to stud for a few years now, so we felt that Bouttemont would have a great chance of resonating with breeders once they became familiar with him.

The venture received a near-immediate boost when it was revealed that Bouttemont will follow in his sire’s hoofprints by standing at Rathbarry Stud in Co Cork come the end of his racing career this autumn.

“For Rathbarry Stud and the Cashman family to come on board with us on Bouttemont is a huge endorsement of the horse,” says Blake.

“When the horse was bought and we were discussing it, Rathbarry would have been top of the wishlist of where he might stand, for obvious reasons. They turned Acclamation into an unbelievable long-term success story and have done it time and time again with other first-season sires over the decades. What really resonated with them is not just that Bouttemont is by Acclamation, but that he is such a typical Acclamation as a physical specimen and in terms of his placid temperament. It wouldn’t be said lightly, but you can argue that he is a higher-quality version of Acclamation as a physical specimen.

“Regardless of what happens at Longchamp, he’s going to get a great chance to be a success as a sire. The breeding rights that we offered in him were very popular and a great group of breeders have got involved, including more than a few that have produced Group 1 winners. The anchor investors already have a significant number of quality mares set aside for him and others will be bought at the upcoming sales. It is all very exciting.”

Breeder power

Is the Bouttemont expedition Blake’s single biggest risk he has taken in terms of horses?

“Absolutely, it was a big throw,” he says. “This is an area I’ve been mad keen to get into for a number of years. I was just conscious that you only get one first attempt at something new and I wanted my first one at this to be as right as it could be. It would be my nature to be a punch picker in that I’m happy sitting and waiting until the moment is very right before I squeeze the trigger.

“I had been talking to Jack Cantillon for a long time about it and we debated many horses over the years to potentially do this job. I just didn’t feel strong enough on one until we landed on Bouttemont. Working with Jack on this has been fantastic. We’re similar people in that we’re both left-field thinkers, but he’s far more aggressive in execution than me... We wouldn’t do very well on a tandem bike because he’d be going flat out up front while I’m pulling the brakes behind!

“He’s a very sharp operator and this isn’t his first rodeo with a stallion. What encouraged me to have a crack at this is what he did with Far Above, and what the likes of Micheál Orlandi and Capital Stud have done in recent years. Up until those lads got stuck in, the barriers to entry into the stallion game in Ireland would have been perceived as high and inaccessible. They have shown that new partnerships and farms can come in with a bit of creativity and get a stallion going.”

Cognisant of his own roots as a small breeder, Blake believes the input of smaller-scale breeders will be key to whether Bouttemont is a long-term success as a sire.

“It’s great that a bunch of really strong breeders have got involved with Bouttemont already, but the smaller operators will play a huge role in his long-term fate. I’m a big believer in the small Irish breeder. I do my best to turn this game inside-out and upside-down to analyse the data of the industry, and I know the breeder with five mares or less in Ireland punches way above their weight in terms of results and it isn’t by accident. Many of those breeders operate out of mixed farms on top-class land with low stocking levels of mares. They are often family operations where the commitment, horsemanship and attention to detail is top class. They might not grab too many headlines, but they breed racehorses that succeed all around the world. The more of those breeders we can get involved in Bouttemont, the better his chance.”

Only time will tell how high Bouttemont can fly at stud - or this Sunday at ParisLongchamp - but he could hardly be in better hands to make a telling impression. More food for thought from an operator whose finger is never far from the pulse.